RE: Mini John Cooper Works WRC Revealed

[BBS-LM]

My god that car looks ugly as fk in rally trim.

[EDLT]

Ollieb7 said:

WRC has gone right off - from absolute greatness to pig ugly, pathetic sounding and boring to watch.

Everyone knows the formula to get it back on track and this certainly is not it!

Have you actually watched any of the rallying this year? Its been the best season in years.

[I WISH]

The standard production version of this car is just about the ugliest piece of automotive crap I have seen in a very long time.
It was quite a challenge to come up with something that looks even worse than a Cayenne .... but they succeeded with some distinction.
Looks like it was designed by a committee.

Mini?

Alec Issigonis would have had a heart attack.

[900T-R]

Yeah, yeah - but at least it provides MINI with an entry ticket to the WRC according to current regs, for which we should be thankful as it's a) a new factory entry to a series that's not exactly oversubscribed with factory support and b) marks te return of a hallowed name to the international rally scene. Would be great if Saab would be able to enter based on the same set of mechanicals, too - but given the current situation at Trollhättan HQ I'm not holding my breath.

And yes, it's ugly (not as ugly as the road car, mind). Well whoop-tee-doo, it's not a beauty contest. In fact I can't think of a recent WRC entry that would qualify for one.

[Mastodon2]

Nowhere near as good looking as the other two, but more cars competing is always a good thing. The current 1.6L cars don't sound as good as the last generation either.

[Boshly]

300bhp/ton said:

doogz said:

We're talking about John Cooper Works rally cars, and he posts a picture of two.

And that's stupid and utterly pointless?

Calm yourself.

In fairness, neither if the cars pictured are Works rally cars, so yes pointless as they have nothing to do with the topic. And stupid because I know the picture is trying to show how much bigger one car is than the other, while totally ignoring the fact that one is a 2 door compact saloon and the other a 5 door SUV/Crossover. Also ignoring the fact that one is a 1950's designed car while the other is a 2010's designed car.

Even if you made a new car with exactly the same dimensions inside the interior as a classic Mini it'd still be far larger on the outside due to different legislation and crash requirements.

And the Countryman is actually mini for an SUV. It's not a big car in today's Market. And I'm pretty sure if you compared a current Golf to a MKI it'd be a lot bigger too, or a MKII Focus to a MKI Escort or even an Anglia. All cars have generally got bigger in the mass Market.

All fair points but maybe your intro was a tad strong

[Ollieb7]

EDLT said:

Have you actually watched any of the rallying this year? Its been the best season in years.

Yep!

[rallycross]

The picture of the original Mini (road version and rallye Monte Carlo version) is there because if you look back at the new pictures - you will see BMW are using the strapline 'The come back' on these adverts.

The come back - from where exactly?
There is no link to this big fat bloated SUV to the original mini.

I like the BMW mini, having owned a few including Cooper, S and John Cooper Works 220 S' version, BBR 225 S etc. Sadly BMW have chosen to use the big ugly SUV shell for the WRC car. There was no need for them to use this variant, if Citroen and Ford could package their WRC car into a 3 door shell I am sure BWM/Mini could have done the same with the Mini 3 door. Its just marketing a new model.

They are using WRC to promote the new Countryman, and in the UK they are using the feel good factor of the original mini's past rallying glory to give it a leg up.

Is this a legitamte link, 'the come back'?

The pic of old mini v's new SUV was worth putting up again to show just how large (and ugly) the new one is.

[Boshly]

rallycross said:

The come back - from where exactly?
There is no link to this big fat bloated SUV to the original

You make a fair point too, though from reading above there is a minimum size for the WRC??

More importantly however why do you have to be so rude? Some people like the car and have paid hard earned cash for it?

Live and let live?

[900T-R]

Boshly said:

You make a fair point too, though from reading above there is a minimum size for the WRC??

Exactly. Neither the hatchback (3.73 m) nor the Clubman (3.98) make the minimum required 4.00 metres, while the Fester and DS3 do. Which, as an aside, gives the lie to the 'Astra-sized new Mini' claptrap often vented on here - the reality is the Mini hatchback is a whole foot shorter than any of its competitors as well as any of today's run of the mill superminis.

The Countryman is another matter altogether but as said - it was either that or no WRC car...