Every year they make them larger and less appealing to the people that want a small car. I'll bet you could almost park the original mini inside of this one if you took out the seats.

@Michaelc
I totally agree. Mini should go back to its "mini" roots and be competing with Fiat 500, Scion IQ, Chevy Spark, and Smart.

At the risk of repeating previous posts..y go bigger? The entire ethos is a small car to throw into corners.... so again...y?

Yes Michael, I mostly agree. I do find it annoying how car manufacturers try to take car owners on an upgrade journey for every model of car that usually involves it getting bigger and more expensive.
That said, I would love one of these!

POS. The germans need to look at the Fiat 500 and realise that actually, small cute little cars do still sell.
Did they EVER bother to see what the English word "mini" actually means?

This is not a "mini". This is a "MINI". This is a like a giant saying his name is MINI. Yes I think too that the original one would fit inside this one. It is ridiculous how carmakers tend to make cars bigger and bigger every year.

The Mini Cooper sold for £600 (£7800 in todays money) in 1970 if production had continued would have cost less than £3000 simply due to the fall in production costs due to mass production, the best example was the model T ford $850 in 1909 dropped to $440 in 1919 the reason this changed was accountants and managers decided to market cars with fashon options to enhance short term profitability and compete against similar competing models with branding leading to multitudes of incompatble components on many different models all adding to costs long term. The unions were only partly to blame, in any sane economic system having to retool your production line every 5 years for a new model and to relocate your plant to the cheapest labour/tax country would be considered a symptom of failed management, the costs of which still rack up on the company balance sheet. Contrary to urban legend the Mini was always sold at a profit. The mini instead of being re-modelled was franchised to Morris who sold new variants.

The original mini was designed to fit in a box 3m * 1.4m * 1.4m and weighed circa 650kg. The modern rubbish above weighs circa 1,100 kg and is 3.7m * 1.9m * 1.4m.
Clearly there is very little 'mini' in this current car, its simply a BRAND now.

I just think it’s such a pity that the Brits have so willingly relinquished their great brands, the list of them is too long to mention here...
In most cases, the foreign purchasers have breathed new life into these brands.
They have successfully captured their essence in a modern context - something their original owners weren't willing to do. So in the case of the Mini - "Good for you BMW the sales speak for themselves" and to the Brits - "You willingly parted from your great brands – so don’t moan – rather appreciate the great job the Germans, Indians, Malaysians, Chinese and others are doing with your brands" Oh - and they deserve the money too...

The only positive improvement visually is that the front end has become a little less fussy and a little better resolved.
Otherwise it continues to be an overdesigned (in a very contrived way) fashion accessory- particularly if Sir or Madam chooses to fit the tacky 'go faster' stripes or other nasty off-the-shelf 'me too' personalisations.