https://www.topgear.com/car-news/fra...one-crazy-aero


Umm... I will keep mine for awhile longer.

 

Batmobile by MINI

 

I want that spoiler and headlights

 

Meh

mQubed Motorsport, Manic Tuning Dealer

 

meh is right - though it's wild enough to tame the retarded look of the F56, so might be the only way I'd buy an F56. Be hell cleaning the mud and love bugs out of that aero though.

 

And I thought the F56 was ugly... hope it is only a one off concept. They really should put their energy towards fixing the F56's fugly face. How can so many other car manufacturers create such harmonious designs and MINI throws their's down a fugly tree, hitting each branch along the way?

 

...and of course, it is an automatic :( Is nothing sacred...

 

I realize i am quoting myself... but wtf... even Porsche hardly offers a manual on their 911s. I thought Porsche would be the last marque to cave, but i was wrong.

I was at my MINI dealer yesterday and every single MINI on the showroom floor was an automatic.

I understand that you cannot humanly shift a manual as quickly as the computers can shift an automatic.

I understand the Formula 1 race cars are automatic.

I also know that many young people have grown up with automatics and don't see the need for the manual transmission. You are missing a huge part of the driving experience by driving an automatic.

Extremely fast supercars are so fast that maybe only an automatic makes sense. I call it point and shoot. That, my friends, is not driving, rather, it is playing a live video game.

For a sports car (not a race car), only a manual transmission makes sense to me.

If MINI makes the next GP an automatic, another great driving sports car will become history...

 

I'll chime in on these comments...

I agree with everything you said about driving enjoyment and engagement when it comes to a manual transmission. I firmly believe all driving courses should be taught on a manual transmission, so that all new drivers can drive any car they get into. And for enthusiasts, there really shouldn't be any other choice.

HOWEVER, car manufacturers are finding themselves having to conform to more strict emissions requirements with each passing model year that is introduced. The easiest way for them to control vehicle emissions is to have full control where the engine operates for a given drive cycle. The only way to have full control over the engine operation is through, you guessed it, an automatic transmission. There are other factors involved in the transmission choice, but the biggest is emissions.

 

Great point. i never thought of that as a contributing factor.

They already have cars that you can pretty much take your hands off the wheel and they will stay in the lane. Driverless cars aren't far behind.

Thankfully we still have our GPs!!!!

 

I think that to many people are just to lazy or afraid to push in the clutch and move the shift lever also. I don't want my car shifting while in the middle of a hard turn at the adhesion limits. True car enthusiasts will always pick a manual trans for sportier cars

 

As an enthusiast and a Motoring Advisor, you all should be glad to know that there is at least one dealer out there putting an effort into saving the manual. We build what we call a "Competition" JCW, one at a time, with every performance part MINI makes and put it in this spot in our showroom as an example of what these cars are capable of.

You can see in the Moonwalk Grey car, we installed a set of LED lights just behind the pedestrian bumper firing back onto the a/c condenser and radiator to create the red glow.

We have a JCW performance wall that displays every part we put on our competition cars for customers to see up close.

We are consistently the highest volume dealer in the central region, and (not that anyone else is counting) we also sell the most JCWs.

We try to make every MINI unique, even to the point of shipping a set of seat backs to Bulgaria to be re-manufactured in real carbon fiber.

We like cars, we like MINIs, and we like manual transmissions, because we're car people, and we like to drive.

 

Love it - mind sharing the name of the dealer? great to find a dealer who actually cares about the cars. If mini ever builds a new new mini (you know, that's not fat....), I'll order it from you guys.

 

It is right at the bottom of his post!

 

ah - I read it originally in the email notification from NAM, which doesnt include signatures - and the second time I read it I didn't look for text below the pictures... so quoting it here for others.

 

We are Baron MINI, and we are in Kansas City, right in the middle of everything!

 

I will say though, it's difficult for us to stock as many manuals as we would like to, because 90% or more of the people buying are demanding an automatic.

 

We will have a tent set up next week at the MINIs on the Dragon. How about shipping that parts wall to us, would love to have that on the back wall of the tent . . . . .

 

Love seeing the lowered JCW cars. Recognize Todd's graphics work too, looks great

 

Ha! That would be cool. It's super heavy though.

We're lucky to have him. He's been doing graphic work here since we opened in '02, and claims he's done about 8,000 cars now. He striped my '04 when it was new. I'll be selling some of his graphics this year on the west route of MTTS.