Yahoo Autos Bigger Is Actually Better for the 2025 Mini Countryman
On principle, we shouldn't like the Mini Countryman. Taking what was a British brand born to deliver lightweight minimalism and space efficiency and using it for an obtuse, four-door crossover barely roomy enough for five felt like heresy, plain and simple. Even worse, the now-BMW-owned Mini brand slapped a John Cooper Works badge onto the side of that first Countryman back in 2012, adding horses but no more dynamic finesse. It felt like a betrayal.
We didn't really like the Countryman in practice, either, at least not at first. Acknowledging its relatively bite-size appeal in the compact-crossover segment, our 2011 long-term tester proved to be a mixed bag of spry handling and cramped shoulders. Even so, we've all changed a lot in the last decade and a half or so, and, with Mini being especially honest about the now-third-generation Countryman's role, the compact crossover is changed for the better.
Sharing the UKL2 platform with BMW's revamped X1, the new Countryman looks and feels big. It has gained five inches in length, an inch of width, and nearly four inches of height over its predecessor. It rides high in tandem with mid-size SUVs. Traversing the vividly green peaks of Colorado's San Juan National Forest and then down into the dusty desert land of eastern Utah, the hundreds of miles between Durango, Colorado, and Salt Lake City, Utah, rolled by with ease behind the wheel of two separate Countryman testers from each end of the range: a $44,295 2025 Mini Countryman S in British Racing Green and a $51,995 2025 Mini Countryman JCW in Legend Grey.
Both cars use the same base turbocharged 2.0-liter inline-four and send power through a front-biased All4-branded all-wheel-drive system and a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission. The JCW makes a potent 312 hp and 295 lb-ft of torque, punching away from a highway stoplight aggressively and raising its front end significantly as it does so. The JCW also gets paddle shifters for its transmission—these are not available on non-JCW variants. The gearbox of my JCW seemed a little conservative when making downshifts in drive, but the paddles made it a blast to rip through the gears when accelerating hard; the JCW has shorter ratios than the S.
Although the Countryman S has 71 fewer horsepower than the JCW, it masks that deficit well. Almost certainly because it boasts an identical 295-lb-ft torque peak. Unless you are pushing really hard, the subjective difference in performance is negligible; torque wins again. There are no fewer than eight selectable drive modes, with these seeming to have been named by the marketing department rather than literal German engineers: Go-Kart, Core, Green, Vivid, Timeless, Personal, Balance, and Trail. My favorite was the showiest, quick-shifting, exhaust-cracking Go-Kart.
Dynamically, this Countryman is tuned to feel responsive. Despite weights of nearly 4000 pounds for both versions, the Countryman's steering is quick to react, aided by a thick-rimmed but small-diameter three-spoke steering wheel. The big-bodied crossover felt planted through midcorner bumps and over rough roads alike with quick turn-in and ride that was less bumpy than in the Mini Cooper S hatch, even on the JCW's firmer adaptive dampers. Slowing is easy too, although both versions had a sharp, grabby pedal feel that could be a little hard to modulate.
Sharing its core interior design with the Mini Cooper S, the same praise we gave the Cooper is supersized here, with extra room all around. The 9.4-inch OLED circular screen is easy to use and feels like a fun feature at the same time, though finding specific pages can be a bit of a complicated task, and the screens in both cars I drove were slow to respond at times. There are plentiful ways to charge gadgets, with double USB-C ports up front and another pair in back, plus a wireless charging pad. The Countryman's dash and door materials are sensorily satisfying to the touch. Neat storage solutions include a small cubby near the cupholders. Testing the 12-speaker Harman/Kardon 365-watt surround-sound system—part of the $3200 Iconic trim package on the Countryman S, standard on the JCW—confirmed luscious bass and crisp definition on a selection ranging from Charli XCX's summer blowout Brat to Christine McVie-era Fleetwood Mac.
So is the Countryman JCW a real JCW? Certainly not in the ways we've known the best JCW Coopers in the past. This Countryman feels like a huge departure from what has gone before, both for the Mini brand and the Countryman nameplate. It's a spirited crossover for folks who might not love the idea of something big and tall but who need the practicality. It's fair to say the JCW is a fast crossover for the high-end buyer rather than somebody seeking a true performance car.
Overall, the Countryman S is much better value and a more compelling proposition, especially in the face of the $8000 upcharge for 71 additional horses and a stiffer ride in the JCW. Driven at a punchy real-world pace, the Countryman S feels similarly fast and is less harsh on road, its softness suiting the car better. Thanks to expanded dimensions, improved performance, excellent interior, and a high level of standard technology, the 2025 Countryman feels like the most complete car that Mini has made in a long time. One that has gone from a segment also-ran to a real contender.
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