I absolutely love my S Countryman and I was very displeased when he started talking up another car in the middle of his review.

+candidcomment Remember that this is a US market Countryman and US competitors are what we're talking about here. In this market this is as fast as a Honda CR-V, Mazda CX-5, VW Tiguan, etc and considerably slower than most versions of the GLA, X1, Q3, etc that are the MINI's luxury competition. In the US market 7 seconds is not terribly quick when the average American market minivan will do it in 6.5-6.9 seconds.

Looked at some common minivans in the US, none does 0-62 under 7 seconds, mostly 7.3-8 seconds. Everything under 8 seconds should be considered quick, and calling the Mini "not quick" is just weird. The GLA, X1 and so on seem to be $5-10000 more expensive and do 0-62 in 6.3-7 seconds, which doesn't make the Mini considerably slower". You seem to make up facts based on your general feel of the car. Not very factual...

Why are you comparing a premium subcompact crossover to a minivan? The BMW X1 does this in 6.7, the GLA in 6.5. Both are direct competitors to the Mini. Beyond that however a V6 Accord, Camry, Altima or Chrysler 200 are a full second faster. The average luxury branded crossover sold in America by volume is about a second faster. So while 0-60 in 7 seconds may be quick for some world markets, in the USA it is not.

As far as minivans go, our independant 0-60 clocks the Sienna at 6.9, Town & Country at 6.8, the Sedona at 7.6. The average 0-60 time of the last 160 cars we have tested at Alex On Autos is 6.89, so calling this slower than average is far from a misstatement.

For starters YOU compared the Mini to a minivan - "7 seconds is not terribly quick when the average American market minivan will do it in 6.5-6.9 seconds" Secondly, you said that the Countryman is "considerably slower than most versions of the GLA, X1, Q3". The X1 20i is actually SLOWER than the Countryman S. The 28i is faster, but 0.5 seconds isn't really "considerably faster"... $10'000 is considerably more expensive though. The Audi Q3 2.0T does 0-62 in 7.8 seconds. To clarify, that's than the Mini. Get your facts right rather than saying "in US car be very much fast yes you europe car so slow"