Luxury-spec Mini Goodwood now in UAE
Rolls-Royce inspired Mini arrives. If you have to ask…
By Shahzad Sheikh
BMW owns Mini. But if you were hoping for M-Sport Minis you’ll be disappointed (well they already have Cooper and John Cooper Works for the performance stuff). However BMW has put its two British brands, Mini and Rolls-Royce together to come up with this – the Mini Inspired by Goodwood. And it’s now here in the Middle East.
It’s been built in close collaboration with Rolls-Royce, which particularly shows on the inside. The dashboard, including the surrounds of the central instruments and air vents, the centre console, carpet surfaces, the lounge leather seats, the roof lining as well as the door, side and body pillar cladding, are all covered with exclusive Rolls-Royce leather colour Cornsilk.
The dashboard and door handle surfaces are finished in Walnut Burr and there’s black nappa leather dashboard top, Tipped Leather Cornsilk door linings as well as Piano Black surface finishes for the buttons on the multifunction steering wheel and the controls below the central instrument.
In addition, the car boasts cashmere roof linings, sun visors and rear storage tray as well as foot mats made of a deep-pile lambswool typical of the sort you’d find in a Phantom.
On the outside it’s finished in Rolls-Royce-sourced Diamond Black metallic, though they clearly weren’t able to fit the massive wheels settling instead for unique 17-inch light alloy wheels with a multi-spoke design. There is a badge featuring the “One of 1000” on the centre console in front of the gearshift lever.
It’s based on the Cooper S so comes with the 184bhp 1.6-litre engine and as standard includes Xenon Adaptive Headlights, Park Distance Control, automatic air conditioning, an onboard computer and the audio system Radio MINI Visual Boost, which includes the Harman Kardon hi-fi speaker system.
Commenting on the arrival of the MINI INSPIRED BY GOODWOOD, Kevin Hughes, General Manager of AGMC (Dubai and Northern Emirates dealer) said: “AGMC is committed to bringing the best and most exclusive products and vehicles to its customers. The MINI INSPIRED BY GOODWOOD is a perfect example of this and will allow us to bring MINI’s unique personality to a new audience, as it opens up a whole new segment of customers who appreciate MINI but require a high end product.”
I’m sure this Mini smells good!
A friend of mine has a top-spec MINI Countryman, so I know that car pretty well. I might not know the MINI Inspired by Goodwood as well and the article doesn’t say anything about the pricing for this luxury-spec MINI, but I would still rather have a top-spec Countryman. The MINI Goodwood might be more luxurious and exclusive than the Countryman but the latter is equal or better in every other department. The Countryman has the same power output and the same list of technical features including the Harman Kardon hi-fi speaker system.
Moreover, unlike the MINI Goodwood, the Countryman can even handle a bit of off-roading. And since it has four passenger doors and is actually capable of seating four human beings in comfort, thanks to its larger dimensions, the Countryman is, in my opinion, more similar to a proper Rolls-Royce, such as a Phantom or Ghost, than this spruced-up Cooper S! Maybe BMW should try building a Countryman with suicide doors for the rear passengers and a flying lady on the bonnet. No wait, now that I think of it, that’s not such a good idea.
[Shahzad] Good idea, might be more appropriate for here, but we’re not sure about the flying lady (wearing a mini-skirt of course) and the suicide doors idea either. Still there is historically a traditional of expensive coach-built Minis, Peter Sellers and the Beatles amongst many others had them. We asked for the price, but are still awaiting a response.
Heard it’s around 250k… RR spec doesn’t come cheap!