My husband & I went up to Northwest MINI today to test drive a Countryman, and I am even more impatient to get mine in my driveway. Good news is that I should have it on 17 January tentatively--it's due in to the VDC on 6 January.
I am 4'10" & my husband is about 6'--driving position could be adjusted to fit both of us fine. I love the pick up & go of the Countryman (I'm coming from a Saturn Vue). The drive is way more similar to the RX7s that I had pre-kids. There were some parking lots nearby with some ice & snow, and traction was very solid in both moving out from a stop and hard braking. When I was accelerating to get onto I-5, I had it up to 75 and did not even realize it until I checked the speedometer. I knew I was going a tad bit fast, but did not realize how fast!
MINI Connected was great--I have an iPhone4 with the MINI Connected app on it, so my MA had the cable so I could hook up my iPhone (which worked well even with an Otter case on my iPhone. When my husband was driving, I played with the app. Only thing I did not do was to pair it with the Countryman and make calls, but the connection between my iPhone & the Countryman via the app was absolutely painless and took maybe 30 seconds.
Here's a link to some pictures that I took today--hopefully you can see them (if you are interested):http://www.facebook.com/album.php?ai...9&l=11938aaf24

I'm going to be eagerly anticipating teh arrival of Lisbeth!

~Amy