MINI Countryman Review & Road Test: MINI Countryman Cooper D All4 (2011) Part 3

MINI Countryman Review - Is the Countryman still a go-kart?

There’s no doubt that the MINI is all about its handling as well as its style. Does the Countryman still handle like a go-kart, or does its size wreck its nimbleness?

There’s no doubt the diesel is going to be the engine of choice in the Countryman. And if you opt for the Cooper D – which we have – you’ll get the new BMW 1.6 litre lump instead of the old PSA unit. What that means is a whole 2bhp more – the Countryman now has 111bhp – but a much more useful extra 22lb/ft of torque to play with. Which gives the Countryman Cooper D more grunt than the 0-62 mph of 11.6 seconds would suggest.

But don’t run away with the idea that the Countryman Cooper D is quick. It isn’t. But it is quick enough – mostly. Quick enough to feel lively in town and quick enough to push on quite well round the B roads, where the All4 all wheel drive does help. You can feel the back wheels digging in to push you round if you start getting too enthusiastic round a bend that ends up being more than it looked to be when you went in.

It rolls a bit – but not too much – and feels planted most of the time. It even absorbs the furrows and hollows that pass for roads with reasonable aplomb. But it’s not the MINI handling you remember; it’s no go-kart. But it’s a setup that suits the Countryman, and the steering still communicates well.

What is a surprise is that the All4 Countryman works off-road. To be fair, we didn’t go hard-core off-roading. But shove the All4 Countryman round a field and it makes a passable attempt at being a proper little SUV. I’m not sure I’d want to tackle the jungles of Borneo, but it certainly isn’t going to leave you stuck in a snowfall or getting out of a muddy field after a school concert.

“…a surprise is that the All4 Countryman works off-road. To be fair, we didn’t go hard-core off-roading. But shove the All4 Countryman round a field and it makes a passable attempt at being a proper little SUV.”

So, for our money, BMW seems to have achieved what it set out to do with the Countryman. They’ve built a car for those who’ve outgrown the MINI. They’ve made a car for MINI-lovers that suit the life style of those who’ve got beyond the indulgences of a single life, and need transport that moves stuff and others as well as them and their style.

You pay for that style, mind you. The base price of this Countryman Cooper D All4 is £20k, and our car has another £6k of options. Some would say that at £25k there’s probably a premium of 20% for the badge. And they’re probably right. But it’s a price MINI lovers will probably happily pay to keep the MINI in their life when life has conspired to make the regular MINI impractical.

But not everything MINI is priced like a style icon. MINI’s ‘tlc’ service pack offers great value and great peace of mind with eight years servicing covered for a measly £570. An option you’d be mad not to tick.

Whether or not the Countryman will attract buyers not already attached to the MINI lifestyle is questionable. And we somehow doubt that BMW can pull off with the Countryman what British Leyland astonishingly managed when they made the Mini bigger, which was to create a car that became the biggest-selling of the sixties – the Austin 1100 and its derivatives. But, and against all our preconceptions, we think the Countryman works.

If you love MINI you’ll love Countryman too.