Not read most of this thread, but seems the NerdRage exploded.
I love how quick folk are to jump on the bandwagon that the new MINI is owned by BMW, as if foreign input to the car makes it any less cool.
Cause after all, the original was British all the way to it's roots... Alec Issigonis from Greece. 
I'm foreign, so why would I care if the MINI was owned by a foreign company? I'm not jumping on any bandwagons other than the use of BINI, which I wasn't using it in a derogatory way and lots of people use it to make the distinction between the 'new MINI' and the pre-BMW Mini.