Jun 19th, 2014
The idea of a gas powered three cylinder engine was crazy talk (for those who liked SMART) only a few years ago but now there are two new models featuring such power plants on American shores. Enter the all new for 2014 MINI Cooper and The Ford Fiesta EcoBoost 1.0l. Two cars with small engines targeting very different customers but both dreaming of high fuel economy. Autoguide put these two head to head.
The MINI is expensive for a subcompact, but you can see the point of paying the premium as soon as you step into the car.
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May 19th, 2014
They say it’s an honor just to be nominated, but apparently if you make Playmate of the Year for Playboy magazine, you also get a car. This year Kennedy Summers takes that honor and according to Jalopnik, also takes home a 2014 MINI Roadster JCW.
I have to say, I did a bit of a double-take when I saw the car. It sure does look an awful lot like our most recent long-term test car. The Jalopnik piece says it’s a 2014 MINI, so seems unlikely they’ve just bought her a used MINI:
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Mar 10th, 2014
MINI and BMW executives keep dropping more and more indicators that several current MINI models don’t have a future in this new generation of cars. This latest round of revelations came via Oliver Friedmann, head of MINI brand management, in a conversation with Auto News. Instead of a wide cross-section of model variants, Friedmann says MINI’s new strategy is to focus on three “pillar” cars to ground the product lineup in what MINI is all about. Those models? The F56 hardtop hatch, the next generation Countryman, and the next generation Clubman which we saw in concept at Geneva.
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Nov 8th, 2013
The MINI JCW GP is a car that we here at MotoringFile hold in rather high esteem. While certainly not for everyone, it’s a package deal of everything the second generation MINI has to offer in terms of a pure driving experience and special JCW touches. It’s a car MINI created not to make money on (because like the 2006 GP, MINI likely lost money on this model), but out of sheer brand enthusiasm.
We’ve reviewed it on the track and on the road and fell in love with it both times.
Turns out we’re not the only ones who feel that way. EVO has included the second generation MINI JCW GP in its list of final contenders for EVO Car of the Year. continued →
Aug 19th, 2013
According to the Automotive News MINI is expanding the Not Normal marketing campaign that was introduced earlier this year buy its agency BSSP. Given all the recent small car competition MINI is looking to turn up the dial a bit to gain more of the public’s attention. According the Automotive News:
Mini is fighting back with new executions in its “Not normal” campaign from Butler Shine, Stern & Partners, Sausalito, Calif. — the creative strategy that allowed the agency to hold onto the account after the automaker’s review in 2012. The idea is to push its peculiarity and stand out from brands like Chevrolet’s Spark, which outsold Mini in July of this year according to Automotive News’ DataCenter. continued →
May 17th, 2013
MINI delivers a car with miss steering wheel paddles. Hilarity ensues.
May 14th, 2013
Australian motoring site and friends of MotoringFile, Ausmotive.com, are reporting this morning that MOTOR Magazine has named the second generation JCW GP as the latest winner of their “Bang for your bucks” award. One judge called the GP the “best MINI I’ve ever driven, especially on a track.” We couldn’t agree more.
Head over to Ausmotive.com for their full take and some down under GP photos. You can also catch the full MINI Australia press release after the jump.
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