Mini Clubvan Concept Takes Clubman to Cargo Town [Geneva Auto Show]

Mini’s lineup is more expansive than you might think. The basic Cooper three-door hatch currently shares showroom space with the four-place convertible, the extended-length Clubman, the high-riding Countryman, and the two-seater Roadster and Coupe. Mini will debut yet another (potential) derivative next month at the Geneva auto show, the Clubman-based Clubvan commercial van concept. (The Paceman, a three-door Countryman, is on the way, too.)

The Clubvan’s transformation to micro cargo hauler is pretty simple, as it’s essentially a Clubman with no rear seats. It uses the same body as the Clubman—which is a longer-wheelbase Mini Cooper with split rear barn doors and a third door on the passenger’s side—and gets opaque rear side window coverings and heavily tinted rear-door glass.

Mini didn’t just rip the back seats out, tint the windows, and call it a day, though. The aft space is made more cargo-friendly through a completely flat and cloth-upholstered load floor, six tie-down hooks, and a fixed partition between the front seats and the rear stowage area. The partition is a particularly trick-looking piece; the top features stainless-steel grating, while the bottom is finished in solid aluminum. Our only gripe, we suppose, is that the partition appears to intrude into the opening created by the third side door, limiting its usefulness.

Read More: http://blog.caranddriver.com/mini-clubvan-concept-takes-clubman-to-cargo-town-geneva-auto-show/

First Drive: 2012 Mini Cooper Roadster

If you're puzzled, as we are, by what the new Mini Roadster is supposed to be that the existing Mini Convertible is not, the folks from Mini offer this explanation: "It's the return of the British roadster."

Uh, we know it's been a while since actual British roadsters -- MGs and Triumphs and the like -- zipped along America's back roads (and broke down on their shoulders), but we remember them as quite a bit different than this Mini. The slender sports cars followed a classic formula seemingly laid down at the dawn of time, with a longitudinally mounted engine up front driving the rear wheels. The Mini Roadster, on the other hand, follows the formula of other Minis, with a transverse-mounted engine and front-wheel drive.


Soft-top sibling to the hardtop Coupe The Roadster is essentially a softtop version of the two-seat hardtop Coupe, which went on sale last fall. In both cars, the back seat area is given over to a bulkhead that has a lockable, 14-by-8-inch pass-through to an 8.5-cubic-foot trunk -- which betters the 6.0 cubic feet you get in the Convertible. As in the Coupe, the deck lid here incorporates a pop-up rear spoiler that deploys automatically at 50 mph to provide additional downforce (or flip it up manually with a switch on the windshield header). The Roadster also has the Coupe's reinforced body structure, lower ride height, and deeper front spoiler.

Yep, it drives like a Mini

These are not exactly transformative changes. And indeed, the Roadster drives pretty much like any other Mini. Mostly, of course, that's a very good thing. The Roadster will be available from launch in all three strengths: 121-hp Cooper; turbocharged 181-hp Cooper S; and full-tilt-boogie, 208-hp John Cooper Works. We drove the Cooper S version, and it is a lively performer (6.7 seconds from 0 to 60 mph, according to the manufacturer). Turbo lag is not an issue, and this engine gleefully zings the Roadster down urban freeways and rural two-lanes, accompanied by a snarling exhaust note -- and the occasional racy popping through the exhaust on throttle lift-off.

Read more: http://www.automobilemag.com/reviews/driven/1201_2012_mini_cooper_roadster_first_drive/index.html#ixzz1lzuitqlF