How will the MINI survive in the snow without snow tires?

Without a doubt most of the discussions I hear about snow tires and the MINI tells me that most people don’t believe in them!  The typical answer is that the MINI drives and handles too great to need them!  The second most common answser is that the owner simply won’t drive the car in the snow!  Strange answers in my opinion.
The MINI Cooper is for sure a great handling car with it’s front wheel drive and high performance wide tires, it will show up many ‘real sports cars’. But will it run as well in the snow? You could argue that with the DSC, ASC and often stock limited Slip differential it is idea for the snow?  While the stock MINI is not excessive low to the ground, the simple mandate to have car performance oriented results in a lower stance than most daily drivers. But all that performance and computer skill still requires the mechanical ability to get and stay in touch with the road surface.  Sorry to say, people, but it ultimately comes down to the tires.  After having driven Minis of one type or another and having lived in parts of the country with all amounts of snow- I can assure you snow tires on  MINI Cooper are a real must have!  While the stock tires are safe and run well in the rain, many of us have ‘upgrated’ to yet a better performance tires that has, I assure you sacraficed bad weather performance.  And snow on the road is not somthing that you want to mess with- it is dangerous for even the experienced driver.

Snow Tires are not the same as all weather tires.  Snow tires have a more aggressive tread pattern to grip in the ice and snow.  Just as important almost all real snow tires have a softer rubber compound.  You will be very suprised how light a MINI Cooper will feel when you first install the snow tires and yet how well the car will handle driving fast around coners- please only try this in the dry conditions!.  The softer rubber compund results in many fo these tires being called a poor mans race tire.  The won’t last long on hot summer roads but they will be great fun in the winter.

I personally what to keep the best of both worlds and thus will have a set of stock rims with real snow tires on them that I simply bolt on in the winter and keep my performance wheels and tires for summer months!

Snow Tire and Wheel package from Mini Mania

BMW MINI Cooper Clubman- Winner or Loser?

While it is only good business for BMW to try to advance the MINI Cooper brand by introducing a new model, will the name/model ‘Clubman’ be a winner or loser?

While BMW has not been bashful in leveraging the historical name of Mini to produce the modern re-incarnation, again, why the Clubman name?? Did they not know that it was, by most historical accounts, a failure by the original Mini manufacturers to update and modernize their design?

The original Mini Clubman was first introduced in 1969. While the Mini Clubman was intended to replace the original ‘round nose’ Mini, the factory decided to hedge it’s bet and keep the original Mini in production along side the new version. For the real Mini lover, the new Mini Clubman was considered an ugly evolution that should never have existed. The original Mini was introduced in 1959 and the Mini Clubman in 1969, it only lasted 10+ years while the original continued for another almost 20 years.

So what does the name ‘Mini Clubman’ really bring to the BMW MINI. You could argue that the name at least is a part of Mini heritage, but is it a winner? Now, I don’t want to hurt the feeling of all classic Mini Clubman owners (as I also still own one!) but let face it- the factory produced almost 5,000,000 classic Minis and only a little more than 275,000 Mini Clubmans.

While the original Mini Clubman was simply a Mini with an extended, squared off front sheet metal, it was just not a Mini. Will the BMW MINI owners look at the new MINI Clubman as an ugly step-sister? It is sure bet that BMW is looking to expand it appeal and not upgrade it. The Mini Clubman will for sure be more considered a family car rather than a sports car! It must be remembered that the original Mini while introduced as a ‘peoples car’ in 1959 was already found in sporting events by the end the end of the same year! While the new BMW MINI Cooper has yet to achieve the same panache of the original as a ‘sports sedan’ first and a ‘family sedan’ second, the BMW MINI Clubman will for sure ONLY be a ‘carry-all’ for the family!

And next a SUV/SAV MINI? Sorry, this is not even a BMW MINI but simply a marketing exercise!