Now you've got me really confused. I think I understand your dislike for the front end of the R56 (don't agree, but understand) ...but how is the Traveller concept an improvement?

dean.

PS: I found this picture on Google and assume it is the Traveller? If not, please post a picture of one so I can better understand. Thanks.

 

Clubman R55 test mule:





[img]http://images.leftlanenews.com/content/5-jan24-mini-clubman.jpg[img]

 

To my eyes, the taller roof line and nearly squared off back end correct some of the design deficiencies of the R56 3 door body. I am not fond of the front end, but the R55 looks better proportionated from most angles. No more bubble but effect and curiously, the R55 doesn't seem to ride as high as the R56 but that could be an optical illusion due to the taller roof design.

 

The traveller concept car has an even flatter hood than the R56, and the headlights are even more flat and splayed to the sides.

Its interesting that you still like this better and I'd guess that its because it does not try as hard as the R56 to still look like the R50/53 - which is something C4 suggested when he said why not start with a clean sheet.

Where the concept really looks different is the tall vertical grill (free from the need to have a bumper - concept cars!)

 

I have to take a picture from the driver's seat - the hood of the R56 is far from flat! In fact I find that it is very much like the original minis hood as far as its contours with the exception that it falls off at the headlights for its aero treatment vs the mins vertical round lamps.

 

I agree! Again speaking from the Cooper side of the discussion, the bonnet curves are very subtle and nice...not bulbous at all. The bonnet looks shorter, too, because the chrome beltline now flows uninterrupted in front of the wipers. What helps pull the front together (for me anyway) is the grill. The more extreme contours of R50 could be seen as an element in themselves. R56s more subtle bonnet goes better with the grill, which appears bolder and (not sure if it is) larger. The grill does make a bolder statement in any case, taking center stage, and the bonnet shape supports that nicely. (this again is similar to the classic to me....you never hear anyone going ga-ga over the sexy curves on a Mini bonnet.)

Same thing for the back...it looks right because the beltline trajectory dictates it's shape. It is also much more rounded than R50's backside and I believe there are aerodynamic advantages to a more rounded profile back there. In any case the overall work, given the strong MINI belt-line, produces a feel that is both cohesive and slightly aggressive. I love the fact that R56 does this so subtly....in a way that still retains a MINI's cheeky charm.

 

Agreed ...and very well said.

dean.

 

Hope you're not saying the Rolls looks good in the headlight area. AutoWeek compared the front to something like a Star Wars bar scene patron (if I recall correctly). I think it looks like my bathroom scale.

 

Now that is funny

 

This says it all!

+1

 

I had my 2002 R50 Cooper parked side by side with a new R56 Cooper and there is no comparison. To these 35 year old eyes, the new R56 front end looks bloated. The öld"bonnet was a work of art.

The R56 is a design of compromises and the EU's pedestrian protection laws are just part of the story....

 

To me the R50 bonnet is beginning to look somewhat gaunt. From the perspective of the classic, there was no reason for R50's bonnet to be as sloped and drawn as it is. I mean, don't get me wrong, I do like it...I just think another correct interpretation is possible and that the R56 bonnet looks superb. I can see owners having their preferences though.

It is nice, but it too was a compromise.

And for the sake of our friendly little design repartee, I did notice that Frank Stephenson's new Fiat 500 has sideways sloping headlights. Just saying...it does not have to be one way.

 

[quote=C4;1405439]I had my 2002 R50 Cooper parked side by side with a new R56 Cooper and there is no comparison. To these 35 year old eyes, the new R56 front end looks bloated. The öld"bonnet was a work of art.
quote]

And I'll throw in a +1 here.

Zip

 

So true... the R53 has a bonnet, the R56 a hood...

 

Here is a cool clubman sketch - note the rear doors

 

Speaking of sketches - I've been meaning to ask - what's with your new sig sketch?



The centre part is from an R56 (grill, hood scoop, bumper), but it has R50/R53 headlights?

 

Agree.

Disagree.

 

It is from an R56 design sketch I grabbed from an article in some online auto mag review.

and the headlights when viewed dead on from the front (which you really can't do in a photo) they look much the same.

I just remembered - I stretched the sketch vertical a bit because it was very squat - as often concept sketches are, and I wanted to get the proportion closer to the real car. That however stretched the headlights and made them taller.

and I agree. I'm loving it more and more every day.

I've gone from the R50 being my favorite to the R56 hands-down being my favorite. It reminds me of when the 924 went to the 944.

 

I've had the same experience...it's funny how that can happen. Same thing happened with the R56 headlights, then the C-pillar, and now it's happening with the new boot profile. I some ways it was not a simply matter of initial liking (which I did), but of understanding the design of these features better. That's what led to a real sense of devotion to R56, which is great in that I am now free to carry my enthusiasm for R50 forward to the next generation of MINIs.

 

I think it's really great that the R56 owners are just as passionate about their MINIs as the rest of us have always been. It's great that BMW's managed to keep that spirit intact - even through all the changes. It sure has me curious to see how the R59 or R60 will fare.

 

Oh, I hate the R59 and R60. Its ugly ugly ugly, and cheap too.

 

Probably worth waiting for when the R56 will be discontinued in 2012.

 

Except by then the brand will probably be sold to Nanjing, who will make it alongside the ersatz MGs in Oklahoma.

http://www.okcchamber.com/page.asp?atomid=1614

 

[quote=erickvonzipper;1405969]I offer:

http://dwdyer.smugmug.com/gallery/2539437#133458014

 

Now we are talkin'baby!

I think you need to apply for a design job over at MINI