58 replies to this topic

[maph2]

actually the new mini design was Rovers creation...

I was led to believe that frank stevenson was employed by BMW when he designed the mk1 Bini. Bini is all BMW, as rover would have gone much smaller, asproved by the design concepts produced in the late '90's

[mab01uk]

actually the new mini design was Rovers creation...

I was led to believe that frank stevenson was employed by BMW when he designed the mk1 Bini. Bini is all BMW, as rover would have gone much smaller, asproved by the design concepts produced in the late '90's

Frank Stephenson did the overall MINI styling, (also the new Fiat 500) but practically all the major engine, gearbox, chassis engineering, development testing and interior styling was done by Rover at Gaydon with John & Mike Cooper as consultants...........although BMW played down Rovers part after the split and before the 2001 launch, probably to help promote the BMW engineered quality small car image in potential buyers minds.
Rovers original Spiritual design concepts were more like a Mercedes A-Class style small car, whereas BMW preferred to develop and build on the classic Mini's sporting heritage, handling and fun reputation as a drivers car.
Is-9aI7utFQ

Note the Rover Mini Cooper Badges!

Edited by mab01uk, 20 October 2009 - 01:31 PM.

[CMcB]

[Shifty]

Hmm, now theres a caption competion in the making!!

[clabby]

i am lerning to drive in one of these what seems to be a sware word on here and i rather like it its a 1.6 diesel cooper s and the only thing i dont like about it is trying to get the seating persition rite so me feet dnt kill after and the dials are huge part from that id love one if i had the money

[Burnard]

CLICK HERE AND DONT COME BACK!



I have driven a Cooper D, but i think they forgot to attatch the rear end properly

The same goes for the many classic owner who are down right nasty pieces of work. The many shows i attend were all i get is abuse nasty comments its no wonder people bite back and can be arsey with you! What you expect to be nasty all be it joking and not get something back?
Plus as well why does any thread that comes on here with any mention of the MINI turn nasty, You dont get anything like this on totalmini/mini2 etc that has classic forms on there and none of this nasty crap from certain people on here. I have a little bet on how long certain members come on write "funny" comments and the same ones they have writen before!
No one is having a go at the classic at all just people want to read and add without people jumping down there throats with "I hate the MINI" all the time.
If you dont like the car then fine i hate all VWs and all Audis but i dont shout abuse or go on forums with nasty repetative comments!

As i said, it is the bini owners that i have spoken to, i never said it was all bini owners.
I dont start speaking to bini owners like they are a lower class i talk to them like everyone else. I have noticed that allot (not all) of them also drive like the sterero type BMW driver.

Its awesome! Its not a mini, no way, but its a bloomin cool small car

Clearly a Bini owner who gets it.

BMW clearly tried to make the origional mini apear to be a 'new' car, trying to forget about the classic, yet useing its publicity its heratige and its name. This shows by 1 three letter word they stuck on the boot of the base model 'ONE' If they had any consideration for the heratige it would have been the Mini SIX (assumeing the last classic mini was a mk5, which im not sure about)
They are useing john coopers name, but they are obviously mike coopers...
They never built a rally car so where the *melon* does 'works' come from, clearly another example of bmw thinking with their bank account. (i know they are now developing a WRC car)
It is not a Grand Prix car either so where did GP come from?

Not to mention all the legal stuff when they first came out and they tried to sue anyone who sold anything under the name mini.


I dont hate the actual car, although i didnt like the one i drove.
I dont hate all the owners, but the majorty of the ones i have spoken to are just the stereo typed BMW driver type.
I do how ever hate the company for the way they have treated the car, and the classic owners.

The other companies have got a much better response with there new models because they have not claimed them to be brand new cars.
The new landrover is the disco 3 or what ever, they didnt try and call it the first.
Fiat and VW are still the same companies they were when they made the origionals, its not a different company trying to cash in on an old companies success.

The Bini is a good car, but for gods sake, IT IS NOT A MINI! thats what annoys me.

I hope you can see what i am getting at, its not the car, its not the owners, its the prinicples of the company and the way they have conducted them selves since 2001 with thier new car.

Chris

Edited by Burnard, 20 October 2009 - 02:27 PM.

[the.stroker]

Can i remind people this is a family forum,and as such swear words will not be tolerated,if anyone is in any doubt as to the definition of a swear word i suggest they go and re-read the forum guidlines

[maph2]

actually the new mini design was Rovers creation...

I was led to believe that frank stevenson was employed by BMW when he designed the mk1 Bini. Bini is all BMW, as rover would have gone much smaller, asproved by the design concepts produced in the late '90's

Frank Stephenson did the overall MINI styling, (also the new Fiat 500) but practically all the major engine, gearbox, chassis engineering, development testing and interior styling was done by Rover at Gaydon with John & Mike Cooper as consultants...........although BMW played down Rovers part after the split and before the 2001 launch, probably to help promote the BMW engineered quality small car image in potential buyers minds.
Rovers original Spiritual design concepts were more like a Mercedes A-Class style small car, whereas BMW preferred to develop and build on the classic Mini's sporting heritage, handling and fun reputation as a drivers car.

frank stephenson worked for chris bangle who was employed by BMW. the stephenson design is completed different to any of the design concepts that rover wanted to purse (IIRC Rover wanted to stay close the design principles that AI built the classic mini with). rover designs were over ruled by BMW. regardless of whether any of the Bini prep work was done "at Rover", the Bini design is 100% BMW. BMW wanted a fashion trinket, rover didn't.


IIRC the rover deisgn concepts were similar to the smart 42 and the mitsubishi i miev. funny that.

Edited by maph2, 20 October 2009 - 02:26 PM.

[dave585]

John cooper help to develop the Works car for BMW with his son mike up until his untimely death in 2000. he worked on the engine kits before working on a full JCW. After his death mike continued to run the company developing more cars for MINI, Mike soon sold the company to BMW so that he could work on other projects as well as the MINI.
This has led to the new limited edition JCW F1 which he himself and his team worked on. This car is top of the range and is painted in the cooper racing colours as a fitting tribute to the F1s racing days of the cooper company and for the 50th of the mini. If you had gone to mini united you would of seen a stand with the cars on and the history of the company and what John/Mike wanted to do.
The GP is just called that as it is a special edition of the car, this doesnt mean that it based on grand prix cars at all. Take a look at other car names they might have nothing to do with anything there called after. As for the rally car its good that they are entering a team with the MINI its about time, this should bring more interest in it.
As for drivers what you forget is that there are people out there who by them for a car, they are not interested in clubs/shows etc and that why they are like that.
Other companys have bough out newer versions of there classics,VW the beetle but this as not sold as well and was hated by classic owners because it is a golf under the body. The fiat 500 is a naff little car that priced ott,It was only brought out because of the success of the MINI angan hasn't sold as well as they hoped.

[Burnard]

The fiat 500 is a naff little car that priced ott,It was only brought out because of the success of the MINI angan hasn't sold as well as they hoped.

Atleast its actually a fiat...

And Priced ott? last time i checked they were planning to sell a 160bhp version for arround £13k... Which im pretty sure is cheaper, or arround about the same price as a mini one. and its a lamborgini at heart... (topgear)

Lets see how they represent the new mini when/if it does join the WRC.
I would put money on the show introducing it as following on from the orgional rally mini's. which its not.

while on the bini topic, is their a desiel cabriolete labled a cooper? or is the one that drops someone of at my school broken.


Chris

[rachel]

If I had to travel long distances for work and needed an everyday modern car - I'd definitely have one - but the clubman as there's a tiny (and I mean tiny!!) bit more space for the dogs in the back and in their equivalent of OEW to match our Mini family

As it is, we need a vehicle to pull the caravan so we've got a Landrover SVX - which I love nearly as much as my Mini 'Ellie', Stephen's Morris Moke and Constance the Clubman - and Landrover owners nearly always flash at fellow Landy lovers, much like Mini owners

Embrace the new - you don't have to love it, but it's not going to go away any time soon

[stevede]

Just looked out of the window onto the drive.

There's my classic mini, a BINI one, and a Fiat 500. Oh, and just to add to the confusion, my every day car is a BMW. Maybe I should just go and hide!!

For the record. The 500 is the only car that I constantly find an excuse to go and drive. Everytime I go out in it I have a smile on my face. I have never encountered anyone who has been negative towards it.

If my classic mini when finished gives me as much pleasure, I'll be over the moon.

As for the 500 being overpriced and doesn't sell. Can't comment now but when we bought ours they were as scarce as the proverbial hen's teeth. The one we eventually found and bought has climate control, glass roof, 7 airbags, central locking, electric windows, CD multimedia, voice controls, blue tooth, alloys, ABS etc etc etc. Brand new with a 3 year warranty for £9k. Bargain!! And it was car of the year 2008.

These of course are my opinions & views, everyone is entitled to theirs. The variety is what makes this forum interesting, just don't let it get personal.

Regards

Steve

[redhotmini]

BMW clearly tried to make the origional mini apear to be a 'new' car, trying to forget about the classic, yet useing its publicity its heratige and its name. This shows by 1 three letter word they stuck on the boot of the base model 'ONE' If they had any consideration for the heratige it would have been the Mini SIX (assumeing the last classic mini was a mk5, which im not sure about)
They are useing john coopers name, but they are obviously mike coopers...
They never built a rally car so where the *melon* does 'works' come from, clearly another example of bmw thinking with their bank account. (i know they are now developing a WRC car)
It is not a Grand Prix car either so where did GP come from?


Chris

SIX doesnt really work from a marketing point of view - hence ONE was chosen for the base model.
Mike Cooper was running Cooper Garages when they developed the Works kit, and BMW approached John Cooper to see if he would lend his name to their car - he liked it so thats why the hotter versions are called Coopers.
Works is the name that was given to the John Cooper tuning kits, even the ones for the classic mini. Also a better way to distinguish between the standard coopers and the modified versions.
Grand Prix means grand prize or big prize in english - so thats a pointless name but hey, its better than some other special edition names.

Edited by redhotmini, 20 October 2009 - 05:53 PM.

[captainjack15]

*Yawn*

[mab01uk]

The fiat 500 is a naff little car that priced ott,It was only brought out because of the success of the MINI angan hasn't sold as well as they hoped.

Atleast its actually a fiat...

And Priced ott? last time i checked they were planning to sell a 160bhp version for arround £13k... Which im pretty sure is cheaper, or arround about the same price as a mini one. and its a lamborgini at heart... (topgear)

Chris

It may be called a Fiat but the 500 is built in Poland NOT Italy, using a low paid work force to allow it to be sold at a cheaper price, although most road tests will tell you of the lower build and materials quality when compared to the latest MINI's. It is also like the new VW Beetle a cosmetic styling exercise not true to its rear engined heritage and based on the same basic shared chassis / running gear as the Ford KA and Panda.
The MINI still has a unique transverse front engined chassis and at least BMW have made a success of continuing to build MINI's at the original Cowley, Oxford factory which produced the first Morris Minis (including 621 AOK), preserving thousands of jobs and creating new jobs by launching new variants like the Cabrio, Clubman and the future Coupe & Roadster models. If only previous British management had not sold off half the Cowley site to pocket cash from short term property speculation BMW might have also been able to build the forthcoming 4x4 MINI there!

Does this mean all car brands taken over by other car companies like Jaguars, Land Rovers, Volvos, Rolls Royces, Bentleys, Skodas, Seats, Audis, etc are also no longer actually what the badges on them say?
And what British car company was most famous for badge engineering its cars using classic car brand names it had taken over, Riley Elf and Wolesely Hornet are a couple which come to mind?

Edited by mab01uk, 20 October 2009 - 06:59 PM.