The traffic here and on other MINI forums is pretty much a trickle these days. I'm not buying the Facebook argument, because the Toyota truck forums still have a ton of traffic.

 

I don’t know if it died, but as far as minis for sale, just another dry spell. I personally don’t post every one I see, mostly JCWs and above average MCS.

 

I do more work on my cars during the winter months and more driving during the summer. My posting will increase as things are being worked on. Also I am out and away from my PC more during the summer. Not sure who else that applies to but it effects the amount I post.

 

I would agree. I am on several other car and hobby forums and they are very active. I wish this one was more but just seems to be very slow.

 

I think the profile of MINI owners has changed a bit over the years. New owners are enthusiastic, but maybe not as many are "enthusiasts" in the way they were a few years back.

Might have something to do with the many changes within the world of MINI marketing -- confusing times/lots of changes in messaging and marketing direction.

The brand is evolving and trying to find a solid niche. Perhaps the activity on the board reflects transitions.

Sales were really falling, but recently there was an uptick. Let us hope for the future, and the soul, of MINI

 

Lots of good points made in this thread already. I’ll just add…

• MINI North America has never seen the kinds of sales volume that, say, Toyota trucks do. In 2020, Toyota sold nearly 239,000 Tacomas in the US. In the same year MINI sold only 28,000 cars. That’s an order of magnitude difference in the number of potential community participants.
  
• MINI has changed its marketing pretty radically over the past decade. In 2011, they were still selling fun, quirky, playful, mischievous, even flashy. But for the past 5+ years, MINI has been selling low-end luxury. Everything from the new brand to the available paint colors are reserved, quiet, low-key… dare I say boring? That kind of marketing (and car) is going to attract a different kind of buyer.
  
• One thing forums such as NAM can offer is more continuity than Reddit or Facebook. It’s been my experience that Reddit has almost no continuity. The same questions and problems come up over and over and over. Ditto on Facebook. I hope that web forums survive the advertising+engagement juggernaut of Facebook and the attention-deficit design of Reddit – because forums really do offer a better long-term experience for enthusiasts.

Just musing. I also feel the difference vs. a decade ago. But I believe NAM has a future. I hope y’all will be part of it too!

 

I don't know if the new MINIs are too boring, but maybe the reason is they became too reliable. The F56 has been out for 6-7 years? The F56 forum here and on other forums is quite. I suspect it has to do with owners having not many problems to solve. A number of these cars are out of warranty and it's still crickets.

It seems like Reddit every post is I bought an R56 related

In terms of Facebook groups, just nope not ever again. I once joined an eMTB brand specific one and nothing but endless bitching and cheap bastards complaining. It seemed like the majority of **** heads didn't even have the bike in question.

 

I think that's generally true. Colors have become more muted. However, there is one big exception: zesty yellow seems pretty flashy. I have not seen it in real life, but it looks like a highlighter yellow.

I wish MINI would have more fun colors. But I'm biased - volcanic orange owner here.

 

Melting Silver over Coral Red here.

My dealer had to do much magic to get me the one-off custom color combo that was available in Europe but not in the States.

What do I love about my Clubman? Many things, but, please don't hate me, it's the refinement, on top of the reliability and zip and just plain giggles. MSRP $42K. What can I say?

 

I would say colors were a disappointment when I bought my 2019 MCS. There were some supply limitations so it was a moot point, but it seems insane that if you get a base package, your choice of colors were like: white, black, grey, red... to get some of the funner colors, you had to get a signature or iconic package. (Not that my dealership had those colors in stock.) But like I said there were circumstances around supply at the time (manual transmission were not being imported so I had to get what I could at the time).

TLDR: I agree, the colors are too limited now. But this is a bigger issue with cars in general.

 

I feel as if i have the answer, being that i was super involved from 2006, and then vanished.

2006 was the last hour of the car being small, and being a powerhouse under $28k . LSD, 6 speed getrag transmission, harmon kardon, 2650 lbs.

then they went through ultra crap phase, 2007+ where the body became dumbed down, they removed nearly 60% of the curves the body, hood, etc. IT was a huge plan to hook the public and then bam, give them crap made by.... Peugot ?? The worst problems possible popped out instantly for a few years.

The death knell was the ignoring of manual transmission buyers and enthusiasts, so much so that the bent to SJW-Woke euro-trash types and "wanted to go electric" and "no more manuals". This was clearly stupid and almost collapsed the brand. They still are hell bent on killing the brand with electric vehicles, as if anyone aside from 1-3% of the population wants that in the world. Image and wealth create dumbness.

The JCW i want to get next month, the 2022 hardtop manual transmission, is my support for the "dying breed" which will not die, but rather go to another company's sales. BRZ/GR86 is doing fine and dandy at $30k and manual transmission

Look at the MX-5 2019 RF i have... resale on it is 27k right now and I bought it for 31k two years ago :D Manual + constant attention = sales

 

Jefe, can we dial back the socio-political attacks a bit there? No need to drag that stuff into it. One of the things I like about NAM is we don’t let that whole red-vs-blue cancer into our shared passion for cars.

thanks!

 

 

Maybe the new has rubbed off, maybe the thrill is gone.
Remember our Mini's are getting older, and not so may people care anymore.
You have to really care about owning such a unique vehicle, to be a part
of the NAM family.

Keep Motoring

 

When I ordered my 2014 2 dr you could alacart a lot of options ,, now everything is grouped into packages ,,,,

 

So, start a new topic that everyone can take part in from R50 up to the F whatever it is now.

Lets find something that catches everyone's interest. Lets get the F model people involved, somehow.

Even if its what kind of wax or polish to use, or what tire dressing is best, or what tire pressure works best for twisty roads.

The Mini needs our input and help if its going to survive. Their are too many other choices available in the marketplace.

 

Not sure I saw any "red-vs-blue cancer" in his "socio-political attack"!!

 

facebook is the anti christ to forums and has caused mass demise online even here in the uk

 

I think overall, forums like this are a dying breed. These forums were started as a means to gather and converse about a similar enthusiasm, in this case, Minis. I think the number of enthusiasts for specific brands are dwindling, and more people look at products as either appliances or luxuries. Fewer people are modifying and maintaining their vehicles on their own, and rather having specialists build and service their vehicles. Just my two thoughts….

 

Yeah. A la cart would be great.

I would want to order an upgraded color, which requires the signature trim, but I don't care for most of the added features (e.g. heated seats, moonroof, dual-zone climate). I'm an old man who grew up with crank windows and rotary phones; I don't need much. Basically, I just want a nice looking, reliable, and fun car. Most of the refinements in today's market I can do without. I'll even crank my window again.

I love those wheels in your signature picture.

 

I joined this forum in 2007. Forums like this are very rare on the internet now, I used to be on a Blackberry one, a HiDef audio/video one, an Apple products one, all at the same time. Now just this one. And the fact that the Gen3 F series Mini is now in it's 9th year of production doesn't help either.Gen1 was 5 yrs, Gen 2 was 7 years. Geez the R50-52 Minis got modded up the yazoo. I haven't done anything to my 2020 JCW Clubman at all in over a year.

 

I was told that MINI had been challenged trying to re-sell cars returning from lease that were ordered in unique spec'd ways. The dealers wanted more "generic" resale inventory. Also, by grouping option "packages" MINI was able to fold in lots of bells and whistles that, it turns out, today's consumers expect to find in their cars. And MINI is still challenged to find an acceptable price point. It's way easy to get over $40K for a MINI, and that's a lot of loot for a "small" car in the minds of many who may not fully grasp the MINI concept.

So MINI "evolved" from a core enthusiast niche brand to something designed to attract a wider swath of buyers. There just weren't enough hard core miniacs to support the growth of the brand.

Thus the cars grew larger, heavier, more loaded with stuff. And geezers like me, who went from Jags and Range Rovers, were drawn to MINI. I was at the BMW store looking to replace my Range Rover Evoque with a BMW when I saw a Clubman, asked about it, was offered the key fob for a test drive, and now I'm on my second one -- and I never get the same car twice in a row.

 

When I ordered by JCW hatch in 2017, a big part of the fun was configuring the car with the just the options I wanted/needed. I spent months researching the various packages and color combinations, and the forums were a huge help. And the color options were way more fun. Now, you pick one of three trim levels, pick from a few limited colors, and that's about it ... the fun of personalizing your car is gone. When I ordered the SE last year, only the Iconic trim level would allow me to get the larger infotainment display so that was the route I took even though I didn't need (or even want) some of the other features such as the sunroof. The only part that was exciting was getting the blackjack roof decal added at the port, which required some jumping through hoops to make happen, and then getting custom stripes after it arrived.

Both my 2006 and 2009 were great fun to configure and order to my specs. Eliminating that process may have made things easier for the average customer and for MINI, but it sucked a lot of the excitement out of ordering a car. And, also the color availability really sucks now. Why not go back to allowing any color on any trim level and charging for the more unique colors as in the past ... I happily paid an extra $1,000 for rebel green.

 

I agree. Figuring out the options and customizing can be fantastic fun.

And amen on more colors. I read that BMW allows custom colors on certain cars but that it's difficult to order a custom color. Also, apparently it's expensive and a big hassle for them to make the custom colors and change out the paint in the factory process. But yeah, I would love it if MINI would bring back more retro colors like the ice blue, which was apparently pretty popular. I also love the interchange yellow and laguna green - a couple other retro colors.

 

I remember reading on NAM years ago that upwards of 75% of Minis were ordered by the buyer, built, then shipped for pickup. I bought all 3 of mine off the dealer's lot. Now I'm sure most are bought that way. And the 4 door Minis have been the biggest sellers since they came out (Coutryman, Clubman). At one time manuals were 75% of Mini's sales too. Now it's probably 15%. But the cars are unique looking and way more luxurious than they were originally, and more powerful which is a good think IMO. I still think about buying an old R52 manual (or GP1) and just driving the crap out of it on back roads someday. I never drove one of those. Or a Gen1 MCS Cabrio.