Mind you, it isn’t that big inside; whereas you could get four adults in a 1960s Mini, the new-millennium Mini is strictly a 2+2 kids in the back. That is understandable, but the specification isn’t; there is a confusing and expensive list of options that you need to pay for before the Mini seems even reasonably well equipped. How much? It has always been a bit of a challenge to get any money off a Mini, although that has started to change recently. You will still get a blank look from BMW dealers when you turn up at their boutique Mini showrooms asking for a discount. Go to a well-established broker like Carfile (0845 605 1482; www.carfile ).
They can get a Mini One for £10,815 (down from £10,995) and a convertible for £13,360 (down from £13,595) The savings are not that spectacular. Any snags? Early models had some recalls, but quality issues were sorted Watch for paint quality and discoloured wheel-arch trims. Some reports of manual gearbox failures; otherwise highly reliable. Specifications Launched: 2001Engine sizes: 1.6 One, 1.6 Cooper, 1.6 Cooper S, 1.4 DieselPerformance: top speed 135mph; 0-60mph 7.4 seconds (1.6 Cooper S)Economy: 33.6mpgSafety: NCAP, four stars. If you’re reading this section of The Independent, there’s a chance you like cars.
You might even be noting, with relief, the loudening death-knell for the misguided tyranny and extortion of speed cameras (something all independently thinking people should welcome)
Maybe speed in itself isn’t the demon after all. Maybe it’s just the inappropriate use thereof, something intelligent drivers have known all along.
So I make no apologies for celebrating the two stars of last week’s Paris show, a pair of supercars any car-lover would covet First off, unveiled on the eve of press day, the Audi R8. Among the skyscrapers and glitz of La D?nse, Paris’s financial district overlooking the city below, the throng saw headlights in the distance arriving at the climax of film footage representing a traffic-free drive from Le Mans, where Audi’s diesel-fuelled R10 won the 24-hour race in June. The headlights streaked down the hill and on to the stage; behind them was the R8, and out of it stepped multi-champion Jacky Ickx, who then went on a lot about teamwork, harmony, clouds and sky.The R8 is a mid-engined, aluminium-structured sports car aimed, pricewise, straight at the Porsche 911. Its 4.2-litre, 420bhp, V8 engine comes from the Audi RS4, and it has the style of a flatter, angrier Audi TT. It’s truly a lovely thing.So is the Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione, a car surrounded by more motor-show photographers than any other.
We’ve seen this shapely, metallic red car before (Frankfurt 2003, to be precise), at which point it was just a concept car. Then Alfa said it would be made, then it wouldn’t, and finally it would again. Its 4.7-litre V8 engine is an Alfa-modified version of a Maserati engine built by Ferrari (a fine game of happy Fiat families), and Maserati will build the 500 examples in Modena.You might think it strange that Alfa Romeo would create such an extravagant car, but the idea is for it to be a glamorous standard-bearer. There should be little problem in selling all the 8Cs at £100,000 apiece, left-hand drive only. The Dutch importer reserved 10 as Alfa CEO Antonio Baravalle finished his speech, the Australian importer 20. And a wealthy Parisian ordered two, one for his collection, one to drive.Fast, and yet faster. Over on Peugeot’s stand we were introduced to not one but two 908s.
The glamorous, glitzy one was a menacing four-door coup?ripping with luxury and powered by a V12 diesel engine set behind the cabin. This 908 RC was a concept car, of course, designed to draw attention to the real 908, next year’s Le Mans race car.At the opposite end of the excess scale was the 207 ePure, a preview of the imminent 207 Coup?abriolet but using a fuel-cell powertrain. Here was a concept car rooted in reality, something less easy to say of Citro?s C-M?sse and Renault’s Napta, both with flamboyant variations on the gullwing door.The cute little Renault Twingo passed the UK by first time around, but the new one, to be launched next year, comes here as a proper supermini to slot under the enlarged new Clio. There’ll be a choice of 1.0 or 1.2-litre engines, the latter being turbocharged, and later on we might see a Renaultsport version that’s like the concept car. The UK takes half of all Renaultsport products (M?ne 225 and Clio 197), incidentally, despite our speed cameras.And the Renault Koleos? This soft-edged 4×4, loosely derived from an eponymous concept car, will be made in Korea by Renault -Samsung Motors on a Nissan X-Trail-derived base. Well, it’s a small world.Another Korean company was shouting its Euro credentials as it revealed the production of its European-designed (in Germany by a Frenchman), European-made (in Slovakia) Cee’d.