Cars
THE GOOD 12 v3.0 GONE BAD - MINI COOPER
Stretching the boundaries of what it means to be a Good 12-winning car Gone Bad, the car mentioned here isn't actually a member of The Good 12 v3.0. Instead, this is an example of the breed; an unfortunate evolution of the species.
Even the cute little Mini Cooper can turn in to something undesirable. As a stretched edition, the Mini Cooper Clubman is maybe cute, but only in the "That baby's so ugly it's cute" kind of way. Add Sparkling Silver paint - which doesn't sparkle one bit - and a clashtastic silver shade on the mirrors and roof, and the Clubman is downright egregious. Oh, but it gets worse. Much, much worse.
Check Out The Mazda 6 Gone Bad
In S form, the Mini Clubman comes with standard 16" S-Winder wheels. They're not cool. Hundred-dollar silver bonnet stripes further the bad taste. Get rid of the S-Winders with black web-spoke wheels in the $1,750 sport package, on top of the $1,750 premium package. The black wheels do nothing for the dirty silver finish on the rest of the car. A really awful aero kit, especially when seen in this colour, works in tandem with a sport suspension and other sportific goodies to jack the price in to the stratosphere. But we're not done.
Hot chocolate leather? English Oak? Navigation? Sirius and hi-def radio? Deemed necessary to the OTT buyer. John Cooper Works parts add thousands of dollars to the price tag. $599 checkered floor mats? Oh, please. Slather on the Union Jack treatment: mirrors, door handles, vents.
Check Out The Kia Soul Gone Bad
The $24,050 base price for the Mini Cooper S Clubman is on the verge of doubling when I slow down. There's more on the accessories list, but I'm nauseated. $4,453 in accessories is enough. The cash register rings in at $42,703 for an ugly silvery-beige wagon-like hatchback with enough performance to give Porsche 911 drivers a run for their money. The model so beloved by The Good Car Guy? Yes, that regular Mini Cooper is a $19,500 car, less than half the price of the turbocharged Clubman, and way more than half the car. There is a way to make a very good thing a very bad thing, indeed.
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Officially-official: Limited Edition Mini Jcw World Championship 50
Revealed for the first time at the 2009 MINI United Festival in Silverstone, the MINI John Cooper Works World Championship 50 is yet another special edition model built to commemorate the Cooper racing team's first Formula One World Championship title...
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New Special Edition Mini Graphite
MINI is enhancing its UK lineup with the launch of a special edition model called 'Graphite' that comes with numerous standard features and is available in MINI One, Cooper and Cooper D guises. All Graphite models are finished in a Dark Silver...
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2009 Mini One Clubman: New Entry-level Model To Debut In Geneva
MINI is one of the first automakers to reveal details on the cars they plan to introduce at the forthcoming Geneva Motor Show on March 3, 2009. BMW Group's subsidiary will reveal a new entry-level model in the Clubman range called One. Like the MINI...
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The Good 12 V2.0 For 2009 - Part Ix
MINI COOPER One of many repeat winners in this, The Good 12 v2.0, the Mini Cooper made its case last year with low-cost and low-risk fun. Nothing has changed. Mini still offers the Cooper S. That car, along with the Clubman, Convertible, and John...
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The Good 12 - Part Viii
MINI COOPER If you're one of the remaining earthly citizens who don't know the result, don't let the idea of a German interpretation of the UK's most famous small car deter you from visiting a BMW dealership. The famous sports sedan...
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