Welcome! Any pics?

 

Just found a 2012 Countryman, 2WD,Sports package, Manual, Sun roof, Center rail ... 28k miles... $19,998 which doesnt include tax, title, etc. I'm gonna go down and take my 1999 Isuzu Rodeo and test drive. The price comes pretty close to KBB.

Quick.. Tell me what to look for...

 

For a sec I thought I'd found my Countryman...2012 Countryman, Base, Manual, Sports Package, Heated seats, moonroof, 28k miles = $19,998. (I got reliable info that at Auction they go for $20,400) but then I drove it. Oh my...
the base Countryman has less power than my base R50. It also had been in a wreck in August of last year. So once I got home I called the MINI Dealer from which it was originally delivered, and asked them to run the VIN. The 1st 2 yrs of its life, it had been brought in for a laundry list of problems. The accident report said that it had been hit at the right rear door panel and left ' disabled '.
So in saying all that... I decided NOT to jump. Now that I've driven one, I know that my next SUV will definitely be a Countryman... but a ' S '... and I'll wait till the refresh the model.. then get one fresh off the boat.

 

When I was shopping for used CMs I was told to stay away from '12 or older. There are still some '13s available. Good luck.

 

I own a 2013 R60 ALL4 Automatic (steptronic), Light White, Chilli Package, Dual pane Run roof, auto climate control, Anthracite wheels. Today is the one year anniversary - 10,084 miles.

I came from owning a 2003 Honda CRV. I originally bought the CRV because it had good power for a small SUV, all wheel drive (living in New England it is a must), and I loved the boxy shape. This is a model before the CRV started to look and drive like a station wagon. So I have no Mini hardtop bias to bring along.

I purchased the automatic because I have members of my family (wife and new young drivers) that haven't learned to drive a stick yet. Yes, a stick would add to the fun factor but the automatic is no slouch either.

Drive:
This is the best part about this car. Each and every time I drive it I have a smile on my face. The ALL4 is awesome in the winter, maybe better than the CRV, never had a WFH snow day this past winter. Sport mode is great and adds to the fun factor when I want it. Yup, the ride is stiff but that is what I expected and I like it actually. The run flats so far have preformed well (knock on wood).

Exterior:
I love the boxy look of it. I love the way it sits (stance), just looks like a bull dog. I know you either love the look of a Mini or you hate it. The one thing I don't really like is when you open the doors on a rainy or snowy day the seats get wet. Keeping the rear end clean can be a pain.

Interior:
This thing holds 4 full size(read 6 footers) adults! I have taken a few trips of about an hour in distance and my passengers were surprised at the room. Love the heated seats, but maybe next time I would get cloth instead of the leatherette as they get cold in the winter and hot in the summer. The AC works well. The heater does too as long as the exterior temp is above 20. Anything lower than 20 or in the teens to single digits it takes the Mini 20 minutes to warm up. Sunroof is good (never had one of those before)

Problems:
Yup I had one. At about 7,500 miles, driving to work the passenger side exterior lights just went out (front headlight and rear tail light). Turns out it was two bad connectors to the Footwell Module. It took two trips to the dealership (each time an over night stay) to figure it out. They gave me a Yaris as a loaner, I mean common. But the dealership stood by the issue and I haven't had any issues since.

Wish List:
So those were some pro's and con's. Here are some wish list items:

• Give me some old school gauges. How about a temperature gauge. I mean this car has rally heritage.
• I can change the interior light color. How about white gauges/speedo and I can change the background color. Not a big fan of orange dashboard lights.
• Rear camera
• Lose the center rail
• Yes I will say it - rear cup holders

Some of my regrets is not getting the boot/bonnet stripes.


Now lets see if I can get this car to 100k so a German Engineer can get his wings, opps wrong car maker ;-)

 

I have a 2014 Cooper ALL4 and your impressions mirror mine for the most part. This is my first MINI as well.

Agreed, the automatic is quite decent. The Sport button really adds to the fun factor and I do not miss driving a manual, especially with the traffic here. I have read that the ALL4 with manual can be hard to launch smoothly, not to mention the clutch problems (though this was fixed for the later model years).

Agreed - this is the most engaging car I've owned, even ignoring the fact that it is a quasi-SUV. I love the ALL4 - it has proven itself during the few times that it snowed here. But even more importantly to me is how the ALL4 affects the handling in good conditions - you can put the power down anytime you want and the car just stays settled. I too like the stiff ride however it actually has a negative effect on the handling - the CM has a tendency to skip out when the road gets rough during aggressive cornering. Hopefully this problem will go away once the run-flats wear out and I switch to regular tires.

I love the look as well - in fact I think it looks better than the regular MINI (hatchback/hardtop or whatever it's called). Again, the fact that this is my first MINI probably explains this.

The sides and rear do get dirty quickly - I'm planning to install mudflaps which should help here.

It's amazing isn't it? I'm over 6' myself and I'm very comfortable sitting in the back (though I'd much rather be driving!). The Countryman wasn't even on our car shopping list originally - we happened upon a new owner by chance who was nice enough to show us his, and then we knew we had to give it serious consideration. My wife had always wanted a MINI but we knew that the hatchback/hardtop would not work for us as she would have to regularly take our son and grandma in the back.

We don't have heated seats in ours (with the way that options are grouped and priced here it was not worth the added cost) but we also don't have full leather (we have the cloth/leather seats) so I guess it cancels out somewhat. I have not noticed the heat being inadequate though it also did not get lower than -10 Celsius this past winter. What I have noticed however is the vents blowing warmer than my other cars even with the temperature at the coldest setting (ie- I need to turn on the AC earlier than I'm accustomed to) - I suppose this is the result of things being hotter under the hood with the turbo.

I have had some minor issues - during my first service at 4500 km (2800 mi) I was down 1/2 quart of oil. The dealer told me to check the levels again in 1000 km and to bring the car in if it's down again. I have read that some oil consumption during the break-in period is normal with this engine, so we shall see.

The other two issues I reported did not show up during my dealer visit. The first was a slightly irregular turn signal blinking rate - on several occasions I have noticed the turn signals slow down slightly and then speed up while turning (perhaps there was a voltage drop in the electrical system)? Another issue was a small chirping noise coming from the front of the car when depressing the brake pedal with the car is stopped (with transmission in park). Admittedly these issues are rather obscure but I wanted to get them documented early on in case they lead to bigger problems down the road.

This is on my list too. Will have to get a Scangauge with MINI extensions (the MINI extensions adds coolant temp, engine oil temp, engine temp, auto transmission temp).

It seems trivial but yes that would be nice.

This is a big one for us too (my wife especially wants one). At least we got the parking radar, which is a must have IHMO.

Yes, it's not as practical as they tried to make it.

The good news is that you can retrofit the rear cup holders from the 2014.

I know what you're getting at and this has me concerned as well (this is my first German car). We will probably keep ours for 3-4 years at most so hopefully we will not get burned too badly.

 

I bought my 2013 Countryman two weeks ago and agree with all of the pros/cons that have been posted so far. A couple of things that I've noticed:


1. Cup holders in the front - reminds me of my wife's 2003 Beetle. VERY hard to get a tallish cup in the holder without spilling it everywhere.


2. Center Console Rail - interesting concept (may different options) but with a center console, there is only room for one "add-on" and that is the phone cradle.


3. Big butts - not sure if this appropriate, but those of us with wider "rear ends" have annoying pressure from seats. It's probably just me.


Overall, I'm VERY glad I got the car. It was a Certified Pre-Owned from the dealer which meant that the warranty is outstanding.


Mine is a 2013 Countryman with 4 wheel drive, auto temp control, automatic (with the paddle shifters, I can shift if I want), run flats (which I'm not sure about yet), and the "Sport" option which is great.


Very pleased so far...........VERY fun to drive.

 

By the way....mine has the full rear folding seat and no rail in the back seat. Any options on adding cupholders?

 

I suspect ECS will be along shortly to give you the link to the rear cup holder upgrade. If you're impatient you can search or check their site.

 

http://mini.sewellparts.com/accessor...2013/6638.html

 

There is definitely more space in a Golf VII, it's about the same size as a Golf VI, it might be 12cm taller but from the floorpan to the ceiling it's not 12cm.

Golf has a higher quality interior, not anywhere near a much brittle feeling plastic. Another annoyance is lack of under thigh support, longer drives leave my legs feeling dead, I'm only 5'10.

That said it's a nice looking car that drives ok if the roads are billiard table smooth, on lesser roads the car suffers badly from tramlining, even when you replace the run flats with none runflats, it's noisy, lots of wind and road noise, not something you should expect at this price level.

I also think the Cooper S and JCW versions are significantly down on power, the Cooper S should have the JCW engine, the JCW should have the 270hp engine which Peugeot use.

In a nutshell it's an ok car, but it's a poor excuse for a MINI.

 

Everyone has an opinion, but you're the only one who can answer that question... Don't get me wrong... I love my Countryman, but if I had my say, I'd be in a Cooper S hatchback. I love the look, economy, and performance significantly more than my CMS All4. However, I live in Colorado and spend so much time camping, snowboarding, etc... that the extra space and the AWD was a no-brainer. I only wish I could've waited a little longer to get a Paceman since I like the 2 door look so much better.

I also think the R56 is the best looking MINI ever offered since BMW took over. There's really nothing that I don't love about that car. Your model is great too, but I think the 2nd generation was an total overall improvement. I'm excited about the possible performance and economy progress of the 3rd generation, but I still have some trouble with the front nose of it... It still hasn't grown on me at all and I'm not sure it ever will. I really think they need to make front and the headlights much more upright. - and do away with the rubber baby buggy bumpers on the front too.

Back on subject... I did say that I prefer the hatchback, but I'm also a single guy who's driving alone or with my one dog most of the time. No kids.. and I rarely have more than 1 other person in my car. Say what you want about a small 2 door car with a laughable backseat, but I'm not asked to drive when a few of us want to go out and I'm NEVER asked to help anyone move. That's a HUGE perk right there.

I think the front and the back of the Countrman look absolutely amazing.. From the side, I think it looks a little too tall and long. I think it should've been a few inches shorter both ways. I think if I added the side stripes and had the 18 inch wheels, that it might look a little more balanced. I also wish they offered more customizations for the CM. The R56 had SO many more accessories offered and more customizations that were possible. I also like the special packages that they offered like the Green Park, Baker Street, etc... Seems like the CM doesn't have near as many accessories and customizations as the R56 did.

I have NOT been impressed with my fuel economy... In fact, I'm downright disappointed. I've driven from Denver back home to Arkansas 4 different times and from Denver to Las Vegas twice and my MPG has never been more than 24 on ANY of those trips. I made the same trip back home to Arkansas twice in my R56 and I averaged 35 mpg and I did it in my BMW Z4 Coupe and averaged 27mpg. I always drive interstate and only go 4-5 over the limit. I have a manual and my driving is REALLY tame about 90% of the time. Even in mixed driving around Denver throughout the average tank of gas when I'm trying to drive as efficiently as possible, I can't get more than 21 or 22 mpg at best. I know it's AWD and turbocharged, but it still hasn't ever been anywhere CLOSE to the 30 mpg HWY estimates the Maroney sticker indicates. I just think that if the mileage is going to be that low, then it should have some more power. BTW, I'm going by what the car tells me my MPG is... I know many have stated that the computer is off, but is it as much as 6 mpg off? That just seems redonk to me.

I will say that the AWD system has worked very well for me in all sorts of snowy, icy, and rainy, conditions and I have been able to use the extra room. I also love my full sliding center rail even though it's more of a gimmick than anything. Still, I use all of the attachments that it comes with. Mainly, it looks awesome when it's all lit up at night. I think the performance is still good, but it's nowhere near as much fun as the R56 IMO. The best way to compare the two is that the Countryman is more civilized but less fun. But, to have that fun, you sacrifice the extra space, 2 more doors, possible AWD, and smoother ride for the more exciting driving experience.