This is the Mini Cooper Countryman. It’s MINIs biggest offering and slates as the lineup’s SUV offering. But it’s also the spicy John Cooper Works one, which means it’s quick. So is a performance MINI SUV an oxymoron? Thanks to International MINI for letting us have a go to find out

Is a MINI Countryman not a real MINI? Did it lose its soul? Is it too big?

To answer that we have to face a reality

People on the internet are watching this either because they’re MINI enthusiasts, potential MINI buyers, or they just love my face

It’s mostly the MINI enthusiast one, so you can’t take Youtube comments as a true representation of the market

The reality is people have been asking for bigger, more luxurious cars for a couple decades now so inherently the MINI brand had 2 options, dig into tradition, refuse to adapt, and die off OR give the people what they want, but with the MINI flair they crave!

At the end of the day if you like MINIs and you want to keeps buying MINIs then MINI needs to sell MINIs

And this Countryman helps A LOT with that!

And it also helps that this JCW model brings a lot of spunk and personality to the equation too

This may be MINI’s SUV, but the JCW badge means business. You’ve got a 2.0T 4 cylinder thumping out 301 hp and 331 lbft going through an 8 speed auto to all 4 wheels so 0-60 is somewhere in the low to mid 4 seconds making it the quickest MINI I’ve ever driven.

This is where the internet will hear 300 hp and scoff, but this thing is properly quick AND it’s genuinely fun to whip around!

It may be a 300hp SUV, but it’s a whole FOOT shorter than a CRV AND the ride height is hardly more than a normal sedan

So that means it likes to turn and it likes to be pushed!

And it’s rewarding to push it - the JCW gets a special exhaust and it’s so rowdy!

Behind the wheel the MINI Countryman still manages to feel sharp and playful. Sure it’s the biggest MINI, but its still smaller and lighter than most things out there. It’s got a great rigid chassis, the engine has plenty of grunt, the 8 speed transmission is sharp, and the dynamics encourage you to drive it like a teenager.

And MINI is part of the same organisation as BMW and Rolls Royce and they benefit from that

The Countryman gets things like adaptive suspension
All4 AWD
A brake actuated LSD

All things to help it keep it’s playful persona.. But this is the SUV so let’s settle down and talk about the meat and potatoes

The Countryman, with its adaptive suspension softens back to be very relaxing

The build is solid and the cabin is nice and isolated from road noise

The driving experience, when you just want it to be a car, can actually be much more civilized than maybe you were expecting

The coolest thing about MINIs is they don’t take themselves too seriously
There’s a sense of fun or levity to the cars
That’s apparent in the interior
Most cars use rectangles to dominate the interior because screens are that shape and they simpy fit the interior.
Not MINI tho, there are circles everywhere
The most dominating one is your center stack
The center light does stuff based on what you’re doing
No practical purpose, but sometimes those are the most fun things!
Volume, back up proximity, climate, fan speed, drive mode
Another fun thing is you get toggles overhead and below to operate things from
Ambient light
To turning on the car
Again, most cars would use toggle switches to feel hardcore, but there’s a sense of silliness here that is just cool
And then within the head unit you can go to your current status
Race flag, rocket, sunglasses, be mini
But it’s not all quirky shapes and fun gimmicks
You also have the usual fare like ACP and AA
You’ve got the most sensible wireless charger I;ve ever seen
It uses spring tension to keep your phone in place so it ACTUALLY charges
It’s not quite perfect though
It doesn’t have a 360 camera
The phone integration isn’t wireless
The circle theme is cool and fun but it results in a smaller screen than others
And no power seats
And some of those are more nitpicks than actual issues, but in terms of the actual practicality of the MINI SUV it’s shockingly big on the inside!
Your rear seats can actually fit someone over 6 feet
You have a nice pano roof to bring in light
The build is excellent
And the trunk is big…enough
So between the spunky character behind the wheel, the fun details you get on the exterior and the completely unconventional tae towards an interior, this Countryman is most certainly MINI and I love that so let’s get to the final thoughts