Is MINI losing the plot?!

[Tayne]

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[Vinylseats]

Isn't the Nissan Juke just the most bizarre looking car? Front AND back!

 

Actually, by this forum's standards it looks ordinary.

[Richard]

I don't know where the idea comes from that the original BINI was less bloated than the current one. That's like saying one of the little cunts from the Vauxhall adverts is less fat than the other.

 

Quite easy. Park an original BMW Mini next to a current one - the latest one (R56) is an original with a fat suit on. It's expanded by about 4 inches everywhere and it's horrid.

 

I did that when I first heard the suggestion (waited until I saw two together actually). I admit that the new one is slightly more bloated but the way people say it you'd think the old one somehow wasn't hideously bloated.

[M'coli]

Congratulations on possibly being the first person on this forum to see one.

I saw one a week or two ago but didn't mention it because that would have been acknowledging that they exist (and also that customers exist). I still point and laugh derisably at Nissan Jukes and X6s though.

[Richard]

I'm sure I saw a Fritzl on the road near Aberdeen a couple of months ago.

[Gompo]

Congratulations on possibly being the first person on this forum to see one.

 

 

Not trying to boast(?) or indeed seek pity but I saw one about a month ago. It was a povo-spec one from what I could see and looked particularly shit.

 

I've been in a few R53 and R56 Minis, and they dont really appeal to me at all. I could probably live with the image and the looks if they were nice inside and nice to drive, but from the passenger seat I was far from enamoured.

[Pete-M]

Mates wife has a black, Alpina(!) tweaked 03 plate Cooper S. It has about 200-210 bhp and all the matching tweaks, brake upgrades etc.

 

It goes like stink. Properly quick, handles superbly, comfy, loads of nice low down grunt as well as a fair bit of top end poke, great seats and it's a nice car. Exhaust sounds good on it too, not that loud, but there's a suggestion that this ain't some little urban buzz box. I'd have it. As someone who really doesn't like smaller cars, this is a compliment not many of 'em get.

 

About the only thing about it I don't like is the irritating whine from the electric PAS, but can't really hear that with the windows up. Oh, the interior door handles aren't wonderful, but can't have 'em all.

 

The Countryman thing, no. I'd rather spend the cash on an L322 Rangie.

[Richard]

The Countryman thing, no. I'd rather spend the cash on an L322 Rangie.

 

Is that the kind of cash it costs?

[Futuramic]

MINI isn't losing the plot at all. Actually what has happened is BMW have applied their ruthlessly Teutonic business model to a fairly strightforward problem and it has prevailed.

 

I won't bother writing about BLMC as it has all been said, in many cases more eloquently than I am capable of doing, before by just about everyone in the world with a passing interest in four wheeled vehicles.

 

However BLMC were utterly incapable of selling cars that the public wanted at a healthy price. BMW can. No matter what one's opinion of the new Mini, it is a sales success. In a capitalist society a car manufacturer's sole aim is to make a profit by shifting units; so they design an appealing model that will do so. The new Mini fulfills this brief admirably.

 

Where the buying public is concerned; nothing is sacred. If the society demanded the thing would be called the GaryGlitter PaedoRaper 5000. But society demands it be called the Mini; so it is. People want to drive a "Mini". They don't care what the thing actually is. 'Twas ever thus. Most of Versace's output is hideously ugly. I wouldn't wear their clothes. Yet the name dictates people do.

 

BMW are only catering to a demand. It's not their fault. They've done rather well for themselves.

[Tayne]

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[chaseracer]

The Countryman thing, no. I'd rather spend the cash on an L322 Rangie.

 

Is that the kind of cash it costs?

 

As far as I know, the countryman starts at £16k but a Cooper S with all boxes ticked will run you about £27k.

Which could get you a 3-4 year old tdv8 vogue.

The Stafford BM dealer put on a bit of a show in the town centre a few weeks back, mainly to convince the punters they were still in business despite voluntarily demolishing their own showroom

 

Anyhoo, I had a squizz around the NuMAXI. As with other BINIs, it did little for me. Then I saw the price (with options, etc., admittedly) of the one they had on display: £31,985. Let me run that by you again...

 

£31,985!

 

[Pete-M]

£32k? I can think of a lot of much better ways to spend that. XJR, 911 and a very nice Rangie for me, ta.

 

Depreciation on that lot would quite probably work out so much lower that it'd be the economical option, too!

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

MINI isn't losing the plot at all. Actually what has happened is BMW have applied their ruthlessly Teutonic business model to a fairly strightforward problem and it has prevailed.

 

I won't bother writing about BLMC as it has all been said, in many cases more eloquently than I am capable of doing, before by just about everyone in the world with a passing interest in four wheeled vehicles.

 

However BLMC were utterly incapable of selling cars that the public wanted at a healthy price. BMW can. No matter what one's opinion of the new Mini, it is a sales success. In a capitalist society a car manufacturer's sole aim is to make a profit by shifting units; so they design an appealing model that will do so. The new Mini fulfills this brief admirably.

 

Where the buying public is concerned; nothing is sacred. If the society demanded the thing would be called the GaryGlitter PaedoRaper 5000. But society demands it be called the Mini; so it is. People want to drive a "Mini". They don't care what the thing actually is. 'Twas ever thus. Most of Versace's output is hideously ugly. I wouldn't wear their clothes. Yet the name dictates people do.

 

BMW are only catering to a demand. It's not their fault. They've done rather well for themselves.

 

Hammer/nail/head. Finding new markets and expoliting them is what makes them one of the most successful car companies ever. With regard to Rover they did okay in the end, keeping the bits worth having and binning the shit. It's funny looking at pre war pics of Cowley with it's slanted rooves and cloth capped workers, and knowing it would still be there in almost 80 years time.

Car marketing is an exact science, and even the likes of Mercedes, BMW, Audi and even Porsche have had to grit their teeth and get down with the Untermensch. Their money is as good as anyone elses.

 

Drawing 31 grand for a piece of shit like that though - respect!