Tested: MINI Countryman Cooper SE ALL4 – Bigger, Better And Charged!

There's nothing 'mini' about this new MINI Countryman Cooper SE ALL4 we piloted recently.

This Isn’t ‘Mini’ In Size, Is It?

Without sounding too much like ‘Captain Obvious’, you’re on the ball. Well done.

In all seriousness, the Countryman nameplate wasn’t exactly petite in its past two iterations, and this latest third one is no exception at 4,433 MM long, 1,843 MM wide, and 1,656 MM tall. Nevertheless, there’s no rule saying big can’t be beautiful, and this new Countryman proves that saying somewhat.

Though it grew in size, we argue that the third-gen Countryman also grew a lot in terms of styling.

It Does Look Good Though…

And you’d be right about that, more so if you happen to dig the MINI brand’s ethos for quirky styling. Locally, MINI Malaysia offers the electrified Countryman Cooper SE ALL4 tested dressed in the ‘Favoured’ trim, and this brings several unique exterior touches too.

At the base of the minimalist design, you’ll find niceties like customisable ‘matrix’ LED headlights matched with new pixelated taillights that form the Union Jack, whilst the Favoured trim mentioned brings rugged-looked black-out trims to this SUV as well.

Our tester came dressed in 'Smokey Green' paint that's offset by Piano Black-hued roof and mirror caps. Note the 'Favoured' trim's added black bumper and wheel arch claddings with silver accents.

All-LED forward and rear lighting suites look great, whilst yellow-hued S-badge denotes this Countryman's all-electric status. Tasty too are the dual-tone 20-inch 'windmill' alloy wheels.

The latter also brings Piano Black-finished roof and mirror caps, which provides a tasty contrast to our tester’s Smokey Green paint. Capping things off here are the massive yet equally tasty 20-inch “windmill” dual-tone rolling stock.

Overall, there’s no mistaking this crossover for anything else with its exterior styling, and you could say the same about the way it looks on the inside…

Like the exterior, the Countryman's interior also proved equally quirky and very charming with its interior's design.

What About Its Cabin?

On board, MINI has taken somewhat of a new direction with fashioning the Countryman’s innards, and this could either be a case of love or hate, depending on how you see it. There are plenty of wildly quirky touches present, along with some classic, familiar MINI touches as well.

Firstly, you won’t find any plastics or leather lining the dash and door cards as MINI elected to upholster them in a novel new fabric trim, and they aren’t cheap in look or feel too. As for the seats themselves, they’re now upholstered in sustainable faux leather, but they still feel plush.

Instead of leather or plastics, MINI elected to upholster the dash and door inserts with some posh-looking fabric, and these don't look or feel tacky or cheap in the flesh.

The seats, on the other hand, are wrapped in sustainable faux leather that feels soft and plush as real cow hide.

Perhaps what will need some time for anyone to adjust to in the hot seat is the swap from a traditional instrument panel to a more minimalist digital heads-up display (HUD). Instead, display duties now come from the sole central 9.4-inch OLED round touchscreen.

Just below which, you’ll find some arguably critical physical control like the ignition and gear selector switches. Annoyingly, whilst there is a traditional volume knob, we wished there was a physical interface for the climate control here too, which is now integrated in the screen mentioned.

Otherwise, there really isn’t much to complain on the luxe front as nothing looks or feels cheap. The same applies to the overall space as there’s enough real estate here to ferry a small family in high comforts and style, and it gets matched with equally abundant and practical cargo space too.

The central 9.4-inch OLED touchscreen is quite the marvel, offering a myriad of functions on top of basics such as wireless Apple Carplay and Android Auto. It's also one very aesthetically pleasing thing to marvel at, especially at night.

Charming Style, Plush Luxuries, What Else?

Did we mentioned there’s loads of tech primed here too? And we’re not just talking about the touchscreen mentioned, which is quite the tech tour-de-force on its own apart from its offer of both wireless Apple Carplay and Android Auto at the very least.

Said infotainment unit harnesses both an Android-based operating system and data-driven connectivity that enables built-in navigation, smartphone app connectivity, not forgetting access to third-party apps too. Notable from the latter includes media streaming, mini-games, and more.

No traditional instrument panel in this MINI, but thankfully the HUD is an equally pleasing and rather minimalist alternative.

12-speaker Harman Kardon audio suite sounds fantastic, and certainly adds to this MINI's theatrics on board.

Speaking of theatrics, this new combination of projection and back-lit cabin ambient lighting primed in the MINI is a very cool novelty too.

Event the basics are covered well, evident through the presence of USB-C charging ports up front and in the rear, wireless charging pad just below the switchgear panel, followed dedicated rear passenger A/C vents, and more.

As for theatrics, and we mean that literally, there’s the 12-speaker Harman Kardon surround audio suite paired to the infotainment that sounds brilliant, followed by the cabin ambient lighting suite featuring snazzy projection on the dash and back-lit strips in other parts.

Best of all? None of these felt poorly executed, nor did any looked tacky either. Certainly, being in this MINI will be a joy for most, but we reckon this is one premium crossover that many in one’s household will fight and jostle over who gets their turn in the hot seat to drive.

Unsurprisingly, the MINI Countryman SE ALL4 drove as well as it looked, perhaps better in some ways too!

Is The Drive Any Good Then?

Very, and there’s a very good reason to why – this is a BMW X1/iX1 underneath. More accurately, this new Countryman is built atop of parent BMW Group’s latest UKL2 chassis platform, which is shared across to the Countyman’s smaller three-door hatch sibling, as well the BMW X1, iX1, X2 and iX2.

Of course, what really charges – literally – this particular Countryman’s drive dynamics to new heights is its all-electric powertrain. In fact, the dual-motor and all-wheel-drive (AWD) setup felt surprisingly zippy in this rather large and hefty – it weighs just over two tonnes! – luxury SUV.

Despite starkly different styling, both the MINI Countryman SE ALL4 and the BMW iX1 xDrive30 are effectively the same underneath.

Despite said heft, 308 HP and 494 NM of twist do feel sufficient, evident through this Countryman’s claimed century sprint time of 5.6 seconds. The bonus here is the added novelty of the ‘synthetic’ engine sound piped in, more in when set into ‘Go Kart’ drive mode or ‘Experience’.

Despite its weight, size, and rather long 2,692 MM wheelbase being rather intimidating, clever spring and damper tuning at all four corners makes for one crossover that feels equally at home carving corners as it is with chasing straight-line speed.

Not only zippy, the Countryman Cooper SE ALl4 also proved very agile despite its size and heft. Our only nitpicks here is that the ride can feel a tad stiff at times, and tyre roar is noticeable at high speeds.

If we were to nitpick though, we reckon the damping could be made a little bit softer as it does tend to feel rather bumpy at times. Annoying too is the noticeable levels of tyre roar intrusion at high speeds, but this is typical given the run-flat tyres shod on each of its wheels.

Notable in the drive too is the confidence inspired by the barrage of Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) features laced in this electrified Countryman. There’s indeed a lot going on here, but we’ll be brief in noting that this is yet another one of those cars that could almost drive itself.

Critically, said ADAS suite doesn’t just make this Countryman safe, they also make it much easier to manage on the daily too. Certainly, the lady of the house will be pleased by things like Reversing Assistant, Lateral Parking Aid, not forgetting the surround view and remote 3D view functions.

In this all-electric variant of the new Countryman, it offers respectable range and flexible charging abilities to boot.

What About Range And Charging?

This being an all-electric offering, we cannot escape the caveats related to range and charging, but we’ll highlight that there isn’t much to worry on this front. That’s because this Countryman’s rather sizeable 66.5 kWh lithium-ion battery pack offers decent range and charging flexibility.

Starting with range, MINI touts a WLTP-rated maximum of 432 KM with each full charge, which honestly isn’t bad. We reckon with light-footed, single-pedal driving in ‘Green’ drive mode (experience), said figure is easily achieved too.

!30 DC fast-charging ability is nifty, but its the 22 kW AC charging rate that really makes a huge difference when it comes charging the MINI Countryman Cooper SE ALL4 on the regular.

As for charging, you’ll be glad to note that the on-board charger (OBC) accepts up 130 kW of rapid DC charging input, granting 10-80% in just 29 minutes. However, said OBC’s stellar ability to draw in 22 kW AC charging impresses most instead as it grants 0-100% recharges in under four hours.

Overall, this solid combination of both respectable range and highly flexible charging options ought to make this Countryman a breeze for most high nett worth individuals (HNWIs) to adopt into their lifestyles, provided they don’t mind mustering the Ringgits for one…

Hard to hate and easy to love, we reckon many will fall for the charms of the MINI Countryman SE ALL4 as easily as we did...

Should I?

Should you be keen on a premium, all-electric crossover that’s equally as flash as its practical, and you find its BMW-badged twins mentioned a tad too predictable, then this rather charming alternative is one you ought to seriously consider indeed.

Thanks to tax breaks still granted for imported EVs, this Countryman’s base price of RM258,888 (sans optional extended warranty and service package) is arguably a bargain. Compared to its combustion (ICE)-powered twin’s heftier RM348,888 starting price, this electric-powered alternative is certainly more ‘accessible’, and you’ll get the bonus of guilt-free, zero-emissions mobility too.

With this much style, luxe, tech, electrified performance and, above all, charm, we wouldn’t blame anyone with the means biting into this MINI’s temptation. We certainly are…