I was told by a Volvo service manager that the Mini Cooper design is based in part on the Dodge Neon. I find this statement incredible--sounds like urban myth to me. If I knew that dodge was in any way connected to the Cooper design I would consider the purchase of something else. Can anyone dispell this claim?

 

>>I was told by a Volvo service manager that the Mini Cooper design is based in part on the Dodge Neon. I find this statement incredible--sounds like urban myth to me. If I knew that dodge was in any way connected to the Cooper design I would consider the purchase of something else. Can anyone dispell this claim?

 

sounds like the Volvo guy is jealous, and is trying to lash out against the superior BMW-designed MINI

To squelch the notion that the MINI is based on the Neon, all you need is one point; the MINI uses CAN-bus, whereas the Neon uses old-school relays-only. The architechture is therefore completely different, ask any platform manager.

 

....not even to mention that it was Rover that did the design and BMW that did the engineering....



R

 

....not even to mention that it was Rover that did the design and BMW that did the engineering....

unfortunately Rover must have done the interior design, that's why the interior erconomics are like the Rover Discovery...goofy mesh sun roof closure, poorly designed cup holders and inadequate auto AC....rented a Discovery on vacation and laughed then that MINI must have designed the interior of the Discovery, but guess it was the opposite, Rover designed the MINI interior :smile:

 

Go back to the Volvo guy and ask him to stand real still. Take two steps back and then KICK HIM RIGHT BETWEEN THE LEGS !!!!

If it was a Neon then why is it being built in England and why does'nt the Neon get the same reaction as the MINI? Because its not a MINI its a friggin Neon!!!!!

 

Someone must be concerned with lost sales...

Rocketboy_X

 

VolvoMINI

 

The MINIs are a completely new design initially by Rover. The Neon/PT Cruiser chassis was developed by DaimlerChrysler. The only similarity between the two is the 1.6L "Pentagon" powerplant under the hood. More specifically they share engines only in the NON-US models of Neons and PT Cruisers. The US versions have 2.0L engines (because Americans are power-hungry) and i believe the Neons and PT Cruisers have a Chrysler transaxle.

 

A bit of confusion going on here...let me clear this up a bit:

The current BMW/Daimler-Chrysler 1.6L TRITEC engine (Manufactured in Curitiba-Brazil) is NOT currently shared with any US-Daimler Chrysler products, namely the Neon (2.0L) and the PTCruiser (2.4L). However, the Cooper's 1.6L N/A engine is used in EXPORT versions of the Chrysler Neon and PT Cruiser sold in Europe, Asia, South America and Africa.

The MCS' 1.6L Supercharged 163HP gasoline engine is only used in the Cooper S and not shared with any other vehicle outside of it.

The Euro market MINI ONE 1.6L Tritec 90HP engine is also shared with Export versions of the Neon sold in Europe as well.

The current MINI's R50 (Cooper) and R53 (MCS) platforms are DEDICATED to the MINI and ARE NOT SHARED AMONG ANY EXISTING BMW OR DCX PRODUCTS.

So tell your "Volvo" guys to get some education and before spreading junk around the MINI for him to do a Google.com search and he should be able to pull up this information fairly quickly.

Again, no other car in the US market shares the powertrain or platform of the MINI.

_________________
'02 Cooper CVT
On order: '04 Cooper S

Sold: '01 Chevy Impala LS

 

Also the MINI does not (Thankfully) share any transmission components with Daimler-Chrysler products. The MC 5-speed unit is built in England, the CVT is a ZF box made in Belgium and the MCS' 6-speed Getrag box is made in Germany.

 

Go back to your Volvo dealer and remind him that Volvo's are Fords!


lol

 

>>Go back to your Volvo dealer and remind him that Volvo's are Fords!
>>
>>
>>lol


My thoughts exactly.

Volvo = Ford Mondeo

 

thanks for setting it straight.

D

 

As a MINI and a Volvo (XC70) owner here, I would remind those that Jaguars and Aston Martin's are Ford's as well. In any event, the interior of the XC70 is far nicer than the MINI, and it should be. My MINI has had more "warranty" work than any of the 3 Volvo's we've had. This of course is my personal experience with the brand - Ford or not. Ford builds serious cars for the WRC as well.

As far as Neon's go, the SRT4 is ***** to the walls fast. May not look as nice or handle as well as the MINI, but it's fast.

 

---"As far as Neon's go, the SRT4 is ***** to the walls fast. May not look as nice or handle as well as the MINI, but it's fast."

The mini will be that fast eventually I'm sure,, hell it coudl eb that fast now if they designed in more liek a neon.. a peice of dookie, surrounded by paper bag, and set on fire with a v6..., I woudl drive one, I already seen too many of those and lancer on teh side of the road with 16 year old blood stains on them... yeah they may be fast but the cost of speed is way too high for me, at least the mini gets you there in style...instead of dead

 

The Neon is a pretty quick car. I am getting beat every month in autox by an ACR Neon.

 

The Neon is quick. I'll give it that. But there is the inherent fact that it is a Chrysler product and is, therefore, prone to falling apart out of the box. I know too many Chrysler owners who have had WAY more problems with their new cars than any we have experienced as MINI owners. For example: power windows going out twice and heat seats failing on a 300M with 30,000 miles, or 2 transmission for a Dodge Caravan with under 75,000 miles, or the inside door handle of a brand new Neon falling into the door itself 3 times before 20,000 miles. None of these cars were misused in anyway and I personally owned or was very close to each. If the MINI were Chrysler, I would not have bought it. It is because of Chrysler that I won't buy another Mercedes.

 

>>The Neon is quick. I'll give it that. But there is the inherent fact that it is a Chrysler product and is, therefore, prone to falling apart out of the box. I know too many Chrysler owners who have had WAY more problems with their new cars than any we have experienced as MINI owners. For example: power windows going out twice and heat seats failing on a 300M with 30,000 miles, or 2 transmission for a Dodge Caravan with under 75,000 miles, or the inside door handle of a brand new Neon falling into the door itself 3 times before 20,000 miles. None of these cars were misused in anyway and I personally owned or was very close to each. If the MINI were Chrysler, I would not have bought it. It is because of Chrysler that I won't buy another Mercedes.
>>

Well, the MINI has a Daimler-Chrysler/BMW joint venture engine...so you were saying??

 

I happen to think the dude with Volvo was confused. I think he made the classic mistake of many uninformed that there is some bizarre relationship with the PT Cruiser and MINI (how many times have we heard that mistake?). The PT and the Neon share an awful lot. The engine connection with MINI probably helped blur the issue. Either way, I'd be happy to straighten the dude out.

 

>>I was told by a Volvo service manager that the Mini Cooper design is based in part on the Dodge Neon.

Sounds like normal car-salesmen blabber to me.

 

>>Well, the MINI has a Daimler-Chrysler/BMW joint venture engine...so you were saying??


I thought the joint venture was started before chrysler became diamler-chrysler? I dont think BMW would want a joint venture with one of their rivals.

 

>>I thought the joint venture was started before chrysler became diamler-chrysler? I dont think BMW would want a joint venture with one of their rivals.

rfibanez, you're correct. The rumored reason why BMW is moving to a Pugeot engine for the next generation MINI is because there's no interest in continuing the relationship with DAIMLER-Chrysler (which, btw, is now actually all one word - DAIMLERCHRYSLER - officially).

And to give a bit of contrast to Davisio's discussion of Chrysler, I'd have to say that as an owner of a DAIMLERCHRYSLER product and a MINI, my MINI has been in for warranty work about 6 times in 10 months whereas my DAIMLERCHRYSLER (boy, you get sick of typing that name...) has only been in maybe twice in about 2 years and 32,000 miles. Both vehicles have about the same maintenance schedule. So, just in terms of quality, my Chrysler experience has statistically been stellar compared to the MINI. Of course, the MINI is a whole lot more fun and it's a first-year car...so I give it lots of slack compared to the Chrysler which is very much white bread family transport. Well, pretty-well appointed family transport (the convenience features and user-friendliness of the Chrysler blows away the MINI...but that too is because it's a different kind of vehicle).

 

>>Go back to the Volvo guy and ask him to stand real still. Take two steps back and then KICK HIM RIGHT BETWEEN THE LEGS !!!!

If it was a Neon then why is it being built in England and why does'nt the Neon get the same reaction as the MINI? Because its not a MINI its a friggin Neon!!!!!


EXACTLY
Amen brother

 

To clear up all doubts once and for all, here is the official TRITEC MOTORS webpage (In both Portuguese and English versions):

http://www.tritecmotors.com.br/english/index.html


Enjoy!