To be in with a chance of winning this top prize, buy your tickets now for hte game that is set to be played at 8pm on Saturday January 1, 2011. Tickets cost £2 each and the maximum per player is 48 tickets. Of course, if you buy the maximum tickets and win that gets you a brand new Mini for just £96 – not a bad way to start the New Year!

Of course, for those feeling the pinch of the reccession, you might want it even cheaper but how is this possible? Visit Wink Bingo online and they are offering free tickets. All you have to do is email a picture to demonstrate why you feel you are in need of the free car (think battered old runaround vehicle and you looking downtrodden and sad). If they feel sorry enough for you they will give you100 Mini points and what do points make? Prizes!

For 500 points you can obtain one free bingo ticket for the big game. Go to the Wink Bingo Facebook page and tell them why you need the car – this will gain you another 50 points. For every game of online bingo you play  with Wink you will gain 5 more points and for every £1 spent on 75 or 90 ball bingo game you will collect another point.

Points can be earned right up until 23.59pm on 26th December and will automatically be converted into tickets for the Mini game before the big day. Remeber, you cannot earn more than the designated 48 tickets but hey, its got to be worth a shot!

The new, reworked models will be available in showrooms from September, with MINI aiming to sneak their new diesel models in underneath the road tax threshold under the current system. The One D and Cooper D are the two reworked models that will benefit from a new super-efficient diesel engine, with other designs in the range undergoing a few other nips and tucks.

Across the range there will be a minor design makeover, with a new front bumper with a lower air intake that incorporates a set of fog lights being the main feature. The interiors have also received a gentle polish, with the switchgear being updated for better functionality and a range of new colours and trim options now available.

This new Countryman may not be the most practical invention that BMW have come up with, but their novelty model with a giant Makarapa (a customisable South African workman’s helmet) attached on top has certainly caused a stir on the South African streets as fans embrace the fun and festivities that have been bywords of this first African World Cup.

Makarapa helmets have proved to be popular fan items at the tournament, although unsurprisingly they have been overshadowed by the sound of the vuvuzela, a horn that almost every person in the country appears to have purchased. BMW have used MINI to display how in touch they are with popular culture in a country that has all the world’s eyes focused on it until June 11th.

Using Facebook to create a campaign to encourage support for the idea of a race at the Road Atlanta track in the United States, MINI have ruffled a few feathers at Porsche and have set up a petition for fans to try and convince Porsche, whose 911 model should, on paper, wipe the floor with the Cooper, to show up on June 21st. The response from Von Platen to the idea was somewhat flippant, with the Porsche CEO belittling the campaign and pointing out his company’s rich racing heritage. It remains to be seen whether Porsche will decide to represent themselves at the event, which seems set to go ahead regardless and will be streamed on the MINI USA Facebook page.

It has been a long wait for MINI fans after the two concepts were first revealed at the 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show. But finally it would appear that both concepts are edging closer to the production phase, despite no official production date having yet been announced.

The company used MINI headquarters in Oxford to show off the future of the brand’s range, with the Coupe and Roadster sitting alongside current models such as the Hatch, Convertible and Clubman, with the forthcoming Countryman, due on sale in September 2010, also making an appearance.

The showcase was something of a celebration for MINI, with the manufacturer continuing to go from strength to strength following a start to 2010 that has seen both their market share and number of new registrations grow ahead of expectations.

Few cars hold their value as well as the new MINI, making it a viable long-term investment for any would-be car owner. Stylish and cool, and forever immortalised by the film ‘The Italian Job’, the MINI is well worth considering should you be on the lookout for a small car with a bit of personality.

Thanks to the new MINI website you can navigate around a fun interactive application that allows you to tailor the look of your new car both inside and out. On the roof you can have a choice of lettering, stripes, a chequered flag and the good old Union Jack.

Elsewhere you can add an aerodynamic body kit, additional headlights and various choices of handles wheels and mirrors.

Inside the highlight of the options is a MINI portable sat nav which incorporates route planner, bluetooth, hands free kit and MP3 player all in one, plus a choice of trims.

It’s all about extending the MINI’s brand image of fun, cool, chic; of making your car as individual as you are. These customised MINI parts and accessories may not be to everyone’s taste, but they help retain the fresh style that is so crucial to the car’s appeal.

To play around with the designs on offer you can log onto the accessories section of the MINI UK website.

Sitting a fair bit higher than many would expect from a MINI and for the first time boasting five doors, the new Countryman is certainly a different design from the trusty MINI we all know and love and swears blind that it offers a genuine carrying capacity of four adults, but it’s still the good old MINI at heart.

Offering both front and four-wheel drive options, the Countryman offers the ideal solution for those who want the MINI look but need that bit more space and ruggedness, whether it’s for off road driving or the school run.

The MINI Countryman is set to debut at around £17,000 at the Geneva motor show this spring.

MINI aficionados are notoriously difficult to please when it comes to alterations to the classic design and the Beachcomber is the biggest modification in recent memory. With both soft and hard top options due to be made available, this new MINI will be suitable even if it’s not beach weather which, let’s be honest, it rarely is here in the UK.

As divisive as this design is sure to be, it’s hard to imagine the MINI Beachcomber not finding a niche and becoming popular with a number of people; we’ll find out in the New Year when it goes on general release.

It really does seem that the company is almost shooting itself in the foot with this latest move, admittedly having two cars competing in the market should mean that the company will grab large shares of the market, however it could of course backfire and the companies could end up taking sales off of each other.

It could of course signal the fact that BMW are planning on phasing the Mini out, they have literally made every form of Mini possible since the takeover and they are now very limited in their moves. Any significant changes to the brand are bound to be blocked vigorously by the Mini owners club, which means that BMW could be about to put all their weight behind a new project.

With the 0-Series BMW could take the car in any direction that they want. It gives them a completely blank canvas to make a modern design that will appeal to the modern audience.

I don’t think the Mini will ever die out, not even if BMW decided to stop manufacturing the car, the fan base that it has acquired over the years, plus the new fans that it adopted with the creation of the new series will give it enough firepower to outgun any of its competitors even if the new 0-Series is a huge success.