Austin Mini Van on 2040-cars

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KBB 2013 Brand Image Awards has some obvious and oddball winners

The sixth edition of the Kelley Blue Book Brand Image Awards have crowned a wide range of winners - in a couple of cases the recipient of the laurels might say more about KBB users than they do about the actual winner. Compiled from the responses of more than 12,000 shoppers on KBB.com over the past year, there are 13 categories broken into non-luxury, luxury and truck segments "representing the combined wisdom of the American car-buying public."
The award categories have been revamped this year, with some dropping off, some new ones appearing and at least one other given a new term. What isn't surprising is that Honda won Most Trusted Brand for the second year running, Best Value Brand for the third year in a row and took Best Overall Brand, which wasn't on last year's list of awards.
On our own shores, in the non-luxury categories Chrysler got Most Refined Brand and Buick took Best Value Luxury Brand. Neither one of those marques won anything in last year's Brand Image Awards, while Cadillac, which won Best Interior Design Brand and Best Comfort Brand last year - those awards disappeared this year - went home without a single accolade.

2020 Mini Clubman makes many mini changes

The mid-cycle refresh for the 2020 Mini Clubman brings small-scale cosmetic alterations from front to back. The new grille dominates the front end. It's no larger than before, but by getting rid of the black bumper shape for six horizontal bars optionally dressed in chrome, the opening looks bigger. Clubman S models still fit hexagonal mesh into the opening, smaller hexagons on the new model set off by the single chrome accent of the previous model. New standard halogen headlights house larger reflectors and a black shield, the fog lights in the lower bumper illuminating as DRLs. The first set of optional LED headlights are arranged in a new design and employ LEDs for high and low beams. On these, an LED ring lights up to act as the primary DRL and the turn signal. A more feature-filled LED option includes adaptive headlights that can turn and adjust their brightness and throw automatically, and auto high-beam dipping. If we get that latter option in the U.S., it won't be with full functionality. The new rear LED taillights come standard and illuminate in a Union Jack pattern. Three new colors join the palette: Indian Summer Red metallic, British Racing Green metallic, and Mini Yours Enigmatic Black metallic. Optional Piano Black exterior trim replaces chrome with the glossy black stuff, and an optional sport suspension lowers the ride height by 10 millimeters. Extra wheel choices come in 18-inch Multiray Spoke two-tone and MINI Yours British Spoke two-tone flavors, along with 19-inch John Cooper Works Circuit Spoke two-tone rims. The Mini Yours program collects a suite of new personalization possibilities such as a sports steering wheel and a Leather Lounge Carbon Black interior leather treatment with a perforated Union Jack pattern on the seat headrests. Mini Yours ambient lighting treatments highlight the door bezels, cockpit bezel, cockpit and center console trim in hues to match three themes: Piano Black illuminated, Frozen Blue illuminated, and Fibre Alloy illuminated. A Union Jack emblem on the side windows marks the choice. A Leather Chester interior in Malt Brown, Indigo Blue, or Satellite Grey provides a different kind of flair. The infotainment gains a permanent 4G-LTE SIM card for always-on connectivity and over-the-air updates. After debuting at Auto Shanghai, we await pricing before the model goes on sale later this year.

2014 Mini Cooper goes to the dogs

We wouldn't buy a car to make a dog happy, but Mini's latest commercial, Bullheaded, would have you believe that dogs like the new 2014 Cooper as much as humans. Regardless of the commercial's target audience (Spike The Bulldog, or his owner?), it does show a couple new tidbits about the car, such as the new center dial touchscreen, ambient lighting and the nifty tinted pop-up display on top of the dashboard that reminds us of the head-up display on the new Mazda3.
Head below to watch Spike and his owner drive the Mini in Downtown Los Angeles (and the back lots of Paramount), and to get a behind-the-scenes look at how the commercial was made.