Every time wheels travels to Europe to test-drive a newly launched model, one of the highlights of the trip invariably ends up being a sneaky drive around the block in some diesel or other. Say you're testing the new Audi S8 in Spain — well, the ‘shuttles' will naturally be a fleet of diesel A6s or Q7s. Diesel engines are amazing these days and we always return to Dubai moaning about their absence here.
I had a similar experience with Mini this year too: the Coupé JCW blew my socks off, the Coupé Cooper S couldn't live up to its hardcore sibling, but the diesel Coupé Cooper SD put the socks back on just so it could blow them off again. It made so much sense in the real world. Then I tasted the Countryman in the same oil-burner flavour, and I ended up ruining yet another pair of clean socks. The Countryman is, in short, better than the BMW X1. Even if you can't have it with the sensible diesel engine, you can still choose a Cooper S version that drives pretty much as well as a hatchback Cooper S, except you get a higher vantage point. That's it, really. Mini, as expected, managed to make a crossover (that actually can handle dirt trails and ruts) feel like a car, whereas BMW managed to make the X1 feel like a Roman chariot — thank runflat tyres and seemingly missing suspension for that.
Then there's the fact that everyone wants to be seen in a Mini these days, because their ads are hypnotic and the personalisation options mirror the ones on the more youthful hatch, drop-top and Coupé models. This means that even though the Countryman is the thinking/family man's Mini, you can still have four colours adorning yours (look at our one: green, white, red, with black trim — someone spilled paint in the factory), and then go ahead and spec an entire catalogue worth of accessories. Every man and his dog drives a crossover these days, but with the Countryman, at least your crossover can be one with character and personality. And if it had a diesel engine, then it'd be a rarer sight than a Veyron.