Puppethead
Well-Known Member
I attended the Countryman unveiling at my dealer, and it was a pretty good event. I'd say over a hundred people turned out. And the big reveal...
Kidding, of course. Someone actually drove this to the event, it was awesome.
This was a reveal for the ICE models, but I wanted to see the interior materials and new styling as well as check out the new OLED display.
Here's what the new Countryman looks like (sorry for the cropped view). It's big, but not obscenely so. The MINI rep said it's smaller than a Toyota RAV4, and here's how it compares to current Countryman:
The interior materials are mostly really nice. The seats feel fantastic, and the "plastic" interior trim feels on par, or better, than the current materials. The cloth-like material isn't horrible, but it does have a slight plasticky feel to it so I don't think it's quite as nice as the other components. The lack of chrome trim isn't really noticeable, being replaced by a "brushed silver" (you can see it on the belt line in the photo) that almost looks like the bronze finish of the resolute edition, but not as yellow of a color.
The center display is 9.4" OLED and very nice, and as I stated previously it does not seem sluggish. I don't think it's as responsive as an iPhone Pro, but certainly not laggy. The MINI rep did state that there were issues with it but software updates have improved performance. It does have good touch response, however. A lot was made of it being built by Samsung, and Samsung phones are pretty decent.
The head-up display is now standard on all trim levels since there's no more driver display.
I played a little bit with the options, and found this surprise: over-the-air software updates! Talking to the MINI rep he said all new models have 5G cellular connectivity and will also act as a Wi-Fi hotspot.
One big thing for many is MINI now fully embraces Android Auto as well as CarPlay. Android Auto apparently only works with the center display, but CarPlay will also use the head-up display as a secondary screen.
There's a lot more I could write about the physical aspects of the Countryman, but since it's not the EV model I'll leave things here. I was told the Countryman EV should be announced in July and available for purchase by the end of the year. There will not be a hybrid version, choices are ICE or EV.
Kidding, of course. Someone actually drove this to the event, it was awesome.
This was a reveal for the ICE models, but I wanted to see the interior materials and new styling as well as check out the new OLED display.
Here's what the new Countryman looks like (sorry for the cropped view). It's big, but not obscenely so. The MINI rep said it's smaller than a Toyota RAV4, and here's how it compares to current Countryman:
- 5" longer, all behind the driver (more rear leg room and cargo space)
- 3" taller
- 2" wider
The interior materials are mostly really nice. The seats feel fantastic, and the "plastic" interior trim feels on par, or better, than the current materials. The cloth-like material isn't horrible, but it does have a slight plasticky feel to it so I don't think it's quite as nice as the other components. The lack of chrome trim isn't really noticeable, being replaced by a "brushed silver" (you can see it on the belt line in the photo) that almost looks like the bronze finish of the resolute edition, but not as yellow of a color.
The center display is 9.4" OLED and very nice, and as I stated previously it does not seem sluggish. I don't think it's as responsive as an iPhone Pro, but certainly not laggy. The MINI rep did state that there were issues with it but software updates have improved performance. It does have good touch response, however. A lot was made of it being built by Samsung, and Samsung phones are pretty decent.
The head-up display is now standard on all trim levels since there's no more driver display.
I played a little bit with the options, and found this surprise: over-the-air software updates! Talking to the MINI rep he said all new models have 5G cellular connectivity and will also act as a Wi-Fi hotspot.
One big thing for many is MINI now fully embraces Android Auto as well as CarPlay. Android Auto apparently only works with the center display, but CarPlay will also use the head-up display as a secondary screen.
There's a lot more I could write about the physical aspects of the Countryman, but since it's not the EV model I'll leave things here. I was told the Countryman EV should be announced in July and available for purchase by the end of the year. There will not be a hybrid version, choices are ICE or EV.
