MINI Roadster Launch – Full Gallery
We’ve just stepped out of the new MINI Roadster and have lots to tell you about. But as we head to dinner and gather our thoughts a bit more, why not check out our day in Portugal with the new MINI soft-top. The full gallery is after the break.
Full Gallery
<p>Hmmm, it certainly looses some sex appeal without the JCW body kit and the 17″ wheels.</p>
<p>Looking forward to your comments.
The pictures just make me more anxious to see the one I have on order ( February build).</p>
<p>Something about the rear proportions doesn’t look “right” to me… I am not sure what it is but the car looks very nose heavy and is a huge downer to me. </p>
<p>Yea, it’s the tail lights. They have never looked right on the second gen model. They are too large for the car with cheap looking chrome trim and are set too close to the edge of the body. They are just off.</p>
<p>I agree that this car needs the JCW aero kit and the larger wheels! It just completes the sporty look! I can’t wait to see this in person and see how I actually feel about it.</p>
<p>I personally would never own a Cooper Ragtop. To me they look super feminine. On the other hand, his roadster looks really good. You can’t tell me, however, that it is pleasing on the ears. S’s turbo + soft top = hearing loss.</p>
<p>After sitting in a few different roadsters at the recent auto shows, opening and closing the manual top while sitting in the driver’s seat, and getting a good idea of the proportions, it’s awesome.</p>
<p>I hope the driving experience is equally entertaining. It’s very good looking, much better than the coupe. If I had the disposable income for a two seat ragtop, this would be the car! I fit in it far better than the Z4 which is twice the price these days…</p>
<p>awww. no pictures of the roof “in action”? I know you’re supposed to keep it down, but I’d like to see some shots of the manual operation…</p>
<p>Get the semi auto top… 11 lbs more but a huge benefit.</p>
<p> Gabe, what is the benefit? More to break down the road? It is what, $700 some dollars for the semi auto, please let us in on the information.</p>
<p>I tested out the manual top and its fine, but if this will be your daily driver, the constant turning around to lift and clamp down the top would get tiresome. The top is not what you’d call light.
I’m ordering the semi auto.</p>
<p>One of the only car that needs only your one hand to open up !
It is such a luxe that it it’s a shame to sadly press a button instead</p>
<p>Not only does it look good in person from the rear, it also has a surprisingly large trunk. I know my wife will never give up her R53, but when it is time for a new MINI, I can guarantee it will be a roadster. They look way better in person than they do in photos!</p>
<p>Fantastic MINI but why do they insist on always using German plated left hand drive cars when they release new models. As much as I love the MINI and enjoy driving our Clubbie it does get frustrating that they want to promote it as a British brand but always use German cars for promotion</p>
<p>Most of the target markets and automotive press are “Left hand drive” as are the roads are right sided where these events take place. . UK is not the best this time of year or the cheapest (Portugal and Spain are). Not to mention it is less of a hassle to register a car in Germany than in the UK with all the taxes etc- plus UK plates are yellow and kill the look of most cars. About only 25% of the world is right hand drive and even less of that is MINI’s target market. Makes little sense to market a car that does not meet the needs of the market and there are people in certain areas that would be confused as to why the steering wheel is on the wrong side and would think not to buy the car for that very reason.</p>
<p>Not sure where you are from but driving a right hand drive car is very difficult if you’ve never done it- especially in a manual so that is why very few launches are done that way. </p>
<p>It’s simple logistics. The press photos are taken at the press launch events. They don’t bring in special cars just for photos. The cars being photographed are there to be driven by the press — both for the launch event and for press review cars down the road. If that’s a LHD locale, they’re not going to give everybody RHD cars just so they’ll seem “more British.” That’d be a terrible driving experience on LHD roads.</p>
<p>Furthermore, in mainland Europe they use German press cars because A) the roads are LHD, but more so B) because that press fleet for BMW and MINI is literally housed in Munich. After all, MINI’s actual headquarters are in Munich. The car is built in Oxford and the now global brand has its roots in the UK, but (I hate to break it to you) the company is run from Germany. All the design and engineering is done there in Munich. And really, it makes sense to center the press fleet there for mainland Europe because what would they do otherwise? Ship cars in from Oxford every time they need a press car? The cars are stored in Munich near the company headquarters, so that’s where they’re sourced from.</p>
<p>The same thing happens for US press events. We get cars that all have New Jersey license plates on them because they’ve been sourced from MINI USA’s NJ headquarters. Reporters don’t just show up at their local dealer and pick up a review car.</p>
<p>These posts continue to mention the Openometer but it isn’t shown in any of the photos. Is it a different implementation! Also I’d love to see videos of the manual top and the semi-automatic one. When I decide to get rid of my R53, this will be my next car.</p>
<p>Openometer is only on US cars… These are German spec.</p>
<p>Love me some German “speck” :)</p>
<p>That’d be bacon.</p>
<p>Found a video of the manual roof going up: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTKWa67fw3c&feature=related at about 2:25</p>
<p>Woah, woah, woah.
I have been all sold on the Roadster… until I saw only a single reverse lamp. Not happy at all about that design choice.</p>
<p>It’s only on the JCW and there because the other side is the rear fog light. Additionally MINI does this to save weight (see the WRC race car).
The cooper and copper S has two.</p>
<p>We’ve discussed the top in detail and had this very video on MotoringFile. Just check out the R59 section.</p>