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November US Sales Numbers in Context
Due to travel conflicts, we couldn’t post the November sales numbers in the context of the industry as a whole. This post is about the November US industry-wide sales trends and how MINI stacked up...
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BMWM to Eliminate Manual Transmissions from – What Does it Mean for MINI?
According to our sister site BimmerFile, BMW is moving to eliminate manual transmissions (and DCTs) from all its products in the next “handful of years”. You can read more at BF but suffice to say it’s...
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Opinion: We Want Another R53 Cooper S
163 hp, 2600 lbs and $22,000. Those approximate numbers were some of the key ingredients to one of the most successful cult cars of all time. The R53 Cooper S (2002 – 2006) was a car that re-defined a...
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Opinion: Is MINI Forgetting what it Means to be Mini?
As MINI prepares to design and engineer the next generation of MINIs, we thought we’d get the cards on the table and talk about whats working and what isn’t in the current generation. We firmly believe...
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Let’s Create Our Own MINI Cooper Signature Line
MINI USA is releasing something called “The MINI Cooper Signature Line” – a package that brings a handful of key options to customers for the lowest price possible. Think of the MINI Cooper Signature...
View ArticleOpinion: MINI Should Make Adaptive Cruise a Low Cost Option
As MINI looks to get its footing back in the US market there are a couple of areas that the brand clearly needs to focus on. Design and performance have been and will always be keys to the brand’s...
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Opinion: Drive Small or (They Will) Die
Small cars are dying in the United States. This week Ford announced that it will no longer be selling traditional sedans in North America and will reduce its car offerings to just two: the Mustang and...
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Opinion: It’s Not Called MINI Cooper – It’s Called MINI!
The term MINI Cooper has become the brand name for MINI in the US and it drives us at MF crazy. Let’s back up for a moment. Most of us know that the Cooper is a model that was created by John Cooper in...
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MF Garage: CarPlay is Here and We’ve Already Turned it Off
After years of anticipation CarPlay finally arrived on MINIs last year. Offered in its latest and great wireless form, it promised unequalled mobile integration and ease of use. We’ve been living with...
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R56 JCW GP Revisited: Why it May Still be the Ultimate MINI
While we wait for the MINI GP3 to come in early 2020, we thought we’d revisit the ultimate MINI to date – the R56 JCW GP Six years ago I fell in love on a beautiful island in the Mediterranean. The...
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Opinion: Bring on the Automatic MINI
We’re huge fans of the manual transmission here at MF. So much so that your author has only ever had one automatic MINI out of eight owned (and that one wasn’t even an intentional choice. And now comes...
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The MINI Cooper SE Could be the Best Electric Car Buy of 2020
The MINI Cooper SE is rumored to start under $29,000 when it hits dealerships in early 2020. On the face of it, $29k for a car that gets 120 miles on a charge seems steep. But the more we dig into what...
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Is Anyone Else Nervous About MINI Going All Electric?
The classic sound of a high-performance four cylinder MINI will soon be a thing of the past. Some rumors point to MINI aggressively moving to an all electric line-up for its small cars by 2023. Other...
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R56 JCW GP Revisited: Why it May Still be the Ultimate MINI
Six years ago I fell in love on a beautiful island in the Mediterranean. The 2013 R56 JCW GP carved the mountain corners of Mallorca like it was designed for them. Since then I’ve driven a lot of quick...
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Opinion: Can MINI Grow its Sales in the US?
There have been plenty of conversations on MF and elsewhere recently around MINIUSA’s sales seemingly stagnating. And for 2016 the number are more than stagnate. They’re dropping at an alarming rate....
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What Does the Brexit Mean for MINI?
The brexit votes have been tallied and the UK is officially leaving the EU. The implication are enormous throughout the world but at MF our immediate questions turn to MINI. While BMW has diversified...
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MTTS 2016 – MINI’s Massive Traveling Festival Grows Up While Staying (Mostly)...
The 2016 version of MINI Takes the States is not just the largest of all time, participation has more than doubled since the rally last hit the road in 2014. Just consider a few of the figures: 300...
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Why Are MINI USA Sales Are Dropping?
Fact: Since 2008 MINI USA’s share of total MINI sales has steadily decreased. Even the raw numbers (courtesy of reader Nick Dawson) are pretty interesting: TOTAL ANNUAL MINI GLOBAL SALES vs TOTAL...
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Runflats vs Non-Runflats – Are There Any Winners?
Last Friday I was on the receiving end of a tire-shredding Chicago pothole for the second time in two months. The first happened as part of our 2016 7 Series test and was epic in sound, speed and...
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Why Can’t MINI Continue Making Its Old Cars?
Pedestrian impact standards. Crash standards. Efficiency standards. Lets just get them out of the way. These are the typical reasons stated why automakers redesign their cars every 6-7 years. You can...
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