Minis aren’t exactly a common sight here in Curbsidelandia, so this one caught my eye in traffic the other day. My xB is a giant compared to it (as I’ll show you after the jump), but it does share one feature in common.
I found myself behind it a bit further on, and its smoky exhaust was a reminder of the sort-of good-old days. Now if I hadn’t already followed a Mini before to shoot for a CC, I would have stalked this one. No need today.
Here’s one result of that previous Mini encounter, which I just realized happened within blocks of the recent one. Odd. The other result is the CC I wrote on it. Ironically, the guy driving that white Mini was at least as tall or taller than me. Which is of course one of the main reasons I bought the xB: headroom.
What about the color scheme of red, white, and black?
A complete lack of ground clearance?
I worried about that initially, but it’s not nearly as bad as I thought. You should see the back roads I’ve taken it on, and the giant potholes that have tried to swallow it up. The biggest problem is extra-tall curbs when head-in parking; I learned about that very early on 🙁
I had the same problem, plus getting the lower bumper lips destroyed on snowbanks. I finally gave up and replaced them with modified jetta lower lips.
The silly bumper repaint was due to a shop’s crappy respray flaking off everywhere.
Nice; I’ve thought of ways to get rid of the lower lips, front and rear.
Tell me about those hubcaps….
Center mounted speedometer.
Winner! That’s the specific item I was thinking of. Obviously there are others, but the central speedo is pretty unique.
Quite a few Toyotas, Prius and Echo at least, and your xBox of course, have had center speedos since about 2000.
Only a round speedo would be in common with the Mini. Which is specifically why I included part of it in the first shot 🙂
Right you are! Nothing beats a round dial.
Saturn (Ion, IIRC?) made a big deal of centralized speedo.
That is the single thing I like most about the 1st gen xB. Reminds me vaguely of my Jeep CJs and (this is the nerd in me piping up) it reminds me a lot of the floating pod gauges Boba Fett has in the Slave 1!
Let’s see,unit construction, transverse four, front wheel drive, two box styling and both originate in countries that drive on the left.
+ wheels at the corners, maximum interior space & wheelbase within minimal exterior dimensions.
They both go boing boing boing?
It’s got about the same amount of dirt on it as your dashboard.
Neither one is a Honda Fit?
I’d like to see Godzilla throw a Fit.
Then end the movie by coming to an Accord with King Kong? 🙂
Godzilla was just the Prelude.
Better than going on an Odyssey, I suppose. 🙂
Whether it’s better to go or stay depends on your Insight, and your sense of Civic duty.
Very nicely done, sir. I am out of replies and concede to a guy who probably haS 2000 more ideas. 🙂
Ha! That’S 2000 percent for today.
If he did throw a Fit, would it be with Brio? He’d do anything to be Freed.
Brio? Freed? Strange names! Cool little box.
Engine displacement is identical (within 100 cc)?
Or, they both have the same coefficient of drag?
Neither is taken seriously by the average ‘Merican consumer.
(Honestly, I don’t know if that’s true. I’m just extrapolating based on my friends’ and family’s appraisal of anything made by either Mini or Scion.)
They are both a lot roomier inside than appearances suggest, Ive had 4 6footers in a Mini and one was on crutches(broken leg) we all fitted, I had a good look at a Toyota BB (to use its correct title) they are quite a big car inside.
The CC effect! Saw a RHD mini on I93 South approaching Boston on Friday evening. Hadn’t seen one out in the wild in years in this neck of the woods. The driver sure had brass ones driving that in the dark with the semi’s roaring everywhere.
The last photo shows without any exaggeration, how far all of our “compact car” definitions changed (shaked / shifted up? – sorry for my English) in last 20 or 30 or even 40 years. Just look and compare, no comments…
It’s all in the name of safety. Once landyacht sedans and wagons were dropped in favor of moneymaking SUVs, all the little guys had to bulk up as to not get crushed.
Plus it’s an example of differing definitions. The original Mini might be a compact in the UK and Europe, but in the US it’s a subcompact. Early American compacts like the Falcon, Corvair, Dart, Rambler, etc. would be considered “small family cars” across the pond.
Paul, there are more than a handful of these up in Portland. Im assuming they’ve trickled down from Canada. Ive even caught a Mini pickup on the road before. THATS a ride Id like to have!
Classic Minis have been around Portland all along. An old friend who had one in the late 1970s had a fine story about the fast 270-degree ramp from the Sunset Freeway onto 217. Since the Mini’s radiator blows air out the left wheel well, its left tire gets just a little warmer than its right one. Which made cornering in icy conditions rather strange.
Whats the story on that, Mike? Were the Minis available here in Oregon or were they snuck in thru Canada? Ive seen all manner of ‘alternate universe’ vehicles up here that you wouldn’t in a million lifetimes ever see down south. Minis, bobtail Mercedes G-wagens, rhd diesel swb Landcruisers that were post FJ-40 era, and Ive even seen a Puch Pinzgauer…not the forward control model, but the badged G-wagen variant.
Your buddy mustve had an early Mini…didn’t they eventually mount an electric fan behind the grille, as per usual fwd layouts? I can see on a modern turbo fwd car where warm air hitting the tires might cure that whole ‘fwd’s don’t like to launch’ problem. But on one wheel, and ice, did it just drive in circles? haha!