Maybe, it'll look better in person??? lol

 

Here's an article about it:

http://www.caranddriver.com/features...fatter-feature

I do wonder how low-slung sports cars seem to be able to meet the regs (like the Alfa 4c I posted earlier).

- Mark

 

Apparently the U.S version is heavier, too!!!

I don't buy all the excuses for making this MINI bigger. Something else is at work. If they can pull off smaller packaging for the iQ, why can they not do so for MINI??

 

Another conspiracy, let's reconvene the Warren Commission and get to the bottom of this !

 

Yes, that's it!!

 

Because the iQ is a flimsy cheap "penalty box", not an upmarket "premium compact car".

Every iteration of every car gets heavier. Check out a 2013 Civic against a 1970s version. Or check a 2013 911 against the late-60s version. The newer cars are larger in every dimension, and weigh quite a bit more.

The VW Golf started out as a small car, and grew over the years. So VW introduced the Polo to fill the small car niche that the Golf had outgrown. The Polo was pretty near the size of the original Golf. And I heard rumors that they were going to slot in a model below the Polo, because that had grown out of that small-car niche again.

People, especially in the US, always want "more". More headroom, more power, more cupholders, more luxury, more safety, more more more. Giving them more means making the car bigger and heavier.

 

How about, just getting people to look both ways before they cross the street? I would think promoting pedestrian safety can keeping them out of the roadway may be a better alternative than making cars into cotton *****.

 

+1

 

The size increase may be due to the fact that BMW is going to use the Cooper Chassis as the underpinning for their all there small cars in Europe next year.

 

This is basically my question, too.

Build-wise I'd put it on par with R50, although it is admittedly built for a very specific type of customer. Again, it does meet safety requirements.

I agree...beneath it all I think the car's size has more to do with this than anything else.