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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

What is the point of the newer Minis?

74 replies

LewisAndClark · 05/08/2016 18:35

I'm sitting in a car park waiting for DD. There's a woman in a mini struggling to park.

They're HUGE. It's wider and longer than my little Ford Fiesta. It's not 'mini' by any stretch of the imagination.

AIBU to wonder what the point of them is? Why completely redesign a car and call it the same name when the name is no longer relevant?

OP posts:

Bearcatt · 05/08/2016 22:03

I had an old mini circa 1981..
Sold it for the same price I bought it for 18 months later when I came to work in London & no need for a car.
DS's grown up now & left home, not needing to use my old Peugeot 205.
I now have my brand new (although 18 months old now) Mini Cooper. Love the drive. Boot too small for shopping. Difficult to get the kids in the back (probably only a couple of times a year).
Thinking of getting a bigger mini soon. Not sure DH convinced. But will maybe go for a bigger mini.
Times move on.

MiniCooperLover · 05/08/2016 22:05

Doyouthinktheysaurus, me too !!! My first Mini was a 1982 beige Sprite, I loved it so much! Sold it for the same price to a lovely old lady a few years later, then bought a P Reg Brotish Racing Green Rover Mini Cooper, sold that to buy furniture for my new flat at the time () then eventually bought another BRG Cooper but a T Reg and keep it until I was about to have my DS (now 5). I love the look of the BMW Mini 's but despise them having the name.

Mrsderekshepard · 05/08/2016 22:07

I've been after a mini for years but because I have 3 dd's I can't have one. The bigger mini now gives me the option to get one. hth

ForalltheSaints · 05/08/2016 22:14

I hired a Fiat 500 last year on holidays- we all fitted in, would not have done in the old ones. Sadly it ground almost to a halt on any hill, the old Mini would not have done.

AaronBleurgh · 05/08/2016 22:29

I have the new Mini Clubman and I absolutely love it. It is fun to drive and has a big enough boot for all the crap the kids carry around. I traded my massive SUV in for it and it feels so much more, I dunno, alive!

spongebob5 · 05/08/2016 23:24

I love the classic minis, although they are tiny compared to most modern cars. I've got a 2010 mini clubman which I love I really don't like the newest generation of minis the 5 door model, the countryman, the clubman - like minis on steroids!

LavenderRains · 05/08/2016 23:33

I love the Fiat 500's but DH said I would look like I was driving a Little Tykes coupe
It's not really sized for my ample bosom/thighs

unlucky83 · 05/08/2016 23:54

I learned to drive in an original mini -have happy memories of it. It was my mums and it got written off when a car went out of control and flattened it on a car park. The original ones weren't actually very safe....
However I agree the new ones shouldn't be called Minis- because they aren't Mini. No idea which kind but I parked my 7 seater next to one on a carpark the other day and realised the 'mini' was bigger...
Also a colleague got one a little while a go and was telling me how economic it was - how many miles per gallon or whatever. Call me a sceptic but I can't see how they can be that efficient. They are big and hardly aero-dynamically shaped...wouldn't be surprised if the figures weren't 'fixed' - even more than normally (where they do the tests in stripped out shells with no brakes...)

m0therofdragons · 05/08/2016 23:58

They are for people like me - want a mini so bad but have 3dc so need a 5 seater. One day a countryman will be mine

AaronBleurgh · 06/08/2016 00:09

MoD I have 4 kids and the new mini. It's a match made in Heaven!

LikeDylanInTheMovies · 06/08/2016 00:56

However I agree the new ones shouldn't be called Minis- because they aren't Mini They are the same length and considerably wider than the Austin Maxi, never mind the Austin Mini.

AaronBleurgh · 06/08/2016 02:40

unlucky It costs me $25 to fill mine up on red with premium unleaded. I was in the UK recently and it cost me 50 flipping pounds (I was genuinely shocked how much you much you all pay for petrol) to fill up a crappy Zafira from just under 1/4 full. I get 400 miles out of a tank of petrol. I didn't get anywhere near that out of the Zafira.

WamBamThankYouMaam · 06/08/2016 06:44

Economic driving doesn't only come from an aerodynamically shaped car.

More efficient engines and fuel systems, more energy efficient controls (such as stop starthe, better gearboxes etc) and drive style have far more influence.

All cars have evolved. Granted, the mini is bigger now. But I think it's sales kind of suggest that people like them. It's not a car for me, but then nor is a Ford of any description. Slightly ironic that you're in a Fiesta. My friend drove one back in the 90s and it was miniscule in comparison to the models on the road now.

Allice · 06/08/2016 06:56

I've got a big mini, a 4wd countryman. I love it, she's called Doris and my daughter adores her.
Had a brief hankering for a beetle recently, have always fancied one, went to look but think I prefer my car.
Have to agree that they are expensive to maintain, tyres are crazy money although better after I found out that bloody kwikfit were over charging me by £100 a tyre.

ProfessorPreciseaBug · 06/08/2016 07:04

Elfinsafety crash tests have a kot to do with it...
The Mini would never pass modern standards.. And besides, being able to see the road under your feet means you have to wear wellie boots whenever it rains..

But the Isogonis design is still clasic. You can get four people in one without difficulty.. It's getting an elephant pregnant in one that gets tricky.

MrsMook · 06/08/2016 08:45

If MiL could get her 5 children into her 1970s mini, I wonder how many she could get into a modern one...

I've ended up parking my Focus next to a clubman and it was dwarfed. There doesn't seem to be much distinction between "small cars" and mid-size models these days.

mrsfuzzy · 06/08/2016 09:33

my dc4 and i are HUGE fans of minis esp. the vintage ones, they certainly kicked ass in 'the italian job' love, love, love 'em !! [runs off to find a mini to cuddle it's bonnet]

LikeDylanInTheMovies · 06/08/2016 11:24

Slightly ironic that you're in a Fiesta. My friend drove one back in the 90s and it was miniscule in comparison to the models on the road now.

Yep the current Fiesta is much bigger than the Mini Hatch. Although it is possible that you saw one of the bigger Minis. BMW developed the idea that Mini is a brand with a range of vehicles in it, rather than a single model as a way of generating sales.

I still don't like them either as cars, or what they've become in terms of stepping away from the 'cheap, fun motoring for everyone' ethos of the original.

Ghanagirl · 06/08/2016 11:50

I've got a five door mini it's lovely to drive and fits 3 kids in the back.
I don't like the 4x4 versions though as they do look massive!

unlucky83 · 06/08/2016 14:34

wambam I know that - I am sure that the engines etc are more efficient than older cars - what I am thinking is putting that engine and driving system in a more aerodynamic body shape would give you a more efficient car...
And part of it is safety but all cars are bigger than they used to be -my own first car was a prefix D reg fiesta (c 1987 iirc) - I loved that car, small and easy to park and manoeuvre- super efficient to run - small engine but zippy, cheap insurance, cheap road tax - only replaced cos it was 3 door so a battle with DC in car seats.
A car like that with a modern engine etc would be more efficient than a modern 'mini' -but probably not as safe - especially as all the cars on the road now are much bigger.
Like I said my mums original mini (early 70s) was written off parked on a car park at a junction and flattened by an estate car that wasn't going that fast -maybe 40mph - you would be dead if you had been in it. Bit scary to see ...

elQuintoConyo · 06/08/2016 14:46

I still prefer my 2CV

JedRambosteen · 06/08/2016 15:05

The Mini would never pass modern standards.. And besides, being able to see the road under your feet means you have to wear wellie boots whenever it rains..

Haha! Yes, my Mum had one with a rusty passenger footwell when I was kid & I used to have to keep an eye out for puddles in the road so I could lift my feet in time.

JedRambosteen · 06/08/2016 15:08

ElQuinto - A 2CV rattled past me & DC recently with the sun roof down & they were rather taken with it in a "WTF?" sort of way.

DisgraceToTheYChromosome · 06/08/2016 15:09

The new Mini engine is off the old K series bikes. I got cough cough cough out of my K1200RS once.

LikeDylanInTheMovies · 06/08/2016 21:23

unlucky modern cars are far, far more aerodynamic than they were 30/40 years ago.

Cars are so much heavier now due to safety concerns and environmental concerns - heavier chassis, airbags, crumple zones, catalytic converters, fuel injection, abs, side impact beams, traction control all add weight. However they are seen as essential in order to sell a car to the public.

Simply nobody would buy a car built to an 1980s safety spec. Take a look at how the Rover 100 9 a very lightly revised Metro designed in the late 70s) performed in an ENCAP crash tests. from 1997.

It has some modern safety features such as side impact beams and an airbag, but even so the results are frightening, the dated, flimsy design saw it get crushed like a matchbox. It was withdrawn from sale very quickly afterwards due to this. That was 20 years ago safety concerns have massively intensified since then and other cars have got considerably safer since.

Even if by some miracle you could get the thing road legal, nobody in their right mind would expose themselves or their family to that sort of unnecessary risk these days.

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