Even More Top Gear Madness

Captain Slow and the Aston Martin Virage Coupe

The new series of Top Gear is almost here and, to whet your appetite even more, another trailer has been released. It features James May practicing drifting in the all-new Aston Martin Virage. Also, we see Clarkson make an absolute humiliation of the Ferrari 458 Italia and Lewis Hamilton in the Atom Smasher, the McLaren MP4-12C. Then, we see Clarkson and Hammond do some car forensics on an old Mercedes-Benz CL600 and BMW 850i. But wait! There's more. Captain slow executes a speed run in the new ProDrive Mini Countryman WRC Rally Car, Clarkson and Hammond find the perfect used sports car, and Hammond squeals like a mouse when driving at 100 MPH at the Monaco Grand Prix circuit in his Fiat 500 Abarth Convertible. So, basically, all of the usual has returned. This should be exciting. The series begins this Sunday on BBC HD and BBC 2.

Mini Gets Smaller?

2012 Mini Cooper Coupe

Say hello to the newest creation out of the skunkworks at BMW: the all-new Mini Cooper Coupe. Sounds strange, doesn't it? You would imagine that the current Cooper was already a Coupe, hence it's name Cooper, but now, it seems like it's not the case. It still has the face of the Cooper, the Go-Kart like handling of the Cooper, it even comes in three Cooper-like flavors: Cooper Coupe, Cooper S Coupe, and John Cooper Works Coupe, shown here. All flavors are paired with a 6-speed manual, with a 6-speed automatic option for the Cooper Coupe and Cooper S Coupe. As for power, the Cooper Coupe gets a 1.6-liter 121 horsepower inline-4 engine. This will help it do 0 to 60 in 8.3 seconds and hit a top speed of 127 MPH. According to EU standard, the entry-level Coupe will do 44 MPG, but that's the EU standard. The EPA estimates aren't in yet. Moving on up, you get the Cooper S Coupe which gets a more powerful 1.6-liter twin-scroll turbo-4 engine producing 181 horsepower. It will do 0 to 60 in 6.5 seconds and hit a top speed of 142 MPH. If that's not enough for you, then maybe Mr. John Cooper will help with his JCW Coupe. This one receives the same twin-scroll turbo-4 engine as the Cooper S Coupe, but it has been tuned from 181 to 208 horsepower. 0 to 60 is now done in 6.1 seconds up to a top speed of 149 MPH. As for the design, it looks sort of weird. You would imagine that because of the small roof, it would be a convertible, but unfortunately, it isn't. That roof doesn't go anywhere. The only thing on his car that does go somewhere is a small hidden spoiler located near the boot. That goes up when you reach speeds over 50 MPH and comes down when doing less than 37 MPH. But anyway, if you've been craving for this car to come to life, here it is. It hits the showrooms very soon.

More Top Gear Madness

Top Gear

So, a brief teaser was released today from BBC 2 showcasing some of the nonsense those three petrolheads have been up to for the new season of Top Gear. First, we see Jezza taking the possible Atom Smasher, the MP4-12C, for a spin. Then, Captain Slow aides as a co-driver for the new Mini Countryman WRC rally car. Also, Jezza's new bestfriend, Olympic Gold-medalist Amy Williams returns for a car vs. man challenge. We also see Jezza and Hamster embarrasing themselves in a used Porsche Boxster in the countryside. But, wait. There's more. Hamster decides to do some damage in a supposed "family tank", and the three race on the Monaco Grand Prix circuit in a Citroën DS3 Racing, Renaultsport Clio, and a Fiat 500 Abarth Essesse along side F1 CEO Bernie Ecclestone. This all sounds unbelievably exciting. Take a look at the trailer for yourself and be here June 26 when the series 17 premieres on BBC HD and BBC 2.

Mini Roller

2012 Mini Goodwood

Commemorative cars are everywhere these days. Just look at Ferrari. They teamed up with Fiat to produce the Fiat 695 Abarth Tributo Ferrari, which is a Fiat 500 Abarth with some Prancing Horse labels on it. Another example, Maserati and Alfa Romeo teamed up to produce the Alfa MiTo for Maserati which is an Alfa Romeo MiTo with some silver crowns on it. Then, there's the best of them all; Aston Martin and Toyota worked together to produce the Cygnet, which as Jeremy Clarkson describes, is a Toyota iQ with Toyota crossed out and Aston Martin written in crayon. Well, it looks like we'll be adding one more to the list as Mini and Rolls-Royce have come together to produce this: the Mini Goodwood. Since both companies are owned by BMW, and both are based in England, it didn't really seem that bad for an elite compact car brand to work hand-in-hand with an elite luxury brand on a new Cooper. They gave it the name Goodwood after the town Goodwood in England, where Rolls-Royce is based. The car comes in either Diamond Black Metallic paint, a Rolls-Royce exclusive, or Mini's Reef Blue Metallic paint. The rims are multi-spoke 17-inch alloys with special badging. This might all sound luxurious, but the part of the car where Rolls-Royces are mostly praised for is the interior, and they've really done some work here in the Goodwood. When you sit in one of these, you'll feel at ease with the Cornsilk Leather seats, the Walnut Burr wood trim, and the black Nappa leather dashboard kit. Basically, everything you'd expect in a Rolls-Royce, only smaller. Underneath all this luxury and style is a Mini Cooper S with 1.6-liter 182 horsepower turbo-4 engine with 192 horsepower via overboost. So, in conclusion, this effectively is a Rolls-Royce for those who aren't into being a big shot. This car is for those who'd rather keep things compact, but still love the idea of riding in style. Check this car out at the Shanghai Motor Show starting next week.

2011 Mini Countryman Price and Reviews with Pictures

Mini is embarking on a proliferation binge, with its lineup doubling from the three models offered today—three-door hatch, convertible, and extended Clubman—to six within the next couple years. With a roadster and coupe just around the corner, a crossover, previewed by the Crossover and Beachcomber concepts, is also on the way. After many confusing reports of possible names here and there and everywhere, we now know it will be called the Countryman, at least in some places, the U.S
Our first official look at photos of the Countryman has us breathing a collective sigh of relief. Although the beefed-up visual elements of the front end carry over from the two concepts, the detailing surrounding them has been toned down. Mini’s signature styling elements—a softly rounded body tub; an upright, blacked-out greenhouse; the angle-cut hood opening—translate very nicely to a crossover, and we are pleased to see that the Clubman’s contrasting rear trim remains exclusive to that model. The stance and taller hood add just enough toughness to set the crossover apart from Mini’s other offerings without looking contrived.
Engine outputs stand at 120 horsepower and 118 pound-feet of torque for the naturally aspirated 1.6-liter mill in the Cooper Countryman and 180 horsepower and 177 pound-feet of torque (192 pound-feet with Overboost) for the unit in the turbocharged Cooper S Countryman. The Cooper will accelerate from 0-62 mph in 10.5 seconds and reach a top speed of 118 mph, while the Cooper S will cover the same sprint in 7.6 seconds and reach a top speed of 128 mph.
As an option the Cooper S Countryman is available with a permanent ALL4 all-wheel drive system that features an electrohydraulic differential positioned directly on the final drive varying the distribution from front to rear in an infinite process. Under normal driving conditions up to 50% of the engine’s power goes to the rear wheels, while under extreme conditions up to 100%.Making sure all four wheels stay glued to the road is a front axle with McPherson spring struts and forged track control arms, a multi-arm rear axle and EPS Electric Power Steering complete with Servotronic. Other standard features include stability and traction control, as well as an electronic slip differential.
Pricing in the U.S. for the base 1.6-liter gasoline unit with front-wheel drive is expected to start at around $29,000, while the range-topping Cooper S Countryman with all-wheel drive should be priced somewhere around the $34,000 mark. A high-performance John Cooper Works edition of the MINI crossover has been ruled out for now.
2011 Mini Countryman Front view
2011 Mini Countryman Back
2011 Mini Countryman Back Banut
2011 Mini Countryman Front
2011 Mini Countryman Interior
Inside 2011 Mini Countryman