I am in the process of replacing my aging 2001 Land Rover, and I am considering the Paceman or a 2 door Cooper. I live just above D.C., so I would need to drive it in the snow/bad weather at times but we usually have mild winters.
Our other car is an 07 Cooper S, and we bought it new in '07 and are very happy with the car. However, it has a few upgrades for performance and a lot of carbon fiber pieces, but we keep speed rated tires on it with the 17" wheels. It does not see a lot of use in the winter. I would need to go the all-season route with the new model.
My main question is whether you like the Paceman for its added room, but does it kill the feel of the Mini. I am not looking for the S model or the all-wheel drive, but I do need room to haul large suitcases to the airport. We take a lot of dive trips throughout the year and carry 2 large suitcases full of ~40 lbs of scuba gear and sometimes a third small suitcase.
The cases do not fit easily in or '07 due to the rear pillars cut down on the hatch width, unlike the new models where the rear in the cooper has a lot more width.
I am trying to decide between the Paceman and the Cooper, and the comments on the forum seem to make it sound like the Paceman is lacking in the horsepower and throttle response compared to the Mini and especially the S.
I have not had a chance to drive either model yet, due to it snowed a lot this week and I want to drive them in decent conditions. I did get the chance to go over the all of the models in the showroom at the dealer, and I like the Paceman but the new Mini feels a lot larger than ours. I was wondering if the three cylinder turbo in the new Cooper really added to the base model, because I think I can fit the luggage easily in a Cooper. If so, I can get a lot more options with trying to keep the price at ~25k. The other issue was that I wanted the Sport Package and the Paceman does not include the Xenon headlights with the package. I was surprised that they were not upgraded to the LED lights like the Cooper.
I did look at the Countryman, but the builds online were pricing it too high for the same options as the Paceman.
If I go the route of the Cooper, I can add a lot of options that I could not on the Paceman, like the JC interior package and the upgrades for the Mini connect.
I hope to make a decision soon, but I am leaning towards the Paceman, I am just worried that it may be too low on the horsepower versus what I am used to at the moment. Don't get me wrong, the Rover is not setting any speed records, but it has the torque to get you going plus the added comfort of driving in bad weather. It is one British car that I really like, but the maintenance gets you in the long run.

I would like to hear your opinions based on your driving of the two models.

Thanks,

Mike

 

I had a base Paceman 2014 as a loaner. No comparison to my 11 CM S. It was very slow and blah. Seemed like a rental car model to me.

 

Thanks, that is my concern. I looked over the specs and the top speed and horsepower seemed low to me. I guess I will find out when I drive them.

 

Love the added room in my Paceman. I play keyboards in a music duo, and I also haul around the sound system. It's simply much easier in the Paceman; and in fact some of the gear I have now would absolutely not fit in a Cooper.

Performance and handling are definitely a bit of a letdown coming from a Cooper S hatch, though there are some relatively inexpensive add-ons to at least partially remedy that (JB+ for the go, for instance). Now, that being said, my wife recently traded her Countryman for a VW Tiguan, and after driving that, I am immediately re-impressed with the driving characteristics of the Paceman. Not to take anything away from the Tiggie -- it moves right along and its handling is adequately responsive while being more compliant and quieter than the Paceman. But now I feel how much more responsive the Paceman is all respects than most other 'ordinary' cars. In other words, it's no Cooper S hatch, but it's still decidedly MINI. With those few add-ons (and a new clutch -- that's another story), I'm very happy with mine.

If you need a little more room and want the confidence of AWD when you need it, I'd highly recommend the Paceman All4.

Edit: Top speed on a Paceman All4 is 128 mph. Unless you're tracking, that's more than most people ever need, certainly more than most other 'regular' cars these days. In almost two years, I think I've nudged into triple digits maybe once.

 

Thanks for the reply, I had been looking at other models from the VW Tig, Fiat 500/Abarth, but I like the feel and drive of the Mini's. Unfortunately, it is snowing today so the test drives will have to wait for later. I will also take my luggage to test the fit as well.

 

What Land Rover are you getting out of to get that second MINI? Disco 2 or the Range Rover?
Anyway, since both are perm. 4 wheel drive and have 4 wheel traction control, keep that in mind with your snow driving requirements since only a MINI All4 model with its Haldex Coupler system is going to be a fair comparision to either of the Land Rovers in regards to all wheel traction and winter driving. Great snow tires and Front Wheel Drive are really nice, but it's hard to match 4 driven wheels at times when the going gets tough.
Once you get past that, you ARE in for a treat with much better gas mileage.... But you already have that 2007 MINI ,so you know this..
Since we have both an R55 and a R60 model, I'm all too aware of the handling differences when hopping behind the wheel to drive one.
Less go-kart feel in the Countryman, but it never feels too big or unsure.
Great idea to tryout that luggage, I ended up toting my Mother-in-Laws folding wheelchair around to try out in the Clubman that I ended up with, but also the new 4 Door Hardtop and our Countryman S. It fit in all of them, and our Countryman only needs 1 rear seat folded down for it to fit neatly in the back.
Post pictures of what ever MINI you end up with.

 

I am getting out of a Disco II, and the 12 mpg around town. I am still trying to decide to get another Mini or something a little more practical and less maintenance over the long haul. I have been looking at other vehicles online, I am not sure if I would like having an S and then driving the regular Mini. It sea like it is missing another gear compared to the S. I will keep looking but the Rocer does come in handy with all the snow recently.

 

The paceman does not have as much room as our clubman. Have you considered the last year of the clubman? Our pacemanS all4 seems down on power don't know if is due to the 4wd or just cause its heavier. Anyway, we are happy with it. Drive the different models multiple times over a month to get a good feel for what you like. We run dedicated snows for our clubman in the winter it is great.

 

With regards to performance comparing apples to apples in 2 wheel drive “S” models, the Paceman is only 1/10th of a sec. slower 0-60 than the Clubman (6.9 vs 6.8) with the same top speed. Unfortunately the ALL4 “S” is a different story, the 0-60 specs on average are the same as the base cooper hard top (f56). The Paceman is 2/10th of a sec. quicker in a manual at 7.2 and 2/10th of a sec. slower in an auto a 7.6. My buddy has an ALL4 manual Paceman and I have a FWD auto with the same mods, and we both agree my car is noticeably more responsive. We also both agree the extra 100 lbs. is not the big factor, but the typical wheel break HP lost in AWD drivetrains is.

 

I have a 2014 JCW Paceman All4 that I thought I was in love with when I bought it nearly 18 months ago. Traded my '09 JCW hatch for it.

I like it; but not much love, unfortunately.

 

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I don't feel that there is much room in a Paceman even though it is bigger.
Also the back seats don't really fold down.
I was actually stumped on what I was doing wrong when I tried to fold the seats down.
They only tilt halfway down so they are basically at a 45 degree angle which doesn't allow you to push luggage in further.
They must have been high when they engineered that function in the Paceman .

 

Agreed, one of my few issues with the Paceman is the fact that the rear seats don't fold flat. From my perspective, it still holds a ton of stuff. Don't forget about the luggage compartment underneath the cover at the back of the boot. I wonder if the OP went ahead and bought one 6 1/2 years ago.