Im after a new car, and was initially looking towards an A5 Quattro or 3 – series XDrive (i know…), but whilst i was at the BMW Dealer, i wandered, rather aimlessly next door to the Mini Dealer, to kill a few minutes, and found i was strangely taken with the Countryman. Now i appreciate its looks are rather divisive, and it certainly isnt cheap, but im rather taken by it, especially the 4 wheel drive version..i live up in the Pennines so the 4 wheel drive would be useful. Does anyone on here own one? What are your experiences, any problems? Does the fuel consumption come anywhere close to the 55mpg for the diesel?

My wife has one, I drive it regularly. Nice fun car, surprisingly roomy and the Cooper tuning with the short shift great box make it feel like a bit of a go-kart. Cornering is not great due to easy oversteer and heavy on tyres.

Fuel consumption is exceptional on motorway and long journeys. We have the Cooper d with chilli pack upgraded alloys and visual boost with Bluetooth but didnt get the All 4 version as it appeared from the stats to be dropping around 15-20mpg. The wheels at the corners and front wheel drive make the non 4×4 version not bad in the snow. We have had ours for 2.5 years. It’s great as it is the first mini to have three seats in the back which we need with 3kids.

20mile motorway journey from the house to Glasgow and back gets around 60mpg according to the computer outwith rush hour.

Test drive it!

But they just look so cross.

I’ve got a Countryman Cooper SD All4. There’s a lot about the car that I really like – room for a family of four, great in the snow, not bad on fuel. However – I bloody hate the ride quality!!!! Run flats are crap, so I’ve have them swapped out for ‘normal’ tyres which has helped to a degree. Main problem seems to be the 18″ alloys – wish I’d stuck with 17’s with slightly less low profile tyres.

how far is your commute to the salon??

They should be shot for calling that thing a mini, it’s damn huge.