1997 Mini Spiritual Concept – Driven To Write

Eighties Eco-Concept Marvels: Epilogue – Endgame?

Where next for the Eco-car?

Citroen Ami (Source: Automotive News Europe)

Having enjoyed researching and writing about our three eighties eco-concept marvels, what thoughts now come to mind about the current state of the small car market? After all, the future as predicted by the ECO 2000, for example, has long since passed.

The car as we know it is, without doubt, experiencing something of a fin de siècle. Personally, I have felt a growing sense that car design and development has plateaued, become complacent and intellectually flabby, with form increasingly disconnected from function. I have also realised that this is reflected in my writings for DTW, which recently has been focused very much on the past rather than today or the future.

So, much as I enjoyed writing this short series, it has left me a little flat in terms of thoughts about the status quo and the future. Cue a stream of consciousness … Continue reading “Eighties Eco-Concept Marvels: Epilogue – Endgame?”

Mad For It

More MINI-based shinanigans. With added Gallagher brother-based goodness.

As a writer, it’s an endless struggle finding new ways of saying what is broadly speaking, the same thing. We are forever seeking an angle, or equally, a framing device, either as a way into a story, or a means of bookending it. This is all the more challenging for the relatively short-form (and I emphasise the term relatively) articles which tend to feature upon these esteemed pages.

Certainly, this author frequently struggles with form, almost as much as he does with content – or context for that matter. I say this by way of explanation for the somewhat conceptual approach taken in today’s reissue. Writing a drive piece on the R50 MINI (the first generation of the BMW re-casting) proved a bit taxing, hence the shoehorning of Britpop stalwarts, Oasis as something of a running gag throughout.

Yes, I’ll admit, it’s probably a little mannered, and I’m not sure I’d necessarily Continue reading “Mad For It”

FAAR Away, So Close

A MINI MPV was mooted before. It wasn’t a flier then – it’s even less so now.

A MINI MPV – unthinkable? (c) smallblogv8/MWERKS

Blind faith can be a marvellous thing – at least for those within its cozy orbit. However, for those who exist outside of its environs, not only can it become somewhat irritating, but allowed to propagate unchallenged, can lead to all manner of unforeseen consequences. At the South West London offices of Haymarket Publishing’s storied automotive weekly, for instance, belief in unicorns seems not merely confined to their veteran editor-at-large, but in addition, there appears to be a mounting view that these fantastic beasts hail almost exclusively from Munich-Milbertshofen. Continue reading “FAAR Away, So Close”

Summer Reissue – Champagne Supernova

This weekend sees our editor in-chief in celebratory mood…

I’m pleased to inform our regular readers that no hats were lost in the creation of this article. However, what millinery there was to hand has been at least metaphorically cast skywards in honour of my erstwhile fellow-DTW antagonist’s departure earlier this week across the Irish Sea. He means well, but our Mr. Doyle I find, is best appreciated from the distance of several hundred nautical miles.

But let us not Continue reading “Summer Reissue – Champagne Supernova”

Matters of a Spiritual Nature

It’s Sunday and in keeping with our unofficial Mini theme, DTW suggests four good reasons BMW was correct not to proceed with Rover’s 1995 Spiritual concept.

The 1995 Mini Spiritual twins first shown in 1997. Image via smallblogv8/MVerks — The futuristic 1995 Mini Spiritual twins first shown in 1997. Image via smallblogv8/MVerks

It would have cost a fortune to develop:
The investment in a bespoke floorpan and drivetrain, modifying hydragas, body & interior tooling and of course refitting the factory to build it would have been huge. New concepts also mean teething problems, so warranty costs were likely to have been high. Even as a sales success, Spiritual would struggle to recoup its development costs, meaning Rover would most likely have lost £millions on it.

Continue reading “Matters of a Spiritual Nature”

The Bavarian Job – 1993 BMW Z13

BMW’s early ’90s attempt at blowing the bloody doors off…

BMW's Mini-like Z13 - image via pixshark — BMW’s Mini-like Z13 – image: pixshark

It’s been suggested that BMW management pushed through the decision to build an overtly sporting concept of Mini against the wishes of Rover engineers, who advocated a more radical approach. There is a nub of truth in this, but only a nub. With Mini’s centre of gravity shifting towards the sporting Cooper model, Rover engineers had been working on Minki, a heavily re-engineered version of the existing car, aimed not only at modernising the concept, but in effect refocusing it. Continue reading “The Bavarian Job – 1993 BMW Z13”

Theme: Secondhand – MINI

I should probably have offered these thoughts whilst we were discussing ‘retro’, but a recent article on another site made me reflect on the plight of Mini, or should that be MINI?

4 generations of Mini/ MINI — Four generations of Mini/ MINI: http://www.caricos.com

I’ll dive straight in and state immediately that I abhor what BMW has done to the design of the Mini. If ever there was a lesson as to what can go wrong with second-hand design, this has to be it. When I see one of the latest generation 3 door hatches (to mention the 5 door would be more gratuitous, but unfair because there never was a 5 door version of Issigonis’s original) something stirs within me, and it’s not nice. Continue reading “Theme: Secondhand – MINI”