TWO-SEAT MINI COUPE COMING TO MZANSI THIS YEAR!

To put one up on spy photographers and speculators, BMW has released the first official pictures and details for the MINI Coupe range. MINI Coupe is based on the MINI Coupe Concept of 2009. We think the car is really awesome and cannot wait to try it out ourselves at the launch and on a road test. Meanwhile, here’s some snippets.

MINI Coupe is mainly different from other MINIs in that it only has two doors and two seats. That means there are no extra seats at the back where your vertically-challenged buddies or children can sit; only the two front seats. It’s a coupe through and through, a small one a that, with dimensions of 3.7 metres in length, 1.6m in width, 1.4m in height and a wheelbase of 2.4m. The car has no direct rivals at the moment so there’s nothing out there to compare it with.

One of its exterior features is the flexible rear spoiler which pops up automatically from 80km/h to improve handling, grip and performance stability. Wheels are 17-inch alloys surrounded by runflat tyres.

On the engine from it shares with existing MINI product by splitting the 4-cylinder 1.6-litre motor in different ways. Entry-level wise we have the 90kW naturally aspirated version with 160Nm of torque and a claimed 0 – 100km/h time of 9 seconds. Next level up is the turbocharged Coupe S Coupe with same engine but now doing us a 135kW, 240Nm favour. It takes off from zero to 100km/h in a stated 6.9 seconds, running out of steam at 230km/h. Last but not least is the John Cooper Works Coupe peddling out 155kW and 260Nm with a 20Nm overboost between 1700rpm and 4500rpm. Its 0 – 100km/h comes in 6.4 seconds as measured by MINI itself.

We can expect to see the MINI Coupe at the 2011 Johannesburg International Motor Show (JIMS) in October, with SA sales beginning around the same period of time. In 2012 MINI will drop the metal lid and release the convertible Roadster version.