RE: Mini Remastered by David Brown Automotive

[ambuletz]

The price is meant to start at around £50,000 and go up to around £70,000 according to another source. As remarked by other people on a thread yesterday, it's a great looking car inside and out...apart from those rear lights. eww. If it were me I'd rather buy a mint late rover mini cooper for £5-10k. I wonder what have they done to make the enigne stronger/reliable?

[Housey]

Aimed at those certain people who can afford 70K trinkets. Mad money, crazy.

[anonymous-user]

Evilex said:

I wonder how crash-worthy these are compared to modern small/micro cars?

er, not even on the same page of the book. Something tiny but modern like a Smart4Two would go right through and out the otherside, let alone if you were unfortunately to get hit by a modern SUV..........

[Housey]

Max_Torque said:

Evilex said:

I wonder how crash-worthy these are compared to modern small/micro cars?

er, not even on the same page of the book. Something tiny but modern like a Smart4Two would go right through and out the otherside, let alone if you were unfortunately to get hit by a modern SUV..........

You've not lived until you've had the full engine on the lap experience in a mini.

[anonymous-user]

Housey said:

Aimed at those certain people who can afford 70K trinkets. Mad money, crazy.

And it's not like they've done a full on "singer" type job with a modernised powertrain and trans / chassis is it ?

Basically, it's a re-trimmed std mini. Probably have been brilliant in 1989, but in 2017, er less so........

[JaguarsportXJR]

V8 FOU said:

Oh dear!
Nice trimming,etc. But why have a stock 1275 engine and a 4 spped gearbox? 5 speed conversions have been around for some time.
So you have a smart, very expensive mini (small "m") that has a whiney A series etc. Drum brakes, anyone for the full 60's experience? Points? Oh yes!

Well south of £100K? Oh, per-leease.....

Looking at the 12 or 13 inch wheels that are fitted, I'd suspect that these have disk brakes at the front, not drums. Also, the 1275's not exactly stock at those figures. I agree they should have fitted a 5 speed box though.

[mwstewart]

Love them. Very nice.

[FWDRacer]

Hopefully BMW will shut this down.

Vajazzling a Mini is to completely miss the point of owning one.

[SpeckledJim]

FWDRacer said:

Hopefully BMW will shut this down.

Depends if they're selling it as a 'new' car, and thus they're the manufacturer, or if they're selling them as restored minis, and they're
just the workshop.

[FWDRacer]

SpeckledJim said:

FWDRacer said:

Hopefully BMW will shut this down.

Depends if they're selling it as a 'new' car, and thus they're the manufacturer, or if they're selling them as restored minis, and they're
just the workshop.

BMW have been fairly heavy handed with anyone using the 'mini' brand full stop.

[ukaskew]

FWDRacer said:

Hopefully BMW will shut this down.

How (and why?)

Plenty of companies have been refurbishing Mini's to various degrees for decades now, this isn't really that different.

If nothing else it adds a bit to the Mini/MINI brand (I can see some potential owners wanting a similarly finished MINI alongside this).

[ChemicalChaos]

J4CKO said:

Max_Torque said:

Are these going through IVA? Driving a carb feb, non catalyst, brand new car seems a bit ridiculous in a time when we are talking about banning EU5 diesels from our roads.....

Will they have ABS and ESP ?

Guessing must be some low volume dispensation.

They must be, as they claim its a new chassis and body which means it must be registered as a new car - the only way to avoid this would be a re-shell of an original using an identical pattern part.

FWDRacer said:

SpeckledJim said:

FWDRacer said:

Hopefully BMW will shut this down.

Depends if they're selling it as a 'new' car, and thus they're the manufacturer, or if they're selling them as restored minis, and they're
just the workshop.

BMW have been fairly heavy handed with anyone using the 'mini' brand full stop.

Dont forget the originals were registered as Austin/Morris/Rover though - which I dont think BMW have any control over.

[ambuletz]

FWDRacer said:

Hopefully BMW will shut this down.

Vajazzling a Mini is to completely miss the point of owning one.

Not that BMW would ever be able to close it down, but why would you want them to?

Do you think BMW have got the point of what it means to own a (original) Mini down to a tee? I don't think so.

[GarageQueen]

you'd have thought he worked out if BMW would come knocking before investing thousands in prototyping / marketing.......

50K I think it's good value, at 100K it's defiantly not

would like to know more about the chassis setup though and not entirely convinced by that sat nav screen in the middle

[SpeckledJim]

FWDRacer said:

SpeckledJim said:

FWDRacer said:

Hopefully BMW will shut this down.

Depends if they're selling it as a 'new' car, and thus they're the manufacturer, or if they're selling them as restored minis, and they're
just the workshop.

BMW have been fairly heavy handed with anyone using the 'mini' brand full stop.

But if you're selling a restored mini (or 20), you're entirely within your rights to use the word mini, and use photography of the badge on the car.

If he's saying "I'm manufacturing brand new minis" then I'm sure BMW can stop him. If they want to. One view in Germany might be that extremely expensive classic minis are a boost to the current MINI brand.

[Yipper]

~70k for a slow replica Mini with a chintzy interior. Where do I sign up.

[FWDRacer]

ambuletz said:

Not that BMW would ever be able to close it down, but why would you want them to?

Do you think BMW have got the point of what it means to own a (original) Mini down to a tee? I don't think so.

BMW have managed to shut plenty of people down from using anything associated with any of the original, Austin, Morris, Rover because they bought the branding, lock and stock (Morris, Austin, Se7en, Cooper, Cooper-S). There are second hand mini dealers not allowed to use the Winged Rover badge FFS.

I think the long term market has shown BMW (Sorry Rover) got the original R50 Mini concept pretty right. 10+ years on riddled with rust with a gruff engine, transmission and bouncy ride.

[Mr2Mike]

J4CKO said:

100k plus for a restored one with an aftermarket stereo and a retrim, nah.

Max_Torque said:

Basically, it's a re-trimmed std mini. Probably have been brilliant in 1989, but in 2017, er less so........

Apparently both missed that the article said:

While the new version resembles a Mini in overall shape and proportions, the chassis and body panels are all new.

[SonicShadow]

How much do original Mini Coopers go for these days?

[J4CKO]

Mr2Mike said:

J4CKO said:

100k plus for a restored one with an aftermarket stereo and a retrim, nah.

Max_Torque said:

Basically, it's a re-trimmed std mini. Probably have been brilliant in 1989, but in 2017, er less so........

Apparently both missed that the article said:

While the new version resembles a Mini in overall shape and proportions, the chassis and body panels are all new.

They shaved the seams off, will be a heritage shell I assume with a few mods, not an all new carbon fibre job like that RUF 911.

If they did go to all the expense and design work, why the hell did they stick an old A series and 4 speed in it ?

Its for all intents and purposes a Mini Shell.