Countryman: have you? would you?

[Mr Peel]

I have belatedly noticed that the Countryman Cooper S seems to offer Mini-like vibes with Golf GTI (ish) performance and room for children.

They seem to have no following on here whatsoever, which might tell me all I need to know. Anyone got a different story?

Yes there's the JCW but I couldn't stretch to one of those...

[Mr Peel]

Looks good that, but an R60 Cooper S would be the limit of my budget.

[Mr Peel]

Prolex-UK said:

Getting a 2016 countryman Cooper S...slightly smaller boot than latest but big enough for Iris our 5 yo GSD

Driven it yet?

[Mr Peel]

Interesting. Did either of them have sports suspension? I wonder what sort of difference it makes.

[Mr Peel]

^^ Looks good. Not seen many in that colour. How do you find it to drive?

[Mr Peel]

The idea of these wouldn't go away, so I'm picking up this one on Saturday.

LY12 KBN 2 by Simon Steele, on Flickr

Tidy 2012 Cooper S with the right spec for me (FWD, solid paint, Turbo Fans). There's some money left for a visit to Lohen for a stage 1 map and some lowering. It's not too sluggish but could do with livening up. It's better in the corners than I expected, but again it could do better. Plus check out the huge gaps in the arches.

Countryman Auto Trader 1 by Simon Steele, on Flickr

I'm a Mini man from the old days. The plan here is a modern daily with a nod to all that, not some sort of retro pastiche. I shall try to rein myself in...

LY12 KBN 4 by Simon Steele, on Flickr

Readers' Cars thread to follow.

[Mr Peel]

This one is on runflats. I'll see how we go with them. I actually like the look of the steels on yours. They might look decent on mine once it's lowered.

[Mr Peel]

NFC 85 Vette said:

I'm collecting my R60 Countryman JCW this Friday. I wasn't sure about it until I test drove it; the remit was something practical, interesting and fun. Coming from a diesel Audi TT as a daily, the Countryman is both shorter and narrower, with probably double the usable space inside (great for hauling race car parts and being a fun daily driver). It was just more useful than the 3 door hatch JCW I'd tried (head vs heart and all that).

'Practical, interesting and fun' just about sums it up. Well done. Couldn't stretch to a JCW myself, so will be remapping and lowering my S to similar effect.

[Mr Peel]

^^ One of my old Minis: a 1979 850 City. Happy memories indeed. I bought it from an old lady in Kent who was giving up driving. Completely original but was always going to need the sort of attention now lavished on it by Mr and Mrs HorneyMX5.

It's a long way from that to this:

DSC_0076 by Simon Steele, on Flickr

See you at Beaulieu

[Mr Peel]

Readers' cars thread: https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

[Mr Peel]

Si 330 said:

My wife has countryman in cooper spec, it’s been with us coming up 3 years and 50k miles. As on old mini fan I was looking forward to driving it before it came, utterly dissapointing I hate driving it, feels so cramped in side. It does look nice in jungle green, black roof and wheels.

These must feel a bit dull without the turbo. Surprised to hear it called cramped, but then I am a serial owner of small cars. Loving mine three months in. Readers' Cars thread here: https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=47&t=1805053&i=999999