24 replies to this topic

[hepple]

Lovely country man though billy perfect example

James

[oldman]

You have one fantastic Countryman.

Top marks to Harry Fairbairn for letting you in the showroom for the photos.
Buy a new one as the tow car for the old one!

Regards

John

[mininuts]

Old vs New

I really like the way that BMW have took the time and effort to make the new 'countryman' reflect the proper Countryman................................................NOT!!!!

I quite like BINIS, especially the Cooper S but, little by little, BMW are taking the MINI further and further away from the original Mini and turning it into just another car. The new countryman could be any other 'SUV' sort of vehicle and deserves to carry the Countryman name as much as a Nissan, Hyundai, Kia tec, etc does.

Horrendous

Not a BINI bash, just my opinion.

by the way, your 'proper' Countryman is absolutley stunning Nice to see a Mk2

[chipster196]

You have a very nice countryman , not too keen on the black car its parked next to though
I parked mt clubby estate next to a new 1 last year but didnt want to take a picture cause it would have ruined my camera

[Mini-Mad-Craig]

I love them both.

[Deathrow]

I love them both.

Seconded!

I think they've done well to squeeze that down to at least close to the same length as the original Countryman.

Really awesome that they let you drive in to the showroom! Respect to the dealership for that .

[carboy001]

Really nice Countryman Billy, looks showroom condition wahey!

I very much so like the new countryman to be honest, granted it looks nothing like the original but be honest, if you were to replicate the original it wouldn't attract the masses and that's what BMW want, we aren't their target audience.

I think they've done a fab job personally.

[mab01uk]

I really like the way that BMW have took the time and effort to make the new 'countryman' reflect the proper Countryman................................................NOT!!!!

I quite like BINIS, especially the Cooper S but, little by little, BMW are taking the MINI further and further away from the original Mini and turning it into just another car. The new countryman could be any other 'SUV' sort of vehicle and deserves to carry the Countryman name as much as a Nissan, Hyundai, Kia tec, etc does.

Horrendous

Not a BINI bash, just my opinion.

by the way, your 'proper' Countryman is absolutley stunning Nice to see a Mk2

I think the new MINI Clubman is really closer to the original Classic Mini Countryman from a market sector point of view, there was no such vehicle category as an SUV in the 1960's!

It should be remembered that BMW have been building MINI into a 'range' of small cars over the last 10 years (they always considered the Issigonis Austin 1100/1300 to be a bigger Mini) which owners can then choose from as their needs/family circumstances change but still stay with a MINI.
As already mentioned, a sporting 2 seater MINI Coupe and Roadster are next (think small Audi TT) followed by a small city car sized MINI-Minor which seems to be what most classic owners want to see go on sale. However as small city cars are the most difficult type of car to build in a high wage economy country like the UK and still make a profit on, expect it to be the last addition to the range and probably built somewhere like Eastern Europe or India/China. A prototype MINI-Minor is planned to go on show next year.........

Has anyone noticed in the photos above that the new Countryman has adopted the Mk2 grille shape this time around, the current new MINI saloon/hatch has more of a Mk1 grille shape? (I think this was also mentioned in the MINI press release as a design influence for the new car.)

Edited by mab01uk, 30 July 2010 - 06:43 PM.

[mininuts]

Can't help thinking that BMW have got 'their' names mixed up a little.

I reckon the new MINI COUNTRYMAN would have suited the CLUBMAN name better as it appears to have a different front from other MINIS just like the originals.

The MINI CLUBMAN is more like the proper Mini Countryman ie same front as a MINI, just a little longer.

If you know what I mean

[Nick '91]

^^ to above I was thinking that,


front reminds me of a kuga, but then again almost all new cars look the same.