The new Mk3 Mini hatchback comes in a 5-door family friendly guise and will be available to the masses next year 2013. As revealed by the Autocar June 2012 magazine, the model was reinvented to include special features suited to a driver in the company of young children. Many speculated that it would have Clubman-style ‘suicide doors’ but it just has the conventionally hinged rear doors. BMW engineers have really worked it out to squeeze them into the sub-4m-long car by lengthening the wheel base a bit and shortening the front doors too. Access to the rear door, meant for children is a bit tight for an adult. Don’t even dare to sneak into the car through the children’s door unless you are that small. This 5-door model has been code-named the F56 model and will be the first of the new generation Mini models to be launched. I know power addicts out there just want to know about the engines…both entry level and mid-range models inclusive of the Cooper S version will be powered by BMW’s new turbocharged 3-cylinder petrol engine, a nice power unit related to the N20 4-cylinder engine in the new 3-series that guarantees improved fuel economy and much less emissions. The Cooper S and JCW versions get their updated engines very soon. The new Mini is a bit longer than the 3-door one, and has a longer front overhang, longer flatter bonnet and front wheels that are pushed further forward. This was ascribed to the need to improve crash protection and pedestrian safety and also cater for BMW’s requirement for its new models of front-wheel-drive cars based on the same UKL1 platform as the Mini. Actually, a number of new models will be based on this new architecture by BMW engineers. This platform has expensively engineered aspects like the multi-link rear “Z-axle”.
UKL(a German acronym-“unter klasse’, meaning entry level in English) aims to increase the number of front wheel drive models under Mini and provide a touchstone for the curtain raising of the new BMW front wheel drive series to be part of the 1-series models that will be out by around 2015. Speculatively named the 1-series GT, the model will be at the Paris motor show in September 2012, before its planned introduction in late 2014. Designed to rival the Mercedes Benz B-class models, the BMW-1 series will use the new turbo-charged 1.5 liter 3-cylinder petrol engine, which will also be used in the coming generation of Minis. Based on the same modular construction that has been successful in the diesel engines, the new petrol engine shares its 500cc individual cylinder capacity and other key elements with BMW’s classic 3.0-liter straight six petrol unit.
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