A fair review, well done Rebecca. My wife takes delivery of a BMW X1 PHEV later this week which shares the Mini's chassis. Its a company car and will save money in BIK. I suspect the Mini will end up with a lot of company car drivers.
@@katydid5354 🤣🤣 we have our X1 now, a White M Sport with sun protection glass, quite the eye catcher. Great car, the only complaint is the small fuel tank. As our only car, it also copes well with two lanky teenagers, 2 large dogs and the luggage.
The UK version gets 30 MPG on a full charge? Wish that was true in the states. I get a max of 17 on my 2022 model in the warmer season. I do think its such a hoot to drive. I'm coming from a 2019 BMW i3s full electric which has better off the line pickup but this Mini just handles so much better and in sports mode i give up economy but gain a more sports car experience with such a sweet engine note, tightened steering, fantastic handling, and peppy performance to the tune of 35 MPG. I can get past 99 MPG if i keep it in mid mode and 95% of my journeys are covered with one full charge as i use it to get around in town. This is like getting two cars in one! I highly recommend it!
We absolutely love ours. Exact spec and Colour as the one you test drove here. Only thing we did immediately was to get rid of the run flats in favour of Uniroyal Rainsport 5 tyres
Slim pillars? It looks like a submarine in there. :) Seriously, a nice helpful review. I drove one briefly across London two years ago, also a PHEV, and was impresed with it's suspension control and generally enjoyable response and steer. I may well agree with the overall driving review here on a longer run. I also don't think the styling is too far away from the 3 - door BMW original.
Thanks for another great review Rebecca! I test drove the JCW variant and was disappointed with the transmission. Owning a Golf R with DSG and having just gotten out of a 997 with PDK before the test ride, the difference between a DSG/PDK gearbox and the auto in the JCW Countryman was worlds apart. You actually had to anticipate the gear change and this just became frustrating after a while. But totally agree with you with all the other aspects of the car - I like the looks, the interior is funky and I've always thought Mini brings something interesting to a sometimes bland market.
I have one of these as my company car and for me it’s only the lack of Android Auto that is really annoying. Having said that though, with a home wall box I’ve done just shy of 3000 miles on pure electric (out of 4K). Admittedly that’s because I haven’t been going to the office so a lot of my journeys are short range. Real life electric range from a disappointing 15 miles (winter) to 27 (our 3 day summer). Most of the year it’s been about 24. Lifetime mpg is showing over 80, and that’s including 2 months where I couldn’t charge (~600miles). Having used the electric motor most of the time it’s actually strange to feel the petrol engine kick in, but as mentioned in the video it’s seamless. Boot space is plenty big enough for a few cases, or a couple of sets of golf clubs. It’s quite a wide car but visibility is great. Much better than the 2 series tourer that shares the same petrol engine. If full electric isn’t what you want yet, I’d say this is a decent choice. I do think that there are probably other brands that make more sense, however I had a very limited selection of cars to choose from on my company car scheme with a low BiK value. I don’t regret choosing this. That said, in 2023 I’ll be choosing to go full electric.
Countryman PHEV seems like a high priced emissions compliance car. There's better value for money out there or if the electric mode is important, just get an electric CUV from a rival.
Its interesting how some reviewers say it drives for 80% like a regular Mini, and some say it doesn't at all. As for price and competitors, a well specc'd pluginhybrid costs 45-50k in mainland Europe for most brands, whether you pick a Mini Countryman, Peugeot 3008, or Mercedes CLA. The Mini is not as expensive as say the new Audi Q3 Sportback 45 TFSIe which for comparable kit is closer to 60k than to 50k.
As a single guy who's looking to upgrade from my 2014 kia soul within a year, i honestly think that this would be the car for me. i don't need anything too big nor do i honestly like really big cars. i would feel right at home with this mini countryman.
I just picked up a 2019 version. I was debating just buying a new one, but I had to wait four full months, since you have to order it and have them ship it from overseas. Mine came in $12K less than the new version, only has 27K miles and I still get to apply the old EV tax rebate to it, so it was a no brainer.
I, being a fan of MINI, personally love the 2017 to 2023 design of the Countryman. And having owned a 2016 Countryman S, can inform you that they are a lot more reliable than people say! BMW fixed major issues after 2015, so reliability shouldn’t be much of an issue, that is if you know how to maintain a car in general. That’s the reason BMW and MINI have such a bad reputation for breaking; it’s mainly due to the fact people are too stupid when buying one. They don’t change transmission fluids, or do proper oil changes and therefore the car will in fact break after 90k miles or 120’000 km. I haven’t had any issues with my MINI after 3 years of ownership buying it used. Sadly, announcing that I am getting rid of mine in next few months. Not because of reliability, but because BMW charges way too much for the maintenance. If they pitch this as the more affordable BMW, they should at least give you a discount on regular maintenance, instead of ripping people off!!
Out of 300 miles total on my Countryman, 200 are in pure EV mode. This car is going to effectively last forever, because I won't be putting many miles on the petrol engine. The 10Klw battery should be relatively cheap to replace in 10 years.
This thing starts at £34,000 - a Ford Puma - which has comparable size, space and performance - starts at just over £20,000 - yes the hybrid technology will save you on fuel costs, but you would need to drive to the moon and back to make up that price difference - Rebecca is right - the Countryman will only appeal to those who like its' styling and image - and have very deep pockets.
You can't get the Puma as a plugin hybrid. You can't get the Puma with a equally powered engine (bar the ST). You can't get the Puma to have the same material and cabin quality. You're not comparing apples to apples. The Countryman is close to a premium c segment car while the Puma is a b segment vehicle.
Went to buy a Mini Cooper hatch but my sons who are both over 6 feet 5 just could not fit. Now ordered a countryman hybrid and I'm so so happy, but have to wait for 6 months.
Got one of these on Motability lease. As we use this everyday as a family car, and we plugin everyday at home, economy is great. Disappointed though with the real life all electric range which almost never makes it to the claimed 30 miles - but we do live in the Pennines so the journey home is always an uphill 1.5 miles. Things we don’t like? 1. For such a large car the boot still won’t take my wheelchair in one piece ( wheels need to come off). 2. Remote climate control is NOT standard across the range - for such a high entry cost car you’d expect that to be included but they disable App use for that aspect unless you fork out extra. 3. Some of the features and sub menus are really not intuitive at all to find. 4. Why are the built in navigation functions always so clunky and ugly? (yes we use google maps instead!).
No android auto connection is a major disappointment for me, really liking the countryman. Back to drawing board for ke then thanks BMW. Lovely review.
The ride is less comfortable with the 19 inch wheels used here in the demo and even more so when using runflat tires. I'd choose the 18 inch wheels instead.
Why oh why do the manufacturers put the charging cables under the boot floor which is really handy with a full luggage load. BEV’s & PHEV’s must have space under the bonnet to store cables if there is no frunk see the ID4/Enyaq for a wasted opportunity.
When they fulfil the World Economic Forum Great Reset, UN Agenda2030, 4th Industrial Revolution and Zero Carbon 2050 agendas ....im really looking forward to Rebecca reviewing Horse and Carts lol
Really like this car. Shame Mini ditched the excellent value TLC service packs they used to have. Would move across from BMW but won’t cost me any less to buy or run. But at least it has character and Audi is there for people who prefer nondescript bland styling.
excellent review by Rebecca, however whether you pay for it in pounds or dollars, it is way overpriced. i don't think very many of them will be sold here in the states, err, colonies. i suspect not too many of my british cousins will buy it, either. 🤔
I noticed your speedometer is in imperial. Has the UK not gone metric yet? We have here in Canada. I thought only the US had not gone metric. Great review Rebecca!
How is it in comparison with JLR Evoque P300e plugin both have 1.5 litre front drive with electric motor driving rear wheels. Interesting competition between Countryman & Evoque
I personally like both of course but difference is likely 10K in price (compared all features) and the Mini is the car which flys under the radar being the smaller one. Believe the range on electric is far better in the Evoque and it is the far more luxurious. If you want big, have big pockets and want big space, I’d go with the JLR. 🤓
How can they not offer android auto in 2021? BMW are taking the proverbial pi$$. BTW, looks like your editor is struggling to get enough sleep... or enough b-roll - 5:02 5:23 6:36 6:54 same scene used 4 times in 2 minutes.
Lol for me its the other way around. I loved the Mini Electric but for me range is lacking too much so I started looking at the plugin hybrid Countryman as a step in between until future options arrive.
Mini has not existed for a long time, the German version is a MASSIVE, that's what we call them when we see them in my family... Oh look a f'ing MASSIVE.
I think Mini now needs a major interior design review. Retro is simply tired now and other brands are coming much more up to date. Nice enough outside and I enjoyed the Cooper I had, however the price is now eye watering and pushes the mini lower down the buy list
I could think of more important things - par example the fact that adaptive suspension is NOT available on the PHEV (and therefore, the ride cannot be made more comfortable)
What’s next, the Mini long wheelbase panel van? This is getting ridiculous - these things are so far removed from the original concept of the mini, but people will keep buying them. I despair.
I am a Motability Member and trying to find a hybid because I live in a flat, I have at the moment a Leon st must be auto, Must be a Estate. Can you help.
I'm sorry but for the price it's too much for too little. The over inflated mpg is something which you'll never reach plus you don't even get android auto. It's not even that spacious compared to my Renault Kadjar either.
The Kuga is larger for the same price but in my opinion is NOT as good looking inside and out, has a subpar gearbox (CVT) and material/cabin quality + infotainment is less decent. But if size is your main consideration, sure, get the Kuga.
Electric cars ....they'll be really useful when the power goes off for months at a time and the World Economic Forum is pushing for a global 3 day week ...to save the planet
I owned a Mini Hybrid. A bad car and I don't deserve to buy. You like to repair a lot and have problems with the charging battery. This is just a car, disgusting English propaganda, nothing more
Why are there not a countrywoman or clubwoman? For one, it's a very unmanly vehicle. No real man wouldn't want to be associated with it. I can't imagine Johnny Cash or Kris Kristofferson ride in one of those.
