Sebastian Vettel Drives the New MINI Countryman in Budapest
Official Release: Red Bull Racing driver Sebastian Vettel drives a MINI Countryman during his stay in Budapest at the F1 Grand Prix. The car having its market launch only in September was offered to Sebastian by BMW Group Hungary. The driver currently 4th in the World Championship was happy to have the car at his disposal – he sat excitedly into the new MINI model and drove straight to the Hungaroring from the airport. The black MINI Cooper S Countryman was delivered from the new model’s international media launch to Budapest to be Sebatian’s companion on the Hungarian roads and was handed over by Henning Putzke, Managing Director of BMW Group Hungary.
It may not appear on Formula 1, but we will have the chance to see the new MINI Countryman WRC model in the World Rally Championship as a car with a rich and successful heritage as Monte Carlo rallye winner returns to the international rally sport starting from next season. The car is developed by Prodrive, in close cooperation with MINI, and is based on the production model. The powerful heart of the racing car is a 1.6-litre, four-cylinder turbo-char
ged engine from BMW Motorsport.
The MINI Countryman is the first member of the MINI family with a body measuring more than four meters in length and optional all-wheel drive. With these features, in addition to the Countryman’s raised seating position and optimized riding comfort, the world’s only premium vehicle of its kind crosses the boundaries of urban mobility to take the trademark MINI feeling into new dimensions and win over additional target groups.
The latest generation of petrol and diesel engines has been recruited to power the MINI Countryman. Their brisk power development and optimized smoothness contribute to the Countryman’s agility and excellent long-distance comfort – both MINI trademark traits. Plus, the remarkable ability of all the units to extract maximum benefit from the energy they consume enables the brand’s fourth model to boast a stand-out level of efficiency over its direct competitors. Extensive MINIMALISM measures play a key role in further reducing fuel consumption and emissions.
Optional MINI ALL4 all-wheel drive allows the driving fun you expect from the brand to be experienced off the beaten track as well. The permanent all-wheel-drive system’s quick and precise responses to changing conditions provide a new, traction-led expression of the handling talents for which MINI is famed. An electromagnetic centre differential positioned directly on the final drive varies the distribution of power seamlessly between the front and rear axles. The ALL4 system is available for the MINI Cooper S Countryman and MINI Cooper D Countryman.
Globe and Mail: Look-at-me MINI has a truly modest thirst
Subcompact cars typically boast spacious interiors and astonishing cargo capacity as reasons to buy. Not so the Mini Cooper S.
The premium price the Cooper S commands is for pace, not space; good sense takes second place to good times; and the person behind the wheel best be an extrovert ’cause everybody looks.
As cars go, it’s a two-door party.
National Post: Packed With Punch
The original Mini, penned by Sir Alec Issigonis, earned a solid reputation for its impish personality, delicate handling (this despite of the 10-inch wheels!), a large centrally mounted speedometer and toggle switches galore. Consequently, when the new Mini arrived in 2002, it was greeted like a long lost friend — it picked up on the old’s key styling cues (including the row of toggle switches and large round speedo) while adding a healthy dose of substance.
Edmunds First Drive: MINI Clubman
We come to the 2008 Mini Cooper S Clubman with more than the usual sense of curiosity. After all, the Mini is a great car, but it’s also not a car for everybody.
Now Mini has brought us an even stranger version of an already eccentric car, a stretched-out model with three doors for people and two doors for cargo. And yet Mini expects the new car to eventually account for more than a quarter of all its sales worldwide.
The crucial question is: Has Mini managed to preserve the qualities that have made its standard model such a hit even as it reaches out to a broader audience with this stretched version of its iconic small car?
Globe and Mail: Your car is trying to tell you something
It is surprising how little some people know about the information displayed on the instrument panel of their vehicle. The Budds’ Service team felt that it may be a great idea to post such an article for those of us who have no idea what that little yellow light in the middle of our dash is trying to tell us.
While it may seem superfluous, every gauge or light has a story to tell and in virtually every case failure to listen to that tale can have disastrous and expensive repercussions.
The 2008 MINI Clubman Official Press Release
We are sure you’re tired of seeing spy shots of the MINI Clubman popping up here and there. Well, rest easy because MINI has just released the first official images along with the specs on the upcoming 5-door Clubman.
MINI Clubman brings back the suicide door!
Having already exposed the first exterior images of the forthcoming MINI Clubman, the only thing left for us to see before the Frankfurt Show unveiling were the interior shots. Thanks’ to a couple of readers at Motoringfile, we now get that chance. The scoop images not only reveal details on the interior but we also see the mechanism on the 3rd (suicide style) door and the space provided for the rear passengers. View pictures of the Clubman inside……..
The AC Schnitzer MINI Cooper S
We’re used to seeing the German tuners upgrade cars for the likes of BMW, Audi and Porsche, but it’s not often that you come across a Mini Cooper modified by one of Germany’s top customizers. This time it’s AC Schnitzer, whose engineers have created the new R56 Mini Cooper.
All-electric MINI Cooper enters production
Hybrid Technologies, emerging leaders in the development and marketing of lithium-powered products, said today that it has moved into production with the BMW AG Mini Cooper all lithium model. After two years of reasearch and an extensive vehicle selection process, Hybrid Technologies engineers selected the Mini Cooper built in Cowley, England.
Globe and Mail: A green machine with pizzazz
The 2007 Mini Cooper is fuel-efficient, decently quick, practical and compact enough to park almost anywhere in the city.
It’s also a green machine with pizzazz. With the manual six-speed transmission, the Mini qualifies for a $1,000 ecoAuto rebate from the federal government. In real terms, that takes the base price down from $25,900 to $24,900.