1998 Mini 1.3i - German?

[Mikeyplum]

May be a bit of a silly question, but currently playing on Gran Turismo 5 and tried entering a "British Lightweight" race with the above car, only for it to be of German manufacture. I thought only the newer Mini's (BMW) were made by zee germans!

Wiki said:

Production 1996–2000
Assembly Longbridge, Birmingham, West Midlands, England
Body style 2-door saloon
Engine 1,275 cc (1.3 l) I4

Anyone know if this is true, or if GT5 is talking out of its arse?

Cheers
Mikey

[PumpkinSteve]

Possibly because the Mini name is now under German ownership? Not sure, just guessing.

[Ozzie Osmond]

I thought BMW owned it from 1994 so yes, it's arguably German.

[anonymous-user]

Because it was owned by BMW at the time.

[gowmonster]

Mikeyplum said:

Anyone know if this is true, or if GT5 is talking out of its arse?

Cheers
Mikey

IIRC BMW owned Rover between 1994 and 2000 at which point Mini was owned by Rover...

[smugglersvin]

doogz said:

Still a bit odd though, does that make Lamborghinis German?

Well I guess that modern Lamborghini's are German as isn't the R8 basically a Lambo or the lambo is basically an R8, its all confusing.
But I dont know if you could really call an original mini German as its been owned by BMC and Leyland then Austin Rover before then and it was British before the buy out and had been since 1959.

[kambites]

I don't see why the old one would be any more of less German than the new one really - both designed and built in England with a German parent company.

Rather meaningless distinction though - does it list Lotus as British or Malaysian?

[Killer2005]

kambites said:

I don't see why the old one would be any more of less German than the new one really - both designed and built in England with a German parent company.

Rather meaningless distinction though - does it list Lotus as British or Malaysian?

Lotus are British on GT5.

[soad]

Killer2005 said:

Lotus are British on GT5.

Thank fk for that.

[Mikeyplum]

Very strange.

I forgot to check out Lambo's nationality on there. Will check later on.

Pissed me off as I wasted credits speccing my little 1.3i Mini to circa 150BHP with fully adjustable suspension and some sticky tyres then couldn't even fking enter the race! More fool me really for not checking first! The thought didn't even cross my mind that it wouldn't be British!

[vdubbin]

It's been like that since GT4, I think in GT3 it was British, and in GT2 you also had the Mini Cooper 1275S MK1 which came with 265 HP or something daft like

In Gran Turismo 2 you had the best choice of Minis

|| Mini (4 models) ||

Mini 1.3
Mini Cooper 1.3i
Mini Cooper 1275S MK1
Mini Monte Carlo which was tunable to 240 hp or something crazy like that!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwUayBJ_u6w

When BMW took over Rover (who held the licencing rights) they withheld rights to all but the Mini Cooper 1.3, presumably as it made the Bini look bad?

Edited by vdubbin on Tuesday 17th January 11:51

[Dr Interceptor]

If you buy one of the very last of the Minis, they actually contain a fair amount of BMW engineering.

For the final production run, BMW invested heavily in the line, in the materials, in the workmanship - everything. The aim was to make the last Minis the best ones ever made.

Makes me laugh when you see a Yr 2000 Mini at shows with a '100% BMW Free Sticker' in the window.

[Downton Mini]

Basically BMW own the name MINI/Mini in all guises but I still think of all Minis/MINIS as British as has already been stated nobody classes lambo/bentley/rolls as German

[Mikeyplum]

Downton Mini said:

Basically BMW own the name MINI/Mini in all guises but I still think of all Minis/MINIS as British as has already been stated nobody classes lambo/bentley/rolls as German

This is the way I see it. The same as Land Rover are not Indian etc...

Bloody game!