The Mini brand has always been synonymous with small fun to drive cars, and in short a go-kart for the road. Over the years, the Mini has grown in size and one of those is the Mini Countryman. I have always found the Countryman to be more of a crossover and what you see here is the second gen car that was launched in India last year. The new Countryman is more practical than before but is it still fun to drive? Time to find out. We drive the Mini Countryman Cooper SD diesel.

Mini Countryman Cooper SD Exterior

The new Mini Countryman is larger than its its predecessor by good measure. It is built on the same platform as the current gen BMW X1. This translates to even more space as the wheelbase is longer by 75 mm and total length longer by 200 mm. It measures 4299 mm in length, 1822 mm wide and has a height of 1557mm. In terms of looks it does get typical Mini styling. There large oval headlamps get circular LED DRLs, the sporty mesh grille gets the S badging and the sporty front bumper houses the round fog lamps with a mesh for the air dam. The bonnet gets the much loved racing stripes and our test car came in dual tone finish with white roof and ORVMs. On the side, the Countryman gets cladding on the wheel arches, chrome door handles and 5 spoke 17-inch alloy wheels. The rear is quite stubby and gets trademark Mini tail lamps. There is a chrome garnish in the centre and bold COUNTRYMAN lettering across the tail gate. The rear bumper is finished in two tone and gets dual exhaust pipes. Unlike the Cooper S hatch that is a CBU, the Countryman is assembled in India at BMW’s Chennai plant. And for this reason, you can’t customize or pick any options. A standard fixed spec is what you get. Pity, because the best part about buying a Mini is customization.

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