Advert
The MINI Countryman SE ALL4 is an all-electric, all-wheel drive MINI SUV, which aims to offer more space than the previous model while still retaining the fun MINI driving experience.
The original MINI was a genuinely small car, which got bigger with each new generation. Then came the Clubman, a new take on the MINI estate, and the five-door MINI hatch. And then the Countryman was introduced – a MINI SUV, and the largest of the lot. Now this model has grown (again) – the debate about whether it’s really a MINI will rage on, but is it a good car?
As well as growing in size – most notably in the boot department when viewed from the side (the boot is now 460 litres, or 1,450 litres if you fold down the rear seats, with space under the boot floor for charging cables) – the new, third-generation MINI Countryman has also grown in personality. The exterior looks sharper – especially with the John Cooper Works styling details and the large 20-inch alloys – and the interior shows that EVs can have character. The large circular central touchscreen is the stand-out feature on the dashboard, but creative design input has been applied to the entire cockpit.
The 2024 MINI Countryman is based on the BMW X1 platform and has a 64.6 kWh battery and all-wheel drive in the case of the SE ALL4 model. It has a towing capacity of 1,500 kg.
The favourite phrase of MINI’s PR department over the years has been the brand’s ‘go-kart’ driving experience. This is a relatively easy engineering task to achieve for a small MINI three-door hatch, but not so easy for a much larger SUV such as the Countryman. However a genuine effort has been made to keep the steering sharp and responsive, and even though the SUV no longer has a ‘wheel at each corner’, body control through the corners is impressive. Although the driver’s seat would benefit from being able to go lower, overall there’s still fun to be had with the Countryman’s driving experience – despite its 2,075 kg weight.
The electric powertrain offers instant responses, with 302 hp and 494 Nm of torque delivering a 0-62 mph acceleration time of 5.6 seconds (assisted by a boost button on the steering wheel). Grip is good thanks to the all-wheel drive system, and the ride quality is comfortable unless the low profile tyres are caught out by severe pot holes or bumps. Life on the motorway is refined and quiet, although there’s some road noise from the large tyres on certain surfaces.
The main feature on the dashboard is a large central circular touchscreen, inspired by the original MINI, and you also gain a small ‘head up’ display above the steering wheel, which mainly just provides speed and basic satnav directions.
Underneath the central screen is a row of toggle switches, again based on MINIs of old. You start the Countryman by twisting the central switch – intentionally reminiscent of the key in an old MINI. On the right of this switch is a toggle switch for the gear selector – push it down for ‘D’, and push it down again for ‘B’ (increased brake regeneration). On the right of this switch is a (very small) ‘P’ button.
On the left of the start/stop switch is the ‘Experience’ switch. Drive modes of Eco, Comfort and Sport are evidently not sufficiently exciting for car buyers these days. Instead the Countryman’s default experience mode is Core, and if you push the switch down there are additional modes of Green, Vivid, Timeless, Personal, Balance and Trail. If you push the switch up, you’ll find Go Kart mode.
‘Go Kart’ mode, the car’s exclamation of “woo hoo” upon selection, and the simulated noise when accelerating, probably gives people a feel of what to expect in this ‘experience’. Green is also fairly self-explanatory (although the animated bird flapping its wings on the screen looks like its expending a lot of energy). You could also take an informed guess at what Trail and Balance mean. But Vivid? Timeless? What are these?, and how do these change the driving settings?
If you had satnav or Apple CarPlay on the screen (Apple CarPlay appears as a square format in the middle of the circular screen), this will disappear after selecting a different Experience mode, and different images will instead appear including retro styles of digital speedometers or hills with a sunset – so you’ll need to re-select satnav. If you select Balance, the seat will start pummelling your back with a massage. You can’t seem to stop this by selecting another mode, and in fact it’s not that easy to find any way of stopping this massage at all. You’ll have to go to the home button, which then brings up a button with six dots, which you’ll need to press, which then gives you a long list of apps, which you’ll need to scroll down to find ‘seat comfort’, and then deselect massage.
There are no separate climate controls. There are graphics at the bottom left and right of the screen that you can press to adjust cabin temperature (with very, very small icons for seat heating next to these), and there are five shortcut buttons at the bottom of the screen including one with a fan symbol which takes you to a separate climate screen.
There’s no BMW iDrive-style controller; although the infotainment system looks impressive, there are a few areas that could be guilty of ‘style over substance’. When the car arrived, it was particularly hard to find radio controls on the touchscreen. An icon for the radio can actually be found in the long list of apps, accessible via the home button and then the apps button, but there’s too much button-pressing to get to this. You can select the radio app to be displayed in the shortcut buttons, but this later disappeared.
Under the toggle switches there’s a button that helpfully brings up the ability to switch off the lane departure warning system and the speed limit warning.
The MINI Countryman SE ALL4 has a WLTP combined electric driving range of 251 miles. After a week of mixed driving, the real-world range average was 220 miles.
The MINI Countryman SE ALL4 has a maximum rapid charging rate of 130 kW, with a 10% to 80% charge taking 29 minutes.
The MINI Countryman SE ALL4 is priced at £46,600, but our test car had £9,600 worth of options including 20-inch John Cooper Works alloy wheels (£600), Sport package (£3,700) and ‘Level 3’ trim including Panoramic Glass Sunroof, Folding Wing Mirrors, Electric Memory Seats, Front Heated Seats, High Speed Charging, Adaptive LED Headlights, Parking Assistant Plus, Harman/Kardon Surround Sound Audio System, MINI Head-up Display and MINI Navigation AR (£5,300), taking the total price of our test car to £56,200.
The MINI Countryman Electric is available as E or SE ALL4 models, with Classic, Exclusive and Sport trim levels, starting at £41,500.
The MINI Countryman SE ALL4 offers character, a fun and refined driving experience, good grip from the all-wheel drive system, practical amounts of space, a decent driving range, and of course zero tailpipe emissions. The cockpit, along with the central circular touchscreen, benefits from creative design, but there are some elements of the infotainment system that could be seen as style over substance. The MINI Countryman SE ALL4 is awarded a Green Car Guide rating of 9 out of 10.
Drive an EV for less than you think with Select Car Leasing 
Save 20-50% on an EV through salary sacrifice with The Electric Car Scheme 
ClearWatt supports buyers, sellers and owners of EVs with app-based battery health testing and detailed EV data insights available for every used EV in the UK. Take the stress out of buying a used EV with ClearWatt and save 10% on all their products with promo code “GCG10”. 
Zapmap: UK's No.1 EV charging points app 2025. Zapmap helps EV drivers search for EV chargers, plan longer journeys and pay for charging. 
With Pod, you're in good hands. With over 15 years of EV charging experience, drivers trust Pod to keep their EVs charged and ready to go. 
Paul Clarke, GreenCarGuide Editor
