180 replies to this topic

[sir Jake the brit]

I always get told the escence of the mini is its size. being mini. Have you parked your mini next to a BMW Mini. The difference is emmence.

Then I parked today next to the New Fiat 500 and find that with everyone saying a small car wouldn't be able to meet todays standards and quoting the Smart Car does.... what about the Fiat 500.

They seem to be rebuilding their followers again. And they have kept the car small.

Surely a New " MINI " should have maintained its small size as one of the main factors in its rebuild rather than just trying to get the "look" right

Unfortunately BMW wanted it's own mid sized car like the VW Golf and again unfortunately they chose to call it a Mini instead of a Metro, Allegro or Maxi!

they went for the brand that would sell, are you all arrogant people on here???

[sir Jake the brit]

But it was BMW money that conceived the BINI, if BMW hadn't taken control of Rover in 1994 there would be no BINI.

And that car might be constructed here in Britain, but you can bet the profits from it go back to Munich.
[/quote]

you really dont know what your on about do you????
the thorn in your side that is bmw, made cruddy rover keep producing the proper mini until 2000 to keep the name there till the new model was ready

and your little quip about the money, try getting a tour of the factory
you'll soon learn that bmw have spent over 380million on the machinery to build the new mini!!!

Edited by sir Jake the brit, 23 December 2008 - 03:34 PM.

[sir Jake the brit]

Wasn't the city rover a TaTa with a rover badge?

It's good to see people's thoughts on this, something that's kinda been on my mind for a bit!
(is that weird, i think so...)

I'd like to have a drive in a new mini, you think they'd let me have a test drive even though im 18?

to be honest mate i think half of the people on this site need to take a cooper S for a good trash down a back road to show its not to far from the mighty origional,
i own both and the new one will never be the icon that the old one has, if rover had had there way the mini would be dead.
and as for what if they had made the new mini then just see what they did to the metro??!!! i know the old metro was ugly and an old lady car but jesh that things sorry looking all it needed really was a battery engine it looks that crap it could be a geewiz!!

[sir Jake the brit]

got to write this down before i forget it then get annoyed with myself for forgetting it

minis i think could have been made stronger. stronger a and c pillars with a stronger roof and floor could have made a stiffer and safer shell, couldve changed the inner wings but keep standard length front end
they had airbags in the later models, couldve fitted more, nice small one in dash

lets face it, no way can an a series have reached the restirction levels for emissions, but the k series can, we all know people have converted there minis to k series and if k series is well maintained they are very good engines (better after the first headgasket change), inner wings would have needed mods for this, so they could have strengthened them when converting the engine

fuel tank right at the back of the car is a bit of a harder one unless they changed suspension
but that film said they spent over 2mil on producing new mini, they could have sorted the old on for that


in years to come the bini will have people like us clasic mini lovers defending it
but bmw should have stuck with rwd and red the bini then we would be talking classic car straight away

what you say is half right and the k-series would have ment in standard guise it would have had a punch at chavvy motors like the corsa and saxo, but rover werent interessted in it (see my other rambles) they were a dyin breed, im glad the new mini came out its a cracking re-make

[sir Jake the brit]

The MINI is no more a Mini than a Ka or Smart would be if you stuck MINI badges on it. Does the MINI raise the profile of the Mini? Most probably, if only by highlighting the virtues of the original that it doesn't have. Would we be better off with out BMW and their brand protectionism? I couldn't say, you'd have to balance how it discourages Mini based commerce against how it also supports the likes of Minispares and Mini Sport who have larger businesses catering for both. And if Mini went to the wall with the rest of Rover? Who knows, the receivers could still have sold it off separate to the rest of Rover, the Mini was already out of production so there was nothing more than the name on offer really. The Chinese have resurrected the Moke so, just maybe, we could have seen a new Mini clone with a 3 cylinder engine or leccy motor?

kia or smart??? what!!! it look like a modern mini!!!
if you catch a glimps of one in the distance you have to double take to tell which it is

and so you would rather the mini name be up there with the mighty cars of the east like perodua etc than it be made well by one of the big boys in the motor trade?????

3 cylinder?? yeah thats would take the mini on in leaps and bounds?!!!!

think of all the jobs that mini/bini have going at the mo (i know they have shut down for a month ut so have a lot of factories!! with the current climate)
thats car is great for our economy.

[THE ANORAK]

and so you would rather the mini name be up there with the mighty cars of the east like perodua etc than it be made well by one of the big boys in the motor trade?????

well actually we would rather it was left to rest in peace when you gonna get in in your head that people who love the classic mini for the fact that "it was a car that stayed in production for a very long time (by industry standards) against all odds, despite being far from perfect" are never going to accept the car that replaced it.

are you going to drag back through this whole topic and go on and on about it for another hour ???? its getting really boring now

Edited by THE ANORAK, 23 December 2008 - 03:57 PM.

[sir Jake the brit]

and so you would rather the mini name be up there with the mighty cars of the east like perodua etc than it be made well by one of the big boys in the motor trade?????

well actually we would rather it was left to rest in peace when you gonna get in in your head that people who love the classic mini for the fact that "it was a car that stayed in production for a very long time (by industry standards) against all odds, despite being far from perfect" are never going to accept the car that replaced it.

are you going to drag back through this whole topic and go on and on about it for another hour ???? its getting really boring now

rest in peace???? its not someones aunti, ffs!!!
its a brand out to make money, you know thats what these companys try to do.
its a sad shame that you wont accept it because its a great re-make, with similar bouncy driving charactoristics & is far from perfect!!! and its a way that you could like me own both type's use the new one (because it hasn't got a place in your heart like the old un!) on a day to day, then save your minter classic for weekends and swanning about in at you leasure!!!! and why do people only like it because it was a struggle of a car??? being owned by a motoring powerhouse that didn't have the ability to run a kids party let alone all the major brands it had under it's wing??

i'm a fan of the mini big time thats why all my personally owend cars are ............. minis!!!
and i have no need to drag back through this whole topic again as i have already done that??!!!

PLUS!!! i do believe that i am, as a member, in my rights to give answers based on my opinion on an open thread?????
and read through i have used facts to back up my rants!!!!

Edited by sir Jake the brit, 23 December 2008 - 11:38 PM.

[taffy1967]

You aught to get into bed with MAB01, because I think you'd both have a great time together.

[taffy1967]

I always get told the escence of the mini is its size. being mini. Have you parked your mini next to a BMW Mini. The difference is emmence.

Then I parked today next to the New Fiat 500 and find that with everyone saying a small car wouldn't be able to meet todays standards and quoting the Smart Car does.... what about the Fiat 500.

They seem to be rebuilding their followers again. And they have kept the car small.

Surely a New " MINI " should have maintained its small size as one of the main factors in its rebuild rather than just trying to get the "look" right

Unfortunately BMW wanted it's own mid sized car like the VW Golf and again unfortunately they chose to call it a Mini instead of a Metro, Allegro or Maxi!

they went for the brand that would sell, are you all arrogant people on here???

No most of us are classic Mini owners and so not all of us care about BMW and it's BINI.

They could have called it anything and it would probably have sold the same, but unfortunately they called it a MINI.

[Ethel]

I thought the whole point of this thread was to exercise some conjecture of what might have happened if BMW hadn't got their hands on the brand? It's not inevitably an attack on the Bini, but you do have to consider a Bini free world to answer the question.

We can assume Rover would have come up with something similar to what they developed under BMW's wing. Possibly with the K series and some other cues taken from the last Rover models MGF etc.

Personally, I would have preferred it if the Chinese were knocking out a reheated Classic Mini. It would have been far more exciting to see it tackle a whole new market than just become another "lifestyle" brand in the West and it would have been more relevant and beneficial for enthusiasts of the original.

As it's all a fantasy that isn't to wish away the benefits of the Bini - what if BMW had taken a shine to MG's instead, there could still be a production line rolling at Cowley. It could have been an entirely different new Mini being produced by Nanjing at their UK plant.

[roberts]

haha i just read through this, its identical to last weeks post...

i think the answer is simple though, Rover would have never put a new Mini into production they couldnt afford to

[nurseholliday]

You aught to get into bed with MAB01, because I think you'd both have a great time together.

Why don't you exhume Alec Issigonis and perform some necro on him, meanwhile, myself, Jake, and Mab will be having a good ol' time

[THE ANORAK]

You aught to get into bed with MAB01, because I think you'd both have a great time together.

Why don't you exhume Alec Issigonis and perform some necro on him, meanwhile, myself, Jake, and Mab will be having a good ol' time

if he managed that i would be impressed... the guy was cremated

[THE ANORAK]

PLUS!!! i do believe that i am, as a member, in my rights to give answers based on my opinion on an open thread?????
and read through i have used facts to back up my rants!!!!

yes this is true, you are within your rights, but as stated just now, this is turning into the same topic we had last week, it seems any topic that even touches on rover, cooper or BMW ends up in a mini Vs MINI slanging match, that's why its becoming boring.

[techno-steve]

ok soo i carnt be arsed readin 5 pages but rover designed the new MINI so they made it big n stuff so......

Edited by techno-steve, 24 December 2008 - 11:31 AM.