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Richard Hammond Loses It Reviewing a 2001 MINI Cooper

 If we were surprised by the size of the latest iteration of the MINI Hatchback BMW launched this year, imagine how the Brits felt like when the company launched their first take on the car back in 2001. Actually, you don’t have to imagine anything because we just found an old video of Richard Hammond reviewing the car 13 years ago.
2001 MINI Cooper review 1 photo
Photo: Screenshot from Youtube
Back then, the Top Gear co-host used to work for Men and Motors and he had the chance to be amongst the first people to review the 2001 MINI Cooper. Of course, he was also taken aback by the size of the thing compared to the original car but then he started pointing out why it grew so much.

Built to offer the British population a cheap means of transportation, the classic Mini was cheap and actually what we’d call a ‘Death Trap’ today. That’s because the sheet of metal it was made out of was really thin and as far as active safety features went, you could say it lacked many of them.

No airbags, poor brakes and a lot of prayers were what got you through an accident. Not the same could be said about the 2001 version that had plenty of features to keep you safe. However, it also managed to keep in touch with its legacy and that was paramount, as it is today.

Richard really liked it and, despite having an argument with one of his alter egos (you’ll see what we mean in the video) he managed to actually finish his review. Check it out!

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