A rave reception on the streets of Cardiff suggests the new Mini pushes all the right buttons, writes just-auto.com deputy editor Graeme Roberts.
“This little car is going to sell its socks off,” a colleague said as we buzzed a new Mini around the Welsh capital Cardiff on a recent sunny summer evening.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
Pedestrians stopped and waved. Taxi drivers pointed the car out to their passengers and rolled down their windows to ask “How much?”
And, when we stopped in the city’s Sophia Gardens park, there was a shout. “Don’t drive off ’till I’ve had a look!” And up panted an old-model Mini enthusiast, eager for his first glimpse of the new version. We almost had to chisel him out.
As part of its series of regional UK press launches, BMW had cunningly engineered a contest that encouraged journalists to drive their new baby around London, Cardiff or Leeds to search and photograph various landmarks.
Prize: A Mini cuckoo clock (don’t ask). Object: Remove journalists from hotel bar; maximise public exposure of new car. Result: Seemingly universal public approval of new model.
Certainly the new Mini is already showing signs of being a roaring sales success. Before the public unveiling last Saturday, BMW already claimed to hold 2,500 orders and dealers inked 1,000 more over the weekend.
It’s a while since a new car attracted this much attention on the streets but then the Mini is a car many UK people remember with affection.
Most, if they haven’t owned one themselves, will know a friend or relative who has and anyone who has driven one fondly remembers the nippy response and go-kart-like handling. While rose-tinted glasses and the passage of time mask the harsh ride, uncomfortable driving position and lack of safety equipment.
In Britain, the Mini has a heritage that dates all the way back to 1959 on which BMW can build with its new version. That will also hold true in export markets where the old Mini was popular: France, Japan, Italy, Australia, New Zealand and Canada, for example.
“only time will tell if New Mini will trigger the nostalgia button“ |
But only time will tell if New Mini will trigger the nostalgia button in markets like the USA where Old Mini only lasted a few years, from 1961 to 1967, before being killed off by stiffening Federal safety and emissions laws and a general suspicion of a car so small it could fit in a Chevrolet Impala trunk.
There may be a lesson in Volkswagen’s recent experience with its new Beetle – it was initially a smash hit in America, where the old car was long considered trendy, but far less popular in Europe where the rear-engined predecessor was generally held to be cheap and nasty and is still derided by many.
Clearly, BMW is hoping the new Mini will be a hit with U.S. city dwelling trendsetters and will put much of its launch efforts, from next spring, into attracting buyers in places like California and New York City.
When performance-enhanced, killer stereoed, dark tint glass Minis begin taking over from tricked-up, low-rider Honda Civics on Los Angeles streets, BMW USA will know it has succeeded.
Quality is the first and lasting impression the new Mini makes. Though the range is priced from only £10,600 ($US14,900) in the UK, every car we examined had the flawless glossy paint, narrow, micron-accurate panel gaps, and doors that shut with a solid ‘thunk’ more usually associated with a £25,000 BMW than a car in this class.
Inside, fit and finish was again near-perfect, with a solid, well-made feel to the controls, especially the gorgeous chrome-finished toggle switches in the centre of the dashboard.
The original 1959 Mini was a Spartan car, with minimal frills and not even seat belts as standard – in many crashes it was a death trap.
By contrast, the new Mini boasts an extraordinary amount of safety gear and offers, albeit mostly as options, a range of equipment buyers 40 years ago could have only dreamed of.
Standard safety gear includes dual front and side airbags, anti-lock brakes with electronic brake force distribution and a system called cornering brake control – a system that applies more braking force to the outside front wheel to counteract potential oversteer when cornering.
A tyre pressure monitoring system is also standard, though it won’t tell you which wheel is running out of air, and a Mini mobility system consisting of tyre sealant and an air pump replaces the spare wheel.
Alternatively, you can order a space saver spare wheel or, along with optional 16-inch alloy wheels, run-flat tyres.
BMW’s familiar ASC+T automatic stability and traction control system is a factory option, along with side curtain airbags.
“The new Mini has numerous design cues that hark back to the original“ |
Initially, the UK and Europe get just two models, both with a 1.6-litre ‘Pentagon’ engine built in Brazil in the Tritec joint venture with DaimlerChrysler. The base Mini One gets a 90bhp (66kW) version while the sporty Cooper has a more powerful 115bhp (85kW) unit. An even more powerful supercharged Cooper S version arrives by Spring 2002, in time for the U.S. launch where only the two Coopers will be offered.
Five-speed manual transmission is standard for the One and Cooper and a CVT automatic option is due from September; the Cooper S will come with a six-speed manual.
The new Mini has numerous design cues that hark back to the original. The flat roof, fake rain gutters, chrome door handles, grille and headlight surrounds and wheel-at-each-corner stance are all pure Mini but everything is completely updated for the new Millennium.
For example, the waistline, arrow-straight on original Mini, is slightly tapered upwards on the new one, giving a distinctly wedgy side profile. And the screen and door pillars are concealed behind the glass, giving the impression that the windows, rather than steel, support the roof. This is clever detail engineering.
Instead of a tiny bonnet over an engine shoehorned-in around structural sheetmetal, the whole front of the car, headlights included, lifts like a clamshell so engine access is much easier, though you do wonder about the vulnerability of vital cooling and air conditioning system components located so close to the front.
The detailing is superb: the way the heavy yet vibration-free bonnet clamshell panel lifts effortlessly on gas struts; the lack of any visible fasteners in the cabin; the frameless side windows that instantly drop when the doors are opened and zip back up to sit tight against their seals when they shut. Sure, we’ve seen this trick before on the 3-series coupe and the Z8, but not until now on a car in this class.
Chrome-ringed oval headlamp surrounds hide the latest headlight lens technology and even the segmented front park/indicator lens design is similar to that used on a generation of 1960s British Motor Corporation models.
Inside, circular is the theme, from the dinner plate-sized central speedometer and the rev counter ‘clipped’ on to the top of the steering column like a ’60s after-market accessory, to the eyeball air vents, a/c control knobs, speaker grilles, door release handles, steering wheel centre boss and foot pedals.
In contrast to the coal-hole interiors so many manufacturers currently serve up, it’s great to see sparkly splashes of silver on the dashboard and doors and an upholstery colour choice that includes bright red.
Vivid paint colours are also on offer. As well as today’s popular black, silver and dark metallic blue and green, BMW is offering a bright ‘chili’ red, a minty metallic green and an in-yer-face ‘liquid’ yellow.
Base Mini Ones come with a body coloured roof but the Coopers can be ordered with a black or white roof (with mirrors to match) and, yes, a Union Jack roof will be optional.
In the UK the entry-level One has electro-hydraulic power steering, remote control central locking, six-speaker radio-cassette, power front windows and door mirrors, digital clock, 50/50 split folding rear seats and front and rear cupholders as standard while the Cooper adds sports suspension, alloy wheels, chrome grille and exterior fittings, footwell lamps and rev counter.
From there, there’s an enormous options list of the sort already familiar to BMW owners – standard or climate controlled air conditioning, Harmon-Kardon audio, satellite navigation, leather trim, sports seats, heated seats, trip computer, CD stacker, rain sensor wipers and so on.
“New Mini is a revelation“ |
Charging £20 ($US28) for a pair of seatback storage nets that should be standard seems a bit stingy but such items are also available grouped into packages called Salt, Pepper and Chili at prices that work out cheaper than adding the frills or go-faster bits separately.
Best value of all seems to be the ‘tlc’ pack – five years or 50,000 miles worth of servicing offered to UK buyers for £100 ($US140) – about what an hour and a half’s BMW servicing costs in London these days.
If you’ve ever driven an old Mini, you’ll recall the bus-driver’s steering wheel angle, tiny offset pedals, intrusive front wheel arches, crunchy, harshly whining gearbox and eyeball-level view of truck wheelnuts.
And the go kart handling and rock-hard ride coupled with the misleading sensation of speed caused by ill-damped tyre roar and an asthmatic pushrod engine trying to keep up with the traffic via 10-inch wheels.
New Mini is a revelation. Thanks in part to nice well-weighted steering geared with just 2.5 turns lock to lock, it still has most of the razor-sharp responses of its predecessor but it’s much more grown-up with a far better controlled, softer ride and 2001 levels of refinement.
The engine shared with DaimlerChrysler is not quite to BMW four-pot smoothness standards but it pulls well if you use the revs though it becomes harsh over about 4,500rpm. Clutch and gearshift feel and weighting are just right and the brakes are smooth and progressive.
In short, there’s little to complain about. In fact, after two days of whizzing around Wales, all we could find to complain about were a noisy a/c fan and awkward seatback recliner adjusters.
Don’t, however, think this little car (despite looks to the contrary, it’s no bigger than a VW Lupo) will do as a four-seat family run-around. Legroom in the back is at a premium behind average-sized front seat passengers and all but non-existent if those up front are in the six-foot range. And the boot, now reached via a lift-up hatchback rather than a drop-down lid, is tiny – think weekend soft luggage only.
We’ll be surprised if the new Mini does not, as our colleague put it, sell its socks off, at least for a start. The challenge for BMW is to maintain buyer interest for the model’s projected six-year life – and make a profit on an expensively engineered little car built in a complex new factory.
With additional models such as a convertible, pick-up and ‘woody’ station wagon expected to follow, BMW is confident the new Mini will be a success.
And, after first acquaintance, so are we.
To view related research reports, please follow the links below:- BMW Strategic Review (download) The world’s car manufacturers: A financial and operating review |
