Electric 2025 Mini Countryman SUV Brings Serious Face, Hands-Free Driving
This ain’t your granddad’s Mini, but it is the direction the brand is headed in with its biggest car yet.
The 2025 Mini Countryman isn't the first of its kind, as it's now in its third generation. However, it is a car of many firsts for the brand. The new Countryman marks the first time Mini has made a car this big, it's the first Mini to be built in Germany instead of England, and it's the first Countryman to feature an entirely electric powertrain.
In addition to being the largest and most electrified Mini of all, it's also the least Mini-looking. Rather than the typically bubbly design of most Minis, the new Countryman is blocky and chunky with an upright front end, angular headlights, and a floating C-pillar. It's a pretty handsome-looking crossover, but it just doesn't look very Mini-like.
As with the new Mini Cooper, the Countryman gets a radical new interior that uses fun materials and a minimalist design to create an interesting environment that's delightfully focused. Also like the new Cooper, the Countryman moves its speedometer back to the large central display. That unclutters the dashboard and brings back the classic Mini look. Speaking of classic looks, one of the screen's "Experience Modes" makes the central speedometer look like the original Mini's analog dial from 1959, which is neat. However, it might look a bit out of place with all of the ambient lighting tucked under the dashboard material that shines through at night.
There's plenty of driving assist tech baked into the new electric Countryman, as you'd expect. Along with lane-keep assist and adaptive cruise control, Mini has even made it hands-free capable at low speeds. And I do mean low speeds, because the limit is 60 kilometers per hour—that works out to about 37 miles per hour.
The Mini Countryman will come in a variety of flavors. There will be a few different gas engines, including a high-performance John Cooper Works model, but the stars of the show are the two electric versions. The standard Countryman E gets a single front-mounted motor making 204 horsepower while the Countryman SE ALL4 packs two motors—one at each axle—giving it 313 horsepower and all-wheel drive. For the Countryman E, zero to 60 mph happens in 8.6 seconds but that time drops to 5.6 seconds in the all-wheel drive Countryman SE ALL4.
As for range, the base electric Countryman can go 287 miles on the WLTP cycle while the more powerful all-wheel drive model manages 270 miles.
Few customers will look to an electric Countryman for towing but should any owners find the need, it can handle up to 2,645 pounds. In the back of the new Countryman, owners will have 16 cubic feet of cargo space with the rear seats up and 51 cubic feet with the rear seats folded down.
This new Mini Countryman ain't your grandpa's Mini, nor is it your dad's. It's a new Mini for the modern era of electrification. Its new interior looks snazzy and its electric powertrains help it compete in this new market, but traditional Mini fans might not appreciate how far it's strayed from the brand's traditional formula. I'll be the first to admit it's different, and I'll let you decide whether or not that's a good thing.
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