{"id":3494,"date":"2020-03-12T18:57:00","date_gmt":"2020-03-12T18:57:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.carpages.ca\/blog\/?p=3494"},"modified":"2020-06-12T19:37:13","modified_gmt":"2020-06-12T19:37:13","slug":"5-things-we-learned-driving-the-2020-mini-jcw-countryman-all4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.carpages.ca\/blog\/5-things-we-learned-driving-the-2020-mini-jcw-countryman-all4\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Things We Learned Driving the 2020 Mini JCW Countryman ALL4"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Mini Countryman is not new, recently celebrating its tenth birthday spanning two generations. Since its inception, pretty much every variant has passed through the Carpages Garage from the turbocharged 3-cylinder base model with a manual gearbox to a fully kitted out S-trimmed example and everything in between. The full fat John Cooper Works version- the one fettled by Mini\u2019s in-house performance skunkworks-has eluded us until now. It shares a good amount of hardware with the BMW X2 M35i, a car that we had a blast driving last summer. Would the recipe for fun and shenanigans get lost in translation when applied to Mini\u2019s not-so-mini model? There\u2019s only one way to find out- ask for the keys for an important fact finding mission, because science. And because our Dad jokes game is seriously strong, please see below on how we became \u2018Min-lightened\u2019:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Min-lightenment #1: You\u2019ll be driving it around in Sport Mode. Pretty much the entire time.<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

One of the first thoughts that occurred to\nus while driving the JCW Countryman was tinged with disappointment. \u201cThis thing\ndoesn\u2019t feel like it\u2019s making the horsepower and torque on the spec sheet\u201d, we thought\nas we pressed the throttle down deeper and were met with a tepid response. Oh\nsure, if you mat the gas it\u2019ll jump like a scalded cat, but just puttering\naround it felt like the 2.0 litre turbo four wasn\u2019t fully showing up for duty.\nThen you flick the toggle switch to summon Sport Mode (leave the \u2018Green\u2019\nsetting alone- trust us) and you-know-what gets real. The car palpably wakes up\nand feels full of piss and vinegar. The limp-writsted throttle response\nsharpens up by many factors, and a this-is-more-like-it grin covers your face.\nThere\u2019s a proviso here- you will need to work through the car\u2019s settings to\nconfigure what happens when you ask for Sport mode. We found that only\nspecifying the drivetrain to sharpen up was the sweet spot, because if you ask\nthe chassis to stand at high alert it makes the Countryman feel too nervous and\nthe ride becomes too punishing for use on normal, i.e. terrible, roads. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Min-lightenment #2: The ride is definitely\nfirm, but in a welcome change of pace, it won\u2019t beat you up.<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Here are some words that have never been associated\nwith anything wearing a Mini badge: Soft. Gentle. Soothing. As we all know,\nMini\u2019s have always resided on the stiff side of the spectrum  and when you throw in big wheels and low profile\nperformance rubber, you are effectively piloting a jackhammer on wheels which isn\u2019t\nexactly kind to your fleshy bits. We have noted in the past that because every\nnut and bolt feels cinched tight enough to maximum tolerance that the plastic\npieces inside tend to develop squeaks and rattles thanks to the unyielding\nsuspension tuning. Our JCW exhibited ride characteristics that could only be described\nas, well\u2026firm. But don\u2019t think it\u2019s more of the same, because this time the\nengineers have blessed the suspenders with enough compliancy to be usable\neverywhere outside a racetrack. Plus, the interior was completely absent of any\nunpalatable noises and we drove several kilometers in silence straining to hear\nanything but came up short. If you don\u2019t ask for the chassis to be on high\nalert via the Sport Mode menu, we think you\u2019ll be impressed with the compromise\nthe engineers have managed to achieve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Min-lightenment #3: The Countryman JCW\nis legitimately excellent and quietly asserts itself as one of the best hot\nhatches you can buy.<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The hot hatch label seems best applied to\nthe Mini Cooper lineup, but it\u2019s malleable enough to work for the JCW Countryman.\nAnd no, we didn\u2019t make an error in stating that the Countryman is, perhaps\nsurprisingly, a hot hatch par excellence. The John Cooper Works guys and gals\nhave worked some dark alchemy through their choice of hardware and lines of\ncode which nets the result of a car that you don\u2019t expect to be so much fun. It\ntook a little while and a healthy number of kilometers under our belt to\nunearth the goodness that\u2019s in play here. The brakes are monstrous for such a\nlittle car and scrub off kinetic energy with authority and strength that never\nwanes, at least not in street driving. The pedal that controls them is just\nchock-a-block with linear feel. Shifts come from an Aisin sourced 8-speed automatic\nand not the ubiquitously wonderful ZF unit but fear not- the same smoothness\nand assertive shift behavior are yours to enjoy depending on your mood and the\npaddle shifters respond to commands with an appreciated crispness. Lashed to\nthe excellent gearbox is perhaps the best example of a 2.0 litre turbocharged\nfour-cylinder in existence. The engine gives the Countryman a convincing turn\nof speed and sounds sensational while doing so- why can\u2019t every four-cylinder BMW\/Mini\nproduct be powered by this gem of an engine? Even the steering, which has never\nbeen a weak point for any Mini, seems more precise and accurate but without\nlosing a smidge of its immediacy and willingness to change the car\u2019s trajectory\nat a moment\u2019s notice or the fast approaching set of decreasing radius turns on\nyour favorite ribbon of tarmac.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Min-lightenment #4: The JCW Countryman\nmakes for an accomplished all-weather transport module.<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Usually, the Sun is shining and the trees\nare in full bloom when Minis grace the Carpages Garage with their presence but\nthis time around we played host during a week of miserable winter weather- the\nkind of backdrop travel companies find ideal to get you to buy a last minute all-inclusive\ngetaway somewhere warm. When heading out into February\u2019s misery we noted that our\ntester came equipped with a good set of winter tires and sent power to all four\ncontact patches thanks the ALL4 all-wheel drive bits, so we knew it would get\nus wherever we needed to go- we just don\u2019t think it would be such a hoot along\nthe way. All the racy drivetrain and chassis gubbins make an excellent point-and-shoot\nexperience, and we found ourselves turning off stability control to allow for a\nlittle more rotation and flashes of oversteer while Mother Nature pelted us\nwith the worse the season has to offer. The heated seats come up to toasty\ntemperatures quickly and the defoggers fore and aft do a commendable job\nrestoring visibility. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Min-lightenment #5: This is the best\nMini ever. <\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

A bold statement but hear us out. It\u2019s the\nmost well-rounded model in the Mini portfolio- it is big enough to excel at\nmost tasks other than simply commuting but it\u2019s footprint is such that it never\nfeels ponderously large. From a driving experience perspective it feels the\nmost fully realized and nuanced choice- practical, fun, efficient and an absolute\njoy to chuck around by the scruff of its neck. There are some issues that keep\nthe JCW Countryman from the top tier of our shopping list: for example, what is\ncar that stickers for $53,000 doing without cooled seats, a heated steering wheel\nand powered seats? The interior design ethos is running out steam for us and we\ncould do without some of the cutesy touches like the changing ambient lighting\nand the infotainment binnacle which could use a bigger screen. But for those of\nyou who think they know the Mini brand well, and cast ambivalent glances towards\nS-trimmed models, you really need to book a test drive with a JCW Countryman; min-lightenment\nis within your grasp. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

2020 Mini JCW\nCountryman ALL4\u2013 Specifications<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n