Hi,

I am new to the forum and looking to buy my first Mini. My daily driver when it's not winter here in Boston is an E92 M3. Fantastic car! For winters I have been driving a 2007 Subaru Forester XT Sport that my son and I heavily modified (my way to get extra father-son time with a college kid)...awesome car and surprisingly fast (now!). I just decided to let him take it back to college for keeps. So losing this car in August.

I love the look and quickness of the Mini. Admittedly I have only ever driven one on a test drive, a 2010 JCW. Now that the Countryman is out, I'm eying that as an option but gladly consider other options.

I have no problem going late model used and will likely mod for power, sound and other performance gains. Can the Countryman be modded like other models? Any other thoughts or suggestions are much appreciated and valued!

 

Welcome. Yes and no...the countryman can be modded electronically just like the R56s but just like the 2011 models the tuning game has yet to crack the ECU and no tune is available YET. They are working on it and there are tons of folks wanting an Alta Accessport. The have worked awesome on the 2007-2010 models but with the new engine (valve timing and other assorted changes) the programmers are catching up.

But the NCS expert stuff can still be done to change coding options.

It sounds like you might be looking for an ALL4 Countryman for those weather conditions that the Subi took care of, is that correct or will FWD and snow tire suffice?

 

Thanks for the quick help! I'm leaning to AWD but only because I am unfamiliar with snow capabilities of FWD Mini's. To put it in some context, I throw a set of snows on my M3 and will drive that in a pinch in crummy weather...and that's heavy RWD beast. So I'm OK with the FWD snow option.

Do you know if there are aftermarket exhaust options for the Countryman that add power yet? Do you have a view on best model to mod for older MY's?

 

Depends on how used you want to go, the 2005 and 2006 were great years for the R53 (supercharged). The newer model (R56) has a Turbo on the S models instead of a supercharger. The looks have changed and the interior is more up to date. Some say it is a mater of opinion and some just desire a SC whine over a turbo. It all depends. The 2007-2010 cars will make great power with a few simple mods (no necessarily cheap) but bumping the boost on the turbo through a programmer can make an R56 a beast on the streets.

Now snow, I am a FL boy so not sure how to drive in it but lots of people have used dedicated snow tires on the normal MINI Coopers with great results as most of the weight is on the front wheels. There is no getting around how great AWD is compared to FWD with snow tires, but it depends on your region and driving habits. I cannot assist in making decision with that one.

 

Thanks. That's a great help. I'm keeping my options open for now as I am not going to let the AWD issue drive the decision. It will come down to balance of performance/functionality/price...mostly in that order. I'll start looking through this site more to help refine the search. I also notice that there are very few Countryman cars available in this area. I'm not sure if that is because they are new, not as popular yet, or so popular they aren't available.