By Mark Elias
Tuesday, Oct 12th, 2010 @ 12:00 pm

The Texas Hill Country isn’t a typical stomping ground for MINI Coopers unless, of course, they’ve escaped from the trendy confines of Austin for a spirited jaunt.

But it does seem like the Hill Country is exactly where you might find a MINI Cooper Countryman, the new, practical big brother of the MINI lineup.

MINI invited us to the live music capital of the world to check out the first four door, crossover MINI Cooper. Although our trip was a little light on the music, it was one that was full of live critters, including the state bird of Texas, the armadillo, numerous members of the bovine and equine persuasion and one particularly large skunk. Yeehaw!

Four and more
This is the first MINI product to have four doors and an available “ALL4†all-wheel-drive. Additionally, it is a four-seater with a quad of buckets, which offer a high seating position and recline in both the front and the rear of the vehicle. During our time with the MINI Cooper Countryman, we sampled the manual transmission, all-wheel drive, navi-equipped, leather-swathed version. It might not be the most common variant, but it offers everything an enthusiast could want.

As a bonus, it rides higher than any other MINI before it. Able to leap gravel moguls on backcountry dirt roads, as well as plow through snow, it has the ability to go places the standard two door MINI Coopers have heretofore not been able to (intentionally) go.

MINI’s head of product planning, Vincent Tennessee Kung (yep, that’s his given name), says that this new MINI Countryman will be cross-shopped against the Nissan Rogue and Nissan Juke, Suzuki SX4 and Toyota RAV4. None of them have the MINI’s cachet, but nor do they have its premium price. Company officials project that the Countryman will be the second most popular car in the lineup behind the MINI Cooper.

What’s new and exciting?
The new MINI Countryman comes to market with several new items that have not been seen in the line until now. The new rail system has nothing to do with names like Amtrak and Burlington Northern Santa Fe.

Instead, think center console with modular attachments and accessories to outfit your MINI to your personal configuration. Twin rails run from the back of the shifter console and move rearward to accommodate cupholders, eyeglass cases, cell phone and MP3 player holders/chargers, and what MINI says will be a myriad of other items to personalize the Countryman into your very own. Additionally, an integrated wiring harness connects the devices into their systems. We would bet it will make an appearance in future MINI offerings as well.

Fivehead
Described by some as looking like it has a case of “helmet head,†the Countryman has a distinct look that is more visible when the roof is a contrasting color. From a sideview, the body is thicker looking than it is tall. That’s due to the cladding in the wheel wells, and the larger expanse of grill that includes fog lamps, larger brake ducts and a bigger lower opening to suck up all the cold air the engine needs.

With the addition of the two rear doors, this new MINI still looks very proportional to the “regular-sized†Cooper. New side scuttles (side openings in a lid) separate the hood from the fenders, while new headlamp assemblies help to illuminate the way forward. Overall, there is no mistaking the family lineage.

Our Countryman with All4 featured the full-cow hide treatment with contrasting piping for a swanky, sporty appearance. The large speedometer continues to dominate the dashboard with the tachometer playing second fiddle through the steering wheel.

High-spec Countrymans (Countrymen?) can be equipped with the automaker’s MINI Connected, a system that can tweet, read RSS feeds and more and they feature an iPhone/iPod interface among the simplest in the industry.

That’s not to say, that it’s exclusively Apple. MINI Connected plays nice with an Android phone’s streaming audio functions, too. Additionally, the Countryman is the first to market with a web radio function when connected to an appropriate Smartphone.

Maxi-MINI motoring
Like its siblings, the MINI Cooper Countryman comes with two choices of engine, depending on your choice of trim level. The base model includes the 1.6-liter four-cylinder transverse mounted engine that outputs to the tune of 121 horsepower and 114 lb-ft of torque. The 1.6-liter engine in the Cooper S Countryman and ALL4 models feature the twin-scroll turbocharged, direct injection engine with Valvetronic, which produces 181 horsepower and 177 lb-ft of torque. Zero to 60 times in the standard Countryman clock in at 9.8 seconds, while the Cooper S version trips the lights at 7.0 seconds flat.

The EPA steps into the fray to report that the naturally aspirated engine with manual transmission averages 35 mpg 35, while the Cooper S turbo with either manual or automatic sips to the tune of 32 mpg. The ALL4 brings up the rear with a manual transmission that yields 31 mpg. Those are impressive figures given the type of vehicle, although you’ll be stuck pumping premium unleaded into the tank.

Our ALL4 version had the standard six-speed manual transmission and permanent all-wheel-drive with a direct-drive center differential for infinitely variable power distribution. Under normal drive situations 100-percent of the power is delivered to the front wheels. At other times, up to 50-percent of the power can be diverted to the rear through a longitudinal propshaft with dampening for a smoother, vibration free transition.

The MINI Cooper S Countryman rides on MacPherson struts in front with a class-exclusive multi-link setup in the rear. Combined with its electric-assisted power steering, it delivered a ride that was not out of character for the MINI family. Steering was firm, but at times displayed a slight sense of squirrelishness, especially when encountering crosswinds. Pushing just over 3,100 lbs, in the windy Hill Country, it’s easy to see that happen. Click on the sport button and the steering gets firmer, but the setting doesn’t alleviate some light nervousness.

Still, the Countryman is a fun crossover that sings its graces through each curve. The taut ride was nonetheless compliant over smooth terrain, but it held itself together on the rough stuff.

Along the way, we heard two types of music: One we wanted less of and a different note we wished there was more of. On a mixed bag of road surfaces, there was a fair amount of road noise creeping into the cabin, probably the result of the Countryman’s run-flat Pirelli Cinturato P7 tires. The noise we wished for more of would be an aggressive exhaust note coming from the MINI’s trademark center-mounted exhausts.

Hope springs eternal that we may see (hear) that before the January 2011 on-sale date. We’ll keep you posted.

Leftlane’s bottom line
MINI Coopers have long had a reputation for providing the most fun you can have in a car with your clothes on. The new MINI Cooper S Countryman ALL4 (a mouthful) continues that practice and can take you more places to boot. What you do with your clothing at that point is up to you.

2011 MINI Cooper Countryman base price, $22,350.

Words and photos by Mark Elias.

  

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