MINI’s Final Test Test Drive Videos are Up and They Are Hilarious
MINIUSA’s long awaited Final Test Test Drives are complete and the winner will be announced at the NYC Autoshow. However before that MINI took each of the contestants out and filmed their ideal test drives in the yet to be release F56. As you can expect from MINI (and their owners) hilarity ensued early and often.
But first up here’s the trailer that introduces them all:
And now, we present the test drives.
<p>Hilarity? Don’t want to be the party pooper here, but I think none of them are funny. Ryan George’s is my favorite though. I believe the stunt driver is Daijiro Yoshihara.</p>
<p>Yup Dai did the stunts for Vertigo and Blacklight :)</p>
<p>Vertigo > Midnight Black Light > Mini Golf > rest …</p>
<p>Fun ideas! Nice promotion, MINI!</p>
<p>Am I crazy or is the interior LED ring different in these videos compared to the pictures and videos we’ve seen before?</p>
<p>Compare the ‘daily grind’ video ( <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEeBUCViHJA" rel="nofollow ugc">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEeBUCViHJA</a> ) to these for example:</p>
<p><a href="http://s3.motoringfile.com.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/P90139333-highRes.jpg" rel="nofollow ugc">http://s3.motoringfile.com.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/P90139333-highRes.jpg</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHi8-g_VuaU" rel="nofollow ugc">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHi8-g_VuaU</a></p>
<p>Previous pictures and videos show a continuous LED ring, but on these new videos the light shines through holes?</p>
<p>In this new video it looks even more different than the previous 2 versions:</p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPneIIyneBs" rel="nofollow ugc">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPneIIyneBs</a></p>
<p>Is it the camera? Or are all those 3 examples different modes of operation of the ring?</p>
<p>Yes, ALL pre-production F56 models have a “dashed” or segmented light ring instead of the fluid ring that made it to production models.
The 70+ Cooper and Cooper S vehicles at the company (internal) launch had these segmented light rings. We were told that the vehicles would likely be destroyed after the training sessions were completed. Since the test drive videos were shot before the profuction vehicles were available, it makes sense that they have the older style dash ring.</p>
<p>I think I like the one in this First Look video the best.</p>
<p>The spy shots of the interior from a while back showed the ring as individual LED slits … they appear to have changed that for the final release to the continuous ring (with the unfortunate light/dark spots). Not sure why the ‘daily grind’ video uses one of the earlier LED rings.</p>
<p>In the First Look video, Adrian Simpson (former Top Gear) makes fun of Clarkson. Well done, MINI. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-Gp_lZNLzo" rel="nofollow ugc">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-Gp_lZNLzo</a></p>
<p>Simpson was one of countless presenters on Top Gear in the 1980’s and 1990’s. He hasn’t been part of the crew that have made the current format of the show since 2001 a worldwide brand. As annoying as Jeremy can be I can’t help sensing a little bitterness…..</p>
<p>I completely agree but it’s nice to see actual humor in these videos because the FTTD ones are not. For the record I think Clarkson is awesome regardless of his verbal gaffes and attitude.</p>
<p>Yes I would agree with that!</p>
<p>That’s not the only Top Gear reference in the four MINI “feature” videos. Can you find the other ones? <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbtetYtss6g&list=PL8gUhKkqftt5nqKKmfZYu74skXVo8cZoB" rel="nofollow ugc">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbtetYtss6g&list=PL8gUhKkqftt5nqKKmfZYu74skXVo8cZoB</a></p>
<p>Maybe your idea of humor Alexandre is different than everyone else? Seriously some were funny and MINI ran a great promotion letting customers actually do what they wanted to do. I think the people that were involved may have an entirely different perspective….</p>
<p>I like the jousting, the golfing and the playboy posing videos. The other ones aren’t quite as good IMHO.</p>
<p>Maybe it is. I really appreciate MINI USA’s marketing effort. I think the entire campaign is brilliant compare to what other brands (don’t) do. It’s giving a great push to a new model that is launching a new era for MINI and I envy those lucky motorers as they must have had tones of fun. However, the videos are not to my liking and they barely made me smile. That’s all.</p>
<p>All good. I was fortunate to meet several owners at filming and MINI took such amazing care of us while we were out there filming. Very happy we got to drive the cars that much and while ours was not meant to be funny, we liked it. I thought the knight losing his head in one of the other videos was funny but for the most part giving customers that chance was an experience of a lifetime.</p>
<p>Which were you? :-)</p>
<p>Manual vs automatic….</p>
<p>Nice! I bet that was fun!</p>
<p>Daily Grind… By far and away better than the others… oh, and none were actually funny</p>
<p>Wonderful videos</p>
<p>They exposed the hidden cubby to the general public….Noooooooo! Thats my favorite place to throw my wallet.</p>
<p>Loved the first two. Can you really donut a FWD car light that? lol</p>
<p>Entertaining, yes. Mostly. A few I didn’t get. Like why would you drive around in circles until your coffee spilled all over the inside?</p>