Mini Countryman 2020 review: Hybrid

It’s a small SUV that’s big on tech and also has a big price tag to reflect that.

The Countryman Hybrid sits second from the top of the small SUV’s model ranks, with a list price of $57,200 plus on-road costs. That’s pricey for a Mini, but decent for a plug-in hybrid from a premium brand.

The price reflects the amount of standard equipment you get, too. 

It has standard automatic LED headlights, auto rain-sensing wipers, an 8.8-inch touchscreen multimedia system with six speakers plus wireless Apple CarPlay and DAB+ digital radio, dual-zone climate control air conditioning, front and rear parking sensors with a reversing camera, an electric tailgate with kick sensor, keyless entry and push-button start, adaptive cruise control with stop-and-go functionality, and 18-inch alloy wheels with run-flat tyres (no spare wheel).

You also get standard roof rails, a leather steering wheel, fake leather trim and 40:20:40 rear split-fold seats - but there’s a difference between this variant and the other Countryman models. We’ll get to that in the interior section below. 

Our car had a few additional options, including a dual pane sunroof (like a panoramic sunroof, but with a gap across the body where the B-pillars are). 

Some may question it scoring 8/10 for its price and spec - and yeah, you could get a Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV for a bit less (from $45,990) - but you’re getting some pretty neat tech from a primo, desirable brand for your money.

The Hybrid isn’t as practical as other Countryman models.

It has less rear headroom (941mm vs 972mm) as well as a millimetre less knee room and shoulder room than the other models. 

But the bigger issue is that the Countryman Hybrid doesn’t have a sliding second row seat, which means you can’t adjust the second row space. It’s a fixed seat that is positioned higher than the other models in the line-up, and it also has a smaller boot - 405 litres of cargo capacity, compared with 450L in the other variants (with seats in their rearmost position).

That’s down to the fact this model has a battery pack under the back seat, and the boot is slightly 10 per cent smaller due to packaging all that tech into the back, too. That means we couldn’t fit all three of our suitcases in the boot, where that feat was possible in a ‘normal’ Countryman. The pram still fit, and the boot space is still good by small SUV standards.

The fact is the regular Countryman’s interior packaging intelligence is one of the main reasons to buy it, and that the Hybrid doesn’t have those particular smarts is disappointing. It does have other smarts, though, and we’ll get to them in the driving section below. 

The space in the second row is still okay - not ‘mini’, but fine for adults for shorter journeys. I’m six-feet tall and my knees were wedged against the driver’s seat, and my head was brushing the ceiling (our car had the optional sunroof package). Smaller occupants, or children, should be fine in the back, and there are dual ISOFIX child seat anchors and three top-tether points. 

The space in the second row is fine for adults for shorter journeys.

The back seat has decent door pockets and map pockets, but there’s no central cupholder section or fold down armrest. There are rear seat vents and a pair of USB-C charging points.

Up front there is good storage - a pair of cupholders down near your knees, a cubby in front, a covered armrest with a wireless phone charging dock (though, unlike some cars, it doesn’t remind you that you’ve left your phone in there!), plus a storage box below that. There are big door pockets up front, too.

Anyone who has been in a Mini before will come to terms with the ergonomics of the space pretty easily, and the fact there’s the choice of the controller for the screen or you can touch it to get where you need to is a nice factor. 

Up front there is good storage.

The Mini Countryman Hybrid combines petrol and electricity, which the brand describes as “the Mini you know, reimagined for the roads of tomorrow”.

The petrol part of the equation is a 1.5-litre three-cylinder turbo engine, which is familiar from other models in the Mini range. It produces 100kW of power (at 6000rpm) and 220Nm of torque (from 1300-4300rpm), and is paired to a six-speed automatic transmission that drives the front wheels.

The 1.5-litre three-cylinder turbo engine, teamed an electric motor has a total output of 165kW/385Nm.

The electric element is a motor with 65kW of power and 165Nm of torque, which is powered by a 7.6kWh lithium-ion battery pack. It turns the rear wheels and according to Mini there is up to 40 kilometres of range available on electric power alone in the 2019 model, though a bigger-battery version is due in 2020 with a claimed 47km of range. 

The reason it justifies that S badge is that it has a combined power output of 165kW and peak combined torque of 385Nm. It’s pretty neat that you’ve got a RWD electric setup, a FWD petrol setup, or a hybrid AWD model. And the performance figures are strong, too - the 0-100 time is 6.9 seconds, according the Mini, which is pretty speedy. 

Let’s talk about the claims before we get to the real world.

Mini says you’ll be able to get fuel economy of just 2.5 litres per 100 kilometres based on the combined cycle test because the battery pack will get you a way, then the petrol engine will take over.

Here’s why that sets an unrealistic expectation. Even in the best case scenario, that will only ever be the case for the first 100km, because the following 100km will see the engine working to pull the extra weight of the electric system. 

I managed to get just 25km of electric range from a full charge.

It mightn’t matter to you if plan to primarily drive around town, and I can totally understand that. Just don’t expect to see that sort of fuel use if you head out of town for the weekend.

I did exactly that - a bunch of urban driving and a longer trip down the coast to see what the real expectation would be.  

I managed to get just 25km of electric range from a full charge. Yep, nowhere close to 40km, and we didn’t even see that on the screen. And that meant my petrol use for the first 100km was 6.0L/100km, and it increased to 7.2L/100km over the second hundred (with average electricity consumption of 3.7kWh/100km, according to the onboard computer).

Mini says you’ll be able to get fuel economy of just 2.5 litres per 100 kilometres based on the combined cycle.

Let me say this, though - my commute to work is eight kilometres return - so if I owned the car I could feasibly travel three days to work and back on about $2.80 worth of electricity. That’s pretty amazing, but it’s not for everyone.

As for charging there is a Mini wallbox that allows recharging in two hours 15 minutes, while a regular plug will do the job from empty in three-and-a-quarter hours. It has a Type 2 plug and cannot be fast recharged as there is no DC capability.

The Mini Countryman has a five-star ANCAP crash test rating, which was awarded to it in 2017 - but that didn’t include the Hybrid version (in fact, the ANCAP score oddly stipulates “Cooper D variants only”).

Standard safety equipment for the Countryman includes low speed auto emergency braking (AEB - known as City Crash Mitigation) with pedestrian detection, forward collision warning, adaptive cruise control with stop and go functionality, auto high beam headlights, semi-autonomous parking, speed limit recognition, a reversing camera, and front and rear parking sensors. 

The Mini comes with a reversing camera, plus front and rear parking sensors.

There’s also six airbags (dual front, front side and full-length curtain), dual ISOFIX child seat anchor points, three top tether points.