New Driving Dynamic workshop? The pictures are from the dutch circuit “Zandvoort”

Wow have we got an ugly looking car or what?

The grill (or the hole in this ones case) is terribly ugly and the lights are too small. They should have just kept the old look and made the technological enhancement.s

They never said they were at a BMW facility, #1.

As for the car, it looks like the headlights are spaced further apart. The yellow version in particular makes the Mini look REALLY bug-eyed.

hm… for me it’s just a facelift

Nevermind the face lift. At least this time they are upping the power by going to a turbo-charger (far more flexible compared to a supercharger), and sticking with the LSD on the Cooper-S.

Still a waste of space. The updates don’t make it any less fugly

its clean looking. i was never a fan of all the chrom that was on the front. though i thik the headlights need to be larger. now they jsut need to stop asking $17+ for 120hp and maybe i would look at one. they need to do some price adjustments though. way to much for a cooper.

“its clean looking. i was never a fan of all the chrom that was on the front. though i thik the headlights need to be larger.”

Ummm. Look closer at the pictures. The mini has colored vinyl over the chrome. The final car will have the trim just like the previous models.

Why is Mini still around? You can get a far superior Cobalt LS or Pontiac G6 for the same price and have a much better looking car than this POS Rollerskate

Yeah hows the resale of the Cobalt or G6 stack up against a Cooper? Exactly. Cobalt LS….Bwhaha! Comedy gold!

GM, I hope that is a joke. The Cobalt and the G6 are hideous no taste disasters of bad design. The Mini is incredible and if you haven’t driven one then you have no clue how fun they are to handle.

PS I don’t have a mini.

true, as pointed out above, when the crome is revealed the headlights will look big again

Changes don’t look huge….wonder what’s up with the interior?

PS. GM Guys…the current Cooper S is faster through the slalom than any production Corvette…ever.

it looks better, cleaner

yeah GM guys … what this continent needs is small cars not gas guzlers.
its because of those huge cars from the past that there is now less gas left in the world and the price is jacked up … so yeah keep supporting the global problem by buying “school buses” instead of small decent transportation

ever heard of a word SAVING or TO SAVE

I’d never be able to afford this anyways.

GM, you didn’t answer to Lou. Was it a jock?

2.76 in. longer. That’s how it starts… how much heavier is it?

If the mini suffers from feature bloat that would be a sadly amusing bit of irony.

“Small is the new black.”

It’s more than 100lb lighter than the current model and 60mm longer due to European pedestrian safety requirements, so basically the interior room is almost the same. It’s going to be a great car with endless modification possibilities.

Actually the Cooper S will be 180lbs lighter than before. Here’s all you ever could want to know:

http://www.motoringfile.com/

Hey DaveO, I believe some one’s fibbing about about slaloms.

2006 Corvette ZO6
Skidpad………….0.98 g
Slalom……………69.40 mph

2006 Cooper S
Skidpad………….0.87g
Slalom……………68.1 mph

wow….
“New MINI prices will reportedly be 3-4% higher than the current model’s. Although the current MINI has more or less doubled its initial forecast volume, and will have made a profit over its lifecycle, it is reportedly far from meeting BMW’s profit criteria.”

Mike- yea it looks like your right. i reserve final judgment until the real photos come out. but it looks like a decant start. i see a mini on the road and i dont think it looks the least bit dated, and I think the facelift will be a good thing and get some more attention back to the car. the engine upgrades are really nice, I cant wait until the tuners get a hold of that turbo! now the price…to me its just to much. i went to miniusa.com and had a cooper up to 21000 easily! if they dropped the base price from $18000 to ~$16000 then i would b interested.

[...] Filed Under: Auto News, Euro, Coupes, Economy, Hatchbacks, BMW, MINI, Spy Shots July 27th, 2006 4:44 PM [...]

At least compare the Z06 to the Mini Cooper S Works GP.

facelift my ass, it looks more like botched plastic surgery

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so some will like the style, others will not. However, one thing that cannot be disputed is the high resale value of the car. MINI has one of the best, if not the best resale values in the industry, which makes the higher prices more reasonable, since the important thing is not the price, but the cost of ownership over the time you have the car. And, I do have a MINI, an 05 Cooper S. It is my second MINI, and after looking over the new one, I will likely get one of these eventually. And, I can run circles around the Cobalt or G6 any day of the week.

I can run circles around a Cobalt or G6 in a 1986 Hyundai Excel…

Why this car has a intake on front hood??? The current engine has supercharger, this new one they say is turbo. So what kind of fakeness air intake are they now try to kid us with? And why car is bigger and heavier??? Is not the future not equal to lighter weight and more efficient packaging? In my eye this car is failure to improve today’s masterpiece. To all you who say safety…what you want – a tank? Buy Detroit iron then. To those who say more space…in a pig eye! Lose your fat or buy big car and no forget small mean agile and nimble and extreme fun handling. I am depressed over future of this current future classic…

If I understand correctly this isn’t a facelift. Its all-new on an all new platform. (aka – done from the ground up instead of taking over where Rover left off on the last one)

Anyway, 3 things:
1 – It looks the same. Not that I expected dramatic differences, but…
2 – I thought I had read that the headlights would be body mounted this time around.
3 – WHEN WILL THEY HIDE THE BUMPER BEHIND THE GRILL SO IT LOOKS RIGHT! Damn, it looks horrible on an Audi, but the MINI doesn’t look right with a bumper splitting the grill, even if it is the right shape.

The car looks great. Get thee to a Chevy forum.

It does look fine.

And these are pictures of the PRE-PRODUCTION vehicles. They still have tape all over them, for Chrissakes.

So what is all the fuss about this being “botched plastic surgery”?

Please. One can hardly tell the difference between the new and the old.

BMW reviews 2007 Mini Cooper

The Mini Cooper is an e-ticket carnival ride that can dry out wet pavement with its outstanding handling. The shortest car on the road, it can be parked in the smallest of places. Yet it seats four, with unexpectedly roomy back seats, and it can carry…

BMW’s 2007 Mini Cooper

The Mini Cooper is an e-ticket carnival ride that can dry out wet pavement with its outstanding handling. The shortest car on the road, it can be parked in the smallest of places. Yet it seats four, with unexpectedly roomy back seats, and it can carry…

Sorry about that Shane…had never seen the 2006 Z06 numbers before. But:

1a. Consider the price differece v. marginal performance differences.

1b. Consider the new MINI JCW GP. Can’t find the stats but am confident it is faster and still at half the price or less.

Factor in better resale value, build quality, engineering and driving dynamics on the MINI and there is really no contest.

Love those short overhangs.

Love it. Want one now. The lights look small because half of them are sellotaped up to look a little more like the old one.

Like it…doesn’t look much different, but the little changes are everything. Can’t wait.

I want a mini….I live in the south of France. Is there a distributor in Nice? Please get back to me…I want a mini and I want one bad…….

I dont like the new look of the outside of the new mini. the cuurent one looks better. but as far as the inside, it is great!