I don't know how many Original Mini owners are out there, but I'm wondering if any of the similarities between the Old & New have made a difference in your purchasing experience, or option choices. The new MINI is visually a Mini, and the handling is VERY Mini-like, with the exception of a lack of trailing-throttle fun. I know the one moment that for me, was THE flashback to the Cooper S of old. I sat down in the new MINI for the first time in a showroom, adjusted the seat, then I grabbed the the shifter, and pulled it out of 1st gear, and idly flicked it back & forth in neutral. I had the driver's door open, and the sound of the shifter reflected off the polished floor right into my brain.....it was the EXACT SAME sound the old Coopers with the aluminum extended shift housing made, when I was ready to start 'er up. Damn! Not that this made any difference in my choice.....
Any other deja vu' out rhere?

Rob in Dago

 

It is funny that the thing that made the Mini and the Mini Delux different was a heater and that is about it.

The sound got me. When I drove the New Cooper S the wine of the supercharger sounded very simular to the wine the 'classic' Mini's gearbox have. The Mini's alsos had a battery in the boot becasue they couldnt fit it in the engine bay, the Cooper S has that also for the same reason.

I think BMW have really marketed it the right way, the mini's were always fun cars, that is how people see the new one too. I think they have started a new generation of 'enthusiasts'


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Time stops for no one.... But people always stop to look at a MINI