The F56 Previewed in Official Video
MINI’s slowly giving us a fuller picture of the 2014 F56 MINI has we get closer to the final reveal November 18th. This latest look is the first video we’ve seen of the new car. It gives us some glimpses of the overall shape of the car as well as the improved lighting technology (optional LEDs in this case) and re-profiled designs front and back. Check it all out in video form after the break.
For the most thorough view of the F56 including details you won’t find anywhere else, check out the F56 section and more specifically our special F56 Buyer’s Guide.
<p>Does this show the optional LED headlights? I think it shows the LED DRLs and the xenons.</p>
<p>Those are the LEDs.</p>
<p>Thanks. I drew my assessment because if you slow the video down it looks like the DRLs switch on and off more quickly than the main headlights. However doing this using the pause/play button isn’t very scientific!</p>
<p>Hey, it looks pretty good when you can’t quite see it!</p>
<p>Sure, a Pontiac Aztek could be made to look good in a video like this!</p>
<p>I just hope the Dipstick can be read on this one! The R56
Dipstick is shocking and dangerous. Who ever signed that off should be ashamed.
Premium brand let down by cheapness at times and bad design.</p>
<p>What’s wrong with the dipstick?</p>
<p>It is difficult to read accurately. Clean oil doesn’t show up well against an orange background.</p>
<p>It may not even have a dipstick. Most current BMW models have a digital readout.</p>
<p>Really 7 days away and no leak yet? this must be some record.
I kind of dig that actually … let it be revealed on launch day!</p>
<p>I know. We’ve already seen the 2-series officially pictured and it will hit the US later than the MINI.</p>
<p>Loving the Italian Job music! MINI seems more focused than ever on pointing out that this is going to be a noticeable and respectful evolution of the original Mini, something they never seemed to press as much with the R56 and R50. I really hope some heart has gone into this re-brand. I reserve judgement for when I can test drive it and compare the experience to my own classic Mini, but I’m hoping the ‘Mini’ factor will be prevelant just by sitting in the car. It needs to have a feeling if fun, accidental usefulness and the need to shout “what the hell, I’m a Mini, just turn the ignition and get on with it!” That’s what a Mini should be…. Completely different but able to covertly fit into the best of all situations, such as winning the Monte-Carlo rally against Jaguars and Lancias, or even being nominated car of the year against Ferrari’s and Porsche’s! If I don’t feel embaressed to park my 1979 Mini 1000 next to a 2014 MINI Cooper S then it has succeeded like the previous MINI hatches, in which case I consider it a Mini!</p>
<p>I applaud your optimism, unfortunately after seeing the undisguised pics and barring a last minute “gotcha, here is the real thing” I do not share it. The new engines seems to be a major step forward especially the Cooper 3-cyl, but I will likely pass if it looks the way I think it will. I am holding out some hope that the Cooper front end without the busy lower intake treatment of the S will appeal to me.</p>
<p>I’m looking forward to the standard cooper front too. What annoys me slightly is they pulled off the larger front grille with integrated spotlamps and plate so much better on the rocket man, yet on what I’ve seen of the F56 it’s over busy and has lost it’s elegance</p>
<p>How does a VW Up (recently launched European small car) have a short front overhang, when the new mini has a massive big honker of a nose hanging out in front of the wheels? Surely they are both subject to the same boring old EU legislation?</p>
<p>Because it’s a mid-engine layout.</p>
<p>The VW Up! production car uses a FF layout, engine is in front of the axle centerline. The Up! also isn’t designed to meet NHTSA’s insanely strict crash standards.</p>
<p>It’s up front…unless this is pre-production:</p>
<p>I assume the overhang is part of the 1-series chassis sharing thing.</p>
<p>Whatever the reason, it’s a shame they gave it that massive, bulbous hooter hanging out over the front wheels. From the rear 3/4 view it looks like an elephant seal.</p>
<p>The EU pedestrian regs are a complex series of requirements that have man inputs. A few years ago I asked the head of MINI design about what goes into solving them and why they couldn’t make the overhangs smaller. Suffice to say they worked on the r5x and r6x to massage them down to the absolute minimum that would be allowed with a handful of mechanical and visual tricks.</p>
<p>The problem is that the regs have been phased in and are more stringent now than before.</p>
<p>And pantomime tail lights … And after market block of air intakes on the S. It’s the perfect example of a simple, uncluttered, elegant DESIGN (the original mini and to some extent the MK2) becoming a massively over STYLED “lifestyle” statement as concocted by a group of short-haired, bearded (with a possible exception of the woman who does interiors) understated glasses, smart/casual grey marketing and design people who all live in Munich and spend their day anxting over how to make a product appear British. And, it got even bigger into the bargain. Yeah. That’s a great idea – take the Mini and make it bigger and bigger with every incarnation. So now, there will be no car in the range that is genuinely mini – there’s not enough profit in making a genuine Mini (unless you are VW, Fiat, Hyundai, Toyota, Renault etc etc etc) so forget it. And don’t get me started on the Countryman/Paceman. I live in London and have seen three of these regularly – and two of them I know for a fact belong the Germans – one of them a middle aged dentist – the target audience. And without doubt they are all made to look like fools driving about in overpriced, over styled, dynamically compromised, mediocre quality lifestyle boxes (I have noticed that none of them are equipped with the 4X4 for which they were conceived).</p>
<p>*I don’t call myself LondonCynic for nothing.</p>
<p>MINI is obviously in the tough position to make a retro (I know they don’t like that term) design conform to today’s safety standards and still keep it looking fresh. Especially the euro pedestrian safety rules have done a number on the front end. Starting with the 4th gen car they may very well have to ask themselves whether it’s not time to go for a completely modern design. The retro design box is pretty cramped and you can only move around so much.</p>
<p>The latest spy shots today from autocar.co.uk show a surprisingly well proportioned front end for the F56…..</p>
<p>Ps. I wonder Ryephile? Surely the mini is an FF car too? Only in the Mini the engine in set further back in relation to the front wheels so surely there’s scope for the Mini to have a smaller proboscis than the Up!? With regard to NHTSA regulations – is it a choice that manufacturers have, to follow them or not?</p>