Photo: Automedia
Our dedicated team of photographers have once again caught up with the next generation MINI Cooper hatchback, this time as it undergoes road testing. And they managed to capture something really interesting.
Before the engineers testing the car were able to hide it, our photographer captured a new layout for the four-seater car. It seems that the F55 third-gen hatchback will have a more conservative interior than ever before.
Pay to attention to the steering wheel, which is from the BMW 1-Series. Instead, focus your attention on that huge center dial. On the first generation car, that circle was much smaller and was used by the speedometer and a few other dials. As an option, you could have navigation there and have the speedo moved to the top of the steering wheel column.
With the second generation MINI hatch, they made it even bigger and used the center for entertainment and navigation. This wasn’t something that everybody liked, as the speed was weird and awkward to read, plus the sun often times reflected off the surface, so you couldn’t see anything.
The setup is probably the one for the base Cooper or One models, as there doesn’t appear to be any navigation. Instead, the center of that dial is taken up by the radio. On the bottom you have preset buttons, at the center is a small display while at the top there’s the hazard warning and the center locking button. Pretty standard stuff.
The climate control is still at the bottom, behind the shifter, but it also uses more conventional controls than before.
Speculations suggest the next MINI Cooper will become a C-segment car, and will even be available with five-doors.
Pay to attention to the steering wheel, which is from the BMW 1-Series. Instead, focus your attention on that huge center dial. On the first generation car, that circle was much smaller and was used by the speedometer and a few other dials. As an option, you could have navigation there and have the speedo moved to the top of the steering wheel column.
With the second generation MINI hatch, they made it even bigger and used the center for entertainment and navigation. This wasn’t something that everybody liked, as the speed was weird and awkward to read, plus the sun often times reflected off the surface, so you couldn’t see anything.
The setup is probably the one for the base Cooper or One models, as there doesn’t appear to be any navigation. Instead, the center of that dial is taken up by the radio. On the bottom you have preset buttons, at the center is a small display while at the top there’s the hazard warning and the center locking button. Pretty standard stuff.
The climate control is still at the bottom, behind the shifter, but it also uses more conventional controls than before.
Speculations suggest the next MINI Cooper will become a C-segment car, and will even be available with five-doors.
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