Friday 30th March 2012

PH Blog: don't fancy yours much

Garlick fights the corner for the Mini Coupe, which is brave given the response to it thus far

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I used to run a Mini in 2008, a Cooper S with the JCW tuning kit, and was subject to much criticism by those who either didn't understand the Mini concept or hadn't driven one. It's all too easy to follow the 'ladies and estate agents' banter when all around are doing the same, but I defended it with gusto and surprised a few people on track days with it too.

Garlick sets out to prove the haters wrong

I'm fully aware that the new Mini/proper Mini debate will rage on, and some won't like the new car any more than current buyers probably wouldn't consider the original version. Time moves on, brands and ranges evolve and, yes, the Mini is now bigger, more luxurious and more expensive than ever before. But show me a current model from any manufacturer that isn't.

As the brand evolves it now offers 4x4 and estate options that polarise opinion and the new Coupe and Roadster are all set to do the same. In fact, the one sitting in the PH car park right now is already raising eyebrows and attracting some fairly robust Tweets from Mr Harris and many others. Now, I drove it last night and can report that it is as much fun to drive as any other Mini, but this isn't a review and that job will be down to Mr Trent.

What struck me is just how much attention I got while driving it - it inspires as much neck craning as a Ferrari 458, it makes folk smile and, among women especially, the response is overwhelmingly positive. (Mini mightier than the mustard trousers shocker! - Ed.)

More to it than meets the eye, thankfully

Mock the brand all you want, but Mini seems to be making cars that appeal to a certain demographic and they are buying them in their droves. And underneath that shouty image lies a great car that many buyers won't begin to exploit, and that means a good car is going to waste. This Coupe drives really well, but we as PHers probably won't buy it. It's over-styled and costs upwards of £25K in JCW form, and for that price you are spoilt for choice, not least with the much more overtly PH-worthy Subaru BRZ (or GT 86 equivalent) driven this week.

What does that mean for the Mini? Only time will tell I guess but a nice little driver's car is in danger of written off for being too cute by the likes of us and the brand may well end up being known more for style than substance.

That's a shame.

Garlick

 

 

 

 

[turbochrisgti]

Well said Paul. Immensely fast and capable car but overlooked and slagged off yet sold in huge numbers (the hatch at least)

[Bobsy]

Didn't Noddy drive the prototype for that, only it was in yellow. I have to say I dont like the (BMW) Mini in any incarnation.

[drgoatboy]

The Coupe is a car that will always polarise opinion, personally I think it looks ugly, but as the blog alludes too Mrs Goatboy thinks they look wonderful. I've never driven the hot version but I did try a standard cooper hatch not long after launch and I loved the way it steered and was on the verge of buying one. Not long after though they became the popular style icon they are now known to be and it spoiled the car for me completely...

I did spot a roadster on the back of transporter on the M25 a couple of nights ago. It looked so much better than the daft roof of the coupe. I need a better look to judge long term but I liked it!

[eybic]

I've driven a couple of "hot" ones and as said they are a great laugh and get loads of looks. They do look a bit like they are wearing a baseball cap the wrong way though.

[Daveyraveygravey]

Nice story, but the last but one sentence says "...written off for being too cute" but it isn't cute in any way. A Nissan Figaro is cute or a Fiat 500 is cute, but the Mini Coupe is deliberately, stupidly ugly, regardless of how great to drive it undoubtedly is. At least I can argue the deliberate ugliness of my Multipla Mk1 means the headlights work well and very little else on the market has as good interior space.

[Oddball RS]

Each to his own, great bauble, just think what it could have been like though given the budgets involved. If you make a car marketed at a 'certain' niche its never really going to be popular outside of that niche is it? ie. on here.

[Alfa numeric]

It's purely the looks. It may be a great drive (my hatch is and it's only a Cooper) but that "styled" roof just kills it stone dead for me. I saw a couple of the new Roadsters on a trailer yesterday and the roofline on those looks so much better- if the Coupe had followed the same styling it would probably be enjoying a much warmer reception.

[The Danimal]

They wouldn't be too bad if they were all black with a black roof... but they do insist on these stupid viper stripes and contrasting roofs. Blaeeeegh!

[Bash Brannigan]

'too cute'?! Kittens and puppies are cute, that thing's ugly as sin. Surely you can't say that people don't like it purely because of it's branding? Everyone I know likes them in chunky hot hatch form, although my mum recently went to look at the 4X4 version and said that she didn't even make it into the showroom because she saw one outside and judged it too ugly.

Mini had the chance to do something completely different with this (as Audi did with the Golf platformed TT all those years ago). Instead the head designer said that he got his styling inspiration from a backwards baseball cap.

[Dale Lomas]

Just as an aside, these things can be made to FLY around a racetrack. Nürburgring 24hr class SP2(T) will be contended by a works-entry of two or three Coupes I believe. Expect them to scalp many of the 'faster' classes on the way to a high overall position too...

[scholesy]

HAHA good april fools joke Garlick, you can't defend the purposeless monstrosity that is the Mini Coupe! Tell me what it does better than the MINI Cooper S (apart from being ugly and less practical) and I will happily concede.

[Riggers]

I did the foreign-land launch for this car and I reckon it's actually the most engaging of all the JCW Minis in handling terms. I even reckon you can feel a noticeable difference between this and the JCW hatch.

Hilariously, Mini kept trying to tell us that it was 'the most masculine Mini yet' and that it would appeal to 'young, single men'. Really? Reallly?!?

[Skater12]

Awful example of BMW MINI and their power in marketing.
It's a roof chop on a standard car. Thats the sort of thing hot-rodders were doing in the 50's.
It wasnt practical then, and isnt now. If i want a fast mini, i'd buy a standard fast mini, which would let me use the rear seats for luggage, shopping, kids etc etc, without having to be a hobbit to get in and out comfortably.
For the money they ask, i'd have a used Elise if i wanted something fast small and non-practical.
You may have guessed, but im not a fan.

[Garlick]

To clarify, I agree that it looks are challenging, and I agree that it could have been so much better.

By cute I mean the Mini range/ brand as a whole, not just this car.

The chassis and engine are great, but it's a car aimed at the fashionista market. Shame. If it was packaged (and priced) better, we'd all be raving about it.

[simundo777]

"What struck me is just how much attention I got while driving it"

In the same way that If i drove around in a fluorescent pink fiat multipla people would stare, doesn't mean its because they like it.

I think the hatch is a cracking car (although i'll never get on with that over styled interior) but the coupe is just ridiculous. Expensive and looks hideous.

[Riggers]

scholesy said:

HAHA good april fools joke Garlick, you can't defend the purposeless monstrosity that is the Mini Coupe! Tell me what it does better than the MINI Cooper S (apart from being ugly and less practical) and I will happily concede.

More incisive handling, better turn-in, more stable, and a more secure (and larger) boot... HTH

[Johnboy Mac]

Possibly the worst blog you've ever done Galick. Not in a million years would I let this 'coupe' cast a shadow on my garage door. It's just marketing crap. And before you ask, no I've not driven one and have no intentions either as whatever dignity I have I'd like to keep.

[once]

For me, this is a brand where the blessing and the curse is the name.

Imagine for a second that this wasn't called mini. That it was a new range of cars designed from the bottom up to be new and different. Let's call it the BMW Zargon range.

Then I could get it. They're making a range of cars that people want to buy. Small(ish) cars that you can customise and that come with a quality(ish) interior. Not as expensive as a full BMW, but still reliable and classier than the likes of Ford and VW. A bit of fun. Dare I say it, one for the laydeez? That's a clever marketing idea. A new(ish) niche.

Start with a hatchback, then a hot hatch, then expand into mini estate, SUV, FWD coupe. Build a strong brand image. And if they're good to drive, well built and sensibly priced, why not? I could just about see the missus buying a Zargon estate.

But then they go and slap the mini name on it. And, okay, that might win it some sales, but it's also going to lose it a fair number of customers. A fat mini isn't a mini. It's a maxi, an allegro. Proof that the germans don't have a sense of humour.

I looked at a mini cooper D a few years ago. Possibly the shortest test drive in history. I had hardly parked my bum in the seat when the entire "mock mini thing" with the huge central dial and Amstrad switches just turned me off. It felt like I was sitting in a branch of toys'r'us with a smattering of Austin Powers retro thrown in. Got myself into a 1 series instead. Not pretending to be anything other than what it is.

Now the coupe. So ugly that only its momma could love it, an MX-5 wannabe without the clean lines or RWD. But I bet it will drive like any other Zargon, sorry ... Mini. Which is pretty smartly, I'm told. And I bet it will sell reasonably well. Some people will love it. But it doesn't set my world on fire. It's okay.

I just wish it wasn't called a Mini.

[Janosh]

So a perfect used car buy in a few years time?

Owned from new by someone who has bought it for the image but not driven it hard, leaving behind a desirable drivers car that hasn't been ragged to death...?

[Garlick]

simundo777 said:

"What struck me is just how much attention I got while driving it"

In the same way that If i drove around in a fluorescent pink fiat multipla people would stare, doesn't mean its because they like it.

I thought that part would be overlooked.

Not at all, women want to look inside, to ask questions and to know more. It's positive, but far from car enthusiasts looking and asking for car-related reasons (as they do when in my TVR) this is all bout the way the car looks.

I am on no doubt that some of those who looked hated it, but I assure you (with genuine honesty) that mostly it was positive......but mostly from ladies!