SA Road Tests

Welcome

This is the home of automobile road tests in South Africa. We drive South African cars, SUVs and LCVs under South African conditions. It also just happens that most of the vehicles we drive are world cars as well, so what you read here probably applies to the models you can get at home.
*To read one of our road tests, just select from the menu on the left. Hover your cursor over the manufacturer's name, then choose from the drop-down menu.
*Please remember too, that prices quoted were those ruling on the days I wrote the reports.


The 2013 MINI Countryman JCW All4 is an enigma. We try to work it out.

More driveable, more comfortable, less intense

Published in Weekend Witness Motoring on Saturday June 29, 2013

How do you categorise a MINI that’s too long, too tall and too wide to be mini; that brags about all-wheel drive and an ability to go anywhere but really shouldn’t try; that doesn’t ride or steer like a conventional MINI and has not only too many doors, but actual leg space and headroom in its back seats?

Wikipedia describes the Countryman as: “a compact crossover SUV and the first such car to be launched under the MINI marque by BMW. It is offered with a choice of two- or four-wheel drive (known as ALL4), and with 1.6-litre petrol inline-four engines in various states of tune.

“(It) has a longer wheelbase, more interior room and higher ground clearance than the Clubman. It uses the same engines as others in the Hatch and Clubman ranges, but offers an optional all-wheel-drive powertrain to allow minimal off-road and rugged terrain driving.” So now you know.

Lesson one: Never tell a farm boy your car has off-road and rugged terrain capability, especially if you have let slip that the John Cooper Works version sits 10 mm lower than others in the range, unless you can back it up with numbers. The dimensions charts were secretive about ground clearance, so your dedicated scribe lay down on his front lawn and reached underneath with a measuring tape. The reading under what appeared to be the lowest point, a cross-brace behind the sump was, near as anything, 135 mm. Very well; they did say “minimal,” so we’ll let it go.

To be fair, we exposed it to a couple of short sections of gravel road and rough asphalt and the Countryman handled them well. In fact, the overall steering and ride experience, while firm, was so unlike other MINIs that it was actually pleasant enough to consider living with for a whole 54 to 60 payments. The 129 mm longer wheelbase probably has a lot to do with the added comfort.

Size-wise, the Countryman is 375 mm longer, 106 mm wider and 142 mm taller than regular MINIs and about 230 kg heavier, so this JCW’s power to mass ratio is 8,8 kg per kilowatt rather than the 7,6 kg/kW of the regular John Cooper. The difference in zero-to-100 sprint times is only about one tenth of a second, but there is a small penalty in fuel consumption.

Although this car is the most powerful MINI of all, at 160 kW, it didn’t feel as quick as some of the others – possibly a side effect of the slightly softer ride and less aggressive steering response. On that subject, the switchable option of sport and normal throttle settings made no noticeable difference to the way it behaved.

Bigger dimensions mean that the boot is noticeably larger, there is enough length to add rear doors, and back seat passengers have fairly generous headroom and space for knees and feet. The individual chairs (a bench seat is optional) adjust back and forth and recline through a few degrees for personal comfort. A centre armrest and storage box is optional, as is one for use between the front seats.

Standard equipment on our test car included permanent on-demand all-wheel drive, the 1600 cc Prince engine with twin scroll turbocharging that puts out 160 kW and 280 Nm of torque (300 Nm on overboost), John Cooper Works interior trim with sports seats, special piano black trim, anthracite roof liner, dark speedometer and tachometer, JCW door sill plates and sports steering wheel. Gearbox choices are between six-speed manual or Tiptronic units. Sports suspension, 18” alloy wheels with run-flat tyres, JCW aerodynamic kit and special badging complete the deal.

As for the car itself, we were undecided. It looks and feels like a MINI; only softer, more comfortable and slightly less intense. It has been called a “boutique” car, meaning that it will appeal to a limited audience. We might buy it with our hearts, but probably not with our heads – the price tag is strictly for those who really want one.

Test unit from BMW SA press fleet

The numbers
Prices: R428 000 (man), R444 100 (auto)
Engine: 1598 cc, DOHC, four-cylinder with twin scroll turbocharger
Power: 160 kW at 6000 rpm
Torque: 280 Nm between 1900 and 5000 rpm
Overboost: 300 Nm between 2100 and 4500 rpm
Zero to 100 km/h: 7,0 seconds
Maximum speed: 225 km/h
Real life fuel consumption: About 10,3 l/100 km
Tank: 47 litres
Luggage volume: 350/1170 litres
Warranty: 2 years/unlimited mileage
Motorplan: 3 years/75 000 km

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What We Do

This is a one-man show, which means that every car reviewed is given my personal evaluation and receives my own seat of the pants judgement - no second hand input here.
Every test car goes through real world driving; on city streets littered with potholes, speed bumps and rumble strips, on freeways and if its profile demands, dirt roads as well.

I do my best to include relevant information like real life fuel economy or a close mathematical calculation, boot size or luggage space, whether the space is both usable and accessible, whether life-sized people can use the back seat (where that applies), basic specs of the vehicle and performance figures if they are published. In the case of clearly identified launch reports, fuel figures are of necessity the laboratory numbers provided with the release material. If I ever place an article that doesn't cover most things, it's probably because I have dealt with that vehicle at least once already, so you will be able to find what you want in another report under the same manufacturer's heading in the menu on the left.

My reviews and launch reports appear on Thursdays in the Wheels supplement to The Witness, South Africa's oldest continuously running newspaper, and occasionally on Saturdays in Weekend Witness as well. I drive eight to ten vehicles each month, most months of the year (except over the festive season) so not everything gets published in the paper. Those that are, get a tagline but the rest is virgin, unpublished and unedited by the political-correctness police.

Hope you like what you see, because there are no commercial interests at work here. As quite a few readers have found, I answer every serious enquiry from my home email address, with my phone numbers attached, so they can see I do actually exist.


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