Time for a round of ‘spot the difference’ folks. Mini has unveiled refreshed versions of both the Paceman and Countryman (which come hot on the heels of the redesigned Cooper and soon-to-be-tweaked Clubman) but you’d better have your eyes peeled to see what’s new.
The changes to both models are fairly minor; starting with the Paceman — the world’s first Sports Activity Coupé in the premium compact segment — Mini has given the eye-catcher a revised hexagonal grille, new headlights, new 17in alloy wheels (19in light alloys are also available), not to mention optional exterior features such as LED parking lights, fog lamps with daytime running lights as well as new exterior paint colours — Jungle Green metallic, Starlight Blue metallic and Midnight Grey metallic.
Skid plates have been installed on the John Cooper Works all-wheel-drive versions while the interior has been mildly tweaked and now packs sportier seats, better soundproofing, darker dials for the gauge cluster and some chrome trim for the ventilation controls.
As for the Countryman, the exterior upgrades are pretty much the same as the Paceman (it also gets the same protective plates for the JCW variant) but now you can customise it with contrasting colours for the roof and side mirror caps.
You can add bonnet stripes if you really want but if they don’t impress much, the
boot space sure will; it can be extended from 350 litres to 1,170 with the seats dropped.
Under the bonnet, they both feature the same 1.6-litre twin-scroll turbocharged
four-pot but it now offers 187bhp.
That may be only a measly three horses more than before and if you want more go, you’d better opt for the JCW models, which produce 215bhp. They’ll be mated to either a six-speed automatic or manual transmission.
The freshened-up pair should be making their Middle East debuts by the end of the year.
