Jul 21st, 2011
There’s some research out today that paints an interesting picture for the future of car use in major urban areas. Zip car’s own study found the following:
- 18% of respondents have sold their vehicles since joining Zipcar while 46% said they have avoided buying a car.
- 72% said they it was now less likely that they would buy or lease a car in the future.
- Only 12% of Zipsters reported taking five or more car trips in a month, down from 38%, while those now driving less than 500 miles per month increased by more than 17%.
- 14% bike more; 21% walk more, and 11% use public transportation more often. More than 1/3 said they use public transport to get to a Zipcar.
Source: Clean Technica
We know that BMW has already bought into the idea of car sharing in Europe. In fact they’ve recently partnered with Sixt for a premium car sharing program called DriveNow . The program features BMW 1 Series and MINIs decked out with a few premium options not normally found from car sharing companies like Zip Car. And if rumors are to be believed, BMW may go lease and car share only for the upcoming all electric BMW i3.
So that begs the question;
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After the break you can read all about BMW’s joint venture with Sixt. It gives a great overview of what a MINI car sharing program might look like. continued →
Feb 21st, 2011
In part two of series we’re getting into the details. Now that we have your initial feedback on our Countryman order we’re ready to choose a spec. With your help we’ve created four Countryman(s?) for MF readers to vote on. The one with the highest votes will help us make our final specification – it’s that simple.
To give a little background for those who may have missed it, what we’re doing here is choosing the model and specification on our long-term test car. We’ll be getting the car later this spring and will be testing it in every kind of environment and situation we can think of. In short you won’t find a better long term test of MINI’s new four door family car anywhere else.
Now some background on our choices. We tried to take the input we gathered from our previous post and create four cars that reflected those ideas. We threw in a Cooper and even an automatic Cooper S All4. Three of four on the pricey side due to the fact that we want to test living with as many options as possible. There is joy in not having them but in this case we’d rather have the experience so we can pass that along to you the reader. Colors? Sure we went a little classic and/or conservative but then again if there’s one thing MINI fans can’t agree on, it’s colors.
So with that said, let’s get started… continued →
Dec 15th, 2010
With all the conversation about upcoming MINI products we thought it a good time to re-run a poll from earlier this year.
MINI has a lot of interesting things in development right now. Some of them, like “the twins” we’ve seen. Some, like the City Car, we’ve only got bits and pieces of information for. That had us wondering. What do you, the illustrious readers of MotoringFile, get excited for?
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Oct 29th, 2010
MINI has a lot of interesting things in development right now. Some of them, like “the twins” we’ve seen. Some, like the City Car, we’ve only got bits and pieces of information for. That had us wondering. What do you, the illustrious readers of MotoringFile, get excited for?
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Oct 11th, 2010
With the recent news that MINI will indeed be offering the bench rear seat in the Countryman, we want to know what you think. If you’re in the market for a Countryman, how would you roll?
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Feb 10th, 2010
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Yes the A1 will not be coming to such markets the US. But it’s a watershed car for Audi and one of the more impressive MINI rivals we’ve seen. But how does it stack up in the eyes of MINI owners? At launch the car will be available with a range of diesels and petrol powerplants but none that quite matches up with the MCS or JCW MINI models. Nontheless we want to hear your thoughts on how it stacks up with the MINI.
- Diesel: 90hp / 169 ft lbs of torque and 105 hp / 184 ft lbs of torque
- Petrol 122 hp / 147 ft lbs of torque
- 2,300 lbs curb weight
- manual or dual clutch
- 155.5 inches long, 68.5 inches wide and 56 inches tall, with a 97.2-inch wheelbase
Now the question.
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Full press release after the jump
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Feb 1st, 2010
(This article is specifically about the US-spec MINI JCW and not the version that comes with the aero-kit elsewhere in the world)
Last year we gave you our take on the factory JCW and why it wasn’t selling as well as it could be nationwide. For a quick recap we basically said we’d keep the drivetrain just is and focus on making the car look for unique while offering a sportier suspension standard.
Now it’s your turn.
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