Our friends over at Miniology shot these cool videos from AMVIV 5 going on right now in Las Vegas. Enjoy!

CNN Money reviewed the MINI Clubman and seemed to like it quite a bit. The added space without sacrificing driveability seemed to be key:

The Clubman’s extra length, which brings along an additional 221 pounds of weight, does little to hinder its jaunty nature. (Or, surprisingly, its estimated fuel economy, which remains just the same as its shorter self.)

Check out the full article here: CNN Money.

NewCarNet released an article discussing car owners and Facebook. Apparently there are 23,000 MINI drivers across 310 groups discussing everything from repairs to mods. Runner-up? The Honda Civic drivers. Nice work gang! Keep Motoring!!!

[ Full Article ]

Sources have said that MINI USA may be planning to hold some events at the Loews Hotel in Miami, FL this June. It has also been stated that MINI USA has secured a portion of the Homestead-Miami Speedway! Can you say AutoX or Go-karting? Hmmm… If this is true, we are in for one heck of a good time! And just think, this is the tip of the iceberg. I, for one, can’t wait!

This past week at the New York Auto Show, MINI officially announced the new JCW lineup of both the R56 and the Clubman. With a price tag of $29,200 for the R56 version and $31,450 for the Clubman version, I have to ask - is it worth it? For those wanting a factory car that they can call “stock” and intend not to do anything to it, I suppose the value is there. Not to mention the aftermarket on the “new” generation MINI is still relatively new. I would love to test drive one and see how it handles (would really love to get one on the track). Until then I will withhold judgment. Here is the official press release that came out two days ago:

Woodcliff Lake, NJ - March 20, 2008… MINI USA announced today the debut of two all new performance models at the 2008 New York International Auto Show. Following their successful World Premier in Geneva, the MINI John Cooper Works hardtop and the MINI John Cooper Works Clubman are showcased at MINI’s display and represent the first new models from the recently integrated John Cooper Works Brand.
Read the rest of this entry »

Well it looks like the new chat room status monitor is a big hit! Think we had a record set of first time chatters in the chat room throughout the day. For all you newbies - welcome and hope you come back often to say hello! While the topics pretty much hover around MINIs, a fair share of topic diversity is shared each night and that usually leads to some funny moments. Here is one of my favorite moments from tonight’s chat room discussion (thanks Deviant for this non-MINI, but extremely funny find):

Some of you have asked for an easy way to see when someone is logged into the chat room from the various pages on the site. So tonight, I went ahead and added a chat room status monitor to the sidebar. Now, from just about every page on MotoringFun.com, you can see how many people are logged into the chat room at any given time. If you see someone in there, take a moment to say hi! Remember - if you are the only person in the chat room, make sure to stay logged in for at least 5 minutes or so to give someone a chance to enter the room and chat with you. Popping in and out without staying logged in just makes you miss each other by a few minutes lol. Well hope you enjoy this little addition to the site and happy chatting!

WhiteRoofRadio posted up an MTTS audio update that gives us a little more information on the upcoming MTTS events. Just a reminder - the dates for MTTS 2008 are as follows:

• Miami, FL June 13-15
• Boston, MA June 20-22
• Chicago, IL July 25-27
• Los Angeles, CA August 1-3

I plan on being at the kick off in Miami, FL! Hope to see many of you there.

[ WhiteRoofRadio.com ]

You may have heard that Oscar Meyer chose to create a new “Weinermobile” out of a MINI Cooper recently. Well here is the video of this, um unique, vehicle:

Check out these cool videos that show MINI USA Marketing Communications Manager, Kate Alini, discuss how MINI USA approaches marketing themselves to the masses. The second one includes some recap of MTTS 2006. Thanks to alpinamike for sending these in!