[vb-saan]

Originally Posted by sxenimit

Well considering Q3 was launched in 2014 in India, not sure how you get 7 year old. Maybe I'm missing some maths. Unless you're talking about the launch of the car worldwide in 2011. In which case, Countryman was launched in 2010 making it older than Q3. Aged you say?

Its human to defend something we really like and to loathe something we hate. From the above comment I do feel there is some maths missing. The first gen Q3 was launched in 2011/12 and probably came to India in 2014, and its still going. I must say that it has aged pretty well but the interiors are a bit drab even compared to the other Audi models in the market. The first gen Countryman came in 2010 and probably your hatred is all on that model. The car being discussed is the 2nd generation launched in 2017 globally and now brought to India; way too early to call it aged.

This is effectively a X1 with Mini skin. The X1 is indeed a really good car in its segment, but the new Countryman guise somehow looked and feel much more appealing to me. I always liked the new Mini's quirkiness. And if I am a buyer in this segment, I would pick the Cooper S variant compared to X1 20d or i. You probably may pick a Tiguan, but that again is a personal choice - no right or wrong there.

[sxenimit]

Originally Posted by vb-san

Its human to defend something we really like and to loathe something we hate. From the above comment I do feel there is some maths missing. The first gen Q3 was launched in 2011/12 and probably came to India in 2014, and its still going. I must say that it has aged pretty well but the interiors are a bit drab even compared to the other Audi models in the market. The first gen Countryman came in 2010 and probably your hatred is all on that model. The car being discussed is the 2nd generation launched in 2017 globally and now brought to India; way too early to call it aged.

This is effectively a X1 with Mini skin. The X1 is indeed a really good car in its segment, but the new Countryman guise somehow looked and feel much more appealing to me. I always liked the new Mini's quirkiness. And if I am a buyer in this segment, I would pick the Cooper S variant compared to X1 20d or i. You probably may pick a Tiguan, but that again is a personal choice - no right or wrong there.

I would never pick a SUV if you put a gun to my head. But maybe that's just me. While it maybe 2nd gen, at the end it's still a Mini. The only Mini worth buying, like you said is Cooper S as that's a proper hot hatch. Then again, it could just be my hatred for SUV's really.

[itwasntme]

Mini Countryman to become cheaper by INR 10 lakhs in India
https://www.motoroids.com/news/mini-...akhs-in-india/

[Raahil_23]

Originally Posted by itwasntme

Mini Countryman to become cheaper by INR 10 lakhs in India
https://www.motoroids.com/news/mini-...akhs-in-india/

This article is more than 5 years old. It was when Mini started assembling for the first time in India back in 2013.
Still looking at the prices back then, Mini has done a good job (if not great) with the new Countryman's pricing. I can see this one selling more that the 5 door Cooper D.

[Sahil]

Originally Posted by Raahil_23

This article is more than 5 years old. It was when Mini started assembling for the first time in India back in 2013.
Still looking at the prices back then, Mini has done a good job (if not great) with the new Countryman's pricing. I can see this one selling more that the 5 door Cooper D.

The pricing is not bad but the car yet might not appeal to people in large numbers. The last time Mini did CKD Countrymans in 2013, it made only one large lot of cars and stopped production because it took two years for them to sell those. I bought one in 2015 and it was a 2013 MFD, I asked the dealer why and they said there was no production after 2013. We thus got a good discount but even at an attractive price there are few takers for this, its yet too niche to justify CKD volumes. However, I hope this time around the new version is more appealing.

I for one definitely prefer it to the previous gen and going to test drive one soon. Have been waiting for the new CRV to launch since a year now but this Mini would be in a similar price range, might as well consider it.

[TusharK]

2nd-gen Mini Countryman local production starts

Production of the second generation Mini Countryman has commenced at BMW's Chennai plant. The Countryman was launched earlier this month and the first deliveries have been scheduled for June 2018.



In India, the second generation Countryman is offered in 3 variants - Cooper S, Cooper SD and Cooper S JCW Inspired. The new model gets slightly tweaked exterior design featuring an inverted U-shaped grille and revised headlamps with LED rings. The front bumper has also been updated and features a wide air dam flanked by circular fog lamps on either side. The rear features redesigned LED tail lamp clusters.

On the inside, the new Countryman gets a redesigned dashboard with a circular centre console that houses a 6.5/8.8-inch touchscreen infotainment system. It comes with features like automatic climate control, automatic tailgate, parking sensors, rain sensing wipers and cruise control among others.

Powering the Cooper S and Cooper S JCW Inspired variants is a 2.0-litre, 4-cylinder petrol engine that develops 189 BHP and 280 Nm of torque @ 1,350 rpm. The Cooper SD variant is powered by a 2.0-litre, 4-cylinder diesel engine that puts out 188 BHP and 400 Nm @ 1,750 rpm. All variants come equipped with an 8-speed automatic gearbox.

Link to Team-BHP News

[kbk_75]

Took the top-of-the-line 2nd Gen Countryman Cooper S “JCW Inspired” for a spin and came away feeling quite disappointed.

I was expecting the car to feel quicker than my Gen 1 Countryman Cooper S, it didn’t. The sales guy confirmed my suspicion that the car was running on regular petrol, not Speed 97 or HP 99, so this would account for some of the performance loss, but the car felt significantly slower than my car. There was just no ‘push you into your seat’ feel even under hard acceleration. I’m wondering if they’ve detuned the engine to allow the car to run fine on regular petrol, now that the car is a CKD and not a CBU like the gen 1 Countryman Cooper S was. I guess the Gen 2 car is heavier, since it’s bigger in all dimensions but the car I drove felt nothing like a car with supposedly 190 ps. Unless there was an issue with it, the performance was nothing like it should have been.

Some other things I didn’t like...the steering felt much less direct, especially around the 12 o’clock position, it was considerably less responsive than the Gen 1 car. It would not hold a gear when you revved to almost red-line and would switch up, even in Sport Manual mode, which should not happen. It significantly reduces the overall driver involvement quotient, since the machine is effectively overruling your inputs. The dash plastic was a bit harder and nastier feeling than I expected, the front seats felt less supportive than my Gen 1, I’m wondering how much they’ve used local vendors for these things because it doesn’t feel quite as nice as the CBU Gen1 cars do. One thing is certain, sadly, there are no savings to be had now that the car is a CKD. The top spec model now costs almost 52 lakhs on road in Maharashtra which is significantly more than the Gen 1 cars cost and those were CBUs.

On the positive side the suspension was significantly better able to deal with road unevenness, something the Gen 1 car is just unable to do. The top spec car is nicely optioned and has most of the mod cons you’d expect. The door and window controls are now on the doors, where they belong, and there’s a proper speedo in front of you. It feels like a Mini on the inside even if the dynamics on these cars are significantly less Mini-like than they used to be.

The Cooper SD model I checked out had a smaller entertainment screen, no HUD, no interior lights package, no Harman Kardon, no comfort access, no steering paddles, basically was a much poorer optioned model so if you’re looking for that claimed 400nm torque in this model, be prepared to be given much less kit in exchange for the privilege. Maybe it goes well, I didn’t get a chance to test drive it, my suspicion is it should feel significantly quicker than the petrol thanks to the much higher torque figure. I doubt it will handle any better though, but I’ll reserve my judgment on that for after I’ve actually driven one.

[kbk_75]

So I got the chance to drive the Countryman Cooper SD back to back with the Countryman Cooper S ‘JCW Inspired” yesterday. The diesel SD model is largely the same as the petrol in most respects other than coming with fewer toys and options as standard trim and the engine being different, of course.

The engine makes gobs of torque low down in the rev range (they claim 400nm @ 1750 rpm which is as much torque as an E92 M3 makes!) so driving it around in the city is absolutely effortless and it should be very economical as well, especially on long distance highway runs. However, the rev band is quite narrow and the gearing is quite short so there is very little pleasure to be had driving it hard in sport manual mode because you just seem to be shifting gears constantly. Far better would be to just leave it in full auto mode and just calmly ride the torque wave and let the car do its thing. You’d make more rapid progress that way and it would be less frustrating as well. It’s a nice enough thing, just not for me, far prefer the gen 1 Countryman Cooper S, to be honest.

The Gen 2 cars have “grown up’ so to speak. They ride better, are more spacious, come better equipped (for the JCW Inspired model anyway) and are just generally more SUV like than the Gen 1 car. This, however, is a bit of a double-edged sword because the fun factor that the Gen 1 car has is significantly diminished in the Gen 2 cars. The steering feels less direct, the car tends to lean a bit more in corners, doesn’t go quite as well and just generally feels less dynamic. For any brand other than Mini I’d say this is no big deal, because they are still quite nice to drive and feel like a premium offering. However, for a brand that prides itself on its dynamic appeal this is a bit of a let down and the newest Countryman models are definitely the least mini Minis ever.

To sum it up, fans of the brand that care about performance, handling and general dynamic appeal may be a bit let down. For everyone else that just wants something a bit different, that goes well enough, feels nice on the inside and still handles better than most crossovers, let alone SUVs, these are nice enough offerings. Not cheap, but then Mini isn’t a cheap brand in the 21st century!

[quickdraw]

Originally Posted by kbk_75

So I got the chance to drive the Countryman Cooper SD back to back with the Countryman Cooper S ‘JCW Inspired” yesterday.

I had a Countryman Cooper S for a while and agree with what you said, I actually don't mind the soft steering (but yeah lacking in feedback) and mature ride. I wish they put the 30d motor in there with AWD/4WD it would make the car 1000 times more fun, the petrol version just felt out of breath and I couldn't believe its the same engine as the Cooper S. I'd definitely pick this over the likes of X1/Q3/Tiguan etc. But they need to work on the pricing and options.

[Eshan Joshi]

The Mini Countryman is a small, fashionable, fun-to-drive crossover with a wide range of outputs, an available plug-in-hybrid model, and a degree of personalization that young owners should find appealing. The 2021 Mini Countryman is here to try and reverse this trend.

This is a classic BMW LCI, or “lifecycle impulse,” the company's eye-roll-worthy name for a mid-cycle update. There are slight changes to the exterior, with new headlights (which are now LED units as standard) and grille, new wheel options, a piano-black trim option, and the LED taillights are now available with the same Union Jack motif introduced on the Mini Hardtop. Mild design changes to the cabin include a new digital instrument cluster with a 5.0-inch display, introduced on the Mini John Cooper Works GP and then on the all-electric Mini Cooper SE.

Under its short hood sits the same range of powerplants as the 2020 model.

If you want an electrified Mini but aren't willing to go full electric with the Cooper SE, Mini offers the (confusingly named) Cooper SE Countryman marries the base 1.5-liter engine with a 7.6-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery and an electric motor. The all-electric range of this all-wheel-drive-equipped PHEV remains at 17 miles.

For More:
https://www.motor1.com/news/425342/2...refresh-debut/

Photos:

[TusharK]

The Mini Countryman facelift has been revealed. The SUV gets minor cosmetic updates.



The new Countryman comes with revised LED headlights that have integrated LED daytime running lights. The LED tail lights feature the Union Jack design. The grille has been slightly tweaked as well and the car comes with new alloy wheel options.



On the inside, the Countryman facelift comes with a new 5.0-inch digital instrument cluster as well as other minor changes.



In global markets, the base Countryman is available with a 1.5-litre, turbocharged 3-cylinder engine, while the Cooper S variant gets a 2.0-litre, 4-cylinder unit. The John Cooper Works model is the most powerful of the range with 301 BHP. The Cooper SE gets a 1.5-litre engine with a 7.6 kWh lithium-ion battery and an electric motor.



All-wheel drive is available on all four variants. The front wheel drive variants get a 7-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox, while the all-wheel-drive variants come with an 8-speed automatic. The Cooper SE gets a 6-speed automatic transmission.

Link to Team-BHP News