NYT: Taking MINI to the Max

[DimON]

Today, “all the news that’s fit to print” includes a thoughtful review of the MINI Countryman. Ezra Dyer kicks off with an observation we at MotoringFile know all to well.

It’s an immutable law of the car business: the more focused a company’s lineup, the greater the outrage when that company decides to expand its product range. When Porsche introduced the Cayenne S.U.V. as a 2004 model, purist fans reacted as if the company had announced it was branching into unicycles and Justin Bieber merchandise. “That’s not a Porsche!” cried many people who have never bought, nor will ever buy, a Porsche.

…Just as the aforementioned companies have long histories of building sports cars, the name Mini evokes sprightly front-wheel-drive two-door hatchbacks. So the new Mini Cooper S Countryman All4 — an all-wheel-drive four-door — is a pretty significant departure. And yet I’m not sensing much righteous frothy indignation among the faithful.

While mostly an overview, and not anything readers of this site haven’t heard before, I have to give Dyer credit for being neither an unwavering fanboy, nor a curmudgeonly contrarian when it comes to MINI’s biggest sibling. He neither winks nor scoffs at those quirky things that make a MINI a MINI. That’s refreshing.

In this car, as with other Minis, you’re paying for design. The Countryman interior, in particular, looks like something that other companies may cook up for a concept car but then abandon on the way to the showroom.

So while it’s certainly no new information or startling insights, the article is worth a read nonetheless.

</img></img>

</img> </img> </img> </img>

Читать дальше