@ned There's one Austin Mini and a BMW SUV that surfs on nostalgia, the only common trait is their 4 letter name. One could even argue it's been this way for a long time as the first iteration of the new Mini (R50/R53 types) was the last with some Rover DNA left inside it.
@ned I refer to the Countryman as the "MAXI". It's like a regular BMW-era Mini but, like, hulked out.
(For the modern normal Cooper/Cooper S, which is a fair bit smaller than the Countryman, a lot of the size difference appears to be having walls thicker than a single layer of metal so it's got, like, crumple zones and side airbags and such.)
@ned Important to note that the car on right was produced by British Leyland. The car on the left is made by BMW and isn't related in any way to original Minis. BMW bought the rights to the name.
@donburnside I know that feeling. Good luck! I am trying to keep her as long as I can, she is just a base not an S. I love my toggle switches, refreshed and added bling recently.
@donburnside Yeah something about the way it looked online back then… in person it is lovely. People are always trying to buy it, lol. I benefited from the community at North American Motoring, so many great tutorials, tips, info, The fan made decals were first posted there, I had uploaded my original sheet for the measurements. I subscribed to the pod as I am a podcast junkie and miss Car Talk lol.
I forgot to reply here after boosting this post so I didn’t realize this thread was going on!
I had wanted a MINI since the R50 gen but was only able to finally make it work in 2021. I’m excitedly waiting for a manual JCW that I ordered 4 months ago. Last of the manuals. I should finally be able to take delivery today! I wish I would have been able to have one of the R series but between a family and the money I just had to dream about it back then 🙂
@donburnside@8bit_PK@dennisfaucher@ned Thought I’d share a pic from last April. I got her used many years ago from an acquaintance who sold her to me for the trade-in value dealer was giving, so I got lucky and was in need. Took less than 24 hrs to fall deeply for her. She babied it, gave me all the service records- she had gone exclusively to the dealer & “MINI Spa”. I taught myself 2 bucket wash when I saw no swirls. :) #minicooper
@8bit_PK@donburnside@dennisfaucher@ned TY. If I had extra cash to burn I would replace the trim. As it is , I gotta do something about the headlights. But I’m an old lady who doesn’t drive too often in the dark and they are still bright enough. When a car is 20 y.o. ya gotta pick and choose lol.
@donburnside@8bit_PK@dennisfaucher@ned Oh nice. TYSM. I thought I read a post from them at NAM a few months ago about coming out with new ones. I’ll have to dig it up later and share. :)
@ned@jsatk Welll, that’s a Countryman, it’s not really a Mini (and is much larger). But I have a regular Mini and my neighbor across the street has a vintage one (much like the one in the photo) and it’s always fun to compare!
@ned I can say as a former mini Cooper driver that owners are advised to park “back out”so that they are not deceptive in giving the impression that there’s an open parking space because of their shorter length. So while I agree that this is a big versus small point of view, there’s a little bit more to it.
@jschrab@ned
Another part of this trend is the consistently increasing height of Americans. We've selectively bred ourselves for height.
A friend had a 1930s or 40s Ford F-some-small-number pickup that I badly wanted, & could've gotten nearly free. I couldn't take it. I couldn't fit in it & drive safely, at 6'3". Back when it was built, a typical man was 5'6" or so.
Like do the make longer versions of compact cars at all? Probably wouldn't need to change the width and height of the car too much, just the length so I don't have my knees up to my chest
I had a Buick from that era, with the Olds 403ci engine. Yup, that was a beast... and a GUZZLER! :o Even back then with gas so cheap, I couldn't afford to drive it.
@kelvin0mql@iamhand@jschrab@ned I'm 6'5" and my daily commuter is a Nissan Kicks. And my 6"2" son sits behind me. Headroom and legroom is deceptive when looking at outside dimensions.
@ned to be fair this is comparing a Classic Mini with a compact SUV variant - so there will be a much larger size difference - The new Mini is still also available as a supermini, although like other superminis is has certainly grown longer and wider (the bulk of this being due to extra metal added for safety reasons)
@vfrmedia Oh, and another interesting fact, is if you look at the width of the Countryman, it's just barely larger than the original Land Rover (by less than an inch). :D
@vfrmedia@ned
However, both cars are popular family choices from their era. Families who would have chosen the mini on the right are now choosing the one on the left.
@ned this picture is a bit biased as Mini has switched from being a model to being a brand (or at least a model range) by itself, just like DS or to a certain extend Fiat500 (the car on the left is the Countryman, a beefed up version of the car).
But the change is also obvious when you look to midrange models like the Renault Clio, Opel/Vauxhall Corsa or VW Golf. Each of them gained several inches in every dimension over the years....
@ned I learned how to drive in one pf the old minis back in 86, it was so small that 4 guys could literally pick it up and move it. It started to shake uncontrollably at about 80 km/h. It was meant to be an affordable car for getting around town, not much use for highways.
Regardless, the new MINI is a joke, especially its union jack turn signals that look like arrows pointing the wrong way.
@ianrogers@ned that’s one of my favourite things the Union Jack looks sweet on the tail lights it’s such a unique look for a car. As all cars are going the route of light bars I like seeing the Union Jack on MINIs kinda wish I had one.
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