Would you drive a fake Mini?

[warren t claim]

 

 

You have to look quite closely at this Mini to spot that it's not quite the real deal, but the real deal it is not. Beneath that pretty convincing exterior lies the chassis and general innards of a Maruti 800.

 

Ordinarily we tend to baulk at cars that are pretending to be something they're not (see Mustang-BMW, Mustang-Supra or Mercedes-Silvia for details), but this is a little different.

 

After all, the Maruti 800 hails from India (this particular one being from Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh) and, being essentially a licence-built Suzuki Alto, turning it into a Mini lookalike can surely only improve its visual appeal.

 

Also, we imagine that original Minis are rather hard to come by in Uttar Pradesh, and even if you did find one we doubt it would be equipped with air-con (one of the Maruti 800's chief selling points).

 

http://www.pistonheads.com/news/default ... ryId=23369

 

 

All in all, the Maruti-Mini is something of which the PH HQ office approves. Mind you, if you start to look hard the track seems a bit narrow for the body, and there's an odd curve in the roof line.

 

We also reckon a set of original Mini wheels would finish the whole thing off rather better.

 

One final issue is the price. It's up for 1,000,000 rupees, which works out at about £13k. And that's a bit on the steep side when you can buy a decent classic Mini in Blighty for less than £4k...

[Alexg]

Looks like a fake Mini. I'm sure BMW will be interested to find out more....

[Negative Creep]

Do they own the rights to the original design?

[Alexg]

yes

[Negative Creep]

I wonder what the law is on other replicas, e.g Cobras or Lotus 7s? Surely someone (I think Caterham in the latter case) holds the rights to the design?

[Timewaster]

Would I drive a fake mini?

 

NO!

 

The roofline and the rear windows are all wrong, it will sound wrong and more to the point it will drive like a miserable little indian hatchback.

 

Some sort of mentalist Jap Kei car would be a much more interesting prospect.

[garycox]

I'd drive one.

 

That probably means they're shit.

[gtd2000]

I'd rather go for a Daihatsu Trevis if it was my money I guess:

 

 

 

[mattblack]

...it will drive like a miserable little indian hatchback.

 

At least that will be an improvment then.

[Father Ted]

Trevis looks soooo sad. Needs cheering up.

[Polystratus]

I'd rather go for a Daihatsu Trevis if it was my money I guess:

 

 

 

 

Now thats what the Mini should have been.

[dollywobbler]

Trevis looks soooo sad. Needs cheering up.

 

But then the original Mini always looked a bit grumpy. Not like the Clubman. Smiley face!

 

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

Trevis looks soooo sad. Needs cheering up.

 

[gtd2000]

Actually that upside down grille makes all the difference to it!

[Wilko220]

Looks like a fake Mini. I'm sure BMW will be interested to find out more....

 

Don't Wood & Pickett still make them?

http://www.woodandpickett.com/cars-for-sale/17/

[Station]

I'd rather go for a Daihatsu Trevis if it was my money I guess:

 

 

 

 

Now thats what the Mini should have been.

 

That's what I thought, much better looking than the BMW one. I can't see many telesales workers buying that though.

[Split_Pin]

I'd prefer the real thing, even a tatty City.

 

On a side note, has anyone else browsed through the rest of the cars for sale on that website? Its Indian, so there's lots of HM Contessas.

[Shep Shepherd]

Haven't BMW been making fake Minis for the past ten years?

[Negative Creep]

Would you drive a fake BINI?

 

 

 

If the other choice was a new Countryman, yes.

[Richard]

That looks a lot better than a real BINI.