Oct
31st
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A bigger Mini is fine, but it also needs to be a better Mini.
The idea of the Mini Countryman -- a larger, taller, all-wheel-drive Mini SUV -- caused much hand-wringing among the enthusiast community. It was a move against type for a brand that took delight in being the anti-SUV. But brand expansion is seemingly an immutable force, and Mini was not immune. When the Countryman finally appeared, it seemed at first to be a best-case scenario: the Mini of SUVs. But a vehicle this radical and this important -- the Countryman now accounts for a large chunk of the brand's sales -- demanded a yearlong examination. Could a bigger, four-door, all-wheel-drive vehicle still be Mini?
Photo Gallery: 2011 Mini Cooper S Countryman ALL4 - Bigger Doesn't Mean Better - Automobile Magazine
Photo Gallery: 2011 Mini Cooper S Countryman ALL4 - Bigger Doesn't Mean Better - Automobile Magazine