• Plenty of headroom
• Generous rear legroom
• Hybrid has less boot space

How much space is there?

Plenty. The second-generation Countryman has more headroom than its predecessor thanks to a higher roofline – and there’s lots of leg and shoulder room for front seat passengers. The seats have ample levels of adjustment, too. The car’s proportions are a little strange, though. It’s upright windscreen makes the cabin appear more cramped than a conventionally shaped SUV like the Audi Q2.

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Two adults can easily fit on the rear seats and they shouldn’t get sore backs on a long journey as there’s a generous amount legroom. Squeezing a third passenger onto the bench is uncomfortable, though. The middle seat is rather narrow and there isn’t quite enough shoulder room to go around.

Boot space and storage

The standard MINI Countryman’s boot can carry 450 litres of luggage with the rear seats in place and 1,390 with the bench folded flat. That makes it competitive with its crossover rivals (including the Ford Puma, which offers 456 litres of space courtesy of its clever Megabox system), although it can’t quite match up to larger five-seat family SUVs such as the SEAT Ateca and its 510-litre boot.

The plug-in hybrid Countryman sacrifices some storage space to make room for the battery pack. Capacity falls to 405 litres with the rear bench upright and 1,275 litres with its stowed. However, every version of the car comes with a 40/20/40 split folding rear bench, which gives you the option of carrying both passengers and cargo if you need to.

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MINI has also designed some clever storage extras for the Countryman, such as a variable height boot floor, tie-down points and an electrically opening tailgate with a kick sensor. That means you can stagger back to the car with armfuls of shopping and fling them straight into the boot by simply waggling your foot under the rear bumper.

There’s also an optional Activity Pack, which adds a larger capacity fuel tank, a luggage net and a sliding rear bench seat which can liberate a little more space in the boot if you push it all the way forwards. There’s also a cushion that folds out from beneath the boot floor and onto the boot lip to give you somewhere to perch while you change out of your muddy shoes after a dog walk.

Is it easy to park?

Yes. Thanks to the Countryman’s upright design, you can see much more of its bonnet, which makes it easy to judge where the front corners are when parking. Rear visibility is reasonable too – the rear screen and side windows are a good size.

Rear parking sensors are standard across the range, but you can only have a rear-view camera if you splash out on MINI’s pricey Premium Plus Pack. The cost of the option package differs depending on which model of Countryman you start with, ranging between £1,000 (if you’re bolting it to a Sport model) and £3,300 (if you’re adding it to the range topping JCW variant).

Safety?

• Five-star Euro NCAP rating
• Good physical crash protection
• But some technology oversights

The MINI Countryman performed well when it was last crash tested in 2019, achieving a five-star rating. The testers were particularly impressed with the design of its headrests, which provide good protection against whiplash in the front and rear.

Standard safety equipment includes a brace of airbags, two Isofix points in the rear, adaptive cruise control and autonomous emergency braking. However, it costs extra to have an Isofix point in the front and you can’t have the car with lane-keeping assist. If the Countryman was retested by Euro NCAP today, we reckon this latter oversight would drag its score down.

Watch: MINI Countryman Euro NCAP crash test video