Spiffy shots of the '09 Cabrio have been posted at:

http://www.caranddriver.com/carnews/...er-cabrio.html

Whadaya think, folks?

 

OK, really... what's the point of putting the camo tape on the headlights and other trim items? It's not like we don't know what they look like anymore.

 

Funny thing is, that black tape on the outer edges of the headlamps *really* cuts down on the "walleyed" look. It's not too often that I think of camo tape as an aesthetic improvement.

(And I know that not everyone has a problem with the headlamps, but to me, every picture of the front end I've ever seen looks like it was taken with a fisheye lens...)

 

< Kinda like that?

Funny that they'd even put camo on it, it's not like the front end hasn't been seen before, unless they have some special tricks in mind for the headlight surrounds. I'm thinking plaid, maybe paisley...

 

I think the rear roll cage bars behind the seats are fakes. They look too big in those pics to be real. Could be wrong, probably am, but just my thought on it.

 

The REAL interesting thing is gonna be the story with the roll "hoops" in back... C&D is believing that the black "shroud" you see back there is covering the same monster blind spot as on the current cabrios. The guys over at Motoringfile/WhiteRoofRadio are convinced that there's going to be some kind of less obtrusive popup roll bar/posts and the thing on the mule is just a sham... I'm kinda with Gabe & Co. on this one... why would you put a ginormous shroud over the rear headrests / roll hoops - which, incidentally, isn't shaped like the current config and is even MORE awful - unless you were hiding something?

It'll be interesting... On one hand, removal of blindspots is good - but you're gonna have massive top-up blind spot no matter what - all 4 seat ragtops do... Many folks complain about the rear visibility and don't like seeing stuff in their rear view mirror when the top's down (make statements such as "that defeats the purpose of the cabrio")...Personally, I'm used to the headrests/hoops, they don't bother me, and the hoops kinda add to the go-kart personality of the cabrio...

 

Nothing surprising in the design, as far as I can see.

But then again, maybe I couldn't see surprises because that mule was SO DAMN DIRTY !!!

Sorry, OCD rant over. Thanks.

 

Doh! Makes sure to avoid CR&PW&JB until I wash my car...

 

You wouldn't want to avoid me if your MINI is that filthy. My OCDetailers disorder would kick in and I'd have that MINI spotless and shiny within a few hours.

I doubt that'll happen though, since we're about 3,000 miles apart.

 

with a powertrain BMW had little taste for.

What do you suppose they mean by that?

 

I think it is fluff. Yeah, BMW did put "the next generation" engine in the new MINI's, but I believe it was a natural progression.

 

"our" (R53) powertrain is expensive to build, that's all. The new one, being even more shared than ours, is less expensive for BMW. Didn't they even sell the plant that made the R53 motors to a Chinese company?

 

Back on topic, judging from the lact of obvious change, sans the roll-over thing, I would imagine there are changes in the electronics and/or functional items (e.g. - auto stop/start).

 

What does this mean?

"... the convertible has languished on the original platform, with a powertrain BMW had little taste for."

Are they saying BMW didn't like the SC motor?

 

Popup rollbars would be great. I would love to be proven wrong, but realistically I am skeptical because of the cost and impact on boot space.

Here's a photo from MINI2. The shroud in the top open photos is consistent with the part of the rollbar visible in this photo. As you can see, this rollbar shape does open the rear view quite a bit, and another photo seemed to show rear headrests that are the same as the hardtop. I'm guessing that this will be "good enough" for BMW, and they won't go to the next step of a popup.

 

Go back and look at the C&D photos and compare the view from the rear they have (top down with the shroud) with the photo you posted above - they're not even close! The shroud almost completely obscures the rear window - which is almost open above. It's also a little confusing in the photo above what you're seeing through the window - I think the taller of the two lumps is actually the front headrest - looks like there is a much lower rear headrest that only goes about 1/3 of the way up the rear window - which would be a HUGE improvement... and I don't see any roll hoops in this photo... I think the photo you posted is actually the smoking gun if you look at it closely enough.

 

Doesn't look bad, but that sites slidehow was wreaking havock on firefox. Resizing the dame page every image. Why do they do that crap, it really pisses me off.

 

Click on the End Slideshow button, then you can click through the photos individually. Actually I use Firefox and the slideshow wasn't a problem.

Paul, I'm not sure what you mean when you say the MINI2 photo is very different from the C&D photo. I'm claiming that if you were to take off the shroud, you'd see an inverted U shaped bar across the width of the car with flattened dip in the middle, like in the MINI2 photo.



The middle part of the rollbar is also visible in this image from autobild.de:

 

All I'm seeing in the photos you posted is a MUCH lower "headrest" or "rollbar" or something that comes less than halfway up the rear window in the top down photos... the shroud photos shows something with a somewhat different shape (at least to me) sticking up at least twice as tall... almost 3x as tall - note that you can't see the rearview mirror in the shrouded pics - but can't even see the "middle" of the "rollbar" section in the top up pics - it's even with or below the bottom edge of the rear window. If you consider how high the top stacks up with folded, the "headrests" would be almost even with the top of the folded top when down, based on the "top up" photos... not sticking way the heck up high like the shroud (about 6" higher)...

So the shroud is either (a) a disguise to hide the fact that they've significantly shrunk the rear hoops - or removed them altogether, or (b) is actually the rollbar/headrests, in their "popped up" height.

The low headrests or whatever you can see in the two top-up photos you posted wouldn't be high enough to protect a rear seat passenger in a roll-over... so SOMETHING has got to be goin' on... methinks...

Not trying to be argumentative for the sake of arguing - but I think we're interpreting these pics quite differently.

 

<makes a mental note to "accidentally" park near CR&PW&JB's house for a few hours when my MINI needs a wash>Hmm... 63 miles... ~27mpg... at ~$3/gal. That's $7 each way, $14 total. For a quality wash, sounds like a deal to me!

 

And are they saying the convertible hasn't been popular?

 

I think the "powertrain BMW had little taste for" statement may reference the fact that the original MINI engine was a JV with Chrysler... which later became Daimler Chrysler... which means BMW arch-nemesis Mercedes was selling BMW engines for the MINI (in one way of thinking)... which spurred the new JV to create the new engine... of course, now Daimler and Chrysler have had a divorce... so goes the automotive sourcing soap opera...

 

No, I don't think it means that. By languishing I think they just mean they are taking their time moving it to the new engine. Dunno why.

Could be. That's a good interpretation

 

It's expensive to reengineer to make mechanical changes for a limited run of cars. Mounts, wires, exhaust, computer, cooling, et al for a million cars is rather cheap, for a few thousand cars is expensive as hell.