I was wondering what process people go through to pick out their car, ending up with a CM...

I wanted to replace our Honda Pilot:
8 adults
5 doors
AWD
Independent suspension
Curb wt 4500 lbs
17/21 MPG
Good cargo capacity 48 cu ft 2 rows up, 87 cu ft 1 row up

Without any particular car in mind, I came up with a specification for
our replacement car:

Goals
5-door hatchback
AWD
Independent suspension
4 adults
Comfortable seats - good for 12-hour drive
Reasonable cargo volume with rear seats folded down ~ 40+ cu ft
Curb weight about 3200 lbs
Significantly improved MPG (Diesel OK)
More responsive driving character

Desirable
Manual transmission or manual-like automatic
Bluetooth
HID headlights, adaptive if available
0-60 8 seconds or less
Lumbar support in seats (Didn't end up with this)
Nearby dealer

Nice
Heated seats
Heated side mirrors

Not needed
Sunroof
Navigation

I built a spreadsheet of candidates, filling in the blanks since there didn't appear to be an online resource that let me include my hot items. After evaluating lots of possibilities and driving about 15 cars, the cars that made it to the final list:
Audi A3 (only ones available fully loaded by dealer $$)
VW Golf (TDI OK)
MINI ALL4

 

I wrecked my wrx, wanted an awd turbo suv....didn't choose a forester!

 

My turbo was about to go on my r55. So other than replace that out of pocket I got a new car. The turbo wasn't actually out yet, just tossing the code every once in a while. It was just a matter of time.

Dealer had a crappy selection of R56 and R55 6 speeds so drove a CM and pulled the trigger. Pretty happy, still miss my modded r55, but the CM is growing on me. Once I get all my mods done I'll think I like it just as much.

 

Had to send my 2009 Clubman back to MINI due to some issues, and wanted to stay in the MINI family. I have had 2 Jeep wranglers for our weekend "toy", and also needed an eventual car for my now 16 year old daughter, sooo, I let her come up with one on the configurator, and BAM, Bandit was delivered on 3/11......she is learning how to drive on it now, and will get it officially later this year when I order the Paceman......

 

Looked good
Drove well
Fit my two kids in booster seats.

I've wanted a mini for a few years, had to wait till they built a semi practical one. Having said that, there was no rationale other than I HAD to have one.

 

My Xterra was totaled out when I wasn't looking for a new car. New I wanted the CM but it wasn't available yet, and needed a larger capacity car. Let my wife pick out her future car that I would drive for a year and got the new Outback.

After a year, we knew her Corolla wouldn't pass emissions and she got tired of it, so began the search for the MINI. Couldn't order one at the time due to the short supple of Connected, and Seattle MINI had an All4 very close to what I would have ordered.

Always wanted a MINI but needed the 4 doors. The AWD was the extra kicker.

 

My MINI convertible was beginning to show it's age and rather than repair things I opted to buy a new MINI and chose the CM because I wanted something different.

 

I've always liked Minis, but low ground clearance and Minnesota winters don't mix well. (I've seen many Minis struggling in early morning unplowed streets)

I was chasing parts for my Land Rover when I saw my first Countryman - had to do a double-take. A week later and dealing w/more Rover troubles went shopping around for another 4x - went to look at X5's at local BMW/Mini dealer. Spoke w/SA, told him what I wanted, he took me back and we literally peeled plastic off it, had to wait 2 hours while they prepped it- signed papers drove it home that day. Never looked back...

 

I grew up a huge fan of VWs. My first car was a VW Fox. Then I felt I needed to grow up, and got an SUV. Owned 4 different SUVs over the years, but then added a Turbo New Beetle as a second car.

After a while, started dreading winters when I'd put the Beetle away, and was stuck with just the SUV. So I decided to get an Audi A3. Figured it was still practical. The one thing I wished I was able to get with the A3 was AWD along with a manual. But they don't offer that here. So went with FWD and manual.

It's been a great car, a LOT more fun than the SUVs, and I've managed ok in winters. But still always wished I had AWD. Wasn't even looking, but when the CM came out, I kept finding myself looking up pictures and configuring one. I liked the idea of it being about the same dimensions as my A3, and close enough in power and handling, plus being able to get it in AWD with a manual.

Finally test drove one, and was sold!

 

My wife and I both had 2010 R56's and we had to get something a little bigger since we just had a baby on June 5th. I didn't want to leave the Mini family, so I went with a CMS. The wife went with a VW Passat. Miss my R56 to a point but all the work going into my R60 is making up for it now.

Plus the car seats that we went with didn't fit inside the R56's, so needed something that they would fit in. LOL!

 

Ghamma, your brain works like mine.

Wanted to replace my ’04 VW Passat Wagon. Wife has a 2012 Subaru Outback which replaced a Ford Explorer, so we've got the AWD for mild DC/Balt winters and family truckster covered.

Requirements:
· Carry 4 people comfortably for a couple hours, sitting behind a 6’3” driver (me), mainly my kids in the back seat who will eventually be as tall as me.
· Carry 5 people for short trips around town on rare occasions
· Enough cargo for occasional trips to the grocery store, etc.
· Bluetooth
· Fun to drive & something not overly ubiquitous (i.e. Honda Accord)
· Smallish
· Good MPG for my commute
· Manual or Auto Tranny, dependent on car
· Budget of low $20K’s

Nice-to-have:
· Alloy wheels
· Leather steering wheel
· Moonroof

Not needed, not willing to pay for, but would take:
· Nav/high end stereo
· Leather interior
· Big engine
· AWD
· Diesel/Hybrid

I had narrowed the list to:
· VW Jetta Sedan (Low $$ but new design is ho-hum)
· VW Jetta Sportwagen (Really like these, but probably too similar to my Passat)
· MINI CM

Once I saw that the CM had a bench seat option, I just HAD to go look at one in person to see if it would actually work. So off to the dealer I went and had a test drive. Most fun car I’ve driven since I had my ’75 Triumph TR6.

At that point, I had to convince myself that YES the CM is practical, NO it’s not just a toy, and that I shouldn’t take the “safe” conventional route of getting a VW. This process took about 5 minutes. After that, I never considered another car other than the MINI.

I’ve spent the last month tracking my build. It arrives stateside on 7/16 and I can’t wait!

 

Our R53 was my GF's favorite car of all time, but she needed more more room as she is using her car more and more for her business. She had no interest in looking at anything other than a CM, and she was ready to order one after a 10 minute test drive.

 

My wife was looking for a replacement for her Chrysler Pacifica. Something smaller, but still comfortable. Had to be AWD - she liked the looks of the Mini Cooper, but did not think there was enough room - until she got in one - Long story short - she ordered a Mini Cooper S Countryman All4 on June 30. She can hardly wait for it to get here -

 

I modded myself out of my 2006 Jeep TJ as a daily driver. Went a little crazy with mods and turning it in to a rock crawler. Having to pick my son up on weekend about 35miles away it was just crazy on gas (prob 9-12mpg) and not really practical anymore. My retired dad in Florida wanted the Jeep as a toy so we traded cars. His was a 2007 Jeep JK (the new body style) and worth pretty good money as a trade in. Looked around for something AWD, compact, good on gas and the market for that is REALLY slim. Even harder was that I wanted compact (pref 2 doors) but there is no market for that at all. Didn't want FWD so that really killed what I was looking for. While looking around my little brother got a countryman and I totally fell in love with it. Took his for a spin and sat in it a bunch and thought "I NEED this!!!". Have had crazy drama trying to get delivery with it the last week but what can you do right. Miscommunication, titles filled out wrong but if all goes well I will be FINALLY getting it tomorrow. Paid for it over 2 weeks ago and even though I'm not driving it I have no buyers remorse, totally excited and very happy with the final outcome of what I have already done to it!

 

Wanted turbo, AWD, manual transmission and fun to drive. There's not a lot of cars out there that fit the bill.

I came from Subaru and wanted something different, that, and I'm bitter at Subaru for cancelling the Legacy GT Wagon, and removing the manual option on the Forester Turbo. So here I am.

 

I'm a 20+ yr VW/Audi driver. I have a classic/modded/sports car. My other daily is an A4 Avant/Quattro

Wanted a new DD which was fun, different, had good mpg, somewhat sporty & still practical. Both AWD & manual were preferred as was a Hatch/wagon.

Aiming for:
Under 30K
AWD & Manual
sporty
unique
practical
fun
decent mpg


I looked at dubs & Audis to start.
GLI- wife hated the exterior, too Toyota like. Interior was great. nice car overall.
CC- beautiful car, FWD/manual, quick, nice in & out. A bit VIP for my style, kinda big/long.
A3- TDI(great), Quattro great, Quattro means getting a DSG/auto.. not so great :( similar in size to my current a4 quattro/auto. I felt it was a nicer/newer version of the same. great car tho.
Tiguan- practical, boring, not fun, not the best mpg, my friend has one
Jetta Sportwagon, Manual, TDI. long in production, sloooow, GLI was a better option, I have a wagon already.
Wrx Limited (5dr),Manual/AWD never really gave it a chance. Performance to luv, mpg to cry about, last yr of the problematic 2.5L, not a fan of japanese cars/interiors, it was a cheap beast tho
Clubman S- what a hoot to drive, I think I would go crazy mnodding it, lowering it & making it not that practical, even convinced my wife to ignore the 'hearse-doors' she hates, almost got it. less than the CMs4
CMsALL4- not really a wagon, not really an SUV, it's AWD w/ Manual (woot!). customizable, fun to drive, good mpg for an SUV, great for snowboard trips, ground clearance for my wife(even if I lower it) & good seats. Nice/different interior, Dual Pan. SR.


in my decisions..Manual was winning over AWD if I had to make a choice. But I really wanted both, the CMsALL4 gave me that option.
Basically it checked the most boxes for me & my wife. I built online for $36k, scaled it back to $32K & paid $29K
Its been less than 2wks & about 900mi. It was a good choice.

 

I ended up in my CountrymanS after test driving a Fiat. I was trying to convince myself to spend less money and go with the Fiat, so I went in for a test drive. Half way through the test drive, the Fiat stalled out...on an automatic...

About 3 hours later I was a proud MINI owner!

 

True story! I was wondering in the desert heat, delirious, parch-mouthed and without my full faculties. Just then, with the buzzards circling overhead, ready to swoop down and feast on your humble narrator, I saw a wondrous vision in the distance. It was none other than Hugh Hefner holding out his hand and walking toward me in his silk pajamas while the heat waves pulsated upward along his body from the hot desert sand.

As he got closer I noticed two things: 1) In the palm of his extended hand he was clutching a MINI keyfob that he was attempting to hand to me and 2) a bevy of scantily clad beauties walking behind him with hand fans to wave across my body, succulent green grapes to place within my mouth, cooling water jugs from which I would soon be suckling and fragrant exotic oils to anoint my feet - all of which were in the back behind the seats of a Royal Grey Countryman S, if you can believe it! I grabbed the keys, pushed Hef out of the way and jumped into the MC with the bevy of beauties, hit the sport button, floored it and, well, the rest is history.

Needless to say, I am very happy with my MINI experience.

 

FIAT = Fix It Again Tony

 

Went in to look at a Clubman for my wife, ended up wanting a Clubman for myself. I didn't like the look of the CM, but test drove one and it seemed a bit more comfortable for daily commute. It also ended up being slightly cheaper than a similarly configured Clubman, so I went for it.

And, yes my wife got her Clubman... eventually

 

now someone tells me! haha

 

I needed a new car and decided the company was going to buy it. Had mostly Toyota trucks, a couple of pickups, two 4Runners and a Land Cruiser. Needed something fun, decent gas mileage and seating/doors for 4 as I have two active kids. Went to test drive a Lexus IS Sport but sales guy as an a$$ and wouldn't let me test drive anything - and he wanted to sell me a hybrid!
So I went across the street to MINI, drove a hardtop, Clubman and CM and liked the room.
The next week, we had a really bad work week; hr issues, transportation issues, lost a bunch of money. So my biz partner says "F it, go get your car!" That week we spent $90K on two cars; Wed I bought my All4, Friday he got a convertible Camaro...

 

Well, I had been needing a new car, as my Pontiac was my college car and no longer reliable. We had also been talking about starting a family so we looked at small SUV's and test drove some but we weren't stuck on anything.
Then the Countryman came out. End of story.
I had ALWAYS wanted a MINI and now that there was a 4 door and more practicality, I was sold. We waited for the 2012 and now here I am, with my Surf Blue baby!

 

I had driven the wheels off my turbo Subaru Baja, and having always wanted a MINI, I looked at several...but with the wee lad in a car seat, I wasn't sure that I wouldn't be ripping my hair out, trying to get him in and out of the backseat. With that, I bought (settled on) a MazdaSpeed.

While the MazdaSpeed was fun, the first and only winter with it was not so much. I knew I wanted another AWD, so I started searching for another Subaru.

One day, at the office, a co-worker who knew I had this deep down desire to have a MINI, told me about this new four-door, AWD, MINI....The Countryman.

Well, that's all it took! I sat the wee lad down at the computer, and turned him loose on the MINI configurator...Ta Da!!!! Connor was born! And the rest is Motoring history...for many years to come.

 

Being a British transplant to the US I always wanted a Mini, I used to grass track rally a Fecal Brown 900cc one back in my late teens. Skip ahead a decade or two later and still missing a Mini in my life along comes the countryman. Waited a year or two before I made my purchase giving Mini a chance to sort out some of the quirks.

I was a solid VW / Porsche owner for some years but had to go the SUV route for the practicality of 4drs and rear passenger room and not being shut in once the snow hit the ground. Saw the Countryman at the Wall street reveal and actually got to sit in it and play around before the party commenced and it was roped off, knew then and there it was in the future...

Depending on how she behaves in the next two years she will either keep a space in the garage next to the JCW version or be replaced by the next Gen smaller Cayenne or Panamera. Time will tell...