Am official preview of the 2022 models:

https://www.miniusa.com/model/2022models.html

And a video preview:

 

Thanks for the links. My wife and I are looking forward to watching the video. We are excited about the new colors. I hope the Zesty Yellow will be available for the hardtops and not just the convertibles. Might be a little too bright for me, though. Not sure how I feel about the multitone roof. Can't wait to see the new ones in person.

 

Interesting changes. I do give MINI credit for taking the time to go thru them all, and explain their thoughts (though, I don't agree with all of them).

They mention that MINI reduced the number of dash switches. In their quick pan of the center stack, I don't really see any missing. I hope MINI didn't make the same major mistake other manufacturers made 10 years ago, when they eliminated many of their physical switches and replacement them with soft options in some LCD screens. They then had a major panic as they attempted to quickly redesign the switches back in. Reminds me of the heated steering wheel in my kid's old car. He had it set up to automatically go to max heat when the car started. When I drove it, I would be driving down the road, frantically attempting to find the buried menu that had the heating wheel heat 'off' button, as the steering wheel itself was starting to glow red and I could not hold onto it a second more.

Hay, Oliver, if you read this, I am still waiting, now for 18+ years, for YOU to fix the clock in my R50. Zero o'clock is never a valid time.

 

I'm just waiting for that heated steering wheel retrofit

 

Let's hip hip hooray for the heated steering wheel! We rented some Dodge SUV car in VA a year ago that had one I loved it. It's the one thing I wish I could have gotten on my new 2020 JCW in April. I notice they aren't "updating" my car because it was already a totally new car for Mini when it came out in late 2019.

 

JCW in this video but he says the Cooper S is going down in hp!!!

 

The rear fog lites and side scuttle lites are neat . Please don't hate on me the nose looks like a boxers mouthpiece was stuck in it . What's up with a decline in HP emissions? Can't imagine they couldn't figure a way to at least maintain HP. Overall cleaner/more polished up.

 

Is that an electronic parking brake I see?

 

Nice catch.
I found a pic of one with a handle with auto tranny. This is the industry "less manual everything". I'm starting to consider a Classic Mini without power steering

 

Looks like a manual hand brake for the manual transmission vehicles:


And electronic parking brake for the automatic vehicles:


Courtesy of Motoring File
https://www.motoringfile.com/2021/01...h-convertible/

 

I wonder if the Illuminated dash is now gone?



With that, the ability to retrofit the secret compartment?

 

The rear "bumper" on the Cabrio looks like crap. The front looks OK. Notice how when they can't find anything better to say they say it looks "more aggressive". Right? I have the electric PB on my 2020 so that's not new.

 

That interior is ridiculous, and therefore I love it.

Cars need more of this and less boring transportation appliance crap.

 

Looks like on the convertible they took a design from m the launch edition yellow of the R57 interchange yellow.




F56 LCI 2 JCW aero body should be the standard for the body. And they should have came up with a more aggressive version for the JCW. I mean every MINI is a racecar.

 

Power drop is only for Europe, thanks to the GPF.

 

I talked to a MINI dealer today. What he said about the upcoming 2022 model year:

• Gone: Starlight Blue and Solaris Orange (and some other color too, but I can't remember)
• Zesty Yellow will be convertible only (for now).
• The new configurator on the MINI website should be up by April. However, you can order from your dealer now.

 

Caribbean Aqua is also gone for 2022, but I think one of the greys is also gone for 2022.

 

Anyone but me think that it's pretty weak of Mini to not come out with the Gen4 until the Gen3's been sold for ELEVEN YEARS? The Gen1 was 5 yrs, Gen2 7 years, and Gen3 started in 2014 right? True, the 2020 JCW Clubman/Countryman are totally different cars/platforms than the other Gen3 F-series Minis but they're still the same body style and interior style......

 

It’s not just you. 7 years is a pretty standard length of BMW lifecycle. Usually they do four years, then a light mid-cycle cosmetic update, then after year 7 it’s time for the next generation. In this case, BMW is stretching the length of this product cycle, and doing a second mid-cycle update.

I’ve read that the delay has something to do with ramping up a new factory in China for making pure battery-electric MINIs. Not sure I believe it’s the whole picture though. https://www.motoringfile.com/2019/11...ic-mini-china/

Personally, I think it’s that MINI sales have been so damn poor since the F-series were introduced that they need to stretch sales a few more years to finish paying back the investment of designing and tooling up for them. Cars are capital intensive and shockingly low-profit-margin, even with BMW’s “skim the cream, leave the rest for others” approach to the market :-/