Mini Countryman Electric long-term test

The car Mini Countryman Electric Exclusive Run by Chris Haining, sub-editor

Why it’s here To find out whether Mini's electric family SUV has what it takes as a comfortable, versatile daily workhorse 

Needs to Handle a long motorway commute without stopping to recharge; be at home in the great outdoors as it is in the urban jungle

Mileage 8912 List price £35,505 Target Price £35,505 Price as tested £49,600 Official range 286 miles Test range 242 miles  Dealer price now £34,670 Private price now £30,818 Running costs (excl. depreciation) Electricity £744.96

17 March 2025 – How did it measure up?

“Ooh, hasn’t he grown!” – the squeal of many an aunt when confronted with a young nephew they’ve not seen for a while. I heard it a lot as a kid, along with “what, do you sleep in a grow bag?” and “does your mum put Baby Bio on your cereal?”. And in this way, I have sympathy for the Mini Countryman Electric.

My neighbours, my parents, the postman and various friends and acquaintances all said “That enormous thing’s a Mini?” with incredulity in their voices. And, yes… it is a big car. On reaching the office car park, I’ve occasionally parked next to a Volvo XC40 SUV and been struck by how similar in size the two cars are. 

Thing is, though, if the Countryman was much smaller, it wouldn’t serve the family SUV role as capably as it does. When anybody voices dissent that a Mini should be so vast in 2025, I have to remind them that “Mini” is a brand name, not a description, and most families would find the original, tiny Mini saloon of 1959 pretty useless as family transport these days. 

I, on the other hand, found my Countryman E very useful indeed. There’s enough interior room for five members of the Isombard Kingdom Brunel fan club, complete with stovepipe hats, even if they’re on the long-legged side. And it wasn’t very long after receiving the keys before it proved its worth as a load-lugger; with the seats folded down, a cargo of six dining room chairs barely touched the sides.

It quickly showed its practical side, then, but the fun part of its personality was never far away. In fact, it was more entertaining on the flowing country roads that I’m lucky enough to have on my doorstep than the petrol-engined (previous generation) Mini Cooper 5-door hatch I ran as a company car a few years ago. Despite its (much) greater bulk, the Countryman feels that much more willing to get stuck in when tipped into a corner, and its 201bhp – and all that electric torque at hand from the very instant you apply foot to accelerator – it slingshots its way out of bends in a way I’d not previously experienced since my first go in a supercharged Mini Cooper S about twenty years ago.

Astonishingly, through the steering wheel, it still feels like a Mini. That being despite the fact that it’s actually a BMW iX1 under the surface. And, although I’ve not driven the two family SUVs back-to-back, the words of my road-tester colleagues suggest that the Countryman E has a comfier ride than the iX1. Some of the worst crevasses of the Essex back-roads give rise to a bit of bounciness that you feel more in your neck than through your buttocks, but it’s pretty settled on the motorway. And given the miles that I rack up commuting, that was more important to me. 

What’s more, I reckon it lives up to the Countryman name by being perfectly at home when rural roads get slippery and ragged, such as they do in winter. Crawling away from a halt on mud or ice is free of drama, thanks to the completely linear response of its accelerator pedal, and the wide tyres bring lots of traction. That said, this is easily overcome if you put your foot down a little too hard when turning right or left at a T-junction.  

It was winter, too, that brought my biggest gripe – the notable effect that cold weather has on the Countryman E’s stamina. If the overnight temperature dipped below 7deg C. or so, the estimated range on a full charge from my Indra home charger never exceeded 200 miles, and the reality was substantially less than that. From doing a “there and back” trip on a single charge, then, I was resigned to regular – and expensive – charging sessions at service stations. Mind you, even in warmer weather, the closest I ever saw to its official 280-mile range was 242 miles.

The other major misgiving that I had at the beginning, has recently subsided somewhat. At the time of taking delivery, the Countryman E Exclusive started at an eye-watering £44,600, and the extras on mine took it to tear-inducing £49,600. As I write this, though, Mini has slashed its pricing, and my car would now cost £41,095. That price makes it way more competitive against such rivals as the Renault Scenic and Volvo EX40, and I’d urge you to try the Countryman E if you want a practical and genuinely fun to drive electric SUV. Just so long as lengthy motorway trips aren’t your daily routine.

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