Yeh, right.
well, here's the Winding Road article:
http://news.windingroad.com/car-buyi...ing-stateside/
I'm prepared to wait and see...

 

Bleh, looks ugly. I won't be turning my back on MINI for THAT thing, that's for sure.

 

Looks like "Honey, I Shrunk the Saab."

 

I think this car could do well in North America, provided that: (1) they can get the public past the perception of p-poor reliability ingrained by past offerings; and (2) they offer it in more pleasing colors than the example (uggg). The Corsa chassis and engine options provide some credible potential.

The front grille doesn't ring my bell personally, but I do like the tire-wheel combo and the boot and lower front end design in the illustration.

Maybe this thread should be in Off-Topic: Other Autos?

 

very unique looking...

 

Hum....it is different looking...it might be one of those that grows on people the more they see it. But it still doesn't have the flair the MINI does....

Donna

 

bring it on , mini needs something in the hatch market to kick it up a notch. like a awd jcw or a 230hp factory jcw.

 

I disagree about it looks unique. It looks like a VW GTI or a smaller Audi A3. It doesn't look bad, but not as unique as the Mini's look.

 

Cool, as I always say it is only a good thing if the US market gets more good options.

I'll reserve judgement on looks until I see it - those low angle auto mag type pics don't really connote how a car design looks when standing next to them or in context to their real world presence. It doesn't have any of those ugly Bangle flame surface edges or pointy eyeglasses headlights so there is hope

 

+ 1 on the VW and Audi look-alike -- just looks like a lowered version of those cars. May be a GTI or A3 competitor moreso than MINI.

. . . and I'll be surprised if the Alfa is really introduced in the MINI price range.

 

Seems like alot of new cars are being called "MINI Killers". Only time will tell I guess.
http://consumerguideauto.howstuffwor...10-audi-a1.htm

 

There's smaller cars than the MINI, there's more spacious cars than the MINI, there's better performing, more effeceint, more practical, more luxurious, and cheaper cars than the MINI, still, there's a huge demand for the MINI because of it's personality and combination of attributes. I really don't think there can be a MINI "killer", the best they can hope for is MINI alternative or GTi Killer.

 

So probably more power and a crappy suspension, unlike the Fiat Abarth.

 

The funny thing is that most enthusiasts thinks the same great things about his/her vehicle, they love its personality and combination of attributes as does the community buiit around them. Some stay on as permanent evangelists, others move around trying different ones - nothing makes one inherently better or worse then the other, its simply too subjective and as long as people enjoy it they will support their choices. The whole "killer"statement whenever used is just a silly journalistic attention grabbing headline thing, they just want to get eyeballs on it and rile people if necessary

 

Hey, the more competitors the better, but so far everything I have seen looks pretty crappy, namely the A1. Fiat Abarth, and this. All are pretty blah. And the faaaagina nose looks particularly odd on this Alfa.

 

HERETIC! BURN HIM!

 

I'd love it if Alfa does well here in the US. They know how to make a car handle, and even the cheap Fiat 124 spyder has lines to die for. More power to them!

Go, Alfa, Go! or is that Come, little Alfa, Come?

Matt

 

 

Hey Audi A1, why the long face?

 

Well, could be something for the girl, she wants out of the Focus, but not necessarily a MINI and she is kinda hoping for a Fiat 500 to hit the shores, but if this actually hits around the same time, she might go for it. I am not upset with it's looks.

 

and Mazda is thinking of the Mazda2 for the states. And diesels too!

The small car market sure is heating up! Yeah!

Matt

 

I still think korby's interpretation of the Audi A1 was one of the funniest posts I've seen on NAM (speaking of "killer" statements ). It's in the bowels of the archive somewhere; can't seem to find it...

 

Bring it The more the merrior . I think that with short cuts like this :

Though the rear suspension is the fairly unsophisticated torsion bar setup and not state-of-this-segment multi-link, the dampers as used on the Fiat Grande Punto Abarth sister car have shown us that Fiat Automobiles knows what its doing.

It will have a interesting time dealing with R-53 and R-56 with many years of dialing in under their belts . Should be fun though.

Randy
M7 Tuning

 

Looks ugly to me.

 

I'm not crazy about this model in particular, but if you check out their international website they have quite a few enticing models, the Brera for example. Hopefully if Alfa comes back to the U.S. as planned, they will do so to stay this time. My father has 1985 GTV6 that handles and drives exceptionally well. I personally can't wait for Alfa's return, but that doesn't mean that I'll be handing in the keys to my Mini anytime soon.