I think Minis are pretty cool. Lots of fun to drive and great quality feel for the price. I sure would buy a Mini Cooper over a Prius. That would be a no brainer for me.

As far as sales go, they may have slowed down abit, but up until recently, the Mini dealer network couldn't keep up with demand. Remember, they don't have 3,000 dealers - they have 83.

 

DAMN those things must be hopping!

 

I do not disagree with that particularly. They are well put together small FWD cars that can give you that sort of go-kart feeling when you throw them around... so they definitely can be fun. I suppose what I really meant was not really the heritage being lame since they were somewhat successful in various forms of racing, but more to the point the image that the owners seem to have of the car... and more to the point the image that people are buying into which isn't quite performance even if they like to point to the performance capabilities as one of the reasons they bought the thing. I blanking on a good way to articulate this, but it is something akin to the image people are trying to buy into with VW's (at least a few years ago anyway)... More a fashion trend than a performance decision.

That is why I can recognize the technical merits of a Mini (at least the normal version, not the Clubman or the weird off-road style one they are making) but state I would rather have something else, like a Mazda2 or Fiesta... although what have been more seriously considering is finding a decent condition RSX to use as a daily car. It has heritage too... just under the Integra name (I know, some might think that is a bad thing ).

 

I would drive a Mini. At first, I loathed them but for whatever reason, they have grown on me over the years. They handle like they are on rails (get rid of those damn run-flats) and have some nice pep. The interior is...interesting. The huge speedometer in the middle of the dash will take some getting used to. The rest of the interior is pretty simple and clean. They do have a tendency to rattle though.

 

I know what your saying. I won't go as far as calling them posers, but there are lots of people who get hooked into the "image" of a car, rather than the car itself. You can say that about alot of cars. BMW, Camaro, etc. I'd also call that some VERY successful marketing to be honest. I look at it like this: To sell image like that, you've got to base it on something. Heritage and actual performance for example. Perhaps 10 or 20% of buyers are looking for the actual performance/heritage and form a marketable core. The rest are taken in by the percieved image. Good way to sell cars, as long as you accept that the image can't simply be based on vaporware.

Yes, the Mazda2 and Fiesta are neat. Too bad Chevy doesn't have anything to compete directly with them. The Spark is so ugly that I find it disturbing to look at and as of yet Chevy has no interesting version of the Aveo planned. So yes, a cool "Mini competitor" would fill a huge gaping void in Chevy's line up.

 

I'm big on image... That's why I would NEVER buy a Mini (eventhough they are cool little cars) and would buy a Pontiac over a Chevrolet.

But that's exactly why I think GM can't pull off a direct competitor to the Mini. I think the only true competition for the Mini as of right now is the Fiat 500 (which I'm also fond of, but would never buy)

The ONLY GM brand that could've pulled it off IMO was Saab, because they could've tied into their hatchback or Sonnet heritage.

But this 'image street' also runs the other way... For instance, nobody makes muscle cars and trucks like Detroit and no one will ever threaten them on that IMO.

I think the Nomad concept had POTENTIAL if GM played their cards right. But that's no longer what Chevrolet represents. (And this is the problem with GM right now, in general, IMO) Chevrolet now represents something akin to Kia or Hyundai (READ: less premium and heritage focused/more manufacture ease and affordable) and Buick is trying to represent something more like Acura and VW (as opposed to a very traditional premium comfort feel)

 

I agree that Saab could have competed there perfectly. Unfortunately, GM never had that kind of vision for the brand - eventhough Saab itself really wanted a small premium car based off of Gamma, but with it''s own specific architectural changes.

I think it's almost silly now if GM targets Mini with Buick. I mean, come on.

The Nomad was a very interesting design excercise, with zero chance of production. The tiny back seat sacrificed Kappa's gas tank. I think the concept had a lawnmower gas tank of around 1 gallon. Too bad, would have been a cool car, but with no real architecture to build it on.

 

In PR, an island of 100 x 35 mi Mini sells an average of 30-35 cars a month.

Not bad for a niche car.