Austria, famed for giving the World Arnie, Mozart, and Ferdinand Porsche at the head of the line to bring us a new MINI variant?
There's lots of rumours and stories around at the moment about the future direction(s) the MINI brand may take. Lots of information tallies, and lots of it, as there's plenty of crystal ball gazing taking place, just doesn't figure at all. So we thought we'd add a little to the confusion.
Recently we received word that MINI is well advanced in it's plans to produce the previously rumoured "MINI SUV" or "Colorado", and the favoured candidate for the production location is Magna Steyr, in Graz. Magna Steyr currently produce the BMW X3, and also carried out development work for that vehicle.
"Test mule" MINIs have been spotted near the plant already, leading people to believe that Magna Steyr may have been working together with BMW on development of the 4WD MINI, and it seems that due to production capacity, as well as logistical reasons, Magna is by far the favoured production facility for the next new MINI.
Rumour suggests the car will be a sort of "Soft Roader" MINI, which will help further broaden the appeal of the MINI range. The styling is said to be more bullish and aggressive than the current second generation MINI. The idea appears to be to build in a bit more toughness in to the relatively cutesy MINI look. So this will be a bigger, more aggressive MINI with off-road ambitions. And it's going to keep the "MINI" theme. Tough job for both the designers and engineers, but if they pull it off it could be a big hit. Which is just as well, as production forecasts are for as many as 80,000 vehicles a year.

EDITED by Dave
Original Source

 

Thats cool. There are others threads talking about the AWD version ... but I got one and its FASTER

As I said a hundred times, we are more interested in a convertable runabout for around town for the wife. That is what I would be looking at

Thanks for the post though!

 

yeah but the R58 could be a nice replacement to that lighting fast RAV4?

 

For a serious answer ...

It all depends upon the amount of usable space in the interior, the amount of load it can haul, and possibly the amount it can tow (possibly as I have the tow package with upgraded oil cooler, alternator ... whatever comes with it. If I can't hault say 800 pounds of dirt bags, mulch, and get in it 10' long railings, 8' long lumber, all the things in maintaining a yard, year after year, its not going to be much good to me.

Most significant will be the reliability track record of the new cars.

Simply put ... I sold my 04 because the reliability sucked. Its all in the original thread where I posted why I sold. I am not going to go through again where I was constantly at the dealer having things repaired under warranty. Its simply not fun.

If the new cars come out with a track record of very little warranty work, proven reliability to over 100K miles, none of the silly throwing codes crap. None of the silly limp mode crap. Then yes, I could take a serious look at it. MINIs throwing codes? IMHO, thats pathetic reliability.

Until they do that, I would not consider it for my "heavy use" vehicle that I have to depend upon everyday.

Burn me once, shame on your ... burn me twice ... shame on me.

A little convertable would be just an around the town fun car for the summer for the wife and is more tolerable with repair problems since its would not be a car that HAD to be running every day, every week, year round.

So thats my line of reasoning. They are going to have to prove themselves because I aint going to get burnt again on a vehicle that I HAVE to have running all the time Yes, I need to have Toyota Quality to be considered as a daily driver.

 

Geez Chowsie, you used to be fun.


j/k

 

Hey catgirl ... BTW, I dont know if you follow American Idol or not but one of the female singers in there has photos all over the net from being on Girls Gone WIld.

We need to do some more marketing of the videos. Make some money. Silly 15 minutes of fame on Idol and they are going to make more money than us

 

 

Who was the original author of this? Link?

 

Here is the link:

(Damn it I can't paste!)

www.mini2.com and look under "news"

It seems this piece went under the radar here in the US.

Also right below it is an interesting piece about a new R56 Cooper that was painted in Dark Silver color at the factory by mistake!

 

How is this different than the article that was on MotoringFile last January: MINI’s Top Secret Colorado Project (aka R58?)

FYI: You can read more about R58 in several articles on MF from 2006 here: motoringfile.com/section/r58/

 

Is this necessary? And if so, why? Why do a MINI SUV? What on earth could POSSIBLY be the point, aside from pandering to another demographic for the sake of pandering. This annoys me. Intensely. Down with the Colorado.

 

Cmon Toastie

Variety is the spice of life

 

That's what Jeeps are for -- MINIs are for... being MINIs!

 

Well duh, I mean I totally agree A Mini SUV would be well kind of a Maxi & that's just silly

 

I dont think they really mean SUV. I think they mean AWD w/out getting bigger than the clubman. At least that is what Gabe wrote about, I believe.

 

Ever hear of the Moke?

 

There you go causing trouble again. Your review thread got some very mean people in there

 

Yes. And I find it an equally silly concept. In the very least, it's one that isn't applicable to the US market. I'll stand by the assertion that the vast majority of people who purchase SUVs do not do it because they "need" the SUV (I know there are some -- I know!) but because they want a larger vehicle. Well I don't think there should BE a larger vehicle in a line of MINIs. And when such a time (apparently inevitably) comes, I think the entire company should have to be re-named VEHICLESOFAVERAGESIZE.

So, if it's not going to be much bigger -- what's the point?
And if people legitimately want an offroad vehicle, why don't they just buy another, established, legitimately offroad vehicle?

If I want a knife, I'll buy a Henkel. If I want a shoe, I'll buy BCBG. I do not think that BCBG should be expected to make knives, nor do I think that Henkel should be expected to make shoes. Similarly, I think MINI should do what MINI does best (and perhaps exclusively, given their name) and make MINI vehicles.

 

And Mokes... cause you know, they used to make them...


I'm sure theres something else to complain about somewhere on the site, lets just quit passing judgement on something nobody has seen yet.

 

Toastie, OK, everyone has their opinions. Clearly MINI's opinion is not the same as yours.

Your knife or show analogy doesnt' wash. Yes, its true that if you want Fish, dont go to a SteakHouse ... thats your point.

On the other hand a company like BMW makes a HUGE variety of vehicles ranging from the itty bitty MINI to large 7 Series cars, roadsters, sedans, etc. Nothing wrong with that. Lets see. So does GM, FORD, MB, Toyota, Nissan, and just about every other major car maker. So how are you going to avoid it.

Beside, and heres the killer, while many MINI owners hate SUVs, the fact is ... follow the money BMW is in the business to make money ... period. And if they can make more by selling softroad MINIs, you can take it to the bank they will This bit about MINI doing what it does best, heritage, etc pales in comparison to the bottom line ... profit for the stockholders.

And BTW, they said softroader, not a true off-road vehicle.

 

And, as I mentioned, I find it silly. Retroactively. And I'm quite happy complaining about this for the time being, but thanks for your concern.

But BMW (ownership arguments aside) and GM, Ford, etc. aren't companies called MINI. I just feel that there should be some, I don't know, correlation.

 

And threads like this just ease me along to moving far, far away from NAM and all the sillyness that has ensued here ofer the past few months.

I'm extremely glad i'm nowhere near as narrow minded as alot of the peple around here.

 

Mokes are AWESOME!


This is a 1967 Mini Moke.


Don't know what year this Moke is, but it certainly isn't a big vehicle! Love those little wheels!

 

think the new mokes wont have doors either

 

But MINI IS BMW.... It is no different than Buick is part of GM

With all due respect Toastie ...

BMW needs to survive in the marketplace and answer to their stockholders. Widening the appeal of the MINI marque just means more business for BMW and its stockholders.

Just think about this for one second.

If you limit the line to the MC and MCS ... how many potential buyers have you alienated or will NOT buy the car because its too small. WIden the appeal and you make more money.

Economics 201. Diversify.

The fact that you might not like it or its not pure to the original mini idea really wont hold water when its time to report to the stockholders ... I can just see the meeting now.

STOCKHOLDERS: Why are your profits remaining steady state and not increasing?

BMW: Because Toastie and some purist think we shouldn't diversify and remain true to the mini name

STOCKHOLDERS: