In April, MINI rolled out the facelifted MINI Countryman and Paceman models. The refreshed five-door "Maxi MINI" made its debut in New York, while its coupe sister was unveiled in Beijing. In terms of looks, this facelift is one of the more minor ones we've seen lately.
We'll focus on the more mainstream Countryman, as most of the changes on the Paceman are similar. The hexagonal radiator grille gets a new structure while a horizontal chrome rib in the Cooper S and SD, along with a curved "S" in red, help to mark the variant out. In the John Cooper Works, the rib is in red and there's a JCW logo. In all other model variants, the grille is subdivided by two ribs, finished in gloss black on the One/One D and matte silver for the Cooper/Cooper D.
In conjunction with ALL4 AWD, all visual underride guard elements for the front/rear apron and side sills are now standard except for on the JCW (Paceman doesn't need this, doesn't get it). Paint choices have been expanded with the addition of Jungle Green (hero colour, seen above) and Midnight Grey, while Starlight Blue is now available on the Countryman for the first time. A new customisation option is Piano Black Exterior with high-gloss black for selected surfaces.
The Cooper/Cooper D Countryman come with 16-inch 5-Star Air Spoke Design wheels, offering the advantage of reduced weight and optimised aerodynamic properties. The 17-inch 5-Star Triangle Spoke Design wheels for the Cooper S/Cooper SD are also lighter than their predecessors. LED fog lights with parking and daytime driving lights in LED are available as an optional extra for the first time.
In the cabin, acoustic comfort has been refined, and the displays and controls have been redesigned. All variants now have anthracite-coloured dials in the style of the JCW, which central instrument now also bears the JCW logo.
Efficiency-improving measures include optimised underbody air ducting, wheel bearings with a lower friction coefficient and tyres with reduced rolling resistance. This means that the figures for acceleration, elasticity and top speed are significantly improved in certain variants.
The Cooper S' twin-scroll turbo engine sees an increase in output by from 184 to 190 hp. The 0-100 km/h time is faster by a tenth (7.5 seconds), while 80 to 120 km/h in fifth gear now takes 8.4 seconds – 0.2 seconds less than before. Top speed is up by 3 km/h to 218 km/h.
At the same time, fuel consumption is down to 6.0 litres per 100 km, while CO2 emissions drop by 3% to 139 g/km. The same increments listed above (0.1 sec, 0.2 sec, 3 km/h) apply to the JCW as well. Minor improvements are also found in the 122 hp Cooper (5.9L per 100 km, CO2 137 g/km), 98 hp MINI One Countryman (5.7L per 100 km, CO2 134 g/km) and the diesel variants.
Read our reviews of the MINI Countryman and MINI Paceman, both of which are available in Malaysia. Now that a media drive for the refreshed duo has happened in Europe, we can show you a mega hi-res gallery of 390 pics below.
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