[AdiSinghV12]

Alright mates, blessed to be back in this part of the forum penning down my initial impressions on our newly acquired kid - 'Master Grumpy'. A 2019 Mini Cooper Countryman SD which bonded with its slightly matured blighty mates from the same native - the Jag XF & the Land Rover Discovery Sport last month around the Valentine's Week. Purchased from Bird Automotive, Delhi the car replaced an year old Honda WRV which was a good car but almost broke my back with its raspy gait.



Living up to the tradition of Team-BHP to start with "Seedhi Baat No Bakwas" I'd straight away get to the Yeas & Nays of the car

Yea!

- Signature Mini Design & Quirks
- Solid Build Quality All Around
- B47 20d straight outta BMW 320d Assures Plenty of Zip
- Lovely Balance between Ride Quality and Handling
- Adaptive Suspension

Nay!

- Slightly Noisy Engine
- No Reverse Camera
- No Doors Puddle Light (That's Wonky!)
- No Painted Roof Antenna
- Below Quality Speakers

[AdiSinghV12]

The Decision to Buy and the Buying Experience

It was 2020, the start of a lovely decade what it looked liked until the Coronavirus pandemic turned into a nightmare (PRAYERS FOR THE WORLD #FIGHTCOVID19), but at this time it was just the beginning of the year with some positive hopes just like we do every year. I had just came back from a long ride in the WRV and the jaw breaking ride quality had me clear that its about time I replace this car. I had my mind on the Polo GT TSI since quite a while but the fact that VW India didn't launch the upgraded car and the fact that it had become a cliche amongst the enthusiast didn't work in its favor any further. I didn't mind spending a bit but wanted a small car that has good ride quality and feels special and something that can occasionally chauffeur my grandpa in the front seat thanks when the city is packed with traffic.

My uncle had just got the GLA in December and I had the X1 till the last year so it was obvious that I'm not looking into that segment again so the choice was pretty clear from the beginning that it'll be the Mini and some good BS4 deals further sweeten the deal. Countryman it was then and SD was the variant as I knew I'll tune this car and its petrol counterpart didn't have a good track record holding up neither did I want to carry proctane in my boot as I did with the Jag.

It was short and sweet from there. I was well acquainted with folks at Bird Automotive, been in touch with them since quite a while. Made a quick call, they knew I'm in for a car and gave whatever the best deal they could straight-up but the only catch was there were limited colour options with the BS4 and to my surprise there were all colours but white.

I had a quick discussion with family and some friends and was ascertain that I'll go for a not so common shade if I'm breaking the All White code hence went ahead and confirmed the Island Blue Metallic . Next day the downpayment was done and the car was booked. Since the car was meant for Patna it was now time to plan a quick Delhi vacation and take the delivery. I had the option to send the car via the flatbed but wanted to have some fun and unwind some old memories of the "20d"

So there it was then, once the formalities were over and the TR of the vehicle done we flew down to Delhi and took the delivery from the Bird Automotive outlet in Vasant Kunj. The car was delivered with HR TR plates valid for 30 days and the delivery experience was good sans the fact that the car came with a bit of swirl marks as they said the car wasn't 'buffed' before delivery. It was a slight let down as it was my first car that wasn't white but then the fact they were all friends the dealership people I never had any intention to make a fuss out of it and hence the Grumpy was delivered.



No freebies or anything in case you're wondering but then hey I can't be too greedy. However when they noticed the swirl marks they did offer to have the car polished from BMW but since I was a bit short on time I rather took some car care products supply from them which they happily gave.









Thanking the almighty and played his bhajan first-up as a Puja as we ended up in a Pub post delivery courtesy to fellow BHPian A.Shubrah hence taking the car for the Puja wasn't possible. We were hungry as the delivery took a little longer than we expected. Coming to the car, my excerpts in brief...

Driving Dynamics & Economy

Since the car was booked over a phone call from a city that did not have a Mini Dealership, I never really got to take a test drive for the starters. The first time I drove the car was post delivery and as a responsible member of Team BHP and a self acclaimed car lover I stuck myself with the good ol' run-in period rule and made sure I refrained from any kind of spirited driving. The day 01 was a very normal one with only a few kms driven, during this I found some of the tech features really sporty about the car about which I'll mention in the next part, and day 02 the car was with a relative for the first half of the day. By the time I got the car back it had done around 200 kms on the ODO and I thought of giving it some beans. The first impressions weren't too great regarding the NVH levels of the engine but overall apart from that it felt very smooth and more zippier than the same motor felt in my F48 X1.

It was day 02 still and I decided to visit a close friend who happens to be a tuner as well and is the one who has tuned all my cars. Needless to say he has one of the best aftermarket paint quality in Delhi IMHO and I gave him a very casual visit for a small paintjob. After all the reason for flying down to Delhi was catching up with long lost friends, the car was just an excuse. So yes, I visited my friends at GT Tunerz, as mentioned above the antenna trim was not body-coloured and 'black unpainted plastic' on a white roof looked really out of place so I had to get that painted. While we were at it I also requested him to paint a portion of the side skirts matched to the bodycolour and the brake calipers in red. I had decided to leave other things stock, and it was just going to be some minor paintjob to enhance the appeal. However, we did discuss about its remap potential very casually and quickly checked if the car was doable via the OBD, and yes it was possible! That was it I left my car there for the day and took an Uber back to the Hotel.

The next morning I go there to take my car and got a surprise x surprise! He had remapped the car as he said it was easily done through the OBD and is very safe since its stage 1. It was a Quantum Tuning Stage 1 map and it was a moment that really left me surprised having a brand new car with just 200 kms on the ODO remapped While I was still speechless he asked me to go for a spin as he rode shotgun alongside. Boy this car had turned into a different beast. The 225 Pirelli RFTs were crying for traction and it was a different car altogether. The Sport Displays were updated as well and the claimed figures were around 234 bhp and 470 nm torque. I didn't push the car any further and came back to my run-in mode even though the car was tuned. I called it a day as I had to drive down to Patna the next day and it was going to be a long long drive with a few relatives on board.

We started at around 10 am from Delhi, what was around a good 3 hours delay than the scheduled departure but luckily it being the day of election in Delhi the roads were empty and we reached the Yamuna Expressway in no time. I fell in love with the engine because of how it was exceeding speed limits without giving me a hint that it is...without breaking a sweat under 2000 rpm. The NVH levels at idle is poor but over all while on the move the car feels smooth & quiet. It was around 500 kms on the ODO when I decided to go all guns blazing and did some spirited acceleration and figured that the mid end of the car is way too good and very similar to the 525d E60 I had years ago post the remap. If you knew the right rpm that was just around the 1500 rpm to around 3500 rpm the car acted as a pocket rocket with continuous power throughout the mentioned rev range. The Sport Mode which is straight outta BMW (BMWs IMHO has the best 'Sport Mode' amongst others) makes things hotter and more fun to drive with a further very noticeable increase in power and surprisingly the car gets Adaptive Suspension making the handling a slight better and reducing the body roll and as soon as you switch to Sport Mode, other than the animation on the iDrive you also get an option to configure the Chassis setup. There's no dedicated button to control the damping but it automatically pops up whenever you switch onto Sport mode. Still even on a Mini, which is known for its handling I'd say my XF outdoes everything else in my garage currently or the past cars I owned in terms of steering feedback & handling. that being said, the Countryman drives like how a Mini should (from whatever I have read), with its transverse engine keeping the weight well behind the front wheels, making the nose lively and responsive to steering input. And despite a increase in ride height over the Clubman and the 3-Door there is a conspicuous absence of body roll in tight, fast corners.

Having owned various cars with the same engine this came SECOND if I compare it with all the BMW 20ds I owned and the ranking would be E90 320d Grumpy > F30 320d with MPPK > F48 X1. It was a breeze to drive the car because the engine was always relaxed at triple digits and we reached Lucknow in about 6 hrs. It was time to catch up with some friends yet again and call it a day. The first thing I did that even delayed my check-in procedure at the Hotel in Lucknow is call my tuner friend and thank him. The engine was so zippy and not to mention ECONOMICAL that it just blew away the blues caused by taking delivery with swirl marks all over. The car had done around 600 kms in 6 hrs and returned an economy that would please the kitna-deti-hai-gang because the figure was a majestic 16 km / l which involved city driving as well in Delhi and even though I was in the run-in mood I was doing good speeds on the expressway.



The local economy as well was far from bad which I observed in the last 3 days as per the 'on board computer'. It was around 14 km / l so the average IMHO was mind blowing. It was in one tank of fuel which was filled post delivery that resulted in a range of around 700 kms before giving the reserve light just about 100 kms before reaching Lucknow from Delhi, including a couple of days of city driving as well and it was just the first tank (the tank capacity is 51L for the sake of curiosity). We started from Lucknow the next day after lunch at around 1 pm and reached Patna by late midnight which included a couple of halts and that's how Grumpy made its way home. Throughout the 1000 kms journey never did the car felt boring or claustrophobic to drive and the tiredness quotient wasn't too bad either as the roads were fairly good and that leaves me with the statement that ride is actually good and the reason to upgrade was more than just-sorted. Its not pilowly smooth, but quite composed, and the best part is it's still fling-able (it’s got to have some Mini qualities and it doesn't disappoint the badge it wears).

The Exterior x Interior & the Build Quality

Ever since I booked the car, my would-be named it 'Grumpy'. I thought it to be a very weird name but then a few days later I too was convinced that's how it looks. A Grumpy kid who's a foodie (considering the curves and weight ) As the official TBHP Original Mini review said, I'd keep it short and just quote from there that this has a Blend of Retro + Modern exterior and interior design and the cocktail is a really desirable one. My favorite bit is as soon you unlock the car the Oval-ish headlights flashes (raises) eyebrows to say hello! I hate the rear tail lamps that they offered from the factory so retrofitted Union Jack Tails which pays some homage to its originating country. For the rest its just love it or hate it styling so I'd leave your opinions to describe it the best way. One big complaint would be the tiny alloys that comes from the factory but I have kinda sorted it and will write more about it in the modification section.

Coming to the inside, the Retro + Modern exterior cocktail is spilled all over the inside as well. It has a traditional Mini Speedo



(Pardon the Holi colours, didn't have any other pic of the Speedo lol)
...and there's high quality soft touch materials all over, the extreme center of the car is surrounded by an LED light ring that changes colour depending on the mode and setting and whatever mode you're in, it even changes colour when the PDC has activated or if you're controlling the AC temperature. This is something new from the other cars I have and I find it cool. My favorite bit has to be the banked array of metal toggle switches in the middle of the dash, to control various things like Start / Stop, Park Assist, Drive Modes (Green, Mid and Sport) and when you select Sport, rather than the car on the display showing thought bubbles of rockets and go-karts (sigh…), now it adopts white for its bonnet stripes, mirror caps and roof.



And since that takes us to the Central Display - its just a MINIfied version of the iDrive but surprisingly has touch screen feature as well which I accidentally found. The seats are comfy and the extendable thigh support is a cherry on the cake. The door handles on the inside also gets circular metal finish which further adds to the quality. And the rest IMO is just doable, I wished the car came with black headliner and some more ambient lighting as Mini has some of the best ambient lighting and not having them is a big let down and I'm looking for ways to retrofit it. Maybe in the coming days once the Coronavirus scene has bettered, as it has just kill the joy of life. OT, but having cars are one thing but seeing the society sad around you it kills all the excitement and makes things gloomy in one's own life as well. So I'll sum up my review here and let the pics do the talking for now. Feel free to hit me up if you want to know anything in particular and I'd love to know your thoughts and suggestions, if any.















Optional Extras x Modification

The section I would be most excited to tell you about. As already mentioned above, I wanted to paint the shark fin antenna to match the roof colour from the plasticky black it originally came with, along with a portion of the side skirts as seen in pic below and red brake calipers. Now I don't really know, many of you wouldn't recommend sending a new car for paintjobs and modification but I have this OCD where I do make a few small changes if I personally feel something isn't ticking the box like it should and same was with Grumpy as well. The remap came as surprised but as I write this I now have around 2000 kms on the ODO and feels like it was the most VFM thing I got done, no regrets.









Now here's something which I haven't mentioned above but is an important mod and was somewhat pre-planned. As you can see the Diesel variant of the Countryman comes in only one variant and has somewhat sad looking alloys. It was post the remap we had gone for a spin and I spotted Crave Design and figured the owners are acquainted to me. I dropped by just out of curiosity and liked a few designs and consulted with a few close friends including BHPian cityvic. Even though there were a lot of designs he strictly asked me to stick with branded wheels and strictly no replica.



I had almost finalized the BBS SR in Himalayan Grey but here came the downer, the car was only 200 kms roughly at this point and I was gonna get a good buy back for my stock tyres (not the alloys) if I was changing now. After a few minutes more I saw a set of OZ Racing wheels packed in a box not being displayed...



I loved it in the first look as it was OZ Racing wheels, something I desired since the days I desired to buy a Chevy Cruze as a child. That was it then, it was installed in the next half n hour and balancing was done. I left my stock set and moved on, as I do now from writing this thread and let you be the judge and the audience both to let me know your thoughts and if anything's more required.







Signing out, cheers!

[desideep]

Nice car, nice colour.
I am surprised that this does not have a reverse camera.

[GTO]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Initial Ownership Section. Thanks for sharing!

Your car is shortly going to our homepage .

[Turbanator]

Congrats Adi, your car looks handsome especially after those small paint jobs and the wheels are super nice

[Sahil]

Great choice on the rims. I think these look better than BBS SR for the mini

[TRANSAM]

Congratulations on a great car and nice write up, love the oz wheels, gives your car so much more character. 👍🏻

[ChiragM]

Congrats. Love Minis but have never been a big fan of the Countryman. Must say, your car in the Island Blue Metallic shade and the white contrasts looks stunning, especially with your modifications. Nice choice of wheels. The OZ wheels look much better than the BBS.

[CountMe91]

Congratulations on your new car! Mini's interiors are by far the best in its category. I have driven a Mini on the Autobahn at 180 kmph and the way it masks speed is fabulous. The only problem I had is the ingress and egress and many times it was touching my thighs but the model I drove was not a Countryman. The BMW esque iDrive is so easy to use. Wish you many happy miles with the car.

[akshays]

Pardon me but the pic with your left hand on the steering wheel is extremely distracting. Not sure if both eyes focus on the flute strap of the time piece or on the steering wheel of the mini. Tough choice - Oyster perpetually !!

[AdiSinghV12]

Originally Posted by akshays

Pardon me but the pic with your left hand on the steering wheel is extremely distracting. Not sure if both eyes focus on the flute strap of the time piece or on the steering wheel of the mini. Tough choice - Oyster perpetually !!

I actually tried to crop it coz that was actually the only pic I had of the speedo. Didn't know how it would be taken :P Good to see a fellow watch enthusiast on this lovely forum. Time is after all the most valuable thing in life

& Thank you so much Turbanator, Sahil, TRANSAM, ChiragM, CountMe91 and our very own chief GTO

[chieftain]

congrats! I'm guessing you treated yourself to the barbeque joint right around the corner from that dealer


Is the car going to be in JH? If so, how do you plan to deal with maintenance and repairs? Ship stuff in from Delhi? Excuse my naivety

[nirvanaguy19]

Love the watch, car isn't bad either. Jokes apart, I have always desired the Mini Cooper, would like to pick up a pre-worshipped Cooper S, your review only strengthens the desire.

[karan0009]

Congratulations! Mini looks great in this blue shade.

Remap + New Rims + Cosmetic paint job makes this a special one.

[AdiSinghV12]

Originally Posted by chieftain

congrats! I'm guessing you treated yourself to the barbeque joint right around the corner from that dealer


Is the car going to be in JH? If so, how do you plan to deal with maintenance and repairs? Ship stuff in from Delhi? Excuse my naivety

Haha, bang on bro. It was already 4 and was a ‘hunger bajaye chaar’ moment (snickers ad)

So the Minis (all of them) can be serviced at any and all dealerships across the country AFAIK. As the car is in Patna (Bihar) and will be used there the nearest dealership is about 200 kms away but then I intend to send it to either Kolkata, Lucknow or Delhi itself. I keep visiting these cities pretty often and it’d be a good excuse to drive down once a year... Would also make the car present there for local disposal for the duration of the trip, so I take it as a plus point

Originally Posted by nirvanaguy19

Love the watch, car isn't bad either. Jokes apart, I have always desired the Mini Cooper, would like to pick up a pre-worshipped Cooper S, your review only strengthens the desire.

The Cooper S is a hoot to drive and the optional exhaust where you can control the sound using a remote makes things only better. I didn’t get it coz of unavailability of 97 Octane fuel here but otherwise a really good option if you plan to enjoy it bone stock.

Originally Posted by karan0009

Congratulations! Mini looks great in this blue shade.

Remap + New Rims + Cosmetic paint job makes this a special one.

Coming up soon is 15mm rear spacers & Tyre stickers (thoughts ?)