The 2025 Mini Countryman SE: Whimsy doesn’t make up for annoying

It’s a look

Ever since its 21st-century rebirth, Mini has brought a sense of whimsy to its designs, particularly the interior styling. Gone are most of the toggle switches (and the little safety protrusions that accompanied them) on the dashboard, with the exception of one for changing between drive, reverse, and neutral, plus another to switch between drive modes. A third knob is the Countryman's twist-to-start control.

Pretty much everything else is shuffled off to the infotainment system, a single circular touchscreen that lives in the middle of the dash. (A small heads-up display in front of the driver also shows critical information like speed while on the go.)

There are eight different drive modes, each with its own UI for the screen: Core, Go-Kart, Green, Vivid, Timeless, Balance, Personal, and Trail. Unfortunately, the lag when toggling between modes has persisted from the preproduction Countryman we sampled last year to the production car we tested last month, despite several software updates since then. It's as if the infotainment system has an underpowered processor or not enough memory to do the things it wants to do without making you wait.

Green is the eco mode, which changes the throttle map and turns down the climate control to eke out a few more miles of range. I'm not sure I detected a huge amount of difference in the driving behavior between Mid, Core, Vivid, Timeless, or Balance, but I did like the cream-colored retro dials in Timeless, which call back to the original Minis of the sixties.

You may be unsurprised to learn that I liked Go-Kart—even the very Mario-like "yahoo" that plays as you switch to this mode. It suits the Countryman's peppy power delivery and very quick steering, which is surprisingly direct, even for a small car. Sadly, the steering is devoid of feel, but there is a lot of grip from the high-profile 18-inch tires. You might want to turn the radio up at speed; wind noise is very noticeable at above 60 mph (97 km/h).