Spotted on the M25 this morning covered in lovely swirly wrap with little holes cut out for the lights.

 

Was having trouble figuring out what it was but it had a very classic "M" bulge on the bonnet which gave it away somewhat (plus at an angle I could JUST about make out some sweeping lines). I forget the plate but imagine it would've made it easier to figure out what the vehicle actually was!
 

I remember seeing 3 land rovers travelling in convoy a little while back as well (in camo wrap). one of which I assume is the evoque.

 

Is it common for them to test new cars on the roads prior to release?

Yes they do tend to use special wraps to stop people working out what the car looks at. It allows them to run new cars in real world conditions without giving much away to the press. 

 

If it was an X it's maybe the new X3 which I believe is due soon, code name g01 afaik. 

 

Pics of car with wrap here

http://www.bmwblog.com/2016/12/20/g01-bmw-x3-unveiled-august-2017-deliveries-march-2018/

Edited 27 February, 20179 yr by gullyg

California is like another planet when it comes to new trends and air quality .......having a driveway helps of course 

http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1109063_california-local-governments-share-how-to-prepare-for-electric-cars

 

Edited 27 February, 20179 yr by Ryeman
Oops, wrong thread .....mods to 'your local council' pls

I've quite often seen cars being tested on the M40 covered in camo wrap that look suspiciously like Jaguars or Land Rovers. There's only so much they can do on closed roads.

Reminds me of the jag xj220 transit van. 

my friend is currently driving around in new Mini's to put mileage on them before release. They aren't fully wrapped but have factory test car written on the back.

Easy to see why MINI / BMW would put that sticker on so that people pay attention because the latest MINI, or Bigger MINI or even BIGGER still MINI would go un-noticed by most people when they have a 66 plate.

They are getting to the stage that MINI's need to be called 'Used to be MINI's and now re-bodied BMW's and as heavy as them.

 

 

2 hours ago, Awayoffski said:

Easy to see why MINI / BMW would put that sticker on so that people pay attention because the latest MINI, or Bigger MINI or even BIGGER still MINI would go un-noticed by most people when they have a 66 plate.

They are getting to the stage that MINI's need to be called 'Used to be MINI's and now re-bodied BMW's and as heavy as them.

 

 

 

Couldn't agree more, but it keeps a lot of my friends in employment to can't grumble lol. It's funny how FIAT are copying the idea with lots of variations of their 500

23 hours ago, gullyg said:

Yes they do tend to use special wraps to stop people working out what the car looks at. It allows them to run new cars in real world conditions without giving much away to the press. 

 

If it was an X it's maybe the new X3 which I believe is due soon, code name g01 afaik. 

 

Pics of car with wrap here

http://www.bmwblog.com/2016/12/20/g01-bmw-x3-unveiled-august-2017-deliveries-march-2018/

 

Looks close! It was a bit more heavily wrapped at the time and I think the bulge was a little larger and lines on the side a little more defined.. but I WAS trying to keep my eyes on the road at the time so can't be 100%

The wrapping they used was swirly like that, but a little less busy IIRC.

 

 

18 hours ago, Dr Zoidberg said:

I've quite often seen cars being tested on the M40 covered in camo wrap that look suspiciously like Jaguars or Land Rovers. There's only so much they can do on closed roads.

 

JLR up near solihull somewhere. Have family working for them

1 minute ago, bspman said:

 

Looks close! It was a bit more heavily wrapped at the time and I think the bulge was a little larger and lines on the side a little more defined.. but I WAS trying to keep my eyes on the road at the time so can't be 100%

The wrapping they used was swirly like that, but a little less busy IIRC.

 

There's a rumour of a X3M along the lines of the X5M so maybe that's what it was. 

 

I really hope the G01 isn't really good - just bought a F25;)

4 minutes ago, gullyg said:

 

There's a rumour of a X3M along the lines of the X5M so maybe that's what it was. 

 

I really hope the G01 isn't really good - just bought a F25;)

 

That would explain the bulge on the bonnet!

they carded off large sections on the front as well.

1 hour ago, bspman said:

JLR up near solihull somewhere. Have family working for them

Yep, and I've seen disguised Minis a bit further down by Oxford too.

Mini plant is in Cowley......you'll tend to see lots of disguised Minis and sometimes BMW's in that area....particularly now the two marques are sharing alot of their platforms (new Countryman is basically a rebodied 2 series tourer etc).

On 28/02/2017 at 19:19, pipsypreturnsagain said:

Mini plant is in Cowley......you'll tend to see lots of disguised Minis and sometimes BMW's in that area....particularly now the two marques are sharing alot of their platforms (new Countryman is basically a rebodied 2 series tourer etc).

I thought it was based on a transit