ROAD TEST - Mini Countryman Cooper S ALL4:
If Lara Croft was choosing a Mini for her next tomb raiding adventure, I reckon the Countryman with the ALL4 set up would be an obvious choice.
Unlike wannabe gravel-mongers such as VW’s CrossPolo and Renault’s Sandero Stepway - with raised bodies, rugged aesthetic add-ons, and little else - the Germans went the distance in developing a real all-wheel-drive system for the latest addition to the Mini family.
The ALL4 system splits power evenly between the front and rear wheels under normal driving conditions, or shifts the power as much as 100 percent either way should the need arise. And it’s not just a bigger Mini three-door or Clubman either. The Countryman gets lots of bits and pieces, including some of its chassis structure, from its small off-roading cousin, the BMW X1.
And it’s easily the largest and most spacious car in the line-up - to the extent that the Mini badge actually becomes a little ironic. It’s unashamedly aimed at small families (or swashbuckli
ng heroines needing to pack lots of equipment) with the designers adding two normal rear doors and boot lid, and never-seen-in-a-Mini-before rear legroom (the Countryman is over four metres long, after all).
I say normal rear doors and boot lid as the carmaker’s first foray into a larger Mini model heralded the Clubman, with one rear suicide-type door and barn-style boot doors - neither of which was exactly practical. The Countryman’s also imposing to look at. It’s big and butch, as if it’s been fed steroid-filled 95 octane and sent to bench press at the gym.
But all you Mini fans can breathe a sigh of relief as thankfully, once strapped into your seat, rounded key inserted into the ignition and round gear knob in hand, it’s still more or less the Mini you’re used to. Even with the larger dimensions and optional all-wheel-drive system, the Countryman hasn’t lost that Mini-esque feel of sharp handling and direct steering - even though it’s not entirely as agile as a standard three-door Cooper. But I reckon it’s close enough.
Worth remembering when ordering that ALL4 model, though, over the standard front-wheel drive, is that traction to all wheels puts paid to any hopes of grandeur at the traffic lights. The best 0-100km/h sprint time we managed at our testing facility was 8.4sec, with the quarter mile coming up in 16.2 (versus the much lighter three-door Cooper S we tested back in 2007 which clocked 7.2 and 14.4 even though it made 7kW less power). This is mainly attributable to the fact that the all-wheel system bogs down on the launch. You almost have to ride the clutch a little for a smooth take off. Not great for that spritely 135kW/260Nm 1.6-litre turbo engine which we’ve grown to love in other (front-wheel-drive) derivatives.
Aside from that, though, there’s lots of fun to be had. Pity the system (like the Subaru STIs of the world) doesn’t allow you to manipulate the power manually towards a front or rear bias, which in this case would mean 100 percent power transfer either way .
The Countryman’s off-road capabilities are strictly on the soft-road side, meaning that if Croft was planning on doing more than gravel cruising to her favourite cave she’d have to look further than the Countryman. It certainly doesn’t have the differential locks or ground clearance to take on Kilimanjaro. Think of it as more your favourite takkie with thicker soles, than a pair of Caterpillar boots.
The interior is latest-generation tech meets quirky Mini design. All the usual aircraft cockpit-style silver switches are there, as is the huge, round centre speedometer. Our test unit was highly specced, with the speedometer in the centre housing a largish LCD with Mini Connected (which lets you, among other things, download music off your iPod or stream radio stations from around the globe) and satnav functionality, and cool graphics.
The problem with this is that the speedometer itself runs only through a tiny peg on the outer rim, which is hard to monitor - but there’s a little digital speed display in the driver-facing rev counter as back up. The Countryman also has a new aviation-style handbrake, which looks cool but gets in the way of the hand rest when fully raised.
And our test unit also had one really annoying problem: the netted shade under the sunroof was too thin to properly block out the sun, and you had to drive the car with a cap. Also, for some reason our car would only provide consumption readings in kilometres per litre, and not litres/100km as is the norm - with no setting to change it. A pump to pump reading showed that we averaged 10.6litres/100km.
VERDICT
There’s now a Mini for the family man, which it’s safe to say is very Mini in feel. The question I’m trying to answer, as a bit of a traditionalist, is whether the brand is not being diluted a step too far with a car that has five doors, off-road capability and useable rear legroom. A Mini in my mind should always be a little three-door pocket rocket with wheels on four corners, rail-like handling and a racing heart.
If you want anything bigger, you’re doing it wrong. But it seems that anything BMW puts the Mini badge on sells, not to mention the new concepts it churns out, such as the Rocketman, the Beachcomber, and the Paceman – to name a few.
If the Countryman does float your boat, don’t spend R397 361 on the ALL4; save a tidy fifty grand and get the front-wheel-drive Cooper S Countryman - I think you’ll enjoy it more. Unless, that is, you’re Lara Croft. -Star Motoring