We’re Building the Ultimate MINI Countryman
After 23,000 miles and over a year our time with our JCW Clubman test car we’re moving on to something even bigger – the MINI Countryman. But how do you spec a Countryman is the most enthusiast oriented way? That’s precisely what we intended to solve.
But first lets pour one out for the Clubman. If you’ve read MF or listened to Whiteroofradio over the past year you might have heard we’ve fallen in love with it. You can read all about it here But suffice to say the mix of performance, utility and design has won us over in a big way. So the question is, how do you follow-up the lighter and quicker Clubman with the Countryman?
You do it by a less is more and a more is more philosophy. That means we’ve gone with the JCW Countryman for as much performance as MINI has on offer in its largest car. While we’ve enjoyed the 8-speed automatic in our Clubman, we are ecstatic to tell you that our new JCW Countryman will indeed be a manual this time around. Having sampled for still believe that the manual is an excellent choice for everything from the daily commute to the weekend road trips. It will add a dose of visceral interaction that we were missing in our Clubman.
But how do we get the weight down on a car that is 150 lbs heavier than the Clubman? For many we did the unthinkable – we removed the sunroof from the spec sheet. With a weight of around 60 lbs in the worst possible spot, we thought that would be the absolute best way to give up something on our new Countryman in exhanage for performance. That brings the center of gravity down a touch while creating a slightly quieter cabin. Will we miss that giant dose of sunshine and is the trade-off work that it? Perhaps but time will tell.
Otherwise we’ve once again gone with what we believe is the best color MINI offers – Rebel Green. Although this time we’ve decided to do something we’ve never done in any of our seven previous MINIs – we’ve gone body color.
We’ll go into more detail on the specification and price of our Countryman in a future post. But until then we’ve love to hear your thoughts on how you’d create the ultimate Countryman.
<p>I haven’t seen any JCW trims that allow you to remove the sunroof…</p>
<p>This sounded like a fun excercise. Then I remembered MINI went to packages. Sounds more of an exercise in compromise.</p>
<p>Can’t wait to see this a review on this!</p>
<p>Removing the sunroof as a good choice! Rebel green a great choice. For me though, I’d have to go with a white roof, not body color.</p>
<p>It’s performance-oriented car that isn’t a track car, 60lbs is minimal. Keep the roof and enjoy!</p>
<p>You choose just right. The last thing a fast, fun family rally car needs is a huge hole sawed in the roof. 60 lbs over your head, glare from every bright light, 2 ” less head room, dust, spray and noise flooding in if you do open it. We ordered ours the same way. Mini was happy to ensure the roof remained smooth steel for us. My designer wife spec<code>ed the body colour roof, saying the classic white roof only works on classic looking cars. On current stuff it just looks contrived. (I suspect it is more like 100 + lbs over your head).
Delighted with the car. On a tight road it will stay with anything, especially in the wet. Love the OE Brembo brakes, the tight 6 spd</code>box, sporty seats and trim, endless cool detail work inside and out. On one long drive I tried for good fuel range. The result was over 600 miles between fill ups. The turbo provides such good low-end power, it feels like a good 6 cylinder or more engine at low revs. The 3 settings on the drive mode are fun. Normally just left in, well, normal, it works just like a good running Cooper S. Shoving switch in to sport gives a nice exhaust tone. As well, the whole car seems to tense up for action with sharper throttle response and a few choice changes to the dash readouts. The eco setting dulls response, sounds, your fun, and is best never used.
A few items are a big surprise that they got past the design stage. Any small window or door opening lets water run onto you or the seats. The gearing for reverse is way to high, expect clutch stink after backing up any steep driveway, our poor clutch! You have to always back down ,and drive up going forward. The OE tires are harsh riding junk, and don’t allow much performance either. One tedious item, the horn refuses to do tiny beeps. It only blasts like a train horn.
Anyway, best sub-urban all weather car we have ever tried. Even has roomy back seats with very easy access. If doing it again, definitely. Minus the awful Bridgestone rubber.</p>