Wow. I've been here for a few days on vacation and I am absolutely amazed by the number of MINIs around here. At home, my daughter loves pointing out MINIs, but here its gotten a bit tiresome when every 5th car appears to be a MINI

Also very cute are the Fiat 500s, though I saw an Abarth which I'm not sure is standard with Scorpions on its wheels that look silly. Pictures don't do the 500 justice. Its got a much nicer dash layout, but I don't really trust Fiat engineering.

 

sounds like a fun trip =)

 

I was there two years ago. Did you notice that very few have white or black roofs?

 

Part of the reason may be that contrasting roof is not available on the MINI One.

 

I didn't realize but now that you mention it, it seemed a lot didn't have a lot of exterior decorations like stripes and stuff, MINI one or not. I suspect that since so many more park on the streets where bad things happen, exteriors are just not valued very highly. Thats the only explanation I have for them driving so many ugly non-MINIs.

 

Hi Skim Milk,

An American Mini owner in Paris I will agree that many of the cars here have same color roofs because they are hit with a 20% sales tax making them quite expensive the better they get. That's one reason I got a Cooper instead of a Cooper S - over $40k for a nicely equipped S was too much so I settled for a Cooper for $30k.





It has a contrasting roof but is garage kept. No car can last more than a month or two parked on the street without its body getting bashed and dinged on several panels. Another reason why folks here prefer to not buy a car for that instant sacrifice.


There are indeed a lot of Minis in the streets of Paris, but currently they are starting to get dethroned by the Fiat 500 which has nicer colors even in its base cars, colors which really suit its shape and character. This of course has something to do with Italian taste, after all Milano has become the design capital of the world with the leading trade show in that field. Of course a Mini is nice in any color and it all depends on wheels stripes etc to make them just right. Despite the Germans deciding on shades and hues, some colors do suit the Mini like the Hot Chocolate of the Mayfair, Dark Silver and my favorite Horizon Blue. Here she is in front of the main church in town.





You'll notice I don't like parking too close to other cars. Often I see the nicer optioned out Minis double parked with their warning lights on rather than stacked into the standard parking spots. They prefer a parking ticket to getting their bumpers, hood or trunk lid caved in by Parisian drivers who brag about parking in Brail mode.


That Fiat 500s are conquering more of the automobile park in Paris could also be due to their shape which at least give the appearance of being more sheltered above the waistline from the onslaught of careless motorists who make their parking spaces larger by pushing parked cars to the front and to the back. They sell alarm warning systems here to prevent that, but they just keep on despite your flashing lights and honking horn.


In the Fiat 500 camp there is increasing competition because it is priced way way lower than a Mini yet it provides most of the same features as well as equivalent retro stying. Especially appealing is the Abarth 500 which spells trouble for Mini because its JCW equivalent sells for the price of a base Cooper S. Here's a thread comparing the two main contenders for King of the Parisian city car scene.


A second MINI or an Abarth 500 ?!?


CB

 

When you say 30k for a reg. MINI are you talking US or Euro? Great post by the way. MINI's rule Europe. Wish I could have rented one but the Golf gaser with a stick was just fine actually. Fiat is cute but engineering and Dodge is going to fix them over here? They can't fix their own stuff let alone something Italian made in the states. I am tradign my 2010 in so I will only get hit with about $800 on taxes and the 2011 JCW on order was 35K US.

 

I was in Paris (and uk and Germany) in 2002 and was really in love with the MINIs which were obviously new, as well as the Smarts around. It was quite clear that you have to accept that the car will be brutalized, with that push-method for parking. I imagined that I would be in for a custom bumper rail system, ha.
Anyway, that trip was instrumental in securing my intention to be a future MINI driver. I have always had concerns about the ultra-compacts here in the US as people drive large vehicles inattentively as a rule. I haven't yet seen too many flattened Smarts though.

 

Hi Island Maser,


I was actually converting euros into dollars. That was with a 12% discount that Mini seldom gives, as a policy, as list price for our averagely equipped Justa Camden was 28,000 euros which maps out to more than your JCW in dollars. Sure that you have to tack on sales tax whereas here in the price the 20% sales tax is included. What got my goat was that we had to pay one thousand dollars (780 euros) extra for vehicle prep upon delivery which is mandatory and included washing the car, registering it and giving you a quart of motor oil while handing you the keys.


Regarding the Abarth 500 and how they are built, here's a view of the almost entirely robotized factory in the USA - its sort of scary when you think about it and now we know where all the jobs went that used to feed so many families in Detroit.





In Europe the Abarth 500 is built in the same assembly line in Poland as the Fiat 500. However it has a large number of Abarth specific parts and some say its chassis is also reinforced. I've heard claims of as many as 30% different parts. Rumors that there is a dedicated Abarth work force alongside Fiat line workers, are unfounded.


In terms of marketing Abarth 500's have no reference to Fiat anywhere. They are sold through a dedicated network of Abarth dealerships, although a number of existing Fiat dealerships are asked to develop what they call an "Abarth Corner" in their showrooms which is designed and dedicated to only that brand. Currently the starting cost to design and decorate that section begins at 90,000 euros or roughly $120,000.


At present in France there are only 6 dealerships where you can get after sales service or repairs on your Abarth, Fiat dealerships washing their hands of any issues or problems needing sorting out. Fortunately in Paris we're one of the places where there's a dealership so nobody is needing to drive hundreds of miles. In the USA it makes sense to use the enormous network of Chrysler dealerships to sell Fiats and Abarths as well as maintain them.


Back in the days I used to HATE Fiats, my Fiat 124 being abandoned hoisted up against a tree trying to pull its engine... for a minor maintenance issue which couldn't be reached even with fairy hands, without pulling the engine. Only the wiring of British cars was worse than the illogical mechanical solutions taken by the Italians. But that was back in the days.


Since then corporate engineering and methodologies have invaded most car builders worldwide, they all use the same computer assisted design software which precludes many mistakes but also integrates huge amounts of cost factoring as well as materials limits into the initial technical design process. Add to that the fact that with reliability designed into cars from the onset, to keep the dealers fattened in days of competitive pricing some builders have actually had to deploy efforts to make their cars LESS reliable, for example Renault had a staff of 43 engineers in their department dedicated to "planning breakdowns" so that they would occur as soon as possible once the warranty was over.


From what I've heard Fiat doesn't play that game and on the whole most of their cars are fairly reliable. What they might lack for is in creature comforts, but this is because they have other brands for that, Lancia being for mid segment cushy cars, Alfa Romeo being their sporting car models, Maserati allying comfort with power and Ferrari... need I explain?


What is nice is that they've relaunched the Abarth name and the Italians are quite good at capturing the Essence of what a brand is. Abaths were loud (he started with race exhausts) and wild no compromise rides. An Abarth owner liked to bomb around as if driving in a rally. No sedate clients there, and they were very rare, you'd seldom see one anywhere and it became an event.


On their website you can see they've entered them in rallies in many places and are rebuilding this image while using cost effective existing platforms for their cars. One car which might be interesting would be the forthcoming Abarth 500 Giardiniera which is a modern take of the early Fiat 500 wagon. Sure it is less pure in shape than the hatch, but with a longer wheelbase and slightly more weight it might in Abarth form be a more accomplished car with greater stability which is the drawback of the current version?


Cheers,


CB

 

Hi Third rail design lab,


Yeah, all the former Minis of the early generation (60's and 70's) used to have to mount metal rail headlight and taillight guards on the front and rear to avoid buying new parts every week. Paris parking if anything has gotten more brutal, with key scratches being the least of your worries and coming back to your car to find a fender or door caved in becoming good news when it is only one panel and not the entire of your car that was gouged...


Since you were here something has changed. Given skyrocketing real estate prices and today's average cost of $1000/sq.ft. for housing anywhere in the city, most of the cars are newer than older and it is getting rare to see the Gen I Minis around town. But there are larger yet sprinklings of current Minis with an increase in Clubmans as compared to previous years, that model having made a market penetration combining compact size with travel practicality for Parisian one car families. Now the Smart cars are ageing, costing almost as much as a Mini for a lesser car as their novelty has worn off. What is sprouting up is the presence of Fiat 500s which have filled the streets due to their trendy design and thanks to an entry price almost half of that of the Mini One.


I can understand your reluctance to an ultra compact in the USA. I find a Mustang plenty small in the States, and prefer to drive the Town Car when careening through Manhattan as it gets some respect from Cab drivers when you make willful moves. While I can see that a Mini would be chosen purely for driving pleasure in the USA here it combines that with being just about the most ideally suited vehicle for local road and traffic conditions. That makes it a shoe-in for a choice as a first car, while in the States it is possibly bought out of irrational love more than because it's the one that makes the most sense.


Here the Mini gets respect from Parisian drivers and that helps when they can choose to smash into you, get into a dogfight to prevent you from merging lanes, tailgate at speed, fishtail or otherwise aim their steed like a torpedo at your flank. So having them take note and be courteous is an unexpected advantage which is worth a lot in terms of driving comfort, requiring less of a battle to fend your way through traffic. Analyzing why I concluded that it is because it is the trendiest upmarket car here, is not nearly as small visually as other cars especially if it has a contrasting roof color, is known to be quick and nervous, and is good looking enough that they don't mind being stuck behind admiring its curves.


CB