49 mpg in a land where gas costs over $5 a gallon doesn't make it a clown car at all. in Europe the MINI is not a car for the masses anymore. it is a BMW product, like it or not, and BMW is for the lucky few who never need to worry about pinching pennies at the pump.

just remember, the first classic Minis were people cars, not sports enthusiast's cars. they got great mileage but had low power...just like this "copy".

 

At issue is really not the value of the Daihatsu, but that they copy someone else.

Also check out http://www.urbancounterfeiters.com/ But here big companies who copy or steal from small designers get shown up.

But I guess we all are used to see car copies often.

H

 

That's right, sorry I guess the names were a little too close for me .

Still kind of a fugly little car.

 

Daihatsu gets my vote for one of the worst model names ever:

The Charade

The Daihatsu Charade--is it just PRETENDING to be a car???

 

Well, whoever coined the phrase, "imitiation is the sincerest form of flattery" sure got it right in this case. Whatever the case, the Mini [or MINI] sells. Successful car shapes/looks will always be copied...look at VW and Porsche, for example. Look at the first Honda and its similarity to the Mini. The list goes on and on....

 

please elaborate that one.....maybe i have never seen the first honda, but i have a hard time believing that.

I still will never get this whole conversation.....our car is just as much an imitation as that diahatsu...BMW just happened to buy the name and slap it on our cars. It's still nothing like the original.

 

Maybe someone will post a picture. The original Honda cars sold in America were tiny and powered by a 600cc air-cooled engine. From memory I believe they were even smaller than the original mini. The first generation Civic was a huge step up, and much larger than the first Honda's sold in the US.

 

I've seen the latest Daihatsu Charades in person. Oddly, I like it for it's intended purpose....haha, dont ask.

 

I drove a 1977 Honda in high school - it was not cool!



but with the hatch open and the seat down you could get pretty frisky

 

It looks like the love-child of a London taxi and a Mini. I can't say that I dislike it... It looks like a cute little practical city car.

 

You had one of the large, (relatively speaking), Civic models, if you had owned one of the original Honda cars you'd still be seeing a chiropractor from any attempt to get frisky in it.

 

here is the Honda



Nik

 

ah ok thanks....so is the resemblance simply that its a small hatchback? I still dont really see it

 

In 1999, Rover was still building "classic" Minis. This car clearly imitates the "classic" Mini. So, who's copying who?

 

and then, there are the Fiat 600 series cars, if ya wanna start grasping at straws....

 

True.....to a point. BMW made a smart marketing concept....AND kept a historic auto in production.

 

Guess who designed the new Fiat 600 series........

Frank Stephenson, the same exact guy that created our beloved MINIs. Ain't this a small world?

 

They would be copying the original Mini cooper....this thread is talking about how the diahatsu is copying our car which is cleary untrue. Our car is copying the classic mini as well.....so to put down this car is silly. The diahatsu is still more of a Mini than our car is ... even if BMW did buy the name and try to market it. So for any MINI owner to call the diahatsu a fake is going a bit far, as they drive a fake Mini too. What unique ties (besides name) does our car share with Mini's? It's not small, not as affordable, not the same fuel economy, it wasnt built for the masses.

It just seems a bit silly to see these posts pop up anytime someone sees a small hatchback that is coming into production and people start to call "fake" and "counterfeit" when we all drive a "fake" and "counterfeit" car as well.

 

Well said, Rally!

 

Times have changed son. In this new age of automobiles, who really, in their right mind would buy a "classic" style Mini type car for a daily driver? So, in reality, a change was needed.

Styling cues? Hmmm, how about wheels pushed out to the corners. A tiny compact engine, flat roof, reverse light seperate from the tail light housings, and those lovely wheel arches. While it could be said that BMW "copied" the Mini, that is not really true. They paid money for the name and gave it a new makeover. They didn't just say "Oh, we'll make a new BMW 1/2 series and model it after an old Mini. They changed with the times. They also new that it would be successful. You don't see them putting out a new "Isetta!"

 

Dustin, I agree with you...



...for the convertible.

 

Ok, dad. Of course times have changed. How does your post even come close to proving that the dihatsu is more of a copy than our car? You seem to have just skipped my whole argument. If the diahatsu is a copy, ours is a copy.

you make it sound like having the styling cues means its not a copy....so how call the diahatsu a copy as it shares the signature wide mouth grille, a flat boxy front with flat roof and hood, Vertical (not sloped like ours) headlights, rally lights integrated into the grill, a correct front chrome bumper piece, front roof antenna placement.....the list goes on. So if you are gonna argue that our car isnt a copy because it has a few styling cues.....how can anyone say the diahatsu is a copy without resorting to the simple argument that BMW owns the name and diahatsu doesnt?

 

This looks like a drawing, not a "pic". I'd buy this car if it really looked like this.

 

Ditto. It does look a lot like a London cab.

 

Dude wrote MINI, not MINI 2.