It has become a trend to bash new models when they come out, especially if they have an impressive legacy behind. The most obvious example is MINI, but others can easily be identified. What makes enthusiasts so angry every time a manufacturer decides to take a step in a direction that is not necessarily wrong, but rather hard to accept?
When BMW took over the British brand and introduced their variant of the MINI hardtop back at the beginning of the 2000s, a lot of people were happy about it and decided in a heartbeat that it was a great car. That brought sales volumes up to record numbers and people had to wait for months for their perfect car to be delivered.
That’s an image that we can hardly picture today, especially considering that sales have been going down for quite some time now. But what makes people react so violent to a new design and, most importantly, a stretch in size?
That’s right, most of the ‘old school MINI lovers’ have been complaining about the fact that the hardtop (I’ll stick to this model alone as variations such as the Paceman for example didn’t exist not too long ago) has grown in size, but you don’t see the same disgust when it comes to other brands going through similar rejuvenations.
The most eloquent example is the Volkswagen Golf that has been steadily growing in size since it was originally launched but, everyone reveres the latest iteration as the best one yet, not mentioning the plethora of electronics that go into its making now, the possible reliability issues or the increase in size.
Nobody is criticizing the introduction of the Golf Sportsvan and everyone understood that it’s not going to replace the original but instead it will only be available just to offer an alternative to those that need more room. The same could be said about the 5-door hardtop but no, everyone had a fit and called it a monstrosity or something Sir Alec Issigonis would find repugnant.
And nobody can bring the argument that the MINI is truly an iconic car and the Golf isn’t. Both of them have been around for an extremely long time and both have written history back in the day. Admittedly, the Brit is a bit older but it remained the same over a longer period of time, whereas the German underwent more changes over its shorter history.
When will people understand that MINI is just a name and doesn’t necessarily have to mean that the cars they make must be within a pre-determined size? And why isn’t that happening with other brands as well?
Another explanation would be that the car they make are for specific niches and that those niches appeal to a certain kind of people that don’t react all that well to change.
But we can tell you that the new model offers a lot more for nearly the same money. Sure, it has grown in size but you can now fit inside, you get plenty of safety systems that will actually KEEP YOU ALIVE in case of a crash and you get to use all those fancy things you cannot get by without like Bluetooth and a navigation system.
Would the people that criticize the new models even consider buying a MINI that would come just as they claim they would like it? As if it was still 1959? Without AC, without airbags and made of thin sheets of metal? I hardly think so. But it’s so easy to complain and claim that the driving experience is no longer ‘exciting’ that most people just become hypocrites that wouldn’t even know what to do with a stick shift. And yet they regard it as the Holy Grail...
That’s an image that we can hardly picture today, especially considering that sales have been going down for quite some time now. But what makes people react so violent to a new design and, most importantly, a stretch in size?
That’s right, most of the ‘old school MINI lovers’ have been complaining about the fact that the hardtop (I’ll stick to this model alone as variations such as the Paceman for example didn’t exist not too long ago) has grown in size, but you don’t see the same disgust when it comes to other brands going through similar rejuvenations.
The most eloquent example is the Volkswagen Golf that has been steadily growing in size since it was originally launched but, everyone reveres the latest iteration as the best one yet, not mentioning the plethora of electronics that go into its making now, the possible reliability issues or the increase in size.
Nobody is criticizing the introduction of the Golf Sportsvan and everyone understood that it’s not going to replace the original but instead it will only be available just to offer an alternative to those that need more room. The same could be said about the 5-door hardtop but no, everyone had a fit and called it a monstrosity or something Sir Alec Issigonis would find repugnant.
And nobody can bring the argument that the MINI is truly an iconic car and the Golf isn’t. Both of them have been around for an extremely long time and both have written history back in the day. Admittedly, the Brit is a bit older but it remained the same over a longer period of time, whereas the German underwent more changes over its shorter history.
When will people understand that MINI is just a name and doesn’t necessarily have to mean that the cars they make must be within a pre-determined size? And why isn’t that happening with other brands as well?
Another explanation would be that the car they make are for specific niches and that those niches appeal to a certain kind of people that don’t react all that well to change.
But we can tell you that the new model offers a lot more for nearly the same money. Sure, it has grown in size but you can now fit inside, you get plenty of safety systems that will actually KEEP YOU ALIVE in case of a crash and you get to use all those fancy things you cannot get by without like Bluetooth and a navigation system.
Would the people that criticize the new models even consider buying a MINI that would come just as they claim they would like it? As if it was still 1959? Without AC, without airbags and made of thin sheets of metal? I hardly think so. But it’s so easy to complain and claim that the driving experience is no longer ‘exciting’ that most people just become hypocrites that wouldn’t even know what to do with a stick shift. And yet they regard it as the Holy Grail...
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