Has anyone seen those glossy ad inserts for the English car - the Mini Cooper? I have them in my recent Wired and New Yorker magazines. Fabulous ad - all fluff - trying to sell the car in the US. They have redone its original boxy design - it looks like a little race car.
www.miniusa.com

Pauline, we just saw them at the car show a couple of weeks ago, they look really cute. They were really marketing them towards the young kids, they had thumping music with a DJ playing ( although the DJ was a car salesman and not a DJ- should have sprung for the real thing since he really looked like a fish out of water )

My kids want me to get one but I think they might just be touch small. I have purses bigger than that car

My very first car was a Mini... oohhhhh, I adored that little thing! Still the best car I've ever had, no question. I'm determined to talk my way into a test drive of the new one sometime soon!

Sonia

p.s. the Mini is in for a BIG pop culture revival--it's in the new Austin Powers movie AND they are re-making the classic film "The Italian Job"--the one about a bank heist that used Mini Coopers as getaway cards! I THINK it was filmed in Torino... but I guess that belongs on the Italy board!

I bought a raffle ticket for one... the drawing is tomorrow. As I recall the wheels- with tires- are about the size of a large pizza. Nice for parking, bad for commuting on expressways, I'd think. Cute, though!

The new Mini might seem small by American standards, but it's plenty bigger than the old mini of Italian Job fame. Like many English of my generation I learnt to drive on one (my mother had 3 in all, including a Cooper 1275 which was, in its day, quite sporty). But the old mini was almost exactly 10 feet long: the new one is about half an inch short of 12. And a lot wider.

Lovely cars to look at: you see quite a few over here now. I'm still very attached to my Ford Puma, though, so I won't change yet!. Not enough luggage room for the Summer trips to Italy though. Luckily my wife needs a bigger car for her work (she's a double bassist), so it's a VW Passat estate for the second summer (last summer was our first long trip in it, and the aircon - still quite a novelty outside the luxury market - was blissful).

Jonathan

Just caught this thread and it struck a chord. My first car was a mini minor some (mumble, mumble) years ago and what a love affair that was. Lasted well into child number three and for a time I feared that it would totally rust out before it gave up the ghost. I did have another one but as the children grew, a larger vehicle was required. Ah well, that's the way it goes I guess.

Carole

The women in the book "Extra Virgin" brought an old Mini to their farmhouse in Liguria (from England) and there are amusing stories about it. They were great cars.

yes I like new Mini, I think retro' design is a good choice for automotive product
and I hope to see as soon as possible a revisited italian Vespa
dont'you know Vespa ?
you can see some images at my page

http://web.tiscali.it/umbriaverde/vintage.htm

Excellent photos Stefano!

I also love the Smart Car and the Fiat 500. Here is a photo of me in an Ape (another favorite):
http://www.slowtrav.com/italy/reviewsdb/photos_iltorrino.htm

And Steve with a Fiat 500:
http://www.slowtrav.com/italy/drive/cars.htm

We've got a mini on order and just learned that it's "on the boat"...! We expect delivery within the next month. I'll check back with a report once I've had a chance to drive it a bit - we had an opportunity to take a look and test drive at a local preview this winter - very cute....I'm fondly referring to it as our new "clown car".

Tell us when it arrives! I bet it handles really well.

Our neighbour has one with a dark grey body and an ivory roof - it is beautifull. Very retro inside with lots of polished aluminum - very cute little car - expensive for what it is though. Quite a few of them on the streets here in Toronto.

I remember seeing the old ones on the streets when I lived in Vancouver, Canada. Those Brits who moved to Canada just can't give up their Minis.