58 replies to this topic

[Trail of Dead]

I can even live with the Crossman if it acts as a catalyst to bring AWD to the MINI brand.

I must admit, i would be interested to see how an AWD Cooper S would handle.

Yeah! An AWD Cooper S......would be pure sex! I wish I could afford that AWD VTEC Classic Mini conversion.....

I'm pretty interested to see how this new Moke will look....quite curious this idea!

Edited by Trail of Dead, 09 December 2009 - 05:08 PM.

[Burnard]

This is absolutely false on all accounts. The new MINI was designed primarily to be a drivers car. It's one of the best handling cars on the road and it easily trashes cars that cost 4 times as much as it does in the slaloms and in the mountains.

Lmao, have you driven one?

I drove a 'cooper' last year and it was horrible, possibly the worst handling/feeling car Ive driven, And it is defiantly not anything like as much fun to drive as a proper mini.

A Mercedes A class handles much better.

[mab01uk]

I can even live with the Crossman if it acts as a catalyst to bring AWD to the MINI brand.

I must admit, i would be interested to see how an AWD Cooper S would handle.

Yeah! An AWD Cooper S......would be pure sex! I wish I could afford that AWD VTEC Classic Mini conversion.....

I'm pretty interested to see how this new Moke will look....quite curious this idea!

Could it be based on this Getrag AWD MINI Cooper S..........??

Mega World - Sweden TV Show: 40 minutes into the show the host, Kevin Brauch walking in Stockholm gets into a Silver MCS and goes to the Artic Falls Test Track proving Grounds in Northern Sweden, where Getrag (makers of the MINI gearbox) took two MCS and made one AWD. Then tested them on the track and compared the two, one with AWD and one without, in the hope BMW will make an AWD version........

Video of the entire show...........Fast Forward to 30:50 minutes for the AWD MINI Cooper S part of the show
Link:
http://video.google....09701279751306#

Edited by mab01uk, 09 December 2009 - 05:20 PM.

[VicSkimmr]

[VicSkimmr]

Lmao, have you driven one?

I drove a 'cooper' last year and it was horrible, possibly the worst handling/feeling car Ive driven, And it is defiantly not anything like as much fun to drive as a proper mini.

A Mercedes A class handles much better.

Well, there are loads of auto-crossers who would disagree with you, not to mention every major auto publication. And yes, as I've already mentioned in this thread, I own both a classic and a MINI.

[mab01uk]

Lmao, have you driven one?

I drove a 'cooper' last year and it was horrible, possibly the worst handling/feeling car Ive driven, And it is defiantly not anything like as much fun to drive as a proper mini.

A Mercedes A class handles much better.

Well, there are loads of auto-crossers who would disagree with you, not to mention every major auto publication. And yes, as I've already mentioned in this thread, I own both a classic and a MINI.

I would also disagree with Burnard and own both classic Mini and MINI, a large part of the MINI's success is due to it being a genuine fun to drive drivers car with brilliant handling, true to its heritage, as practically every magazine road test will tell you. This factor was something that BMW realised the importance of in any modern version of the MINI, probably more so than Rover ever did...........no modern car MINI or not can ever have the directness of a classic Mini because no one today would buy a noisy, unrefined mass market car without power steering, etc.

In 2007 the MINI was voted 4th best handling car out of 100 cars in an Auto Express magazine Handling Survey, as can be seen it is in pretty good company:-
Category : Handling
1 Porsche Boxster 97.22%
2 Mazda RX-8 97.06%
3 Subaru Impreza 96.60%
4 MINI 94.57%
5 Nissan 350Z 94.3%
6 Honda S2000 92.74%
Auto Express Quote: "Five of the top six are sports cars, for which handling is a priority."

As for the original Mercedes A-Class handling:-
Tall plus short plus narrow equals inherently unstable, as was proved in epoch-making fashion when a magazine put the car through a high-speed slalom (the now infamous "elk test") and discovered its tendency to fall over.......Mercedes-Benz was forced to spend millions quickly recalling and upgrading all A-Class with Electronic Stability Control.
Um-XlKerWvA

Edited by mab01uk, 09 December 2009 - 07:21 PM.

[skaterava]

etc.

In 2007 the MINI was voted 4th best handling car out of 100 cars in an Auto Express magazine Handling Survey, as can be seen it is in pretty good company:-
Category : Handling
1 Porsche Boxster 97.22%
2 Mazda RX-8 97.06%
3 Subaru Impreza 96.60%
4 MINI 94.57%
5 Nissan 350Z 94.3%

Surely something like an Exige or F430 should be at the top? or is this for real world cars only?

[VicSkimmr]

I was thinking that too actually. And a 350Z? Seriously?

[The_Mistro]

you can argue all you want, but it dont handle as well as the good old ones!

also the new moke isnt going to be a moke is it, the clubman isnt a clubman, i bet it is just a jacked up cooper or clubman, it isnt going to be open rag top!

i bet bmw have tried to design an "X1" and it was god awful, so they have shoved a bini shell on it and have decided to let the name sell it! why do they have to use the names of the old mini models!? why cant they come up with their own like the classic mini did! why not call it the Bini Pot Hole Basher or the Bini Im Never Going Of Road Off Roader, why ruin the heritage of the moke! fair enough with the cooper, as that will always be part of the mini name, even if it is a bini! but the clubman isnt a clubman, and the moke wont be a moke! they did the right thing calling the one the one, as that was its own model! why cant they carry on doing that!?

[dave585]

you can argue all you want, but it dont handle as well as the good old ones!

also the new moke isnt going to be a moke is it, the clubman isnt a clubman, i bet it is just a jacked up cooper or clubman, it isnt going to be open rag top!

i bet bmw have tried to design an "X1" and it was god awful, so they have shoved a bini shell on it and have decided to let the name sell it! why do they have to use the names of the old mini models!? why cant they come up with their own like the classic mini did! why not call it the Bini Pot Hole Basher or the Bini Im Never Going Of Road Off Roader, why ruin the heritage of the moke! fair enough with the cooper, as that will always be part of the mini name, even if it is a bini! but the clubman isnt a clubman, and the moke wont be a moke! they did the right thing calling the one the one, as that was its own model! why cant they carry on doing that!?

You can now buy a X1 from your local dealer along with the X3 and the bigger X5, so yes they have designed it built it and people are buying it. Im looking forward to the new moke just to see what its like. Another classic name coming back for a new generation who have never even seen a moke at all and helps people back in to mini. What you out of date repeaters moaning "not a mini" seem to forget the MINI as rekindeled many people interest in the classic, This in turn many have brought a classic and own two cars. A good thing in my mind. As for coming up with there own names for the cars they did and guess what people moaned about it!

[mab01uk]

Inspired by the original Mini Moke from 1964, the Beachcomber is also being used to explore design ideas that could find their way onto future derivatives of the Countryman, which is due to get its first public outing at the Geneva motor show in early March.
This Beachcomber show car mimics the open-body style of the Moke, as well as the Jeep Wrangler, and is the latest precursor to what will become the Mini brand's most dramatic variant under BMW ownership - a compact 4WD that will go on sale in late 2010.
Link:
http://theswitchback.....heSwitchback)

http://www.autocar.c...er-concept.aspx

http://www.carmagazi...icial-pictures/

http://smh.drive.com...91216-kvi0.html

From the Official Press Release:
"The authentic style and character of the MINI Beachcomber Concept also results from the fact that the brand once already offered an extreme thrill of driving pleasure in the open air by conscious reduction to the very minimum: Way back in 1964, just five years after the market launch of the classic Mini, the creator of the first model, the world-famous engineer Alec Issigonis, already developed an all-open version of this revolutionary compact car.

The body of the Mini Moke, as it was called, was made up of hardly more than a floorpan, wide sills at the side, the engine compartment lid and the windscreen. A folding roof served – more or less – to protect the driver and passengers from precipitation.

With its robust structure and the drivetrain technology carried over from the Mini, this four-seater fun car became a great success particularly in the sunny regions of the USA and Australia. Production of the Mini Moke in Great Britain continued until 1968 with a production volume of some 14,500 units, following which production was continued in Australia and Portugal.

The MINI Beachcomber Concept now projects the principle of the Mini Moke into the 21st century. The rustic appearance of the car and its consistent concept of consciously reducing the body components and interior to a minimum clearly follow the tradition of the radically open Mini Moke back in the 1960s. This is indeed further accentuated by design language strongly inspired by the Mini Moke and enhanced by various striking details such as the characteristic radiator grille.

It goes without saying that the new model meets all modern demands in terms of space and comfort, efficiency and safety, while nevertheless retaining its clear focus on driving pleasure in direct contact with the surroundings.

Even ALL4 all-wheel drive goes back to a role model from the past, to be precise a prototype Mini Moke fitted by Alec Issigonis with two engines in 1963. On this test car appropriately referred to as the “Twini”, the front and rear wheels were driven in each case by a four-cylinder from the Mini range of engines."

Edited by mab01uk, 16 December 2009 - 11:04 PM.

[techno-steve]

i know they own the rights and i know this is a bmw friendly forum

but i just wish BMW would *melon* OFF AND DIE!!

how can somthing bigger be a *melonsing* mini

[techno-steve]

sorry i got annoyed lol x

[VicSkimmr]

Ehhhh I'm not feeling it as much as I thought I would. I was hoping for a 2 door Cooper sized version of that. Wranglers = 2 doors. MINIs = 2 doors.

[hardingsan]

...Im looking forward to the new moke just to see what its like. Another classic name coming back for a new generation who have never even seen a moke at all and helps people back in to mini. What you out of date repeaters moaning "not a mini" seem to forget the MINI as rekindeled many people interest in the classic, This in turn many have brought a classic and own two cars. A good thing in my mind. As for coming up with there own names for the cars they did and guess what people moaned about it!

preach it, brother, preach it!

Edited by hardingsan, 16 December 2009 - 06:57 PM.