MINI has always been a brand that represents a strong sense of being, passion, authenticity and personal style. After cutting down their model offering from eight to just five models in 2014, the brand has instilled and grown its community far more through its ideals of the “sharing” economy.
The Mini Cooper S Countryman remains small, style conscious and is a fun-to drive crossover. The personalisation has a wide variety, of which young owners will find appealing accompanied by the standard LED headlights, a new digital instrument cluster and very neat Union Jack taillights. The new grille is seamless across the front and the rear gains a new-look rear apron, there are also two new colours; White Silver metallic and Sage Green metallic with new alloy wheels and a Piano Black exterior to round it all up.
We took a stop during our road trip to the Makalali Private Game Reserve, the drive was swift and the handling was solid on curved roads. The Countryman has always offered space and you could feel that as soon as you got into front seat. The minimal infotainment system is something to fall in love with at first glance and connectivity to your device via bluetooth and Apple CarPlay is seamless.
When in Comfort mode, the drive is easy and you can almost feel the car glide on the road, switch to eco sport mode and within seconds the power of the 189 hp engine comes into play, accompanied by the comfort and style of the Countryman. The 7 speed dual-clutch gearbox came in handy, especially on uphill roads to really experience the power of the Countryman and controlling how the car navigates sharp corners.
While the Cooper S Countryman comes with eight airbags, you’d be sad to know that the Mini lacks driver assistant technologies such as lane-departure warning, lane-keeping assist, and blind-spot monitoring. The key features include:
- Standard forward-collision warning and automated emergency braking
- Available adaptive cruise control
- Available self-parking assist
- Distinctive front design with newly designed radiator grille.
- Standard 7-speed Steptronic with double clutch. Paddle shifts are optional for the MINI Cooper S Countryman.
- New digital cockpit display with 5-inch colour screen as standard.
- Sports leather steering wheel as standard in all model variants.
- MINI Connected with new functions
The new MINI Countryman is available in South Africa in two model variants:
MINI Cooper Countryman: 100 kW, 0 – 100 km/h in 9.7 seconds, top speed: 203 km/h, fuel consumption (combined): 6.3 litres/100 km, CO2 emissions (combined): 143 g/km.
MINI Cooper S Countryman: 141 kW, 0 – 100 km/h in 7,5 seconds, top speed: 226 km/h, fuel consumption (combined): 6.7 litres/100 km, CO2 emissions (combined): 153 g/km.
MINI TwinPower Turbo Technology is used in the 3-cylinder petrol engine of the new MINI Cooper Countryman and in the 4-cylinder petrol engine of the new MINI Cooper S Countryman, and now includes an exhaust manifold integrated in the cylinder head along with turbo charging. Among other things, this ensures highly effective cooling of the exhaust gases and the turbocharging system. At the same time, crankcase cooling can be reduced when demand is low in the partial load range by means of a new split cooling valve. In addition, petrol engine direct injection operates at a maximum pressure that has been increased from 200 to 350 bar.
MINI Cooper Countryman R599,624.00
MINI Cooper S Countryman R631,004.00
Writer: Joe Human