Thinking about a Mini Cooper S Countryman

[Dr House]

So baby arrived, live in central London and not getting on with the cayenne (too big for London) the i8 obviously not much use and I am using my mum's fiesta. I don't drive more than once a week now and I am less and less excited about cars at the moment.

So I thought maybe a Mini would be a good idea, 8 to 10k seems to get a good one.

For example
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classi...y New&onesearchad=New&model=COUNTRYMAN&page=1

So are they any good? should I look for a ALL4? what spec should I try and find? I dont mind spending if need be

 

[sideways14a]

You thought about moving?

 

[Dr House]

You thought about moving?

lol, i also live in a rather small place now, my whole flat is smaller than my bedroom + dressing room in my other place but I quite enjoy the life here. I live on the river, I can walk to work, lots of bars and place to eat...

 

[geekman]

I can’t imagine a countryman is going to be such a revelation size-wise after a Cayenne, neither are particularly small cars. If you’re going to get a Smart or an IQ or something, sure, but a countryman doesn’t seem worth it.

 

[Fusion]

I can’t imagine a countryman is going to be such a revelation size-wise after a Cayenne, neither are particularly small cars. If you’re going to get a Smart or an IQ or something, sure, but a countryman doesn’t seem worth it.

I was ready to agree as they seem large in person, but are actually only 4110mm long and 1789mm wide, shorter than my Golf and only 10mm wider. Was surprised how well they drive, but suppose it should be obvious as the Mini chassis is very good.

Do you want a seven year old one though?

 

[Dangerous Dave]

My wife loves hers handles very well and fairly quick but by far the most unreliable car we have owned, Mini warranty is a must.

That one has it already so you should be just over £500 on renewal, it is almost double this if not renewing from the original 3 year warranty or the extended warranty.

 

[Ryan-3]

I'd honestly stay away from them. Far too many things to list that can potentially go wrong.

 

[[TW]Fox]

My wife loves hers handles very well and fairly quick but by far the most unreliable car we have owned, Mini warranty is a must.

That one has it already so you should be just over £500 on renewal, it is almost double this if not renewing from the original 3 year warranty or the extended warranty.

It's not double, the renewal discount is about 15%.

 

[Mr_Sukebe]

You live in central London and want something 4wd, just WTF?
If you want a Mini, wouldn't a Clubman be a rather more sensible solution?
If you have charging capabilities, then what about a Nissan Leaf?

 

[Dangerous Dave]

It's not double, the renewal discount is about 15%.

It is on the Cooper S and JCW Minis outwith renewal it’s around £900 I’ve recently renewed ours and it was £500 odd

 

[Dolph]

Nice cars, but if I was living in Central London, I'd be looking at some electric or phev if you have charging facilities, or self charging hybrid if not.

Car suitable for the needs, although it may not fit the image of central London living.

 

[Dr House]

Ok maybe I don’t need the 4WD. I looked at the countryman over clubman because of the extra boot space but maybe I will go and check them both out and see what’s better.

I like the new leaf but it’s still a lot of money. This will be my only car now unless I do something stupid and buy another GT4 so thought I would be a bit more fun than a leaf.

 

[[TW]Fox]

It is on the Cooper S and JCW Minis outwith renewal it’s around £900 I’ve recently renewed ours and it was £500 odd

Oh you're joking? One of the contributory reasons I went for a Cooper over a Cooper S was the comedy warranty pricing

 

[Richy888]

My wife loves hers handles very well and fairly quick but by far the most unreliable car we have owned, Mini warranty is a must.

That one has it already so you should be just over £500 on renewal, it is almost double this if not renewing from the original 3 year warranty or the extended warranty.

My mrs run Minis. She's had in succession a Mini One D, Mini Countryman D All4, Mini Cooper Paceman 1.6 All4 and now runs a JCW Mini 2.0 Auto. None of them have been a minutes trouble. Live in the sticks so they've never had an easy life. On that subject the biggest cost (after fuel and servicing) would have been tyres wrecked by potholes - but that is low profile tyres for you. None of them have been particularly economical for size of car. None of them are a nice quiet ride either The latest one is an animal but hell fire it can shift.

To OP I'd think an All4 would be a waste of money and will use more fuel. The Countryman was bigger than it looked but was mini'ish to drive. As I said we had no problems. Be OK for family use being 4 doors but maybe not the biggest of boots from memory (could be wrong).

 

[Jonnycoupe]

I can’t imagine a countryman is going to be such a revelation size-wise after a Cayenne, neither are particularly small cars. If you’re going to get a Smart or an IQ or something, sure, but a countryman doesn’t seem worth it.

You’re kidding? A Countryman (R60) is tiny exterior. Ours is great for that doesn’t really lack on cabin space, just a small boot.

 

[Dangerous Dave]

My mrs run Minis. She's had in succession a Mini One D, Mini Countryman D All4, Mini Cooper Paceman 1.6 All4 and now runs a JCW Mini 2.0 Auto. None of them have been a minutes trouble. Live in the sticks so they've never had an easy life. On that subject the biggest cost (after fuel and servicing) would have been tyres wrecked by potholes - but that is low profile tyres for you. None of them have been particularly economical for size of car. None of them are a nice quiet ride either The latest one is an animal but hell fire it can shift.

To OP I'd think an All4 would be a waste of money and will use more fuel. The Countryman was bigger than it looked but was mini'ish to drive. As I said we had no problems. Be OK for family use being 4 doors but maybe not the biggest of boots from memory (could be wrong).

Could be bad luck but you haven’t had the 1.6 T that has a few known issues mainly high pressure fuel pump and leaking sensor in the oil pan that causes oil to wick up the wiring and fill the ecu with oil (that was a 3k claim). My wife’s is a JCW which runs the All4 system near the torque limit resulting in a new transfer box and a prop shaft bearing it’s just starting to get its second round of replacement wheel bearings.

It’s had the front top mounts and dampers replaced aswell as the navigation system that locked up every time you plugged a phone in.

It’s had the gearbox replaced but I am certain that wasn’t required as it was a combination of a wheel bearing and the transfer box making the noise but they found loads of play on the flywheel. So that got replaced under warranty with us paying the cost of the clutch.

Around 15k of warranty work, it’s never really been a pain as most work was done in 2 visits and they always gave us great courtesy cars. Which works as we are now looking for a facelift JCW hatch

The All4 system does eliminate the comedy torque steer the 2wd model has not sure it’s hits the economy that hard as my wife does short trips and it’s sitting at 35mpg with an average speed at 22mph.

 

[fastwunz]

Good or not I personally can’t stand the image.

What about an Octavia VRS? Sure, plenty out there will think it’s ‘just a Skoda’ but at least you will know better and will have a quick, more practical and totally less girly looking man wagon.

It’s cheaper too and better equipped.

 

[geekman]

You’re kidding? A Countryman (R60) is tiny exterior. Ours is great for that doesn’t really lack on cabin space, just a small boot.

I'm not saying there's no size difference, but OP lives in London, not Beijing. I drove around central London for years in an XJ without any issues; the streets aren't that tight, and I can't imagine that switching from a Cayenne to a Countryman is suddenly going to transform his driving experience to the extent that it's worth the downgrade in every other aspect of the car.

 

[tom_nieto]

Congratulations on the baby! Hope you’re all doing well! With all the associated baby clobber, our Sportage (reverse tardis) struggles with weekends away. If it’s your only car make sure it’s got a big boot whatever you end up going for!

Also, make sure you get out to all those restaurants while your little one is still little and will sleep out and about!

 

[Richy888]

Could be bad luck but you haven’t had the 1.6 T that has a few known issues mainly high pressure fuel pump and leaking sensor in the oil pan that causes oil to wick up the wiring and fill the ecu with oil (that was a 3k claim). My wife’s is a JCW which runs the All4 system near the torque limit resulting in a new transfer box and a prop shaft bearing it’s just starting to get its second round of replacement wheel bearings.

It’s had the front top mounts and dampers replaced aswell as the navigation system that locked up every time you plugged a phone in.

It’s had the gearbox replaced but I am certain that wasn’t required as it was a combination of a wheel bearing and the transfer box making the noise but they found loads of play on the flywheel. So that got replaced under warranty with us paying the cost of the clutch.

Around 15k of warranty work, it’s never really been a pain as most work was done in 2 visits and they always gave us great courtesy cars. Which works as we are now looking for a facelift JCW hatch

The All4 system does eliminate the comedy torque steer the 2wd model has not sure it’s hits the economy that hard as my wife does short trips and it’s sitting at 35mpg with an average speed at 22mph.

Maybe been lucky but as you say we've not had the 1.6T. They've found odd little things when servicing and fixed under warranty. Nothing really. They did decide the two white stripes on the back hatch door of the Paceman were 2mm short so they stripped them off. Waited months for them to get the stripes only the car came back minus the stripes as mini had sent the wrong colour. Then they reckoned the white stripes were unavailable and were doing their best to source some. They could have set a vehicle graphics co up the road to make some or just paint them on to keep the customer happy but this seemed beyond them. Kept fobbing the mrs off. I did offer to go down with a shovel but the mrs not so keen on that idea - though sure a battering may have sharpened the service guy up In the end she took the Paceman in for MOT or service and saw the JCW Mini and traded for it. Saw the Paceman some months later and still the stripes ended at the back of the roof!

You've had a few issues. The JCW doesn't have All4 which maybe would have been a good thing with all that HP on tap. Don't know for sure if All4 affects fuel consumption but never found any of them particularly frugal. Current JCW is nice to drive and could easily rack some speeding points up. As a passenger I'm sure if you ran over a slug you would feel it