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2014 MINI Cooper Officially Unveiled

After months of teasing, with the new MINI being caught undisguised and off guard a couple of times, the long-awaited 18th of November is here and the Oxford officials took the veils off their latest creation.
2014 MINI Cooper S 54 photos
Photo: MINI
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Launched at the 2013 Los Angeles Auto Show and Tokyo Motor Show as well as in a special event held at the HQ of the British company in Oxford, the new car marks the 3rd version of the popular hatch.

The 2014 model is the first one to use BMW’s new front-wheel-drive platform, codenamed UKL, the same one that will give birth to another 10 to 15 new models both from MINI and the Germans.

On the outside, the new design looks more like an evolution than a completely new face, just as it’s supposed to be. It keeps the same overall lines as its predecessor, with the same typical headlights and taillights as Sir Alec Issigonis intended back in the 50s when he designed the first, and original, Mini.

Of course, changes occurred, as the new model has LED Daytime Running Lights (DRL) embedded into the headlights and, at the back, the taillights grew a bit.

At the front you’ll notice that the bonnet shape was changed a bit alongside the new front grille, all in the hopes of improving the car’s passive safety features.

The car’s also grown in leghts by 98 mm, width by 44 mm and height by 7 mm. To round everything off, the wheelbase increased by 28 mm whilst the track was widened by 42 mm at the front and 34 mm at the back. Since we’re talking what has increased in the new model, we should probably also mention that the boot’s capacity was increased by 51 liters to 211 liters.

The new engines were already announced, the B38 engine family making its debut on the MINI too. Therefore, the first units announced are the 1.5-liter 3-cylinder turbo petrol with 136 HP and 220 Nm (230 Nm with overboost) of torque for the MINI Cooper, the 116 HP 1.5-liter 3-cylinder diesel unit with 270 Nm (200 lb-ft) of torque on the Cooper D and the 2-liter, 4-cylinder petrol turbo for the MINI Cooper S that has 192 HP and 280 Nm (300 lb-ft) of torque.

With the new engine, some new transmissions were also announced. The new cars will be available with a 6-speed manual transmission as standard and an optional brand new 6-speed auto that will also have launch control.

The car will also benefit from a new interior design, that stays well within the usual MINI cues. The center speedo has been removed and the instrument cluster is now positioned where we’ve all been getting used to, behind the wheel.
Instead of the speedometer you’ll now find the new infotainment system, alongside the new hazard lights button. We actually like it but we know some of you will frown upon it and call us names and stuff.

For the first time in its history, the new model will be available with comfort access and Park Distance Control (including front parking sensors) as we already speculated.
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press release
 

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