I went to show off my new Countryman to my friend who has a Cooper S (2004 or so, I think). He's the one who got me interested in MINI in the first place. I put them side by side and took a quick picture. I hope to line them up from a couple of different angles in the future and take proper pictures with my camera instead of just the phone, but this one was amusing enough to post for now.

I also thought it might be helpful to those thinking about buying a Countryman and wondering how unMINI it really is.

 

Yup the CM is really a MAXI not a MINI. BTW I think BMW owns the rights to the MAXI name for cars.

 

When I saw 'em lined up at the dealership I thought that the Countryman wasn't all that much bigger. I think I read somewhere that it has roughly the same exterior dimensions as a Golf, but it is a little higher off the ground so it looks bigger.

We've owned a couple of MINIs (as well as several Minis) and considered other stuff before finally putting the deposit down on our Countryman yesterday.

Is it a Mini? Nope. Is it a MINI? Sure - it's part of the brand. When they first came out I was pretty sure I'd hate them, but they have really grown on me.

 

looks like a grown up version

 

It is absolutely not un-MINI like. Its still a small car. I had a CM All 4S as a loaner for a day. My key take-away was that the engineers took the CAD drawings and increased the scale by 30% or so. Everything about the car looks like a MINI just a bit bigger.

 

I agree. Design-wise, it works really hard to keep the MINI vibe, and it feels pretty successful to me. It's definitely a compact still, and it has all the important MINI touches. There's still something special about the Cooper, but the Countryman is a great compromise for a little extra space and the AWD.

 

 

as shown in the post above... the clasic mini is considerably smaller than the 2000circa MINIs so itll just be for us CM owners to get it out there and have people see it.... and we all need to tell people its not a flippin KIA Soul! lmao!

 

On the street CMS looks like MINI...
But near other MINI it looks like HUMVEE

 

We traded our clubman for a countryman this week. The wife liked the clubman but did not care for how she had to help the grandson into the back by closing doors etc. She loves the countryman and this will save from getting her a new lincoln because you can fit 4 adults in the back seat for medium trips dinner ball games etc. Not quite as peppy as the club but still miniesque. With all4 feature she will not have to drive my jeep if there is a little snow I figure 6 inches or less more than that it will be my jeep. Everyone looks and rerally likes it. She wanted to find out if you can put a remote start on but you can not at the BMW dealer in town they said no but they want here to drive it over to see it. In Toledo there are no MINI dealers.
But we love it so far. minigus

 

The "MINI"-ness of the Countryman was something I had to be sure of before purchasing it. One test drive and I was sold on the fact that it was still a MINI. I love how the All4 just hugs the curves.

This is our 4th MINI and we are still grinning!

 

I took another of my friend's MINI next to mine today, so I thought I'd throw it in this thread. Just another view, this time from slightly above.

 

Here's another from today that a friend of ours took. Pardon my dog Jax's tail.

 

They do look related don't they? =)

 

Side by side, you can really see how they kept a ton of the styling notes but also gave the new beast its own flavor.

 

Yup, agreed.

 

It's a MINI because it says so on the boot. Also the huge speedo in the middle.

Other little (LITTLE) hints as well.

This is my #4 and I started in '68.

Bill

 

You can tattoo MOUSE on the rump of an elephant, but you still ain't gonna git it through the eye of a needle.

Sealy - Who loves a good mixed metaphor.

P.S. - And I graduated HS in '68. Go Blackhawks!

 

You can tattoo an elephant?

 

^^^yeah, but only once.

 

One more point of comparison:

My sisters '03 R53 right, my Slvr R60 left.