The Mini Countryman
(credit: www.autoblog.com)
This is the complete opposite of a Mini. The Morris Mini Minor is my one of my favorite English sports cars, and I like the Minor because it is little, cute, and is a very capable rally car, plus, the Union Jack on the roof! The Countryman is none of those things. The new Mini grille looks like it has a constant frown, paraphrasing from Top Gear: (in a sad Richard Hammond voice) "I hate being a Mini! All the big cars pick on me and steal my petrol money! And last night a dog peed on my wheel! I think Morris went downhill when they were purchased by BMW. It is also a crossover, frequent readers of my blogs know my opinion about crossovers: https://badpopularcars.blogspot.com. This car almost looks pudgy and nonathletic. The Morris Mini Minor was also a likeable car. Mr. Bean ran over that Reliant Robin in one. The Countryman? not so much. Mr. Bean would probably run over the Countryman with his original Mini (or attempt to). The Countryman wouldn't do very well in a FIA style rally either. With a 1.6 liter I-4 engine, the John Cooper Works model (top of the line) produces 202 horsepower and weighs 3263 lbs. It does 0-60 in 6.8 seconds, the top of the line Toyota Camry, which has a V-6, costs less, and is only front-wheel drive beats the expensive Countryman by one whole second in 0-60 times. Also due to the Countryman's 12.4 gallon gas tank, not only would it run out of gas, The Camry (which is not even a rally car, by the way) would for sure beat the Countryman in a rally.
Do you have any thoughts about cars? What drives you crazy? I welcome any respectful comments so keep it clean!
One post on this blog, one post on A Good Popular Blog About Good Popular Cars a week, so stay tuned!
Ha ha! What a great blog! I shared it at work and everyone was laughing!!
ReplyDeletethanks!
DeleteNeat!
ReplyDeletethanks!
DeleteWhere did you learn to write like that. It sure is great fun to read 'em.
ReplyDeletethank you for the complement, also I am self taught
DeleteAwesome writing!
ReplyDeleteThanks!
DeleteWhat do you think of the Porsche 944?
ReplyDeletecorrection, it's GREAT!
DeleteHave you seen the BMW x6? Uhghlee
ReplyDeleteyup! I have to agree with you there.
DeleteHave you seen the BMW x6? Uhghlee
ReplyDeleteThe Mini's just seem like they are trying too hard. Can cars have a Napoleon complex?
ReplyDeletepossibly. However, if cars have a personalty, an Alfa Romeo is that guy who is always sick.
DeleteThe charger is captain of the football team. The camaro is prom king
ReplyDeleteThe Challenger is the track star, the Viper is is questionably sane. This gives me an idea for a post about car personalities.
DeleteI have to agree on this one my friend. Usually in engineering one is optimizing for something when playing with the horsepower to weight ratio. When I saw the Countryman I was taken by the marketing name first. I was imagining chickens or pigs in the back with a shovel and a bag of feed or a bale of hay on top. Then I though "this is for one of those crazy city dwellers who drive out of Boston like bats out of hell to pick apples in the fall". For some in Boston, ease of parallel parking is more important than going fast and looking good, apparently. But you didn't mention the turning ratio so I am not even sure this is a good parallel parker either. That was a low blow to compare the Country Bumpkin to the highest volume produced car in the history of mankind.
ReplyDeleteI saw one turning at Market Basket, and the wheels took a full 15 seconds to turn from straight to full left lock
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