MINI Countryman - Boot space, comfort & practicality

While traditionalists may still moan about the MINI Countryman using the brand name synonymous with small cars for a chunky mid-size SUV, buyers of this type of car will be pleased about this five-seat versatility, making it a much more practical proposition than the brand’s smallest MINI Cooper supermini.

There are a few traits of other MINI models in the Countryman, such as the windscreen that seems more upright than those of rivals, along with chunky front pillars that you’ll have to look around when navigating around roundabouts or when pulling out of junctions. There’s a decent amount of adjustability in the driving position, but in order to get lumbar adjustment, you’ll need to add the Level 3 pack to the mid-range Exclusive trim. Doing so also gets you electric adjustment with a driver’s side memory function.

LED headlights are standard, but the Level 1 pack includes more advanced adaptive headlights to improve visibility at night without dazzling oncoming traffic. Parking sensors are included all around, as well as a reversing camera.

Dimensions and size

At 4,444mm long, the MINI Countryman is around 100mm longer than its predecessor and is now longer than the Volvo XC40. The Countryman isn’t quite as wide as the XC40 (1,843mm versus 1,910mm), but it is taller, at 1,661mm versus 1,657mm.

Seats, leg room, head room & passenger space

Parents looking to use the MINI Countryman as a family car will be pleased to find that it's a genuinely roomy car, with lots of elbow room in the back in order to carry three people abreast. That middle seat occupant will also find a dedicated cut-out beneath the central console to give them somewhere to put their feet. 

The rear backrest can be made to recline in order to increase passenger comfort, while adding any one of the ‘Level’ packs to mid-range Exclusive gives you a sliding rear seat that you can use to increase leg room for those in the second row.

There’s an ISOFIX child seat mounting point on the front passenger seat and two more points located on the outer positions of the rear bench.

Boot space

A 450-litre boot in the MINI Countryman means it should have plenty of space for five people’s luggage. The cargo area is square with flat sides, making it easy to pack, and the floor is only slightly below the boot entrance meaning there isn’t an awkward lip to lift items over. Lift the false boot floor and there’s a deep hidden storage compartment beneath.

If you need even more capacity, you can drop the flexible 40:20:40 split rear seat backs for up to 1,450 litres of space. A powered tailgate is standard.

As mentioned in the previous section, adding the Level 1 pack to the mid-range Exclusive trim means that you can get a sliding rear bench seat to increase boot space if you don’t have anyone tall in the back. The seats slide in a 60/40 split, which means they don’t all move individually from one another, unlike the seat backs.