Next week, the Yellow peril is on holiday again, whilst I commute about in one of these....

 

 

One trip, hardly conclusive, but it's a Cooper D and is so slooooow, compared to my vRS.

The Cooper S D is a little better. I was also surprised at how capable they were off road.

Still wouldn't have one.

My wife love's hers.

The BMW version of the Mini has been around for a while now, and love it or loathe it, it still resembles the Leyland Mini of old in a way.  BMW have gone in yet another direction with MINI, and have created a model called Countryman, which is a five door car with a relatively high waistline and an apparently small windows.  It’s available in One, Cooper, Cooper S and John Cooper versions in 1.6- and 2.0-litre forms.

 

The front of Countryman is clearly MINI, its one piece bonnet and light unit staying the same as earlier versions, but the length of the car is increased to 4.1m from 3.7m with most of that becoming passenger space rather than boot space. The side of the car is rather bland, its four door layout obvious, but it has a small rear quarter light which is out of proportion to the rest of the glass.  I’ll forgive it the slightly awkward looks it suggests as the bright red paint and black roof with matching black wheels made it look really smart.  I’m not normally a fan of black wheels, but these complimented the car well.  A small roof spoiler at the back finished off the sporty image, and if the Cooper S badge and twin exhausts don’t shout sporty to you, nothing will.  The let down, if it is one, was the dreaded “D” on the back alongside the sporty “Cooper S” badge.   Diesel. Sporty and diesel ?

 

Getting behind the wheel was easy with wide opening doors.  The traditional central binnacle which carries over the design from the original Mini is still there and doubles as a functional display for service information, cd track etc, and in direct vision of the driver, BMW have incorporated a rev counter on the steering column to help keep an eye on the speed. The seats were cloth and very huggingly comfortable, as well as making adjustment very easy.

 

The interior is well thought out, with the toggle switch layout being the same as the earlier 2004 car I drove, operating functions like stability control and stop start technology. My only gripe is that they are quite low down on the centre console.  Above the switches is the car’s audio unit which I found rather fiddly due to its small controls, and didn’t like at first, but got used to.  Between the front seats was a typical armrest for both front seat passengers, and beneath, I found what’s probably best described as a colour coded rail that houses cup holders and clearly defines passenger areas. 

 

The door cards where finished in matching red and despite a smattering of chrome amongst the masses of black, they helped to lift the interior of the cabin. Strictly a four seater car,  rear seat passengers were well catered for in terms of interior space and head height, even with the front seats pushed further back than would be necessary for me, passengers could probably sit alongside each other quite comfortably on a long journey. For the safety conscious, its been designed for optimum safety in the event of a collision, the body structure has precisely defined load paths and deformation zones to ensures passive safety of the highest calibre. With frontal and side airbags as well as curtain airbags at the side both front and rear, three-point inertia-reel seat belts on all seats, belt latch tensioners and belt force limiters at the front, it is well equipped and has ISOFIX child seat fastenings at the rear which all come as standard. 

 

The Countryman is a hatched boot, like the regular MINI and there’s a shallow drop onto the floor of the car which helps when loading items like shopping and such. The parcel shelf worked itself loose so had to be propped up - not ideal, but it worked and the shelf, which was a rather flimsy affair was left to sit on top, most of the time, but there would be odd occasions where it decided to sit vertically and totally obscure the view out of the back of the car.   For those into figures – the capacity ranges from 350 to 1,170 litres (12.2–41.0 cu ft).

 

Despite its increased size, the Countryman handles like a MINI should. The direct steering of the Cooper S I used was still there, and there was plenty of feel back through the steering. The suspension felt quite hard, despite the car sitting on 17 inch wheels and I’ve no problem with that, in fact, I was wondering how it be due to its bigger size. I wasn’t disappointed.

 

I was expecting the BMW diesel engine to be quite noisy and nose heavy, in what is quite a small car, but I was wrong. The engine’s torque meant that it pulled relatively easily if not quickly, and once at cruising speed, motorway speeds could be maintained. The car’s six speed, automatic gearbox sliced through the gears smoothly, swiftly and easily without any jerkiness that some automatics can sometimes have, and reaching the legal limit and maintaining it was easy.  According to official sources, the car has a top speed of 134mph and a 0-62mph acceleration time of 8.1 seconds.

 

Interestingly, the view of the large speedo was surprisingly difficult to see from the driving seat, so assessing speed accurately was quite difficult. The engine note is quite well suppressed so not much noise enters the cabin and with stop start active, in standing traffic it was quite difficult to tell when the car was running.

 

 

Parking was easy due to the parking sensors. The cars modest length meant that those smaller spaces would be easier to utilise and the door opening width was sufficient to make getting in and out at the local multi storey easy enough.

 

The car came with a quarter of a tank of fuel and I used that in about two days. It was duly replenished with three quarters of a tank and after a week long loan, was just about empty, having done about 300 miles in a week. Make your own mind up about fuel economy. Maybe I’m used to a more frugal diesel.

 

Verdict

 

This MINI is definitely different to the Cooper S I had the use of in 2004. Underneath, it’s stil the same MINI Cooper but has a new set of clothes. It’s had two extra doors added and an awkward quarterlight at the back. It has a more chunky appearance than either the Cooper S or my own Leyland Mini of several years ago. I suppose it’s a modern day interpretation of the Issigonis model and BMW are taking it into new market areas. Whilst I enjoyed my time with MINI, I’m not going to rush out and buy one, due to the boot space. You can spend a minimum (sorry) of £18750 for the One and rising to £23525 for the one I had. And then there’s options list which can add considerably more to your purchase. You pays your money and takes your choice.  I'll stick to the Octavia vRS.

Interesting review thanks. I am due a drive in the new MINI on Sat with BMW's new 1.5 triple. It should be interesting and will post my thoughts here afterwards

We tried a Mini Countryman All4 SD Auto. I have to say I liked it but the reason we rejected it was the sills are too wide and my wife caught her legs getting out.... Result clean door sills but muddy legs.

I could have got one very quickly but decided to wait three months for the Yeti. I think I made the right decision as I'm used to the DSG gearbox in the Tig, which I believe is the best auto on the market.