We have a 2012 Countryman S All 4 with the bench rear seat and the flat load floor. When we took delivery of the car, I asked about why we did not also get the standard boot floor panel along with the flat load floor panel. The MA told us that with the bench seat/flatload floor the standard boot floor panel is eliminated. If you order the car with the standard bucket rear seats and the flat load floor option, you do get the both flat load and stand boot floor panel.

The MINI site says this about the flat load floor:

"The Countryman's extra, hidden stowage compartment can be covered by the optional rear-load floor panel while the standard panel is against the rear seats. Or when the rear seats are down, the entire cargo area becomes a full flat floor."

What I'd like to know from others who opted for the rear bench seat and the flat load floor, did you ALSO get the standard boot floor panel or was that substitued for the standard boot floor panel as happened with us?

Thanks.

 

Nope. Just the Second Load (Flat Load) floor with our bench. The standard floor becomes unnecessary as there is no gap between the buckets that someone may want to cover up. There would be no purpose and it would just add weight.

With the rear buckets, the flat load floor is an add'l option ($250 I think). This irked me when ordering the bench. Since I'm giving up the standard floor, why are they still charging me for the flat load? They should net each other out and cost nothing (at least that's my logic).

 

I had buckets in my first CM and had to pay for the flat load floor and loved it. I thought it was nice to have that extra floor that went up to separate the hatch area from the passengers area. Now that I have a '12 CMs with a bench seat I still like the flat load floor because I keep my cleaning stuff underneath without it rolling all over the place. I thought I would miss that extra panel, but have now realized that I actually have more usable hatch space because that extra panel wasn't there. It isn't much, but it is enough to get deeper items in then I could in the other CM due to the extra bit of space.