MINI Cooper SD Coupe

A joke!

Never mind the low center of gravity, this car is a joke with its strange looking roof. In Holland it is christened the Mini Toupet. How many more versions are zee Zjermans gonna squeeze out of the Issigonis legacy? Mini Countryman, Mini Clubman, Mini F.ckman?

By voyager on 27 September, 2011, 2:50pm

Just realised ...

The shape of that roof in profile ... Vauxhall Tigra revisited. Oh dear.

By Chizzy57 on 27 September, 2011, 3:04pm

MINI Co-op er SD Crape

The Mini brand is getting more and more naff.
This car rates second to the Countryman and the redesigned one series as the most unstylish car in the BMW stable.
Sadly, the image concious middle management will buy this car by the bucket load.
Guess its a case of the Emperors clothes.

By toycollector on 27 September, 2011, 5:58pm

OH DEAR!

Looks like another Mini variant which has had a severe beating with the ugly stick. Excellent car it may be, but it's not for me.

By Classic0904 on 27 September, 2011, 7:12pm

Stupid Rear Brake Light Position

Why is the rear brake light positioned so low in the car? Why couldn't it be fitted in the same position as the standard hatch? Poor design, waste of money and provides little or no benefit. MINIs are being ruined with this kind of naff nonsense

By Fubbery on 27 September, 2011, 9:04pm

Bigi Cooper

and growing.. it's not a Mini

By liverpool on 27 September, 2011, 9:11pm

plenty of headroom ??

I don't beleive you, driving with the windscreen at shoulder level must be grim, how many times do you bump your head on the roof, when extricating yourself from the floor, oops....... I mean the seats ??? Not designed for the real world or real people at all. Rubbish

By deshill1 on 27 September, 2011, 9:11pm

Who buys this?

I saw one on Monday in the metal - I made such a face that the man driving moved down in his seat and hid. I felt sorry for him, but, come on, it really looks ridiculous. What does anyone who buys this expect? This car states "My owner spent more for me than the standard MINI, with the same performance and handling, but I'm less practical and look even more of a joke."

By gherkins123 on 28 September, 2011, 8:30am

And a real ADO15 Cooper S or similar?

When is someone - SAIC maybe? - going to start building a real ADO15 successor that is really the size of the original but with all the modern developments available?

Real modern Mini body with top twin cam engine with 6 speed double cltuch transmission, electic power steering and air con compressor etc - its possible!

That it is all possible is shown by Hyundai with its latest HYUNDAI i30 which nearly drove VW Top Boss Winterkorn mad when he checked the car in detail personally at the Frankfurt IAA!!

Just look at :

http://auto.t-online.de/vw-vw-chef-winterkorn-in-rage-beim-neuen-hyundai-i30/id_50100698/index

He admis in the clip its is more than VW can manage up to date! Possible?

By vandenplas4litre on 28 September, 2011, 8:45am

Impractical versions are great if they're good lucking, however...

A Porsche GT3 with no back seats & ground clearance bothered by white lines in the road is impractical as a road car but looks great & goes well.


This thing is considerably less practical than the hatchback Mini which would have been acceptable if it didn't look so weird!

It wouldn't have been so bad if the roof looked so terrible if it was a coupe convertible.

My Questions: a) Who designed this, b) who signed the design off c) Who is going to buy this d) what drugs are a, b & c on?

By LightningMc on 28 September, 2011, 9:39am

Uncool

The roof was 'inspired' by the designer's son wearing his baseball cap worn wrong way round. Says it all really...

By Anorak17 on 28 September, 2011, 10:15am

Apologies for bad syntax - bit early in the morning for me!

By Anorak17 on 28 September, 2011, 12:12pm

What's in a name?

Quite a lot it would seem if you are the MD of BMW/MINI. It is time for the pretense to stop. Mini's of the day bear as much similarity to the original Mini as I do, and believe me I could never be described as 'Mini'.

The Mini Coupe is a lost opportunity in my book. The clumsy design of this car is entirely dictated by its dimensions. You cannot place a low, swoopy roofline on a car of this length, it just doesn't work. I'll bet my next paycheck the cranky Baseball Cap story is an attempt by BMW/MINI to deflect criticism away from Coupe's challenging aesthetics. This car should have been a redesign from the ground up; longer, lower, wider and sleeker. In fact it should be an entirely different car.

Therein lies the problem, what to do if you are an intransigent MD who wants to exploit the Mini's genes for the foreseeable future? It's easy really, you go out and acquire the Riley brand name, then you plough all your resources into the 'Baby' Mini and get it into the marketplace pronto and christen it 'Mini'.

Completely revamp the current range, keeping maybe a few subtle Mini styling cues, and I do mean subtle, then incorporate them into a separate design identity for the brand new 'BMW/RILEY' range. Simples!!! ;)

By sgtgrash on 28 September, 2011, 12:42pm

Not a patch on the looks of the Peugeot RCZ.

Not a patch on the looks of the Peugeot RCZ.

By mjgray100 on 29 September, 2011, 3:18am

Bigi cooper

BMW haven't a clue mini = small car

By liverpool on 29 September, 2011, 9:14pm

Yawn, yawn, yawn

When will these ongoing detractors, whom complain at the launch of every new model, realise that they only succede in making themselves a laughing stock. The fact is that all Minis sell in substantial numbers in most countries of the World, and I know because I see them.
On a plus side for some of the respodents, I believe that an all new 'Issigonis' type mini is being designed as we speak.

By CaptAl1 on 30 September, 2011, 4:23am

Err.......

I'm not sure if I should say this, but with the right colour and wheels combination, its starting to grow on me!

I too didn't like it at first, especially the roof that looks like a toupee (as mentioned above) on a cut and shut normal Mini.

But with the roof in the body colour, it doesn't look so bad - just a shame that Mini won't let you order one without the gawdy roof/bonnet stripes.

The forthcoming convertible looks better than the standard Mini convertible too - dare I say more masculine - and more of an MX5 rival.

When you think of this car as an alternative to an Audi TT it seems to make more sense - and before people shoot that down in flames, the Mini is a largely bespoke machine or shares its parts with more expensive cars where the TT uses bits from 'lesser' VW stable cars.

But one thing that puts me off about the Mini Coupe - it looks so much like the MK2 BMW Mini that when the MK3 Mini is launched (rumoured to be late next year) will this model be replaced soon after as well?

By gavsmit on 1 October, 2011, 8:50am

Roof For Improvement

Can't say I like the roof either. I think the design was to mimik a baseball cap on backwards which might appeal to the younger generation. Won't be cheap but anyone looking for a sporty dynamic economical Diesel Engined Road Vehicle need not look much further.

By LANMAN on 3 October, 2011, 1:15pm

Why?

Before the war there used to be this garage that produced great little sports cars and a few tourers from bits of Morris, they even named them after Morris Garage. They were stylish, relatively cheap and great fun, unlike this pathetic and sadly unimaginative attempt at making coupe. Not sure what happened to them.

By fleabane on 3 October, 2011, 4:38pm