Would you like to feel old? The MINI is 20 years old.

Yes, you read that correctly the "new" Mini is twenty-years-old. While the grey hairs in my beard were making me feel passed my prime, this news makes me feel archaic.

If we're being pedantic, the first model-year for the MINI was 2001, but the full production version was launched at the Paris Motor Show in September 2000 and journos across Europe got their hands on it that winter.

So the MINI, as we now know it, has been part of the zeitgeist for the last two decades.

It probably doesn't seem that long for a couple of reasons. One, they're everywhere. You won't step outside without seeing one. Like a relative you see everyday, you don't notice them ageing, but when that auntie you haven't seen since the turn of the millennium knocks round, you realise time can be cruel.

So over exposure has kept the MINI at the front of our mind, but time has been very kind to the MINI. Designer, Frank Stephenson, who has since gone on to work with Ferrari and McLaren, pulled off a bit of a masterstroke.

Frank Stephenson

The late 90s and early millennium saw an explosion of retro-throwbacks. While some where more successful than others, the MINI surely is the one that has endured the most.

Reinventing an old iconic design is tricky business. The "new" Beetle, which was launched a couple of years previous to the MINI, showed the hunger for the return of icons passed, but the Beetle didn't capture the essence of it's original forebearer like the MINI has.

This is likely due to the fact the Beetle was a Golf in drag, so while it looked like a modern iteration of a Beetle, it had none of the original's idiosyncrasies that bought that car it's cult appeal.

MINI, who was now owned by BMW, took their icon much more seriously. They designed the car from the ground-up. This meant they were able to capture what was so great about the original, it's an absolute riot to drive.

BMW captured the soul of the original

Like the original car, the new MINI had it's wheels pushed out to all four corners and a chassis set-up that was both compliant and playful, even in the entry level MINI One.

Of course, the new MINI is much larger than the original car, making it's nameplate a bit tongue-in-cheek. This is irrelevant however, as BMW captured the spirit of the original car and it has proven to repeat history with the new MINI, as like the old car, the new MINI is classless.

It can be a 17-year-old's first car all the way up to the runabout of the rich and famous.

The new MINI has gone through three generational updates since 2000, with some questionable additions (let's not talk about the five-door) but BMW haven't strayed far from the original recipe. So it won't be surprising to see the new MINI last another twenty years, just like it's iconic original ancestor.

Happy Birthday, MINI.