The Shocking Truth About the Mini Countryman Electric

MINI has recently launched the Electric Countryman and it will cost you 54.90 Lakhs, which is 55 Lakhs. But what do you get in that price? A 66.45 kWh battery, which produces 201 bhp of power and 250 Nm of torque. The company claims that it gives a range of 450 km in a single full charge. But it's not about all those numbers. Here I'm talking about two things. How much fun it is to drive this car. Because it looks a little big and it has a 2760 mm wheelbase. But apart from that, the speed in this car is of a different level. Because it is electric. Secondly, the interiors of this car are so beautifully designed that as soon as you sit inside, it's an experience altogether. Whether it's a steering wheel, center console, whatever you call it. It is designed in a very beautiful way. I really liked these two things. But there are some things that are called caveats. I'm going to tell you everything about this car. You're watching Park Plus, ladies and gentlemen. This is the Mini Countryman Electric. Apart from that, subscribe to the channel. Click the bell icon to stay updated to all the videos that we do. Let's get zapping. So friends, let's talk about the second row experience of Countryman Electric. In the beginning, let me tell you that the driver's seat is adjusted to my height. So I'm around 5 feet 9 inches, 10 inches tall. So look at the amount of knee room that I have. How much knee room is there? You can sit like this. There is a little bit of under-thigh support here. But then again, it's actually quite nice. The under-thigh support is also quite good. The material of the seat is actually quite good. It's quite soft. Here you get two rear AC vents, which are adjustable. Here you get two types of ports to charge your phones, which is very good for both passengers. The headroom is also quite good. For someone who is 6 feet 6 inches, it won't be a problem. And here you get a three-point seat belt for all three passengers. And here you get a retractable armrest, in which cup holders are also given to you. And all three of these headrests are adjustable. Here you get a speaker system of Herman Kardon. And above you get a sunroof. The style element here is so cool, actually, I really liked it. The pull-out door handles are placed vertically. Usually we have a horizontal one, we open it like this. And you also get a rose-gold-bronze accent, which is quite good. I really liked the interiors of this car. But the best part is ahead. And we will drive after that. But before we drive, let me tell you what the front row has to offer. Let's go. Now we will talk about the front row of Mini Countryman Electric. Let me be very honest here. The work they have done here in terms of design is very good. Because everything is very different. And here you will see in the beginning that there is a blue color on the front. And it becomes slightly beige on the back. And the transition is very sexy. Apart from that, the texture of the entire dashboard material is also very cloth-like. Which is very good, it's a very premium feeling. And it is very upmarket. If you look at the AC controls, AC vents, they are vertically flat. And the adjuster here is also very different. It's very nice. There is no screen in front of the steering wheel. You get a heads-up display here. All the control, infotainment and instrument cluster is fused in one. This is a 9-inch OLED circular screen. And you get all the features in it. AC features, mode selector, everything is available here. Here you get these switches, which are very cool. Your engine starts like this. And your gear selector, reverse, neutral, drive, starts like this. And below that, you get a wireless charger here. You get storage space here. You get cup holders here. Here you get a small storage space, which is magnetic. This armrest is movable. Both the front seats are power adjustable. And your steering wheel, it is also rake and reach adjustable. You can adjust its reach and rake according to your height. Now, I will talk about the features you get here. You get a small camera here, with which you can take photos. In this screen, you get wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. And there is automatic climate control. You also get two-zone climate control in this. And apart from that, you get ambient lighting here. So, in mini, you get experiences here. And if you go to the experience, then there is core, green, vivid, timeless, personal, balance, trail. And then, on the top of it, you have a core and again, Go Card. But now, I think I have covered most of the things that I have to say about the features that this offers. Now, it's time to ride this car and see what the electric countryman has to offer. Let's go. It runs on a 66.45 kWh battery. And all the power goes to the front wheels. The two wheels that are moving ahead. It produces 201 bhp power. It produces 250 Nm of torque. The company claims that it goes from 0 to 100 in 8.6 seconds. Let me tell you something. It also has drive modes. And every drive mode has its own sound, its own vibe. Like, if I put it in Go Card mode, then lights also come out of it. Because of which, the entire dashboard is made of red stripes. The fabric texture on it looks very good. But, first of all, I will talk about the efficient mode. So, you have to go to experiences in this. And in this, you have to go to green. Green is the most efficient mode. As soon as you go to green, it makes a small circle. It takes 1 second. And in 1 second, the car runs in efficient mode. Efficient mode is the most frugal mode for this car. You will get a little more range in this. Your driving dynamics will alter a little. In ways like, if you put the pedal down, it will take some time to deliver power. And the inputs of your electric steering are a little muted. But otherwise, let me be very clear. This car is not slow. Apart from that, there is a drive mode in this, which is Go Card. Go Card means Go Crazy. Basically, as soon as this is on, you will get a different sound. That yes, you are in Go Card mode. And apart from that, there is a sound of Go, which actually goes with the entire theme of the car. Because in Go Card mode, the range will be reduced a little. But all your driving inputs are catered to on the go. I mean, the steering is also a little active here. All your inputs are on tap and on demand. If you feel very precise steering on any side. And same goes with the pedal as well. You will tap in a little and that's how it is. That is exactly how it is. You will press the pedal a little and the amount of surge of power you get, it will throw you back on your seat. And Go Card mode is the best mode. You can easily clock 150-160 in this. And I would advise you not to because it is a big car. If I talk about braking, you get disc brakes in all four wheels. And they work very fine. Even if you drive in Go Card mode. And the reason you want to gun it or when you are driving at speed. Its confidence comes from that brake. Because you know whenever you want to drop the anchor, the brakes will come and work well. If I talk about suspension, the suspension is on the stiffer side of things. If you have big potholes, you will have to be a little careful with these things. That you don't gun it too much. Be a little careful, be a little mindful about it. But otherwise, the ride quality is very plush. It's as good as the roads are. Find a clean patch. If you find a clean patch, you drive it and you won't even know. On the other hand, if you are doing triple digits. And if the sunroof of the car is closed and the mirrors are also closed. So the cabin insulation is quite phenomenal. You don't even know what speed you are doing. Now let's talk about the niggles. Comms, caveats, whatever you say. First things first. The climate control buttons are not physical here. Here you get the audio controls physically. Harman Kardon's sound system. Phenomenal sound quality again. But the climate control buttons should also be physical. Considering that these small toggle switches are given here, which give a retro feel. If climate controls were also available, it would have been great. I would have liked it a lot. You tell me in the comments if you would have liked that. Because more tangible buttons with the retro feel of the car goes in hand with that. Second thing. There is one instrument cluster and infotainment unit here. That is, you get a heads-up display in front. But then again, to know the speed and other things of the car, you have to divert your head. I feel that the fuse of the instrument cluster and infotainment unit is something that is a talking point. I am not saying this as a negative. It is something to talk about. You let me know in the comments below what you think about it. Because this circular display looks very sexy. It gives that retro vibe and goes along with the theme of the car. But then again, do you think that the fusion of these two is a good idea? Apart from that, if I talk about it, I have very few complaints with the car. There is nothing that I am able to find fault with. It does everything well. If you want spirited driving, then there are modes for that. If you want energy efficient, then there are modes for that. The range is already claiming 450 km. But on the real world cycle, it will be around 400 km. Which is also a very nice practical range. If you charge it once and if your daily running is 50 km, so you don't have to go and charge again and again. Every 3 days or 4 days is just fine. And if you drive it comfortably, I think you can stretch those days as well. But that is my overall idea of what the car has to offer in terms of driving dynamics. So how does the Mini Countryman Electric look? First of all, I feel that it is a very polarizing opinion. Some people like this design a lot. Some people don't like it. You let me know in the comments below how you feel about its design. Do you think it's nice, sporty? Do you think it's blunt or a little too bland? Whatever it is, you tell me in the comments. And if you have any questions about it, you write to me on sumesh.s.myparkplus.com. I will give you all the answers. Be it performance, interior features, whatever it is. Now let's talk about what you get here. First of all, you get LED headlamps here. And you get LED DRLs. Apart from that, if you look at the small touches, there is a Mini written just below the LED headlamp. Which looks very beautiful. And plus, there are small accents in the plastic panel. Which looks very cool. You get a rose gold accent here. And you get an ADAS radar here. You get a sensor here. You get a camera here. And you get a rose gold finish on the lower bumper. Here too. And you get a circular rose gold finish on the whole bumper. If I talk about the bonnet above, there are lines here. They are not that aggressive lines. But then again, these are lines that add to the sporty nature of the car. Now, if I come to the side, you get 19-inch wheels here. But this is upgraded. Standard, you get 17-inch wheels. And look at the design of the alloys. Quite nice. And all four disc brakes. You get disc brakes on all four wheels. If you come here on the profile, you get these pull-out door handles. Which are very neatly designed. They look very good. The glass house, B-pillar, and there are no chrome accents here either. There is a piano black finish here. Looks very good. You get an ORVM here. This is an auto-dimming ORVM. And this also doubles up as an indicator. And you also get a camera here which helps you in blind spot corner detection. And apart from that, if I come here, you get a charging port here. It is compatible with DC and AC. This part here, this rear quarter glass, it adds to how airy it could be, or for that matter, it won't feel claustrophobic. Light also enters from here. And here you get a small black panel on which this design is given. Again, it's just a design element. I won't call it a shark fin up there. Probably the fin of a fish whose fin is not that sharp. It's a little blunt. If we come back, you get an integrated spoiler here. You get V-fog lines. You get a mini badging here. You get a Countryman logo here. You get a basic line. The rear part is kept very clean. Here again, you get Signature Countryman rear lamps, reflectors, and parking sensors as I said. There are parking sensors here as well. And if I talk about the boot space, you have to just press this and your boot space will open up. There's a lot of space here. You can easily fit three big bags, two big bags. And if I talk about the boot lip, it's a little high, so you might have to struggle a little to pick up the bag and keep it over here. That's the only qualm that I have with the boot area. But otherwise, I think it has quite the space for a family of three, I guess. That's about the exterior of the car. So, what do I think about the Mini Countryman Electric? To start with, I've driven it everywhere. On the highway, on the traffic, when there's an empty road, there, in congested areas. A few things that I would like to say is that first of all, the car has its own character. You'll enjoy driving it. That's the first thing. The second thing, it's packed with features. At 54.90 lakh, it is tailor-made. Actually, for the fans of the Mini, the fans of the Countryman, they've made it tailor-made here. You get wireless Android Auto, Apple CarPlay, Ambient Lighting, Harman & Kardon audio systems, and a 66.45 kWh battery, which produces 201 bhp of power, 250 Nm of torque. In terms of features and performance, I don't have any niggles or qualms. I have no niggles or qualms that I have with the car. A few things that I could say, the caveats are that there's no tactile button for climate control, and the instrument cluster and infotainment unit have been combined. So, you can get a little distracted from that. But these are very little things that I'm bickering about. But otherwise, I think this is a good proposition. The range is 452 km. Real world range is around 400 something. That's also good range in terms of practicality. But that's my time with this car. I'm going to see you on the next one. Subscribe to the channel, click the bell icon to stay updated to all the videos that we do. Follow Park Plus for more such content. I'll have whatever time I have left with this one.