Test drove an All4 this evening with my wife and let me be the first to say ! I have read some reviews elsewhere on the web and have not been impressed but after tonight we have already started configuring the price for delivery in March of next year. Overall it was roomy,peppy, and almost as fun to drive as the 2011 JCW that we have on order for delivery in January of next year. Living abroad does have it's perks .

 

Previous posters have complained about the cheap quality of interior materials; your thoughts?

 

I looked the one in Orlando over with a fine tooth comb and did not see anything crappy at all inside of that car. I think that they did a great job when designing it and they even made the rear side winows go up & down. The rear hatchback worked perfect with the Mini shapped handle. The seats were comfortable and seemed to be of good quality.

Even my buddy "MARIO" liked the countryman.

 

i wan to test drive tooo

 

You test drove the Countryman....at what dealership ?

 

If I read it right, I believe the OP is in Germany, makes sense to drive at the dealer in Europe.

Not sure any of the current mfg. cars are being driven by the regular public.

A few of the Dealer Demo cars will be here in Colorado.

 

lol, yeah, can only view 3/4th of this thread page due to oversized photo above so not able to see that info at the right. Thanks.

Would be nice if the servers here stoped allowing oversized photos like these from being loaded in the first place so these forum pages were not always so askew......real PITA sometimes.

 

Try a 22" wide screen monitor, works for me, but sometimes the get blown off this one too.

I figure some of the WestCoast MINI Countryman will start hitting dealers just before Christmas.

Don

 

I did not feel that the material used was cheap at all. The model that we test drove was decked out in leather though. Overall impressed with the interior design.

 

That's the funny thing. There were like three other people waiting for a test drive . The salesman at the dealership said that it's been that way since they received it last week .

 

As old81 stated " I am currently in Deutschland". There are not any dealerships in the states that have them available to look at and/or test drive? I thought that they would have some by now if mfg. is slated to start in Jan/Feb time frame.

 

I wouldn't mind actually getting one, but we already have a Wrangler Unlimited, Chevy Tracker, a d Suzuki Sidekick in our fleet. I don't have anymore room for SUVs and Crossovers, but the Countryman looks really nice. As far as the interior is concerned, cheapness is in the eye of the beholder. It's not that any MINIs interior is cheap, they are just quirky and outside the box. Nothing wrong with that at all.

 

I have also test driven a countryman S all4 and it is indeed very very good!!
I took it last weekend and did 600km with it!!
I didn't think i would like it that much but it was very fun to drive, relatively quick and in the twisties it hides it's weight really good. The most impressive thing about it is that you wouldn't know that you are driving a car that size and that it is very steady in the corners. The interior plastics are a bit cheap (mostly that plastic bit round the speedometer) but you can live with it.
One last thing i noticed was that although you can reach 220km/h above 160-170km/h there is much wind noise and engine noise (which they told me at the dealership that it was just a sunroof calibration)

 

Did someone at the dealership give you permission to allow your dog inside the vehicle? Seems a bit strange IMO.

 

x2 on allowing the dog in an unsold vehicle.

 

x3

At the Countryman debut here in Seattle, someone put 4 dogs in the trunk!

 

Has anyone else seen this video?! Just found it on vimeo

http://vimeo.com/16513785

 

I was hoping to get a sense of how the car moves, as difficult as that is by watching on a screen, this video made it impossible with its choppy style.

I will say that the car looks better to me now, in some color combos, than it did in photos Id seen earlier. I dont like the interior, especially the dash.

 

My dog Mario has been to three of Orlando Mini's open house party's and has been welcome every time. He was with me when I bought my car. The Manager did give permission for Mario to check out the interior of the new countryman as well as the rear compartment.

I do not deal or LIKE anyone that does not like dogs or any animals.

** Actually "The more I associate with people-The more I like My Dog."**

It's not like he would poop or pee in the car. He is house broken.

He loves riding in my JCW and I take him mostly everyplace I go.



**********as you can see He even has his own car seat************

 

That's a good thing... it does look like he licked the seats though.

I like dogs and corgis are amazingly smart... just thought it was interesting that they would let one crawl through an unsold car due to shedding, people with allergies, scratches on leather trim, etc.

The Countryman is interesting... I want to see how much rear seat leg-room it has. It might make a good replacement for my wife's car.

 

How else are you the buyer going to see if the Countryman or any other MINI fits you and your pup?

Or any other car as a matter of fact.

When I saw this, I think Ronnie would like the local club (5280) and a few of our folks. I can relate.

Now my Golden on leather would not happen.

Don

 

I keep him brushed to keep the shedding down. It looks in the picture that his tongue is licking the seat but I guess it is the camera angle.

He has been riding in my car for over two years with no scratches on the car at all. I do have the carpet cover on the dash and I do keep a towel on the center console.

He is very friendly, loves kids and other dogs. He has a great memory and does not forget anything. As soon as we turn off of the I-4 to get to the dealer he knows he is going to get a vegi burger and see his friends at the Mini Dealers.

I know he can't read but he sure knows what a rest area blue sign is. He sees one and he yips and yips so I have to stop and walk him around the dog area. I don't know how he learned that but he sure did.

When we stay in a motel he stays quite and does not bark at all. I leave him when I go for the free breakfast and he just waits for me to return.

To get back on track of this thread I wanted to see the countryman to see if the rear side windows were functional. "They are" they do go down. I sat in the back seat and found plenty of leg room and really comfortable seats.

I'm waiting to see if they are going to have a WRC or JCW model. If they do I may trade in my JCW for a WRC/JCW Countryman. (Just so Mario could stick his head out of the window)

 

Please tell me your dog has a harness when you drive around. Even a low speed collision could kill your friend. :(

 

I was knocking on as many of the plastic pieces as I could when I saw them at MTTS/MITM. If I can remember correctly, the dash had a hollowness to it that I wasn't expecting. It also has a different look and feel that I wasn't expecting due to it being a BMW/MINI. For a vehicle which has the same quality plastics from its base price of almost $23k to one decked out at over $40K, I wouldn't consider it poor. But as a poster above stated, the quality is as the beholder perceives it to be. My quality complaint would be the really flimsy grill and underbonnet parts.

 

Thanks for psoting the pix ckakats!