The ugliest new car award goes to .....

[CHAPEL END CHARLIE]

The new Mini Countryman .

 

You would have thought designing an enlarged 4 door version of the Mini would not have presented BMW-Mini with an insurmountable problem - simply scale up the normal Mini and 'jobs a goodun' you could say . Instead of following that 'keep it simple' principle for some inexplicable reason a bunch of talentless 20 somethings in the design department were allowed to hoist this monstrosity on the motoring public . Unbelievably some highly paid plank in the boardroom apparently unaware that he was on the receiving end of a practical joke actually approved it for production .

 

I understand the car drives quite well - which is good as nobody is going to buy one based on the styling ! Lacking in interior space compared to a Focus or Golf & wrong from every angle this hideous spud of a car lacks any of the classic elegance or sportiness of the original 1959 Mini or even its modern day successor . The pillars are clumsy and oversized and the hackneyed attempt to give the roof a 'floating' look my copying that old trick of blackening the pillars fails spectacularly . The plastic 'thing' that drapes over the join where the bonnet lifts is as pointless as it is ugly (looks like they're trying to hide an enormous panel gap) and to cap it all the headlights are just plain stupid - what shape is that exactly ?

 

What they could have done is update the old 'Maxi' in a similar way to the Mini and something interesting might just have resulted .

 

Anyone reading this with the wherewithal to buy a new car I implore you in Gods name don't order one of these - if you do we might all end up having to drive glorified Tonker toys in future .

 

ps - black wheels are pukesome .

Edited 24 July, 2010 by CHAPEL END CHARLIE

[hamster]

Good call CEC,

I am no connaseur (sp) but have never ever liked any of the new Mini range. Partly (I admit) due to loving the old one so much, but they just look to me like very nice cars, good finish, good engines just made to look smaller than they actually are by stealing another designers lines.

[JackFrost]

The new Mini Countryman .

 

You would have thought designing an enlarged 4 door version of the Mini would not have presented BMW-Mini with an insurmountable problem - simply scale up the normal Mini and 'jobs a goodun' you could say . Instead of following that 'keep it simple' principle for some inexplicable reason a bunch of talentless 20 somethings in the design department were allowed to hoist this monstrosity on the motoring public . Unbelievably some highly paid plank in the boardroom apparently unaware that he was on the receiving end of a practical joke actually approved it for production .

 

I understand the car drives quite well - which is good as nobody is going to buy one based on the styling ! Lacking in interior space compared to a Focus or Golf & wrong from every angle this hideous spud of a car lacks any of the classic elegance or sportiness of the original 1959 Mini or even its modern day successor . The pillars are clumsy and oversized and the hackneyed attempt to give the roof a 'floating' look my copying that old trick of blackening the pillars fails spectacularly . The plastic 'thing' that drapes over the join where the bonnet lifts is as pointless as it is ugly (looks like they're trying to hide an enormous panel gap) and to cap it all the headlights are just plain stupid - what shape is that exactly ?

 

What they could have done is update the old 'Maxi' in a similar way to the Mini and something interesting might just have resulted .

 

Anyone reading this with the wherewithal to buy a new car I implore you in Gods name don't order one of these - if you do we might all end up having to drive glorified Tonker toys in future .

 

ps - black wheels are pukesome .

 

bloody hell, they've topped the Mini Clubman with that

[scotty]

its got a similar tonka-toy look that the smart four door has. That looks vile as well

[Evil Monkey]

BMW must have had lots of black trim pieces left over from production of the X3.

[swannymere]

Sorry, my vote goes for the new £1M Aston Martin.

[SuperMikey]

\

 

This one wins hands down - the Citroen DS3. Coming to a bargain bin near you.

 

 

[BadgerBadger]

Mini is in the WRC next year

[St Landrew]

The BMW Mini really does make me chuckle. It's the size of a family car from 30 years ago, but purports to be a Mini. It's the shining example of cars today. Enormous great things that take up huge amounts of roadspace, and then you find out their supposed to be superminis anyway. Every few years, cars get bigger and bigger [just where did all that interior room come from, over the previous model [fake shock]..?] and then they invent an even smaller category, so that someone can return to a car that is still slightly bigger than an original Mini. Such is progress.

 

I thnk we should all be running around in cars about the size of Smarts, with perhaps a top size limit like that quite pretty Citroen DS3 above. Just imagine all that freed up road.