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Mini Cooper Hardtop 4-Door configurator is open for all

The Mini Cooper five-door hatchback, which the company insists on calling the Mini Hardtop 4 Door, doesn't start arriving at US dealers until January 2015. However, if you dig the latest model's styling but can't live without the two extra doors, you can start speccing one right now in the recently launched configurator.
The new five-door hatch isn't just the standard model with extra doors squished in. It rides on a 2.8-inch longer wheelbase and is 6.3-inches longer overall. That means more room for rear passengers and extra space to haul stuff in the boot. The engine options are shared though with a 1.5-liter turbocharged three-cylinder with 134 horsepower and 162 pound-feet of torque for the Cooper or a 2.0-liter turbo four-cylinder with 189 hp and 207 lb-ft in the Cooper S. Both are available with a six-speed manual or automatic.
Prices (including destination) for that extra space starts at $21,450 for the Cooper or $25,100 for the Cooper S, which is $1,000 more than the three-door in both cases. However, like any modern Mini, these guys are extremely customizable from the factory. There are an array of colors, 10 option packages and a ton of other add-ons to choose from.

New Zealand SPCA teaches rescue dogs how to drive a Mini

No, this isn't an April Fool's joke or some sort of wacky car commercial. It's the SPCA Auckland (located in New Zealand) coming up with an innovative way of proving that it's possible to teach a rescue animal new tricks. Monty, Porter and Ginny are all dogs rescued by the SPCA Auckland, and each was taught the ability to drive a Mini Countryman around a track.
After being strapped into the driver's seat, the dogs are able to use their paws to start the car, steer it and work the gas and brake, which have been modified similar to a car setup for a special-needs driver. These dogs aren't being trained to drive on the street as any sort of driving-eye dogs, rather it is just a demonstration of how smart and docile rescue dogs can be regardless of how they ended up there. Porter was found wandering the streets, Ginny was abused by her owners and seized by the SPCA and Monty was surrendered by his owners to the rescue. Ironically, Porter and Ginny initially got carsick during the exercises, but have since gotten over this.
Think it's a joke? Scroll down to watch four videos showing the dogs in action and another to see what mods were made to get the Mini ready for canine duty. In the first video, you can also see that Porter does a better parking job than most humans!

Mini exiting WRC after just one year

There was a fair bit of hullabaloo two years ago when Mini announced a return to the World Rally Championship for this season, but the road to making that happen has been as rocky as a gravel stage. It spent 2011 developing its JCW Countryman WRC challenger, changing its mind about how it wanted to work with Prodrive, dumped a driver due to budget issues, then registering its entry after the deadline had passed in a ploy that might or might not have been a protest aimed at the WRC promoter.
Mini had stated that it wanted to win the whole championship in 2013, and spent 2011 doing six WRC rounds as development. As it stands for this year, the WRC Team Mini Portugal - paid for by Mini, run by ProDrive - scored 26 points in the first rally at Monte Carlo and has so far blanked the rest of the season. The relationship between Mini and ProDrive appeared to be an ever-contentious affair, at the end of this season, even the money will dry up along with what support there was.
Because it contested every race in the calendar, though, Mini says it has completed the FIA requirements for homologation of the JCW Countryman WRC; meaning that privateers can continue purchasing the car and run it in the WRC. BMW Motorsport is continuing development and parts supply of the 1.6-liter turbo engine, and a report in Autosport indicates that ProDrive will continue to run Minis in the series next year.