Talking MINI gagged - for now

Nov 23 2009 Maurice Glover

Talking MINI gagged - for now

A TECHNICAL hitch has delayed the arrival of the talking MINI.

Developed to help celebrate the 50th anniversary of Britain's favourite small car, a 'speaking' version was to have been in the showrooms this month.

But launch plans had to be postponed after it was discovered that the smart technology that allows the car to offer tips for safer and more economical motoring was not compatible with other electronic equipment.

Now the Camden, a special edition limited to a 12-months production run, is to be launched early next year.

'When we found out about these issues, we thought the car might not fit with the requirements of the UK market, but these have now been resolved and it should be in the showrooms in January,' explains a spokesman for the company.

Costing £21,030, the six-speed Camden will stand on 17-inch silver metallic alloy wheels and come with a choice of petrol or diesel engines.

Dubbed "mission control" by research and development engineers at parent company BMW in Germany, the unique voice system gives drivers cheery greetings when the engine is started and says goodbye when it is turned off.

Armed with a massive vocabulary provided by a team of actors, the Camden's computer is capable of delivering 1,500 different spoken messages.

Should it be driven with an unsecured door, it can say 'Attention, a door is open - is someone trying to escape?' and if it is driven too fast with a cold engine, it will plead 'Ease up on the gas a bit, I'm not warmed up yet - but I'll let you know when I am'.

Continued high speed driving will prompt the car to say 'Take it easy please and we'll save fuel at the same time' and driving with the sunroof open while the air conditioning system is operating will bring the comment 'This is no good - one of them has to go to make any environmental sense at all and that's that'.