The car’s appealing purchase price should be attractive enough but the MINI Countryman’s running costs don’t look too shabby either particularly if you opt for the entry level diesel model. To achieve the impressive fuel economy and efficiency MINI has included stop/start, brake regeneration and an optimum gearchange indicator.

Officially, the One D returns 64.2mpg – an excellent result for a fairly sizeable crossover – and the Cooper D mirrors that figure. Petrolwise, the story is just as positive: the entry level One has an official average fuel consumption of 47.1mpg, the Cooper 39mpg and the Cooper S 46.3mpg.

The diesel versions emit 115g/km of CO2, whereas the petrol-powered One emits 139g/km, the Cooper 140g/km and the Cooper S 143g/km. To put that in context, it means MINI Countryman emissions are very competitive with its rivals and make for some reasonable road tax costs.

You’re unlikely to get any grief as the MINI Countryman reliability record is pretty blemish free, although as we mentioned in the comfort section we got some interior buzzing from both cars we tested. Although irritating, we think this could be down to early pre-production models not being entirely sorted.

MINI has performed well in customer satisfaction surveys in the past and we expect that to continue with the Countryman.