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Michael Taylor11 Jul 2014
REVIEW

MINI Countryman and Paceman 2014 Review

MINI has taken its minimalist design ethos very literally with the facelift of the Countryman and Paceman. Blink twice, rub your eyes and have another look

MINI Cooper S Countryman and JCW Paceman All4

Launch Review
Copenhagen, Denmark

With 350,000 examples of its oft-derided (but nonetheless profitable) non-mini Countryman already in hands around the world, MINI’s facelift was always bound to be a modest step forward. But, are a handful of kilowatts, lower fuel consumption, better connectivity, some trim details, new wheels and LED lights really all you should expect after four years?

If you operate on the theory that an all-new car arrives and its creators then spend its first years frantically organising the inevitable facelift to see it through to the end of the life cycle, you’d have to wonder what MINI has been up to since the 'Puffer Fish' arrived four years ago.

They must have a handy array of fussball tables at BMW’s Fitz. Or they might just be lounging around the English Garden in Munich. It could even be that they are all lurking in Oxford looking for more Englishness to put into their cars.

What they clearly haven’t been doing is focusing all of their energies on the facelift of the Countryman. Even in its best idiom, the Cooper S Countryman has only 5kW more, some connectivity upgrades and some new octagonal features in the grille.

No, honest -- they’re there if you look closely.

The headlights are very slightly changed, with LED running lights, there are new alloy wheels and some more chrome, plus a couple of new colours.

It feels similar inside, too, with some new materials here and there, but it makes little attempt to mask how similar it is to its predecessor.

The biggest jump is in connectivity, where the MINI Connected app can now synchronise seamlessly with everything from Facebook to Tunein radio and from Twitter to Deezer. There’s an optional Harmon Kardon sound system, too.

If the visual design fiddles are best described as subtle, then the guys and gals doing the mechanicals went to the same school. The engines all get some fiddles to meet tighter Euro 6 emissions regulations, but that was always in the plan and always built into the facelift’s timing.

Still, the Countryman’s Cooper S variant picks up 5kW to hit 140kW at 5500rpm. Max torque is 240Nm from 1600-5000rpm, though it can be overboosted to 260Nm but over a shorter rev band.

It runs that power through the same six-speed manual or automatic transmissions to reach 100km/h a tenth quicker than the old car, in 7.5sec. No, you probably won’t notice that, either.

The lesser versions of the Countryman and Paceman stick with the MINI four-cylinder engine families rather than adopting the new Hatch’s three-cylinder petrol and diesel powertrains. This is because they ride on older architecture, where the three-cylinder engines sit in the cars with the latest UKL small front-drive underpinnings.

The fuel economy of the Cooper S Countryman sits at a combined 6.0L/100km, though that drops away significantly with the six-speed auto, sitting at 6.8L/100km and lifting the emissions from the manual’s 139g/km to 157 and lifting the weight from 1310kg (dry) to 1335kg. So, not the latest in transmission technology, then…

The strengths of the Countryman remain quite clearly in the Cooper S version. The interior remains a quirky place to be, filled with round circles, plastics that are surprisingly hard for a premium car and an interior vibe that’s just very different to everything else in the price range.

And it all sort of works. The engine might not be the latest generation from the modular 500cc family, but it is willing and strong in the midrange and only pays a small price in part-throttle coarseness.

A sprint to 100km/h of 7.4sec is sharp for a car of this shape and interior practicality, but it’s really the mid range that shines in the Cooper S. Jump on the throttle almost anywhere and it will respond, pushing forward willingly.

It does its utmost to always punch out a cheerful demeanour, which is why it’s sometimes so hard to take it seriously, even though it has five NCAP stars and nearly 400,000 customers. It is, in spite of its overblown looks that stretch the original design premise beyond coherence, an enjoyable place to be.

The same thing goes for the Paceman JCW, with a couple of notable exceptions. Firstly, it has a lot of the same mild-upgrade issues as the Countryman, but it does deliver something the lower riding MINI John Cooper Works cars can: it rides properly.

It might lose some pace to the hatch and coupe, but it makes up for it in being a very liveable car day in and day out, with a bit of added zest when it’s needed.

The Countryman has the same quality, which isn’t unusual, given that they share a lot of architecture, but the ride on the JCW just delivers a composure that isn’t there for a lot of the harder-riding hot hatches. It has taken on board BMW’s newly minted ability to control the body without compromising the customer’s spinal column and it absorbs bumps beautifully, doesn’t roll much and delivers an entertaining ride.

It’s even useful on gravel roads, as we found in Sweden, and becomes a proper little funster on its 18-inch wheels and tyres when you turn off the skid and traction controls.

It, too, has picked up a touch more power, with 160kW at 6000rpm. and officially delivers 280Nm -- although torque can overboost to 300Nm when it needs to. And, if I’m driving it, that’s just about all the time.

The Paceman JCW’s torque band is broad and strong, arriving at 1900rpm and sticking around until 5000 thanks, largely, to the twin-scroll turbocharger, direct fuel injection and variable valve control it has attached to the 1.6-litre four-cylinder engine.

And while it’s happy to spin beyond 6500rpm in pursuit of its 6.8sec sprint to 100km/h, its real strength lies well before that, in its ability to play in the mid range. You usually just pull a taller gear in the JCW, and sometimes two, just because the engine seems less stressed there and you tend not to go any slower.

You’re also using less fuel, which helps, and the 1400kg Paceman JCW delivers an NEDC combined fuel consumption of 7.1L/100km (though, again, that worsens to 7.5 for the auto).

The interior upgrades might be minimal but they make the cabin a nicer place to be, though it could be argued that the improved ride quality deserves more credit than the upgrades.

The pricing hasn’t been determined yet, but as our news story this week indicated, MINI is looking to put the Countryman and Paceman pricing at the same level, which entails moving the five-door up a bit and the three-door down a bit.

For the Cooper S Countryman, which sits at $42,300 (or 45,200 in All4 form), you could expect a climb up to somewhere in the late $43,000 range. For the Paceman JCW, that looks like a stepdown from its current $58,600 pricetag (including GST and LCT) to something closer to $57,000.

At its heart, MINI says it tried hard to freshen up the cars' appeal. It’s possible they’ve done just enough in the upgrade to keep it relevant for another three years.

Neither car feels particularly quick and they have their shortcomings, particular their odd-feeling steering in the off-centre zone and a chunk of tyre noise over coarse-chipped surfaces.

It’s also entirely possible that the Countryman will be short-cycled onto the newer UKL platform so its next generation can use the three-cylinder engines from the hatches.

And it’s entirely probable that the Paceman experiment will be forgotten about altogether and that this will be the very last one MINI ever builds.

2014 MINI Cooper S Countryman pricing and specifications:
Price: TBC ($43,500-$44,000 approx)
Engine: 1.6-litre four-cylinder turbocharged petrol
Output: 140kW/240Nm
Transmission: six-speed manual
Fuel: 6.0L/100km (combined)


CO2:
136g/km (combined)
Safety Rating: TBA

What we liked:

Not so much:

>> Best riding MINI of them all >> Interior materials not really premium
>> Flexible rear seat/luggage area >> Multimedia toggle fiddly and small
>> Willing motor >> Far too much road noise

2014 MINI Paceman JCW pricing and specifications:
Price:
TBC ($57,000 approx)
Engine: 1.6-litre four-cylinder turbocharged petrol

Output:
160kW/280Nm
Transmission: six-speed manual
Fuel: 7.1L/100km (combined)
CO2: 165g/km (combined)
Safety Rating: TBA

What we liked: Not so much:
>> Like a JCW should ride >> Odd steering off-centre
>> Useful handling >> Coarse-chip road noise
>> Mid-range strength >> Price. Just too much

*Ratings score provided is for the Countryman

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Written byMichael Taylor
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