Hi everyone,

Considering the Countryman - my coworker and i took a Mini S on a test drive today - what a blast! I however, need the full four doors because i have a three month old.

My question is, how much room is in the back? has any full grown men sat in the back that could report back?

I'm 6'1 and while I fit in the back of the clubman it was tight. Any word on a baby seat in the back of a Countryman?

Thanks,
Chris

 

I'm 6'3" and I specifically asked my friend who is 6'2" to come with me to see the one that toured the Southeast. We sat in the back and fit, comfortably. They are the same bucket seats as the front as far as I can tell, they recline and have forward and back sliders as well. My wife has a clubman and I wouldn't ride in the back of hers for long, but the Countryman wouldn't be a problem for me. My Countryman will be here the first week of Jan.

 

Thanks - this is great to hear.

Now I just need to take the baby and test out the car seat.

Funny to think I was just considering a full size crew max truck!

 

No baby for me but I went from a full size truck (extended cab) and swore I was going to get a crew cab next because the rear seats were not totally usable. I ended up trading it for my MCS and have not regretted it yet. I am sure the extra room will help in the clubman or even countryman with the baby and all of the stuff that seems to come with such a small creature.

 

We have a 4 yr old and a second on the way and are getting the Countryman precisely because it will easily accommodate an infant seat, a booster seat, and a 6 foot driver all at the same time (something we tested by bringing our seats to the dealer when they had one on static display). There's a lot more space than in the Clubman.

 

so the rear facing seat is no problem? did you also check the trunk for stroller space?

I appreciate your response.

 

Rear facing seat is no problem and there is plenty of room for stroller. The rear seat backs are adjustable and the seats have a 5.1" range of fore/aft adjustment. That will give you an adjustable boot area.

 

The rear facing seat fits easily behind the passenger seat, and I could sit in the passenger seat reasonably comfortably with it mounted. Because of the shape of the dash, it's actually more comfortable than a lot of bigger cars I tried, including, e.g., the A4 and the E90 BMW.

The real disadvantage of the Countryman (and, indeed, every MINI) if you only have one kid is that you can't put the seat in the middle of the backseat (at least, not until the bench seat becomes available in later '11). This is less than ideal from a safety standpoint, but the real problem practically is that you can't have the rear facing seat sticking in between the two front seats the way you can if it's mounted in the middle. We had no problem putting a rear facing seat in the center of our E90s and E46 BMWs, but mounting them in the side seat makes the front seat brutally uncomfortable. The Countryman is better than the E90 in this regard, but it's still not as good as the E90 with the seat mounted in the middle.

Hope that helps.

I didn't test fit strollers, but since we've had an R56 Cooper S that we've carried our daughter around in for three years and since the Maclaren fits in the trunk of that, I'm not terribly worried. The Countryman has a LOT more trunk room than either then hatchback or the Clubman.

 

Looks like I might be placing an order.

 

This was extremely helpful since we also have a 4 year old (almost 5) and are expecting a new little one in late May. My wife is also 6 feet tall. We are seriously thinking about trading in our clubman on a countryman specifically to have 4 doors. Going to bring a rear facing car seat to test out just in case.

 

My wife is 6 feet also and we are expecting twins in July. We have a large SUV but her MCS is just to small in case we have to transport them both in it. So we are moving to a Countryman. The large SUV will be the main transport but we just didn't feel comfortable having an MCS as the other option as it would be a pita to put both car seats in that sucker.

 

Hubs and I are trading in our MC convertible for our CM because we are expecting in June. Have you looked into car seats yet? Do you know of any limitations? Have suggestions?

 

I'm not aware of any limitations yet. Both back seats have the LATCH system built in for child seats. I am going to go out and buy an infant car seat tonight or tomorrow and go to the dealer and put it in their Countryman demo to see how it fits.

Probably should have done that before we ordered but oh well . I am planning on picking up the Chicco Keyfit 30 infant car seat. I looked at one in a baby store and it was super easy to use and it's top rated on Consumer Reports. If you're interested I can let you know my thoughts after doing a test run of putting it in a countryman while at the dealer tonight or tomorrow.

 

I would LOVE to hear what you find when you take the car seat to the dealer to demo! I haven't gotten out to try seats yet, as that was on my list of things to do this week/weekend; the Chicco you mentioned sounds great and I will look it up tonight.

 

We have twin 6 year olds and they fit comfortably in the rear seats. They are still required to sit in boosters. We have the boosters with the tall backs. The boys love the seats and can attach their own seatbelts easily without twisting the belt. I can't imagine our Mountain Buggy double stroller fitting but luckily they are bigger so we no longer need a stroller for them. The Countryman came out at the best time for us!

 

My 6'4" friend sat in the back for a little while today and said it was perfectly comfortable. I'm only 6' but it seemed good for me too. You should check it out yourself, but it seems like it will be great for 4 adults on anything but long trips.

 

Guys, been searching for the "official" child seat thread, but can't find it and the search function is "polluted" when looking for key words. I'm looking for the one dedicated to the Cooper, not Clubman.
Help? :(

LE: great, not one minute after posting it, found the thread
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...is-thread.html

 

What about a Clubman? Supposedly a four door Clubman is coming out in the near future. Could be solution for you........

 

I brought my 2 month old infant along for a test drive last week, car seat and all. The rear facing seat fit fine, and didn't really require the front seat to be moved forward at all. The car seat hook ups are located within the gap of the seat cushions, as opposed to the style on the MCS which is hidden under plastic covers in the bottom part of the seat.

I'm also 6' 3", and I was surprised by the leg room in the back. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't want another 6'+ person sitting behind me for long, but it was comfortable enough to move people around in when needed. I will say though, that I think the front legroom feels slightly less than in my 06 MCS, but I think that's still comfortable because you're more upright. Just placed my order for one this morning!

 

What infant seat do you have?

We have a Graco Snugride and Base and had to move the passenger seat forward quite a bit. I think our daughter is going to outgrow it soon, so I want to look at others that fit better

 

We brought along a Chicco Keyfit 30 base and infant carrier (of humorous note, a sticker on the seat base that indicates the direction of seat in relation to the travel of car uses a MINI Cooper as its generic gar graphic ).

We put the base on the passenger side rear seat (the rear seat was already at its furthest back position), and we only had to slide the front seat forward 2-3" from its furthest backward point, but that was really to accommodate the sunshade thing in its down position and give a little bit of a gap. My tallish wife (5' 10") still had heaps of room up front. Pputting the baby behind me would've been harder to do, but I imagine you get all of that room back again once you switch to a front facing toddler seat, right?

 

We are having twins this summer and will have two Chicco keyfit 30's in the back. I'm only about 6' tall max and by what I have seen we shouldn't have any problems getting both the little buggers back there in the Chicco seats while still having enough room for my wife and I up front. The CM will be our second car so we probably won't be using it on a daily basis to transport both the mini-me's. Nice to know we can if we want though.

 

How did this work out for you? We are looking at the Chicco Keyfit as well and It would be great if it fits in the CM

Thanks!

 

Just by way of an update--we used a Graco Snugride infant seat, and found that it fit fine behind the passenger seat but made it a bit tight for me (6' tall) when used behind the driver seat with me driving.

After switching to a Britax Roundabout, we found that we could install the (rear facing) Roundabout behind me in the driver's seat with no issue at all. We now have the Roundabout behind the driver and a booster seat behind the passenger. Works very well.

 

Thanks for that update, PDM-DC. We used the Chicco Keyfit 30 behind the passenger seat. I'm 5' 11" and can sit comfortably in the passenger seat. The Cortina Travel system stroller fits in the trunk with out any problems, and if we want to carry people and luggage, the middle seat folds down to accommodate the stroller.

I'll send pictures in the morning of the fit.