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2 days ago | 
motoringfile.com | Gabriel Bridger
MINI has clearly evolved over the years and there are plenty of opinions on what that has meant for the cars themselves. But what do the numbers tell us? So we dug through decades of factory data, MotoringFile tests, and every timing sheet we could get my hands on to get answers. What we found was a clearer of evolution; models have gotten faster, a little larger and a lot more advanced. But just below the surface were some numbers that even surprised us. First, some important notes.
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3 days ago | 
motoringfile.com | Gabriel Bridger
Ask any MINI die-hard to name the brand’s performance benchmark and they will probably point to the JCW GP. But dig a bit deeper and you’ll get some surprising answers. So we wanted to gather the data (both official and via the press) and create a definitive look at the fastest MINIs to 60 mph ever. What we found surprised even us.
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4 days ago | 
motoringfile.com | Gabriel Bridger
For the last two years, MINI’s product roadmap seemed crystal clear: the J05 Aceman would launch as a fully electric crossover, built in China for Europe and Asia. North America? On the bench. But then the EV landscape shifted. U.S. and Canadian demand cooled, tariffs escalated, and that £600 million EV upgrade at Oxford? Put on ice. Suddenly, what once felt like a done deal is now very much up in the air. So where does MINI go from here?
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5 days ago | 
motoringfile.com | Gabriel Bridger
The following is a throwback and repost of our experience at MINI’s Performance Driving School at the Indianapolis Speedway from 2014. Unfortunately the Speedway has since discontinued performance driving programs like this. You enter the Indianapolis Motor Speedway through a tunnel on 16th Street with little pomp or circumstance. But when you emerge into the infield, you’re met with awe. The scale of the place is staggering—so vast, in fact, that there’s a golf course inside the infield.
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1 week ago | 
motoringfile.com | Gabriel Bridger
Apple has officially taken the wraps off the highly anticipated CarPlay Ultra, debuting it in the 2026 Aston Martin Vanquish S—with more automakers expected to follow suit. But what about MINI and BMW? After speaking with designers and engineers from both brands, we got a resounding answer: they’ve already passed on it. So what exactly is CarPlay Ultra, and why would MINI want nothing to do with it? And what does this mean for the standard CarPlay we know?
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1 week ago | 
bimmerfile.com | Gabriel Bridger
Apple has officially taken the wraps off the highly anticipated CarPlay Ultra, debuting it in the 2026 Aston Martin Vanquish S—with more automakers expected to follow suit. But what about BMW? After speaking with designers and engineers from both brands, we got a resounding answer: they’ve already passed on it. So what exactly is CarPlay Ultra, and why would BMW want nothing to do with it? And what does this mean for the standard CarPlay we know?
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1 week ago | 
fastcompany.com | Gabriel Bridger
Marketing today isn’t suffering from a lack of tools—it’s drowning in them. Between campaign platforms, analytics dashboards, CMSs, CDPs, DAMs, and automation engines, marketers are cobbling together fragmented tech stacks with duct tape and good intentions. Enter: the marketing operating system (MOS). Yes, another acronym. But before you roll your eyes, consider this: What if the MOS isn’t just another buzzword, but a fundamental rethinking of how modern brands operate?
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1 week ago | 
bimmerfile.com | Gabriel Bridger
BMW’s turned the wick all the way up with the new 2026 M2 CS—and then trimmed the fat. Output climbs to a searing 523 horsepower, curb weight drops by nearly 100 pounds, and 0–60 gets shaved down to 3.7 seconds, en route to a 188 mph top speed. It’s sharper, leaner, and faster than ever. Starting at $98,600 plus destination, this is BMW’s compact M weapon turned full send. Before we go further, let’s address the elephant in the paddock: the manual is gone. Yes, this new CS is automatic-only.
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1 week ago | 
motoringfile.com | Gabriel Bridger
At first glance, it’s easy to assume the new F66 MINI Cooper is just a lightly updated F56. But look closer, and the story gets far more interesting. Despite sharing the same basic chassis, the F66 is shorter yet more spacious, packed with more tech, and surprisingly—offers fewer choices for buyers. Over the past year, we’ve driven every variant across two continents to find out what’s really changed, what’s improved, and where MINI may have taken a step back. Here’s what we’ve learned.
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2 weeks ago | 
bimmerfile.com | Gabriel Bridger
BMW M has officially unveiled the design of the 2026 BMW M2 CS at the 2025 Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este, giving enthusiasts their first sanctioned look at what might just be the ultimate form of the G87 chassis. Revealed Friday evening on the banks of Lake Como, the M2 CS made its public debut at one of the world’s most elegant automotive gatherings—an appropriately dramatic setting for a car that blends brute force with Bavarian finesse.
