Personally, I love the front design on the Cooper much more than the S. The S hood and grill is just too upright for me and I've never been a big fan of the air intake. If I could have had the MCS power with the Cooper's shape, I would have done it in a second.

MCS wannabe? Ha! I've got an MCS that I'd like to shape more like a MC!

 

here here.....i'm ordering a new MCS and wish i could keep the MC hood, i like the styling so much better.

 

Now back to the topic as posted.

Here is my contribution to this post. Nothing really shaved or extreme. I try to keep a clean look. Not exactly classic but clean. Hope yall like it.

 

Jettas and GTIs lend themselves to a cleaner look because the turn signals and fog lights are incorporated into a single headlight housing (at least on the Mk IV's and V's - earlier model years can be retro-fitted with the single front light housing). With all of the lights grouped together in one "outlet," the vehicle lends itself to nice, smooth front bumpers. Details as subtle as removing the side marker lights under the side mirrors helps clean things up, too.

The MINI, however, is laden with SIX light openings in the front bumper and hood. In order to clean things up to strive for a more "Euro" look that the VWs can attain, one would have to incorporate all of the front lighting needs into a single housing, IMHO. Or forego the need for turn signals or the optional fog lights altogether. Without the little portholes perforated all over the front of the car, the MINI could get MUCH cleaner looking I would think.

But with all of the lights up front as we have it now, many MINI owners find it more attractive to garnish up their vehicles with driving lamps, tow hooks, and custom front euro plates. All of which seem to go against the grain of the clean-shaven look popular with much of the VW modding community (which I'm a fan of aesthetically).

Maybe some aftermarket MINI vendors need to come up with new headlight housings incorporating the turn signals and foglights up there, then we can get some clean-shaven bumpers out there. Or perhaps a MINI owner can throw caution to the wind (not that would I condone such illegal action.. ) and delete their turn signals and discard their fogs for a clean look.

Just my long-winded opinion.

 

A very nice long winded opinion though

I agree to a certain extent. The lights up front really do busy-up our fronts, and believe me i have been trying to find a way to change that while maintaining the turn signals and the fogs that i have. The way i see it, there are a few ways that it can be done. One of which is the one you mentioned....moving them into the headlight. Unfortunately, another thing that the VW crowd has that the current MINI community doesn't have is a true vendor base. Sure we can get all sorts of headers, exhausts, and intakes.....and countless spring sets, but how many companies offer alternate grilles, body parts, or aesthetic mods besides ugly vinyl?

A perfect example is the front grill. In the VW community, you have atleast 6 different options from vendors. We currently have 2...the oem aero kit, or the ugly hamann BMW-kidney grill. I was one of the first here on NAM to try painting the grill a different color and shared the idea with a few others who PM'd me...but there really arent many other options. I know quite a few of the vendors on a first name basis, and I have talked to them about this. None of them have thought about these things such as grilles and lip kits...they are all content with getting the higher dyno numbers on the paper...which is cool, but doesnt help us much. We need a vendor to acept the roll as a style-vendor.

 

Good points.

Perhaps a turn signal mod wouldn't be all THAT difficult (not impossible, at least). I have an '02 MCS with the regular, non-HID headlights. In that design, there is a small, round area under the headlight, next to the high beam light that isn't utilized. Perhaps this area can be modded to accept a turn signal? If one were to do that and discard the fog light option, then the front bumper is open to cleaning up.

Modding headlights can be a daunting undertaking, but it's not all that bad. I helped a buddy Joey-mod his wife's MkIV Golf headlights last week, and it wasn't nearly as intimidating as I thought. Granted, drilling out a hole and mounting/rerouting the wiring for a turn signal is a bit more intensive than cracking open a headlight, masking and painting is, but still... it's not impossible.

 

yah...over in the UK one of the tuners actually offers a blinking LED for your alarm system installed right in the place you were talking about. All of the headlights have one extra little hole as you mentioned....you could easily throw a bulb in there. But would people be able to see it when the headlights are all on? Hmmmm

Wiring would be the hardest part...you would need to run it all back to the back of the engine bay and then back up to the hood and into the headlights. Of course....bodywork would really be the hardest part....but you would go to a shop for that.

 

if you need them both, the turns and fogs could be hidden in a large lower opening (i'm thinking smaller than the one we have now). personally i wouldnt entirely mind ditching the fogs. the turns can always be incorporated in different ways. if you are really concerned with being clean up front, how about flushing in leds? from my mini/sport truck background you can flush in leds and paint over them; they're only visible when turned on. there are lots of other "styles" interested in being clean. it may help to steal ideas from them.

 

a very good point.....i read euro mags just as much as i read the mini/sport truck mags. They have a lot of great ideas in there.

 

i really dig your mini rally. and i've always liked your sig. i'm looking forward to seeing the new project S.

 

thanks friend The status of my car just changed to "scheduled for production"!!

 

It isn't extremely euro but its a big improvement over my first setup.

 

Thats definitely VERY clean.....i really like it. Those are some of the best BBS rims for the MINI

 

We are missing one important thing, solid color Minis stand more closer to the Euro look, than wht/blk/sil roof Minis Nothing agains white or black roof, i think they look nice, more MINIsh, but i always prefer body color roof

 

how about the one i have on order....DS/S? I think it will work pretty well if played off well throughout the styling.

 

What if the body is black too?









I know... It's not even close to a euro.

I'd have to shave everything and ditch any and all chrome.

Still it's fairly clean for a MINI.

 

yah...yours is another one of my faves....very clean.

But things like the BBK, Splitter, and wheels are rather tuner instead of euro....not a bad thing though cause that thing is HOT

And the chrome is actually a very nice euro touch...especially the mirrors. Chrome isnt non-euro....its very much a euro thing.

 

I've been watching this for a while and thought I'd add my two cents.

In my opinion, the key to the traditional "euro look" is wheels and stance. Followed by simplicity and flow.

A photoshop example of what a difference wheels and stance make:





Not to get off track, but a couple of pictures of my old Mk2 VR6. Low, 15x8s, basically a stock body ... but a fairly mild "euro look."





It really dosen't take much to get to this in a Mini. Just a willingness to sacrafice driveability and performance to get the really low stance. Personally, I enjoy driving my MCS fast more than I care about a ground scrapping stance. That's why I'm only about 1.5" lower on KW coilovers

In addition, you would need to cut some metal or do some serious fender rolling to get a good deep dish wheel on a mini and be very low. Memory Fab has some 16x8s with a good lip that would probably work if you ran a 205 on them or something that would stretch a bit. I think 16x8s or 16x8.5s could be the perfect size to pull off this look on a mini. 17s can work, but 18s are too big in my opinion.

 

normally i would agree with you scuderia that it should be all body color, but the lines of the car definitely chop the top off the bottom with the glass in between. it might not be as easy to get the look but i still think its doable. i personally also think color keyed arches and trim are a must. has anyone seen arches that have been smoothed into the fenders?

i was thinking about that, somehow making the arches look less attached...

 

one car (which was all blue) had custom wide arches that were smoothed in....it looked good but isnt necessary.

I'm gonna try my car with the black arches and see how it goes....i think it could work. But they quickly become body color

 

Rally, i think DS/S is ok, it kinda blends. We are debating on the new SB/SB with the aero kit and painted wheel arches, for the wife, i think it would be killer.

 

as stated before. wheels and stance is the big key to the euro look. this is still the best example of a euro look MINI, which is my friend Cris' old car

 

couple more pics

 

What setup is that? I love the fit of those rims, does he like how the car handles? That's pretty close the setup I've been lookin for...

 

what kind of rims are those haulin?