BMW's MINI Cooper is
powered by a four-cylinder,
1.6-L Pentagon gasoline
engine developed jointly by
BMW and DaimlerChrysler.
BMW's MINI Cooper is powered by a four-cylinder, 1.6-L Pentagon gasoline engine developed jointly by BMW and DaimlerChrysler. The problem with design icons is replacing them, but when BMW's concept of a near-production-ready version of the British Mini was first shown last year, there was little doubt that its creators had captured the styling essence of one of the world's most individualistic cars, but brought it into the 21st century. Now the MINI (BMW prefers all uppercase for its name to differentiate it from the original) has been officially launched and is in production at BMW's Oxford plant in the UK. During the late 1990s, when the Mini (which sold 5.3 million units) was still in production by Rover Group (then owned by BMW), there were various efforts at replacement concepts—but there is little doubt that the choice for production was the best of those. Not only does it carry the styling cues of the original, it has managed to retain the Mini's cheeky persona in a bigger, vastly more comfortable, practical package that wraps around modern safety and environmental systems. Initially available in three-door hatchback form (with side doors that open to an angle of 80°), other MINI variants are likely, including a pickup, station wagon, and convertible, with other possibilities such as a roadster. The three-door MINI has a very rigid bodyshell; BMW quotes a torsional rigidity of 24,500 N•m/° (18,100 lb•ft/°).