While I was in Arlington, VA the other day, I saw my first Countryman in the wild. I really wanted to hate this car. MINI launched 10 years ago in this country with the slogan “The SUV backlash officially starts now”. I guess that was “now”, then. In the new now, MINI is making SUVs. This one is an all-wheel drive Cooper S. Although I do hate those wheels, it’s not nearly as ugly in person as it appears in the photos. It retains enough MINI-ness to let you know it’s a MINI. In case you can’t figure that out, there’s a super-sized MINI emblem front and rear. Having lived with a MINI for 140K+ miles and seven years, I can understand the draw of a larger MINI. I’m just not sure this one isn’t a swing and a miss….
The headlights and hood don’t work for me. I think they should have tried to keep more of the common design cues from the current R56 MINI. The scoop above the bumper just seems an afterthought. Go to MINIUSA and check out the Cooper Countryman. It has a much better hood/grille treatment.
“Does this angle make my butt look big?…” The wing on the back of this car is also too small. The roof could benefit from side rails for a luggage rack. Maybe I’m trying to make it seem more like our Subaru Forrester. I wouldn’t say I particularly like the Countryman, but I don’t hate it either. If the all-wheel drive system makes it into the regular MINI, then going big isn’t such a bad thing after-all. I’m excited to see that MINI is getting back into rallying this year.
