2025 Mini JCW Countryman All4: The fun car that literally shouts ‘Woo-hoo!’
It’s as enjoyable as you thought, maybe faster than you expected, and definitely bigger than you think.
2025 Mini JCW Countryman All4 vs. 2025 Volkswagen Golf R: Fun things in small packages?
This week: Mini Countryman
Price: $51,995 as tested. The Iconic trim added privacy glass, power front seats, and interior camera for $2,400; Comfort Package Max added keyless entry, wireless charging, and parking assistant and driving assist pro for $900; spoke wheels with sport tires added $600.
Conventional wisdom: Car and Driver likes that it’s “quick and fun to drive,” with “premium cabin ambiance,” and is “spacious inside even in the back.” They are less impressed by its “harsh ride on 20-inch wheels, some plasticky materials inside, commonly standard driver-assists are optional here.”
Marketer’s pitch: “Get your heart racing.”
Reality: Your heart and every passengers’. And other drivers’. And any bystanders.
What’s new: I put these two vehicles together not as size matches but as fun and price matches (less than $500 difference).
I’ve always loved Minis, and especially the Countryman, but this is my first time in a John Cooper Works (aka JCW) version of any of them.
The Countryman also is revamped for 2025, along with the rest of the Mini lineup, and the company touts its bigger size and better handling and road gripping.
Competition: In addition to the Golf R, there’s the Alfa Romeo Tonale, Audi Q3, BMW X1 and X2, Cadillac XT4, Lexus UX, Mercedes-Benz GLA, Subaru WRX, and Volvo XC40.
Up to speed: Oh, the Countryman remains as delightful as ever. The regular Countryman has just 241 horsepower, and it’s still pretty lively. Outta my way, everyone, because it’s impossible to not smush the accelerator.
But the JCW punches it up. The twin-turbo 2.0-liter four-cylinder creates 312 horsepower, quite a lot for a little crossover. Car and Driver says it gets to 60 mph in 4.6 seconds. But they also note that sadly it’s a little slower than before.
Opening the throttle, though, does lead the Countryman to sway from side to side. It literally feels like you’re being powered by legs, left then right. Not sure every driver is up to this challenge.
Shifty: Speaking of challenges … In a world where I’m becoming accustomed to EV smoothness, Mini wants to make the Countryman’s seven-speed automatic feel like a stick. Dual-clutch transmissions can be a little rough, although the fancier ones are not. This one landed right about in the middle, sharp but not wholly unpleasant.
The shift control is a toggle under the infotainment system. I like the console-mounted toggles from Audi and BMW, but this one takes away so many functional toggles for things like lights and windows that add to the Mini charm.
On the road: The Countryman is fun, and the JCW edition kicks it up a notch or three. This one had Go-Kart mode, which starts off with a prerecorded “Woo-hoo!” Followed by Mr. Driver’s Seat’s “Woo-hoo!”
But even forgoing that mode, simply switching the gearshift switch to Sport mode from Drive made the small crossover a real blast.
Driver’s Seat: People who are impressed by snazzy graphics and a big touchscreen will enjoy the new interface in the center of the Countryman.
Of course, I appreciated the beauty — making full use of the Mini circle this time, rather than just a rectangle cut from it — but the user friendliness left a lot to be desired.
The cloth seat is super grippy without feeling invasive like, say, the Alfa Stelvio, but still it really wants to hold you in place.
Friends and stuff: The Countryman is not as Mini as you’d think. Rear-seat accommodations are generous, with plenty of legroom, headroom, and foot room. The seat also provides comfort, although it’s a little flat. Two settings allow for a bit of choice of seat angle. The seat backs are individualized so that makes for lots of choices.
The shifter toggle does make more space in the small Mini console, but the space is unhelpfully divided into a tiny storage box and then another spot underneath the armrest.
Cargo space is 23 cubic feet behind the rear seat and 56 when the seat is folded.
Putting the seats down is when you pay for those individual seat backs; pull not one, not two, but three straps to fold down each section of the seat individually. And pull them again to raise them back up.
In and out: The Countryman is at a great level for getting in and out.
Play some tunes: Sound from the system is really nice, definitely an A, and that was even before I could access the sound controls.
Once you track those down — I could only catch them upon start-up, before plugging in my phone — they’re really hard to operate on the fly. I was forever sliding the sliders too far and accessing operations I never meant to, and the graphic equalizer was equally difficult.
Keeping warm and cool: The lower arcs of the round screen offer heat controls, and a very tiny seat heater icon that I never noticed until the Lovely Mrs. Passenger Seat pointed it out to me.
Fuel economy: Swipe the screen to the right and you’ll get to other information, and over there is fuel economy. The vehicle was averaging 22.3 mpg over 700 miles, of which I put on maybe 200, so you’re paying for the acceleration.
The one final indignity of the Countryman’s tiny graphics: When I went to refuel, I looked at the little corner of the gas tank fill level icon to try finding which side the gas filler is on. (In case you weren’t aware, the icon sports a triangle pointing you to the side with the filler cap.) I really had to press my face up close to the screen for that visual.
Where it’s built: Leipzig, Germany. Only 1% of parts come from the U.S. or Canada; 18% come from Germany, including the engine and transmission.
How it’s built: Consumer Reports predicts the reliability on the Countryman to be a 3 out of 5.
Next week: Volkswagen Golf R