A mini countryman is slightly larger than the wife’s ‘small Jeep’ renegade. We’ve had them parked side by side at the curry house. It’s NOT small and certainly isn’t mini.
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While I understand it's not an original Mini.
It's a "Small SUV" which is this car generations equivalent of the Ronnie Pickering spec Xsara Picasso/Renault Scenic etc etc. Except lacking in the interior versatility...
20 years ago MPVs weren't selling but off roaders were..so someone had the wizard wheeze of calling one the other and paying lip service to both types of car but having the strengths of neither.
I have very little problem with these cars..other than their inability to call a spade a spade.
vexorg
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Cost and time. In Scotland, unless you live in Edinburgh or Glasgow, then a car is essential for most. Public transport is expensive and usually not practical for most.
I think you may underestimate the countryman, safety wise it was one of only a couple of cars to pass the small overlap test in the states, it also scored exeptionally well in NCAP tests and while it is a 7 year old car this year and has now been replaced buy a new countryman, the latest 2022 full sized range rover didn't get as high a score for things like adult and child occupants
you can probably argue semantics on what an "SUV" is all day I dare say you could write a long albeit very boring book on it. but in essence an SUV really started as a term for 5 seater enclosed off road trucks in the states, some of which are far bigger than even the current generation range rovers, but they also encompassed things like the Jeep Cherokee. which to us is quite big but back in the 90s was small for a US SUV. Now the likes of the Mini Countryman are comparable in size to the SUVs of old
Parked beside a Range Rover Classic from the 1980s there is not a lot in it. The Mini is very slightly shorter but is wider, and not quite as tall but they basically occupy the same foot print.
I think I have posted before that the T-Roc Cabriolet is labeled as an SUV despite the dimensions including the actual height of the vehicle to be the about same as my golf
Really if you want to categories what an SUV is now it would really come down to if it "looks" like an SUV.
All that aside a cross over is equally blurred as to what it is.
My definition would be an SUV is something that looks like it could go off road but probably can't. Something with the chunky appearance of a 4x4 but with 2wd. or 4wd through a viscous couple without any transfer box.
A cross over would be something more akin to a car that looks like someone bolted on some added black plastic bits to make it look more rugged.
i'm not sure where you got that from? a quick look appears to suggest
Mini has 450L with the seats up, the Golf has 380L
Mini has 1390 with the seats down to the Golfs 1237L
I have also started to take these measurements with a pinch of salt ever since I found out the Punto Cabrio lists a bigger boot than the Golf Cabriolet when it very VERY clearly doesn't.
Mini is a Brand not a description. It is also not a "Country Man" nor is the John Cooper works built by John Cooper, nor is the Fiat 500 a 500cc engined car, or the new electric Fiat 600 a 600cc car !
The only people who ever say "its not a Mini because its not mini" are almost always people who do not own a Mini, where as the enthusiasts who continue to own classic Minis, tend to daily a modern mini.
If you want to use the definition "anything that looks" like one...then yeah scenic RX4 trail blazer in the segment...
Also Aygo X...everyone fears getting hit by one of those monsters.
But as rational person I don't give a care about being hit by an SUV in Semantics alone, the ones I care about weigh over 1800 to 2700kg and are barge sized..
Oh and couldn't remember if the countryman was a mk1 or MK2...mk1 was 350l boot.
Also Aygo X...everyone fears getting hit by one of those monsters.
But as rational person I don't give a care about being hit by an SUV in Semantics alone, the ones I care about weigh over 1800 to 2700kg and are barge sized..
Oh and couldn't remember if the countryman was a mk1 or MK2...mk1 was 350l boot.
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Mine is a F60 if you want to use the technical term it’s the post 2017 to 2024 model, where as the older one which maybe is the one you saw is the R60 from 2011 - 2017 there was also a 3 door paceman in that model the R61.
The new 2024 model is apparently the U25… nothing like sticking with a labelling theme
In most cases but those with mobility disabilities do need a vehicle of some sort and the size and shape may have to vary accordingly.
To be fair alot of "SUVs" are perfect mobility cars on the basis they are, and we'll whisper this in case it gets out just slightly higher hatchbacks or MPVs. Although if they were actually MPVs then there's a good chance the lower floor would make them better suited...but Fashun.
But again if your disability requires 2.8 tonnes of vehicle then other than a bariatric ambulance there's probably a line between need and want and what the hell been crossed somewhere.
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It’s certainly not as capable off road, but, as you say, many are jacks of all trades but good at nothing
I’m going to guess you both missed the sarcasm in my comment.
The point being people will buy cars they will buy the car they like, plenty of people need a car but they don’t just buy the absolute bare minimum car that fits their needs so the point is pretty much any car purchase could be argued to be through vanity, even those buying the very cheapest cars could be doing so to make a statement to the world about their views and beliefs “look at me I’m super conscious to only buy the most basic car I need”
The point is Steven was criticising people for buying SUVs yet normal cars are disappearing from the forecourt as demand for cars that are not SUVs has dropped through the floor putting his ideas on this topic very much in the minority
I think the point is though...just because they've called a 2x4 mpv on road tyres an SUV..doesn't mean it is. So yes by all means call the Mini an SUV..I'll continue to regard it as a small Mpv similar to a Zafira but less useful.
This is probably what happens when manufacturers disappear so far into marketing huff literally everything is an SUV even when it clearly bloody isn't because the label sells. At this point it's absolutely meaningless..
To me it will always be applied in the sense of cars of the style of the original X5 or Range Rover sport..not some jacked up crossover.
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My bad. Yes I did probably because I have a disability and rely on my vehicle (a modest 500X) sooo much.
When Renault, and later Citroen, introduced their Megane Scenic and Xsara Picasso models, they were aimed at young families. They were surprised that in the UK, around 50% of sales were to retired people, with no young children. Research showed that this was because the seats were nearer 'hip' height, not due to any desire to transport grandchildren. This also explained why the Vauxhall Agila and Suzuki WagonR+ were popular.
Before buying the Doblo wheelchair van, it was relatively easy to get my partner out of the chair and into the Panda, and out again. The Fabia, being much lower, was very difficult.
vexorg
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My wife like higher vehicles after having driven a few.
The juke is classed as a compact SUV. It's got to the point SUV has no meaning for me, just means big and boxy!
The juke is classed as a compact SUV. It's got to the point SUV has no meaning for me, just means big and boxy!
What disability makes you miss sarcasm written in plain text?
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Haven't seen that one for years. In the school toilets, along with all the totally unrepeatable stuff were two I particularly liked. One was very similar to yours which said "We aim to please, your aim helps too" but the other, which I liked a lot, said "This bloody roundhouse is no good at all, the seat is too high and the hole is too small" Underneath, written in a different hand, was the reply "To which I must add the obvious retort, your *rs* is too large and your legs are too short". Many years later I read a book about someone's time in the military and they quoted the same ditty almost word for word so I suspect the one in our loo was not the original. It's always made me chuckle.Bit like the sign in the pub toilets "We aim to please, will you also!"
The likes of a nissan Qasqai or a Mini countryman are very much nothing like a Zafira
you might as well compare it with a Ford Galaxy or a Chrysler Voyager By the US definition these are Mini vans not SUVs at all.
I think you are just getting hung up on some prejudice you have about SUVs The major problem with the majority of aforementioned Mini vans is that if you wanted the extra seating then say good bye to any boot space, if you want boot space then they have plenty but are no better at moving people than the vast majority of cars.
Also with the MPVs/mini Vans the people who would go out and buy a 7 seater back in the early 2000s just because they had 1 baby was just stupid. They are huge, heavy and back then horribly inefficient and polluting
I seem to recall the Zafira was built on the Mk4 astra platform with engines from the 80s.
Modern SUVs are an evolution of what people actually need/want. They are not massive, I parked beside a Fiat 500L the other day and was surprised that the fiat was actually bigger than the mini.
They have a big enough boot. Quoting boot capacities in Litres is largely pointless and really only comes down to how much space you actually need. Few people need the boot capacity of something like a Zafira (assuming you don't need the two extra seats)
The Mini (using the Mini as that is what I have the most experience of) perfectly fits a large push chair and shopping. It fits very large Joie 360 car seat and can still seat 4 adults in relative comfort. It has that elevated position which gives good visibility around the car (parking sensors on cars limits the likelihood of running over unseen objects or tiny people) It has good head room and good leg room front and back.
your dislike of these cars is very much your thing and not everyone else's, and while you don't like them, you limit yourself to a whole part of the car market which you might find perfectly suits your family needs.
what you label them is up to you, but it doesn't take away from the fact that these cars all fall under the banner of "SUV" Sports Utility Vehicle, they are not off roaders, people carriers or mini vans. Most may not warrant the "sports" but most tick the box of Utility Vehicle.
What they most definately are not is "mini vans" or "people carriers" there are a lot of differences between something like a Focus Cmax and Puma or Kuga
This banner is so huge it encompasses the Toyota Aygo X up to the 2810kg Range Rover phev...
Hence the need to perhaps occasionally split it into sub categories of MPV, or Hatchback, for the sake of clarity it's amazing no one has thought of labelling vehicle types before rather than having just one.
To give some examples...a Nissan Juke is a hatchback.. whereas a Qashqai is a medium MPV and the X-trail is a large MPV..do you see how much clearer that is than we sell 3 SUVs?
The Nissan Juke is a Sub compact Cross over SUV thats a different class the Xtrail is a Compact cross over SUV the Aygo X is a sub compact cross over (no SUV in sight)
Non of them are categorized by their manufacturers or the wider public as "MPVs" or people carriers.
This may help clear things up. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossover_(automobile)#Mid-size_crossover
Really if you want to get technical they are Compact cross over SUVs to a varying degree. that's a bit of a mouth full for most so most just call them SUVs if you say SUV most people have an idea in their mind of the sort of car you're talking about. If you said one of those "mini people carriers" or "Mini MPV" you would definitely confuse a lot of people.
Toyota and Nissan disagree about any sub categories in their marketing.
So yes...an absolutely meaningless term.
But they seem to fulfil exactly the same positions as city cars and hatchbacks while having a similar target demographic and off road ability...in the same way the Qashqai occupies a niche on the range once fulfilled by the Prairie.
So perhaps it's just easier to regard them for what they are and the role they fulfill given there's largely not a "normal" car version available that would need to be distinguished from.
So yes...an absolutely meaningless term.
But they seem to fulfil exactly the same positions as city cars and hatchbacks while having a similar target demographic and off road ability...in the same way the Qashqai occupies a niche on the range once fulfilled by the Prairie.
So perhaps it's just easier to regard them for what they are and the role they fulfill given there's largely not a "normal" car version available that would need to be distinguished from.
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