Los Angeles. 101 South, right before the 405 Freeway. Shot by my boss this morning.

There's obviously tons of better shots of the convertible

 

I'm so glad that the convertible came out well, unlike the PT convertible, which looks terrible IMO.

 

Where's the gas cap?

 

I noticed that too. Did they switch sides? That would be odd.

 

Good eye!!

When I fill up, all the left hand side pumps are always full ... Seems like there's a disproportionate number of cars with gas caps on the left hand sides. Maybe MINI is trying to reverse that trend.

 

The S convertible has the body colored gas cap, like the coopers do.

The one I photographed here had the same 'feature'.

 

Yes the gas cap is body colored. Last night I got to talk to one of the "testers" from England. They are up in the Bishop Ca area doing their hot weather testing this week, so there are about four in town. He was very friendly, and showed me how everything worked, and asked plenty of questions about my car. It seems that the designers/ testers dont get to talk with actual owners much. One of the coolest things about the convertable (at least I thought so) was when the top is up, you can open just half way and have a huge sun roof. His only concern with the car so far was the material that the top was made out of, but he was sure that they would improve tha before the production models started

I dont think I would mind having this guys job, summer testing in the states, some winter testing in Switzerland, all while getting to drive a MINI around


Oh, he said that they changed the sc on it to, sounded like basically a coating on the inside. Much like what I have read on the boards. But it did increase the HP some. Said I probably wouldn't notice since I have the 15% on mine.

And one last quote from him (man I wish I would have gotten his name)

"Happy Motoring" :smile:

Nik

 

Technomage...LUV the sig!:smile:


BTW, heat testing in CA????? I hope they're also testing in some hotter spots, too!!!!!

 

BTW, heat testing in CA????? I hope they're also testing in some hotter spots, too!!!!![/QUOTE]



Heat and altitude. Its not all beaches here, Death Valley, below sea level, 120+ temps. Just 2+ hours away, 10000+ foot passes 30 degree demps 1 1/2 hour away, and then the lovely deserts of Nevada 1 hour away. Cant get much more diverse in 3 hours of driving. :smile: :smile: But I'm sure they test many other places also.

I first saw the Mini when they were here testing in 2001.

Nik

 

jds,
Thanks :D

Many car manufactures do extreme testing in Bishop, CA. It's not uncommon to see cars one or two years ahead of there release in that area.

Why, you ask?

It's between the Eastern Sierra mountains and Death Valley.
In less than 100 miles you can go from 26 degrees at over 12,000 feet to 105+ degrees and 300 ft below sea level.

There are fun twisties all the way down the mountains, and huge flat straightaways in the desert. What more could a test engineer want?

 

True to form vehicles of the 60's and 70's, MINI has decided to relocate the fuel fill behind the license plate. This is the safest location.