that’d be an interesting design. maybe some alternative car buyers will stray from the subaru baja

That just might be the stupdiest move BMW could ever make. After the whole SUV Backlash campaign with the MINI then they go and make a SUV????

What the hell are they thinking. Offer AWD as an option on the MINI but that is it don’t try and make a premium compact SUV out of it because it will just not work.

I balked at this at first, but the more I think about it a small chunky mini offroader could have real retro ‘dune-buggy’ appeal if it was done properly - surf colours, subtle retro graphics, overtly chunky tyres with white lettering, and FINALLY an excuse for all that chrome If they base it on the ragtop and add a rollover bar with built-in spots then it’d be even better.

I think it is a good idea. BMW seems to know its market. They are rumored to be building an X1 as well.

Bad idea. Apart from the swearing I fully agree with British_Rover.

Well then it wouldn’t be mini, would it?

Wow, BMW, really inventive! Subaru has been building these for 50 years or so. Of course, this is a BMW so it’s “different.” Yawwwwn.

I’d be interested in seeing it, but for CUV’s, I really like Mazda’s CX7. It looks sporty, it’s gotten great reviews on edmunds, and from what I hear/read, it’s the sportiest of CUVs. (Of course, a sporty CUV/SUV is an oxymoron.)

Yeah but Subaru is trash. Don’t compare their crap with BMW.

No! Please don’t BMW! Minis should not become a regular car brand. You guys have one vehicle; leave it that way. This would make MIni, to use a music industry term, a sellout, in my opinion.

I just dont get the attraction to Cross-overs to start with. They all seem to look like odd, oblong shaped STATION WAGONS and nothing more to me. Calling Mazda’s CX-7 “sporty-looking” is a good example - it may be “sporty” for an SUV but look at it and compare it to any CAR and these crossovers all seem as ugly as the Pontiac Aztek.

And the pic above looks exactly like a Suburu Baja but only worse - which is ridiculous looking for a BMW I think regardless of how many they sell. A car/truck that lame-looking has simply GOT TO diminish the brand etc…

Agree with pretty much everyone. Dumbass idea.

Anyone just starting to think about crossovers now shouldn’t waste their precious time IMHO…by the time they get the thing to market the whole ‘crossover thing’ will have gone the way of the station wagon, minivan, etc. Except that crossovers weren’t ever really “in” to begin with.

And isn’t a ‘big’ MINI sort of an oxymoron?

Even if this car proves to be slightly more practical than a regular Mini, it’s still going to be a Mini, and probably significantly less practical than a comparable vehicle. Even now, I would argue that nobody buys a Mini because they want a practical car. People buy Minis because they want a stylish/retro/fashionable car. I really don’t think a crossover Mini statisfys that desire.

Furthermore, it kinda seems that Minis become pretty ridiculously expensive once they hit North America. I kind of wonder if, for the price of a crossover Mini, one couldn’t purchase a regular car and then some kind of utility vehicle. And unlike a crossover, that set up can go two places at once.

I also think this is an interesting example of why I’m distressed with the current state of the auto industry. On the one hand, I do think there are a whole bunch of great cars being built. I mean really, at what other point have there been so many different supercars on the market? That being said, a crossover Mini is the poster child for the innumerable amount of absolutely stupid vehicles being constructed and sold to soulless wraiths of consumers.

/no

On second thought, kindof like Interphase’s ragtop “buggy” idea…imagine a jacked up ragtop MINI with some chunky-ass tires, well tuned suspension, AWD, a bunch of foglights, a rollbar and 200hp (to offset the added weight)!

If MINI’s gonna do it, they’d HAVE to do it differently and with attitude or just not bother at all IMHO.

If I bought a MINI for the kinky fun factor and then started seeing soccer moms everywhere running around in pastel-coloured pansy soft-roaders with a MINI nose on them I think I’d just want to park my car and burn it.

Then again. perky, cheery, pastel coloured retro-look soft roaders just might sell…

…uhoh

As a Mini owner, I STRONGLY oppose this idea, I support the Clubman but not this, please do not build this car, please.

what about just putting an AWD system on a NORMAL MINI and leaving it at that. Id buy that, but not this jacked up version with mud-terrains.

The thing is Land Rover is already planning that model. The concept came out in 2004 as a vehicle slotted below the Current Freelander 2/LR2.

http://www.landyonline.co.za/specs/concepts2004.htm

Scroll down half of the page.

It is supposed to be a dunebuggy type vehicle with crazy suspension articulation and fat tires.

Not sure how much of that will make it to production.

Damnit hit enter by accident….

Land Rover can pull this off because it fits with the brand image. You can’t start a brand to the tune of SUV backslash and then build a SUV.

Mini was from the start, to be a complete car line in the eyes of BMW. If it was successful, and it has been.

This will be the FWD car division of BMW. They need to offer different cars. itf they are to be in business for a while.

More people in BMWs is bad why?

Who cars if it works or not, its their money.

yeah renton, but every single MINI billboard, advertisement, etc. that you saw probably in some way promoted their lack of gas guzzling, or their superiority to SUV’s. Building something like this would simply make them semi-hypocritical.. as it probably wouldnt be a good SUV anyway. Although, if they built it to mimic the Suzuki SX4, i say go right ahead, as the SX4 is easily the best offering in its segment (not including the MINI).

1c3d0g- if Subaru is trash, then GM is feces.

A4– If they build a Mini crossover it will most likely be pretty efficient.

I think the X1 will be the better car anyway.

Build them all and let the market sort them out.

1c3d0g - Subarus may not be upper end cars like BMW’s but for what they offer and sell they certainly NOT JUNK. You obviously have no experience with Subaru or head is up your ass.

Subarus are awesome. Probably the safest Jap cars. The STI is a thrill ride, the AWD systems can climb trees, the boxer motors have a nice low center of gravity.

Some of them are ugly as heck though.

stick to 1 model. don’t follow ford’s BAD example. IT”S A MINI!!!!!!!!!! keep it that way.

No LamborghiniZ, that’s you looking at yourself in the mirror. Subaru = Basura, trash, garbage, rubbish. Capiche? Dork.

Please God, no!