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New Mini to bow on Nov. 18, on Alec Issigonis' birthday

Miniacs, note November 18 on your calendar. That's when the all-new Mini Hardtop will debut. Now, this might not be a great deal of news, after all, we already showed you the car, codenamed F56, a few weeks ago. But this full unveiling should bring with it even more detailed exterior images, a full look at the cabin and if we're lucky, performance numbers.
History buffs will also note that November 18 is the birthday of Sir Alec Issigonis. It was Issigonis that penned the original idea for the Mini on a cocktail napkin, envisioning a car with a transversely mounted engine, the wheels pushed out to all four corners and plenty of cabin space for occupants. That car had a remarkably small footprint and was quite efficient, perfect for tackling the fuel shortages brought on by the Suez Crisis in 1959's Great Britain. An unintended side-effect of its design was that it was also an absolute hoot to drive.
The November 18 debut will take place at Mini's home, Plant Oxford, in the UK. Following that, November 20 will see a near-simultaneous debut at both the Tokyo Motor Show and Los Angeles Auto Show. We'll be on hand to bring you all the details.

Consumer Reports no longer recommends Honda Civic

Consumer Reports annual Car Reliability Survey is out, and yes, there are some big surprises. First and foremost? The venerable publication no longer recommends the Honda Civic. In fact, aside from the walking-dead CR-Z and limited-release Clarity fuel-cell car, the Civic is the only Honda to miss out on CR's prestigious nod. At the opposite end there's a surprise as well – Toyota and Lexus remain the most reliable brands on the market, but Buick cracked the top three. That's up from seventh last year, and the first time for an American brand to stand on the Consumer Reports podium. Mazda's entire lineup earned Recommended checks as well. Consumer Reports dinged the Civic for its "infuriating" touch-screen radio, lack of driver lumbar adjustability, the limited selection of cars on dealer lots fitted with Honda's popular Sensing system, and the company's decision to offer LaneWatch instead of a full-tilt blind-spot monitoring system. Its score? A lowly 58. The Civic isn't the only surprise drop from CR's Recommended ranks. The Audi A3, Ford F-150, Subaru WRX/STI, and Volkswagen Jetta, GTI, and Passat all lost the Consumer Reports' checkmark. On the flipside, a number of popular vehicles graduated to the Recommended ranks, including the BMW X5, Chevrolet Camaro, Corvette, and Cruze, Hyundai Santa Fe, Porsche Macan, and Tesla Model S. Perhaps the biggest surprise is the hilariously recall-prone Ford Escape getting a Recommended check – considering the popularity of Ford's small crossover, this is likely a coup for the brand, as it puts the Escape on a level playing field with the Recommended Toyota RAV4, Honda CR-V, and Nissan Rogue. While Ford is probably happy to see CR promote the Escape, the list wasn't as kind for every brand. For example, of the entire Fiat Chrysler Automobiles catalog, the ancient Chrysler 300 was the only car to score a check – there wasn't a single Dodge, Fiat, Jeep, Maserati, or Ram on the list. That hurts. FCA isn't alone at the low end, either. GMC, Jaguar Land Rover, Mini, and Mitsubishi don't have a vehicle on CR's list between them, while brands like Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, Nissan, Lincoln, Infiniti, and Cadillac only have a few models each. You can check out Consumer Reports entire reliability roundup, even without a subscription, here.

Mini teases high-performance electric hatch as a safety car

Mini has made it clear that it's working on some sort of high-performance electric Mini. It even released photos of such a prototype back in December. Now it seems we may get a look at a more finished example in the near future. The company put out the above teaser on Twitter. The teaser is quite light on information, but the hashtag "#ElectricThrillMaximised" makes it pretty clear that it's not running on gasoline or diesel. Playing with the image in Photoshop, we were able to brighten it up enough to see that there aren't any tailpipes, either. Instead, there's a rear fog light in the middle of the diffuser. What's also interesting is that from what we could make out of the fender flares, they're very wide, but they don't look like the unusual carbon fiber pieces from the John Cooper Works GP. So Mini has done some work to make it a little more than just an electrified GP. Of course, we've skipped over the obvious part of this teaser, and that's the bright lights that seem to identify the Mini as a pace car or safety car. We think this Mini might become a safety car for Formula E. Not only would an electric car make sense for the electric racing series, but BMW has provided i model cars as safety cars for the series for a few years now, despite the company no longer competing. Certainly BMW could also use something like the new i4, but with Mini going fully electric a few years down the road, why not start associating the brand and the alternative fuel now? We're not sure when the car will be revealed, though. The teaser didn't provide any pertinent information, and the Formula E season is already underway. But hopefully it won't be too long, since it looks like the car is finished, at least for pace car purposes. Related video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.