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What are your thoughts on the 2025 Countryman? I can't get past the fabric dashboard topper and doors. My dog would destroy it either with his drool or his nails. I brought it up at the preview I went to this weekend. Not sure MINI really thought that through or is willing to add a non fabric option.
What are your thoughts on the 2025 Countryman? I can't get past the fabric dashboard topper and doors. My dog would destroy it either with his drool or his nails. I brought it up at the preview I went to this weekend. Not sure MINI really thought that through or is willing to add a non fabric option.
We ordered our U25 back in March when dealers were provided allocations. Our car is crossing the Atlantic as we speak and we should take delivery first week of May.
We don't have dogs,so fabric not an issue for us. We also went to the dealer reveal event and were very happy with what we saw, despite it being an all black JCW version (ours is the S). Think the U25 is leagues better than the F60 from what I've seen, especially with safety, comfort, and electronics. Ride quality should be much better now that run flats are history.
Last edited by Midnight Blue; 04-23-2024 at 11:56 AM.
Reason: Typos
yep saw it and its has much more refined. The fabric was a bit different. Some people here at ECS liked it. I prefer a leather dash myself.
I would say get the door protection anyway with a dog. If it was nice leather they would chew it up also. Weathertech will come out with those soon once they get a car to scan in Chicago.
Local event i attended.
"Cool things to know about this MINI that sets it apart from the others. 1. It is the first time MINI has offered Massaging and Cooled seats. 2. First-time MINI has offered Floating Front Brakes (JCW Models) 3. First-time vegan leather is used on the interior, and it's very nice (we were impressed)!
Not a fan. I have seen both a JCW and a base model. The JCW looks the best but in my opinion it contains bits of about 4 other cars from other manufacturers, I don’t think it looks like a MINI. The dash looks half finished with the mix of materials but I do like the seats. The technology may well be leaps ahead but it’s not for me, looking at the current line up of cars, my F60 will be my last new MINI.
Picked up our fully loaded 2025 Countryman S All4 yesterday,. It's been an overwhelming adjustment from the F60. Going to take some time to get a handle on the UI, it is not very intuitive.
Will provide more thorough feedback, but from the jump come to find out that HomeLink is no longer included or even offered, the kick to open tailgate function is gone (at least with cars equipped with tow hitch), you cannot permanently deactivate Auto Start/Stop, no shift paddles, huge key fob with slot too narrow for any keyring, no way to engage a Sport mode unless you specifically select the Go Kart experience, and an overly complex, nested series of.menus in the main screen.
Having said all that,it does drive very nicely, the seats are more comfortable, way roomier and much higher quality materials all around, and looks great in my opinion.
Steep learning curve on the electronics for sure. I'm actually having to do a deep dive into the manual. Does seem like Mini failed to consider some very basic features like an easily accessible screen with radio presets.
I’m sure it will grow on me. It is quite different from our 2024. Some likes are remote start now being available. ( The one we looked at was an iconic trim, but it had a $300 credit because of “no” remote start. ) Didn’t know that they would not have home link! Also now has a place to lay your phone and it will auto charge. Mini had this for awhile, but our phones never would fit. I laid my iPhone 13 Pro Max with a case and it fits.
Picked up our fully loaded 2025 Countryman S All4 yesterday,. It's been an overwhelming adjustment from the F60. Going to take some time to get a handle on the UI, it is not very intuitive.
Will provide more thorough feedback, but from the jump come to find out that HomeLink is no longer included or even offered, the kick to open tailgate function is gone (at least with cars equipped with tow hitch), you cannot permanently deactivate Auto Start/Stop, no shift paddles, huge key fob with slot too narrow for any keyring, no way to engage a Sport mode unless you specifically select the Go Kart experience, and an overly complex, nested series of.menus in the main screen.
Having said all that,it does drive very nicely, the seats are more comfortable, way roomier and much higher quality materials all around, and looks great in my opinion.
Steep learning curve on the electronics for sure. I'm actually having to do a deep dive into the manual. Does seem like Mini failed to consider some very basic features like an easily accessible screen with radio presets.
More to come. Feel free to ask questions.
About 50% through reading the Owners Manual. There is a LOT to absorb. I would describe the 2025 Countryman as more like a computer with some vehicular accessories bolted on rather than a vehicle with some integrated computer-like functionality. Surely this is the trend with cars today.
Anyway, wanted to correct some inaccuracies in my last post:
While I have not tried it yet, the "kick motion" to open the rear hatch is described in the manual, it just may not be enabled on my car yet. My dealer told me that it's not available with the tow hitch but the manual says otherwise. I will test and report back.
EDIT: The manual describes the function and how to enable touchless opening in the Settings menu. Surprisingly, the touchless menu setting does not exist as described in the manual - it simply is not there at all.
Radio presets: MINI allows you to save radio stations (or Sirius channels) as a "Favorite" and as a "Shortcut". Favorites are not aggregated on any one screen. Radio Favorites are separate from Sirius Favorites. However, MINI allows the creation of Shortcuts which can be radio stations, Sirius channels, phone contacts, and even some menu options. These Shortcuts are easily accessible on the main display (the "Interaction Unit") by swiping up from the bottom of the screen. I've used this Shortcuts screen to store all my audio presets and a couple of menu functions. A further note on "Favorites" - with Sirius, all Favorites are stored together without regard to which driver profile created them. They all get saved together as there is one associated Sirius account. So my wife's faves and my faves are all intermingled which gums up the works a bit. Audio Shortcuts are available on the HUD after pressing the Star button on the steering wheel.
The "MiNI Experiences", or "MINI Modes" as they are also called (confusing!) are not very configurable. I like the parameters of Go Kart mode (auto start/stop off, aggressive throttle, etc.) but I prefer the visuals of Core. You can't have both it seems. I am going to play around with Go Kart mode to see if it fits for me and if it can be the default mode on startup.
EDIT: You can not select Go Kart mode as the default startup mode. You can select virtually any other mode, just not the Go Kart. Dumb! And you can keep the "Experience View" of Core while in Go Kart mode but it does change the color palette to the Go Kart mode. See how confusing all of this is?
This is my first experience with Android Auto and the first HUGE disappointment is with the Waze app. Much to my surprise, on Android Auto, Waze does not allow you to display a turn-by-turn route list for the route it selects! Yes, you can review alternate routes visually on a map but that is tedious. Using Waze on my phone, I ALWAYS review the turn-by-turn before heading off to get a sense of the general route that has been selected rather than blindly following the suggested route. I know this is a Google complaint, not a MINI complaint and I have already upvoted the enhancement request in the Waze user community forum.
The car does many cool things. I love that it automatically unlocks and locks based on proximity (though I have to get used to trusting the car to do this faithfully) and automatically retracts the side view mirrors. The Harmon Kardon audio system is by far the best of any Countryman generation (this is our fifth Countryman: 2 R60s, 2 F60s, and now the U25). The HUD is more useful and visibility has been improved. Remote Start is nice to have as is the heated steering wheel.
Anxious to dive into the autonomous driving features but want to get the basics down first.
There are SO many configurable options on the car it is astounding. Once I get it all sorted to my liking it should no longer be an issue. But the learning curve is steep and I consider myself a tech-head.
Last edited by Midnight Blue; 05-05-2024 at 11:13 AM.
I also saw a you tube video of the new mini trailer hitch that folds from underneath the rear of the car.
I thought the same until I took delivery. The retractable version is not for the US market. We get a standard fixed tow hitch and apparently lose contactless trunk opening via the kick motion.
I found trying to change ambient colors is nearly useless. Can't change colors in most experiences and the one that you can change always reverts to the default color after one use.
I picked up my U25 Mini Countryman on 3rd April (in England). There’s a lot to get used to with the interface and controls. My big frustration at present is that I’ve had to apply two software upgrades already (not a problem in itself) but after each I’ve lost the Spoken Instructions in the Personal Assistant (for navigation). The first time it happened Mini Connected customer service managed to talk me through a “fix” which worked. The second time (about 10 days ago) the fix doesn’t work and Customer Services answer is that I have to take it to a Mini dealer - which I’m not in a position to do easily. Nor am I convinced that my local dealer will be able to fix this. The error message is that Spoken Instructions are not available in the selected language (English)! All other voice options work E.g. Hey Mini, using voice with Waze etc. Both upgrades have reset a couple of other settings I’d selected but I’ve managed to put them back to my choices.
So this is a heads up for any other new owners of the U25. And also if anyone else has this problem I’d love to know.
For now I’m hoping that this will sort itself when the next software upgrade comes out.
Picked up our fully loaded 2025 Countryman S All4 yesterday,. It's been an overwhelming adjustment from the F60. Going to take some time to get a handle on the UI, it is not very intuitive.
Will provide more thorough feedback, but from the jump come to find out that HomeLink is no longer included or even offered, the kick to open tailgate function is gone (at least with cars equipped with tow hitch), you cannot permanently deactivate Auto Start/Stop, no shift paddles, huge key fob with slot too narrow for any keyring, no way to engage a Sport mode unless you specifically select the Go Kart experience, and an overly complex, nested series of.menus in the main screen.
Having said all that,it does drive very nicely, the seats are more comfortable, way roomier and much higher quality materials all around, and looks great in my opinion.
Steep learning curve on the electronics for sure. I'm actually having to do a deep dive into the manual. Does seem like Mini failed to consider some very basic features like an easily accessible screen with radio presets.
More to come. Feel free to ask questions.
Wheels remind me of the turbine wheels or blade wheels from the 90's. Looks like a bunch on lot now.
04-22-2024, 03:52 PM
