OK, so last weekend I got to take the first road trip in the MINI. A quick trip to Seattle with my youngest. We drove up I5, spent the night downtown and spent the day messing around the city. Took the ferry to Bainbridge island for a scenic drive home back to Portland. Overall we drove for about 8.5 hours and 500 miles. Here's some random thoughts about the car and trip.

4 hour stretches without a stop are not a problem. The seats hold up really well for long drives.

Traffic came to a complete stop from about 50 to 0 at the end of the carpool lane leaving Portland. I barely managed to stop before hitting the car in front of me. The lady behind me managed to get stopped to before hitting me. I got a nice view in the side mirror of the car behind her crashing into her. Countryman stop really well.

The car is really stable on the road. On the way back it was pouring rain most of the way with standing water on the road. With the AWD and wide stance we rarely needed to slow below the speed limit and always felt in control. Much more solid than my 03' MCS in the same situations.

On a smooth road, 55 mph and 85 mph sound and feel the same. Got her up to 100 in one stretch feels as solid and smooth as any other speed.

I'm enjoying having the well in the trunk for the usual stuff to keep in the car and the area above for the occasional stuff. In this case luggage. While I originally ordered the flat load floor, it will be interesting to see if I still want it when it comes out.

All the options for audio are great. Listened to all the options on the trip. Still getting used to getting around the MINI Connected system. It did work well listening to music off the iPhone. Using the GPS on the iPhone while listening to music from the iPhone worked well. The voice prompts came through just fine.

Using the iPad instead of the iPhone was interesting. Biggest challenge was where to put the iPad that would allow it to still be plugged in with the MINI Y cable. It would constantly get bumped and pull the cable out of the USB. Another issue was that my iPad has most of my music on it. Over 1000 artists took a really long time to load. We finally gave up waiting for the artist names to get down to Taylor Swift and listened to artists who's names were earlier in the alphabet. I think I'm going to look for an iPad holder that will connect to the bolt that holds the passenger seat to the floor.

I'm always surprised how tall I sit in the Countryman. I'm always feeling like I should be lowering the seat. It makes it nice for visibility on the road though. I was also surprised seeing the MINI next to other cars how it is more often one of the taller cars.

Taking the MINI on the ferry was great. Nothing specific, just Ferries are cool. The motion of the ferry did set the alarm off. "Could the owner of a black MINI Cooper please come secure your vehicle, your car alarm is going off." Got a chance to read the manual to find out that pressing the lock button twice on the remote will turn off the motion sensor part of the alarm.

It was fun to get stopped by people who see a lot of cars (Toll plaza, guy on the ferry) and hear they had never seen one of these before and how cool they think the Countryman looks.

Really like the rain sensing wipers. They seem smarter than my 03' and handle both rain and spray from other vehicles well enough I didn't have to think about it at all.

Here's the pics from the trip. There's a couple in there from the Ferry.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?ai...0&id=665161580

Overall a great trip. Got about 750 miles on the car. Looking forward to having the break in period complete.

Anyone else take a road trip with their Countryman yet?

 

Awesome write up! Thanks!

How does the motion sensor work? Does it sense any motion of the vehicle or motion inside the cabin, etc.? Our 06 MCS does not have a security system.

 

And what about MPG ??

 

Ah. You're making the wait hard. And I have weeks to go.


Sounds like a great trip and I'm SO glad you didn't get rear ended. That would have sucked the joy out some.

I had to slam on anchors in my test drive, and you're right. Stops on a dime.

 

Ah, good question. It was right about 26 for the whole trip.

Keep in mind that I drive aggressively so don't take my mileage as an indication of anything other than my driving style. Since I'm still in the break in I didn't use cruise control either. I average 20-21 on my 03 MCS when a lot of people regularly push 30.

 

You bet. The motion sensor does both. On the ferry it was the motion of the vehicle that set the alarm off. It also looks for motion inside the vehicle. If you set the alarm with the windows open, it will go off it someone tries to reach inside.

 

Thanks for the write-up TunaBall! In my brief time behind the wheel I am definitely impressed with the brakes. Much closer to my Porsche Cayman S than to the Audi Q7 which the Countryman replaced.

What do you think about road vibration in the dead pedal and accelerator? It's the one nuisance item I have found so far. Not terrible but I guess I am just not used to the feeling. Hopefully it won't aggravate me or put my foot to sleep on long drives.

 

Thanks TunaBall!

 

David,

Just use the SPORT button and you won't have any lag.

 

You bet!

I'll have to pay attention to the vibration. I think we're coming from opposite sides to the Countryman. My 03' MCS is much not nearly as smooth as the Countryman so all I notice is the smoothness.

 

Very nice review Tuna! Getting excited myself. Any issues with rattles (I've read of several from European experiences) or other annoyances?

 

So far no rattles, no issues. The only lingering disappointment is the lack of a good place to put the iPhone where I can both see it and have it plugged in.

I let my wife use it yesterday and she let me know that she thought I should go back to driving the 03' and let her have the Countryman as her daily driver. Hmmm....

 

I was pointing out perceived road vibrations in the dead pedal and accelerator. I haven't experienced any lag yet.

 

thanks TunaBall...I will be in Portland from Bend to pick up my ALL4 next week and can't wait. It is hung up at the VDC in California because of the 3 day weekend and this final wait is KILLING me.

 

Nice trip, nice write-up. We have noticed the braking action of our CM is very good, if not a bit grabby. We like it.

At 300+ and the 2nd tank of gas, both fills at the half-way point our MPG avg. calculated by me in 26.7.

We are very happy with that, premium in Colorado ranges upward from $3.19 per gal. We use Shell, Conoco or Valero.

I will have to go check out those road-trip pictures.

 

TunaBall, thank you--I forgot to ask what to do to shut off the alarm if it goes off as a false positive! Now I know :-):

Got a chance to read the manual to find out that pressing the lock button twice on the remote will turn off the motion sensor part of the alarm.

 

Can't complain about the gas prices. $3.45 and greater in the Seattle area for Chevron.

 

Don't complain about fuel price... :D here in Italy is about 5.40$ per gallon :D buuuuahhahaha :( :(