[Topsense]

Hi All,

Been looking into getting a countryman PHEV, used to have a Cooper Hatch, and already miss it just over a year later, so just thought I'd ask a couple questions if anyone has some input/advice

Is the driving experience/power decent? comparable or better than the normal cooper hatch(1.5l turbo)?
Does the hybrid system work or is it a bit of a gimmick possibly?

Any spec tips? Thinking of island blue, parking sensors, roof rails, excitement package.
I'm noticing the standard cloth seats look a bit disappointing in photos :/ maybe they look better in person?

Thanks

 

[Tim in Scotland]

Until I bought mine in 2018 I had never owned a Mini of any kind and also had been driving big, luxury diesel SUVs for many years. Impressed with it, until this years JCW 2.0lt the PHEV was the fastest Mini, and certainly I have no disappointments only that front. The ride I find to be excellent although the motoring press says it is”fidgety” - mine rides as well as the air suspended Range Rover Sport that came before it but it doesn’t corner as well as the RRS. It is a heavy car so doesn’t expect sports car handling. On the power train front it is smooth and quiet when running in petrol only mode but tends toward alcoholism - at motorway speed you pay for the extra weight it drags around in increased petrol consumption - I reckon I’m getting around 35-40mpg on fast A roads in the UK in petrol mode.
Electric Range is best described as adequate but you will never see the claimed 26 miles per full charge that is claimed, more like 20 or a bit less and in cold weather don’t expect any more than 14 miles range.
in 2017 when I ordered mine there was only one trim level but now there are three so it depends what you want in the way of extras. I over-specced mine......... no need for the heated front screen I specced as the cabin has electric pre-heating if plugged into a socket. I specced the half leather interior and it is nice (comes with electric heated seats that I have never needed to use the heaters on!). The LED headlights are really good and I like the automatic reset of the auto-on wipers each time you switch off the ignition (no more frozen wiper blades dragging across the screen on frosty mornings when I switch on having forgotten to turn the auto setting to manual on!) the screen is ice free if you use the park heating function first thing in the morning. I have the opening glass roof - it is great BUT the sliding screens to shade the interior are really cheap and nasty and rattle all the time which is really annoying in such a quiet car.
I live 16 miles out of town and I don’t do any commuting. I was sceptical that I could make a PHEV work for me but I have free charging in town on public chargers here in Scotland and charge at home on my solar array when we get enough sun, it takes about 3chours for a full charge on a 13amp socket at home and at peak rate cost about £1 for a full charge. I’ve managed to do about 75-80% of my driving in the last 15 months in purely electric / battery mode. If you live in town and can access public chargers then I could see you not needing to use it in petrol mode too much. One thing that I have found is that for my type of motoring then I could easily live with a fully electric car so long as it could do minimum 200 miles in the winter on a charge otherwise I would have to start driving to the station in town and taking the train for my twice monthly 120 round trip to Edinburgh from home!
I short I love my Countryman PHEV, OK it won’t go off-road like my Range Rovers could (it doesn’t have very much ground clearance even compared to a Range Rover Evoque) but then I also run a Land Rover Defender for off-road use......
just one thing to think about - in November Land Rover will be launching PHEV versions of the Evoque and the Discvery Sport so if you are looking at something in a higher price range they might be worth looking at too. Engine will be a 3 cylinder 1.5l turbo Ingenium engine but my dealership couldn’t tell me what the electric range is yet. The Bigger RRS PHEV has 24 miles real world range but a claimed 31 miles and a 4 cylinder 2.0l petrol engine but costs > £75000!

 

[Topsense]

Thanks for the detailed reply

Live in Malta, so no problem with cold weather or motorways hehe. not sure if excessive heat affects battery charge tho the range should cover my commute in theory, depending on how bad the traffic is though.

currently have the new 3008 1.2t...which is a fine enough car, but turbo lag on the small engine can be a bit painful, so i'm hoping the hybrid power would fill in that initial gap in power ?

had specced the previous mini quite a bit, and took a pretty good hit when I had to sell to fit in two children hehe, so want to be a bit more careful this time around, but at the same time don't want to be kicking myself every morning when I regret skimping ...

do you know if the harman kardon stereo upgrade is worth the outlay?

 

[Tim in Scotland]

Bad traffic is no problem in electric mode as you only use the radio and Aircon when stopped and in petrol mode it has auto stop/start. Hot weather - avoid the glass roof then and if going for a contrast roof I have a black one which even in Scotland makes the interior like a furnace on the few sunny days we get, if I go for another it will have a white roof! There is a built in battery cooling system for hot weather and you can pre-cool the interior from the Connected app too or open all the windows by remote control through the app. At least you will not have the reduced range that cold weather causes. My car lives outside all year round - even though I have a garage it is full of junk and Land Rover wheels/tyres so no room for the car!

 

[Tim in Scotland]

The car is so quiet it is worth upgrading the Standard audio to the Haman Kardon system.

 

[Topsense]

hmm the pre-warming/cooling controlled by app sounds interesting, does it require an additional package though? there's almost too much to keep track of in the options list hehe

had the panoramic roof on the hatch, I think I can do without it, and ruins the white roof a bit too, so I think I can live without it

 

[Tim in Scotland]

You can aLeo set it in-car on the big centre touchscreen with out the app - in the vehicle set up menus, you can also change the charging rate settings if you want in that screen. One member here has specced his with the optional JCW interior and it is very nice.

 

[Topsense]

interesting will have to have a good look at the infotainment system then

 

[375439]

We our approaching our first year with our Mini Phev now and we really love it.
It’s comfortable,good to drive and very quick if needed.
The best range in electric has been 18 and 14 about this time of year but it suits our needs for going around our town(Stratford upon Avon) and we do have a home charger.
It’s used as a second car,we also have a Lexus RX450H for the longer journeys to Cornwall etc.
Like Tim we also will probably go full ev next time especially for the second car.
It certainly helps having the home charger as it’s charged in 2hrs 15 mins.

 

[375439]

Until I bought mine in 2018 I had never owned a Mini of any kind and also had been driving big, luxury diesel SUVs for many years. Impressed with it, until this years JCW 2.0lt the PHEV was the fastest Mini, and certainly I have no disappointments only that front. The ride I find to be excellent although the motoring press says it is”fidgety” - mine rides as well as the air suspended Range Rover Sport that came before it but it doesn’t corner as well as the RRS. It is a heavy car so doesn’t expect sports car handling. On the power train front it is smooth and quiet when running in petrol only mode but tends toward alcoholism - at motorway speed you pay for the extra weight it drags around in increased petrol consumption - I reckon I’m getting around 35-40mpg on fast A roads in the UK in petrol mode.
Electric Range is best described as adequate but you will never see the claimed 26 miles per full charge that is claimed, more like 20 or a bit less and in cold weather don’t expect any more than 14 miles range.
in 2017 when I ordered mine there was only one trim level but now there are three so it depends what you want in the way of extras. I over-specced mine......... no need for the heated front screen I specced as the cabin has electric pre-heating if plugged into a socket. I specced the half leather interior and it is nice (comes with electric heated seats that I have never needed to use the heaters on!). The LED headlights are really good and I like the automatic reset of the auto-on wipers each time you switch off the ignition (no more frozen wiper blades dragging across the screen on frosty mornings when I switch on having forgotten to turn the auto setting to manual on!) the screen is ice free if you use the park heating function first thing in the morning. I have the opening glass roof - it is great BUT the sliding screens to shade the interior are really cheap and nasty and rattle all the time which is really annoying in such a quiet car.
I live 16 miles out of town and I don’t do any commuting. I was sceptical that I could make a PHEV work for me but I have free charging in town on public chargers here in Scotland and charge at home on my solar array when we get enough sun, it takes about 3chours for a full charge on a 13amp socket at home and at peak rate cost about £1 for a full charge. I’ve managed to do about 75-80% of my driving in the last 15 months in purely electric / battery mode. If you live in town and can access public chargers then I could see you not needing to use it in petrol mode too much. One thing that I have found is that for my type of motoring then I could easily live with a fully electric car so long as it could do minimum 200 miles in the winter on a charge otherwise I would have to start driving to the station in town and taking the train for my twice monthly 120 round trip to Edinburgh from home!
I short I love my Countryman PHEV, OK it won’t go off-road like my Range Rovers could (it doesn’t have very much ground clearance even compared to a Range Rover Evoque) but then I also run a Land Rover Defender for off-road use......
just one thing to think about - in November Land Rover will be launching PHEV versions of the Evoque and the Discvery Sport so if you are looking at something in a higher price range they might be worth looking at too. Engine will be a 3 cylinder 1.5l turbo Ingenium engine but my dealership couldn’t tell me what the electric range is yet. The Bigger RRS PHEV has 24 miles real world range but a claimed 31 miles and a 4 cylinder 2.0l petrol engine but costs > £75000!

Out of interest Tim what’s your thoughts on the new Defender?
Personally I think it looks great but I do think it will take sales away from the disco as it’s a lot better looking imho.

 

[Topsense]

We our approaching our first year with our Mini Phev now and we really love it.
It’s comfortable,good to drive and very quick if needed.
The best range in electric has been 18 and 14 about this time of year but it suits our needs for going around our town(Stratford upon Avon) and we do have a home charger.
It’s used as a second car,we also have a Lexus RX450H for the longer journeys to Cornwall etc.
Like Tim we also will probably go full ev next time especially for the second car.
It certainly helps having the home charger as it’s charged in 2hrs 15 mins.

thanks for the info... good to hear that it drives well and is nippy is needed
full EV is tempting, though don't have a garage atm, so would need to either rely on charge points or hope to find a parking spot just outside my front door hehe

 

[R22 JGB]

Hi Topsense.
here are my comments.
i used to have a Leon FR184 but changed to the MINI, I did not want any drop in performance and was not disappointed, with the 225bhp from both motors the car is very rapid! Mileage I get around 20miles on battery only, it has been as high as 22 and seems to be better in the summer.
i like the ability to pootle about in silence in MaxE mode, yet still be able to accelerate away!
I did a bit of a run this week over 300 miles without anywhere to charge in between, I got 44mpg. I still had a little power left in the battery due to regen, so the car was still able to pull away in silence.
i have used the heating/cooling via the app and have yet to use the heated windscreen or heated seats, so these are not something I would need on another car. Obviously pre conditioning only works whilst plugged in.
The LED headlights are excellent. The cruise control would be better if it was active cruise. I was also disappointed that I did not get front parking sensors. For the price, I feel the car lacks some of the kit that is standard on other cars, but I still like the car.

 

[Tim in Scotland]

Out of interest Tim what’s your thoughts on the new Defender?
Personally I think it looks great but I do think it will take sales away from the disco as it’s a lot better looking imho.

I’m pleased with it now I have been to look at one in the metal, the photos don’t do it justice. I’m waiting for the 90 PHEV to come sometime late 2020/early 2021 but I put a deposit on a build slot back in 2016!

 

[Topsense]

Hi Topsense.
here are my comments.
i used to have a Leon FR184 but changed to the MINI, I did not want any drop in performance and was not disappointed, with the 225bhp from both motors the car is very rapid! Mileage I get around 20miles on battery only, it has been as high as 22 and seems to be better in the summer.
i like the ability to pootle about in silence in MaxE mode, yet still be able to accelerate away!
I did a bit of a run this week over 300 miles without anywhere to charge in between, I got 44mpg. I still had a little power left in the battery due to regen, so the car was still able to pull away in silence.
i have used the heating/cooling via the app and have yet to use the heated windscreen or heated seats, so these are not something I would need on another car. Obviously pre conditioning only works whilst plugged in.
The LED headlights are excellent. The cruise control would be better if it was active cruise. I was also disappointed that I did not get front parking sensors. For the price, I feel the car lacks some of the kit that is standard on other cars, but I still like the car.

Thanks for the feedback... looking forward to test drive it and see what the power is like (this being Malta, there currently aren't any PHEV models available to test drive heh)

The standard kit is rly meager, especially when I compare it to the mid spec 3008 I bought last yr, but I guess that's the premium brand cost hehe