So the evidence is overwhelming. MINI is not a girls car because they made a version of it which was loud, fast and uncomfortable 😆

Comfort in a Mini? I thought so in mine.
It’s a very good chassis with a decent suspension set up. So a good start.
Go for the rubber band tyres and you kill that so the answer is no, but a decent height sidewall doesn’t affect the handling noticeably and the grip probably increases with the more supple tyre.

PS – the VW Golf is aimed at middle class grannies.

a decent height sidewall doesn’t affect the handling noticeably and the grip probably increases with the more supple tyre.

Indeed. Run little 15″ wheels and it’s even acceptable on the potholed roads of the south just about everywhere.

I’ve also done a 2.5 hour stint across the M4 without stopping and had no issues with comfort.

Like I wrote earlier – it’s a reasonably practical car with a versatile engine. 150,000 on mine and I can get to Wales from Wycombe area on just under £20 of petrol.

PS – the VW Golf is aimed at middle class grannies.

Oi! My mum drives a golf…… Ah OK. Fair enough.

STW brings me something else I’ve never seen in the real world – men driving Minis!

STW is the real world.

Yep, that’s right – I really did type that with my actual fingers and you really did read it with your real eyes.

🙂

teasel – Member

STW is the real world

Can you feel the damage my can’t-believe-you-said-that-rays are doing to you right now? 😉

😥

😆

Comfort in a Mini? I thought so in mine.
It’s a very good chassis with a decent suspension set up. So a good start.
Go for the rubber band tyres and you kill that so the answer is no, but a decent height sidewall doesn’t affect the handling noticeably and the grip probably increases with the more supple tyre.

Absolutely. I suspect the majority of impressions are based on MINIs with 17’s and runflats. As we (the enlightened) know, its a different car on smaller rims with proper tyres, such a shame that market expectations (of the majority) are for 17’s or bigger.

16″ tyres cheaper than my MTB tyres too, not sure if I should 😆 or 🙁 at that…

STW is the real world.

😯

[cant believe I’m typing this – so sorry]

Anyone lived with an automatic Mini in a Cooper s or jcw flavour? Next car will be auto for hip injury reasons. We hired a new Cooper diesel auto on holiday in northern Tenerife and was not 100% won over. It didn’t handle switchback mountain roads very well and was always changing the wrong way at inconvenient times. But that’s pretty extreme driving. I think the quicker ones get flappy paddles which might help. The lure or a VAG group DSG might be calling otherwise.

[/cant believe I’m typing this – so sorry]

I love them – we’re on our fourth now.

I don’t think they’ll better the R50/2/3 lookswise – they were really well proportioned cars to my eyes. I had a Cooper S which was great fun and the supercharger whine was really addictive. It was deceptively quick across country. One of my friends was always calling it a girls car despite his Alfa Spider not seeing which way it went.

I never really got the R56 – the interior was a bit better but it lost some of magic of the previous versions. The turbo charged Cooper S engine didn’t do it for me either.

We’ve now got an F56 Cooper which replaced the 330 and I think it’s great. The ride is good on 17’s (non-run flats), its comfortable and has surprisingly goof NVH levels. The three pot is a cracking little engine too. I like the interior too which is laods nicer (in my view) compared to other small cars.

16″ tyres cheaper than my MTB tyres too, not sure if I should or at that…

It is indeed a strange world

@bikebouy get a clubman type version, my sister (oops … 😉 ) has one and it works well with her road bikes.

What @daffy says, fun to drive and pretty fast in real world driving

I don’t think there’s really such a think as a girl’s car and a man’s car – there are good cars, bad cars, cars focussed more on styling, more on performance, or more on comfort.

If we’re getting at the steretypical manliness thing, anything with more creature comforts and driver aids and/or a lower PWR than the TVR speed 12 is obviously for big girl’s blouses.

philjunior – Member

I don’t think there’s really such a think as a girl’s car and a man’s car

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=deNRiBQiQ3Q[/video]

or

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmPj8S1R55w[/video]

I feel there might be a slightly deliberate attempt to target certain genders going on there.

I feel there might be a slightly deliberate attempt to target certain genders cartoon-grade gender-stereotypes going on there.

Agreed 😉

Today it feels like going back to the his vs hers 1950s, except now with extra orange-spray tans.

And yet as RichPenny above points out it is the car with the largest female proportion of drivers of all current models. Weird isn’t it. What’s your theory?

My theory is that women like Mini’s so buy them.

However, the question was about marketing and features. I can find no female biased advertising (it seem more male if anything) and I am not aware of any women friendly features (whatever they would be) that the mini has more of than any other car.

Maybe the look of them appeals to women more than many other similar cars, who knows.

Are you saying that the difference between a man’s car and a women’s car is simply based on ratio of sales? What % tips it either way, 55%, 60% ?

Current model 3 door Cooper S here (4 cylinder 2 litre turbo, 17″ non-run-flats, optional variable damper control); much easier to drive quickly and more comfortable/civilized than the Toyota GT86 that preceded it.

My theory is that women like Mini’s so buy them.

However, the question was about marketing and features. I can find no female biased advertising (it seem more male if anything) and I am not aware of any women friendly features (whatever they would be) that the mini has more of than any other car.

Maybe the look of them appeals to women more than many other similar cars, who knows.

The ‘look’ of a car is an inherent and crucial feature. You’ve just run a coach and horses through your own theory!

On the ratio yes I guess that’s how a car gets a reputation. See Honda Jazz as and old persons car or Bentley continental as a footballer/new money car. No idea about the number though – 20% above statistical norm?

Well just been to the local mini dealer to have a gander at the Clubman I mentioned ^^, Tidy car, all the nice bits on it and the quality of the thing is quite exceptional. I am impressed, two things that stuck out.. the front seat dunna fold flat, the cabin is really very “thin” as in you sit almost thigh to thigh with the passenger.. hmmm.. will take another look though, quite liked the look and as it’ll be me only in it most of the time I may overlook the lack of arse space ..

For many years, women’s sports clothing, running shoes, cycling jerseys were all pink or purple. Thankfully we seem to be moving on from that,

There was even a women’s movement aimed at ridding the female world of pink.
Problem with that is that many women really like the colour, and so it fell flat on its ass!
My sis-in-law is a biker, is a member of Ogri MCC, and has her bike painted pink, with a witch riding a broomstick on the tank, so possibly conforming to more than one stereotype, except she is a witch…

Test driving the JCW auto tomorrow.

Also tempted by a cheap mk2 Cooper S but has had 3 owners since 2011 but has 3 extra options pack fitted.

Let me know how you find the auto in a jcw.

if you were going for a cooper s would you not consider the cooper SD? I’m sure I recall it was as fast as a cooper but with better mpg?
if you buy a moderner one it would come with a bmw engine rather than the pug engine.
I think they are nice cars and better looking than the 1 series they compete with.

We’ve had 2x Cooper S and I liked both of them. Black R53 w/ JCW sound pack was brilliant to drive, harsh but a lot of fun. The R56 turbo was a more practical car, bit less of a hooligan to drive. Check the oil level on the turbo models, the dipstick design is terrible which doesn’t help.

Another tip, in an R53 don’t try disengage the DSC while hanging your head out the window, the switch is very close to the window controls and you might get your head trapped betwixt glass and roof.

The ‘look’ of a car is an inherent and crucial feature. You’ve just run a coach and horses through your own theory!

Again, the question was around what marketing has been aimed at women and what feature of the mini are women friendly (if there is such a thing)

And again, no-one has any answers to that.

I like the look of the mini as do many other men I know. I even owned one 14 years ago.

Again, the question was around what marketing has been aimed at women and what feature of the mini are women friendly (if there is such a thing)

And again, no-one has any answers to that.

I like the look of the mini as do many other men I know. I even owned one 14 years ago.

The aesthetic of a car is a feature. And to be female friendly does not mean it excludes men. The mini has an aesthetic (you may call it a feature if it makes you feel better) that appeals to women. Maybe women’s purchasing priorities are more dominated by aesthetic ‘features’ than men’s. As I said many pages ago females purchasing habits tend to pool around specific models in a sector more than men’s. The mini has a greater number of women buying it as a percentage of the overall because of this pooling. It does not mean the ‘female friendly features’ (aesthetics) put men off, merely attract women. This is really not a very hard concept to grasp.

Maybe women’s purchasing priorities are more dominated by aesthetic ‘features’ than men’s

Then this place must be packed with undercover women. Each and every bicycle, car, pair of trews, shoes or spoke nipple handlebar-stem goes through an intense evaluative process to decide whether or not it is aesthetically approved ‘correctly-gendered’ appealing. And that’s before we even get to colour-choices 😉

*Edited for gender issues.

Then this place must be packed with undercover women. Every bike, car, pair of trews or spoke nipple handlebar stem or shoes goes through an intense evaluative process to decide whether or not it is aestheticallyapproved appealing. And that’s before we even get to colour choices ;)l

🙂

A Mans Mini:

or

but don’t call yourself a real man till you agree to drive this……through Granton, on a friday night, playing Beiber

^ That pink is only cool if you’re a Panther

convert – Member
Let me know how you find the auto in a jcw.

POSTED 19 HOURS AGO #

Mental power for a tiny car and a huge grin factor!

The auto is fast and allows you to focus on the road/drift without taking your hands off the wheel.

The torque is great for powering out of roundabouts and the traction control kicked in during power slides.

The paddle buttons work great too. Tons of grip and not too much torque steer.

Didn’t like the race seats so I would opt for the adjustable leather seats.

You do feel the bumps on bad roads but it doesn’t crash around but it is stiff.

Consider it a race car to go nuts/have fun in without breaking speed limits. Although it reaches speed limits quickly.

If it’s too harsh, go for the Cooper S.

I feel like I have been in a crazy ride at Euro Disney again but don’t need to get to France.

Bit taken back by the add on prices reaching £33K on PCP.

Will give it a serious think over with the options I chose.

Deposit paid and waiting for delivery.