Thanks for the feedback, Pat!

 

After three days of driving the coupe I can say that it has been a quick adjustment. You can easily see what's directly behind you. If you want to see further behind you'll have to lower your head a bit.....or use the side mirrors. The view for backing out of my driveway is actually better than the hardtop.

 

Congrats on the coupe , was thinking about ordering one to replace my JCW but after seeing one at the local dealer I will take a pass and stay with the hatch bodystyle.

 

The other oddity was the passthrough to the cabin from the hatch. I'm wondering why they didn't do a simple divider that you can put down to make the area into one big hatch instead, like most hatches do. It kind of kills some of the versatility of the hatch design, doesn't it?

 

I actually like the smaller portal, have seen a number of Coupes with badly torn up seat backs from things rubbing the seats. I also am more than willing to deal with it for the additional rigidity offered by the construction of it.

 

It is due to the back being 1 solid bar minus the pass through. This is for extra sturdiness etc. This is why all the reviews claim this car is the most rigid, sturdy, tight of all the MINIs. The goal isn't for this car to be versatile to every need/function.

If people want that then they should buy a hatch.. MINI doesn't want to eat into itself and its own marketshare.

 

 

OK, you win. Thanks for the pic, James.

As this car would be my DD, that's a concern. I've already modded my CRX enough to make the hatch fairly useless for carrying anything, so not sure that I'd want two cars in the same mold that way. On the other hand, a larger car Enterprise rental wouldn't kill me every so often.