It’s Time for the Mini Countryman EV to Get Serious

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If MotorTrend’s SUV of the Year award were a personality contest, the 2025 Mini Countryman SE All4 would be a shoo-in for our Golden Calipers. But our contenders need to excel in our six criteria before advancing to the finalist round. The electric Mini came close but fell short in several key areas.

Mini’s exterior design language isn’t for everyone, but the brand does things that set its cars apart from rivals. Our test SUV’s Blazing Blue Metallic paint is contrasted with stylish gold accents, and the taillights reference the British flag. Thankfully, the turn signals no longer look like arrows pointing to the wrong direction on either side of the rear fascia.

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Judges liked the interior design, which carries over the gold trim for the door handles and vents. Mini uses textile surfacing across the doors, dash, and center console to make the cabin feel distinctive from anything else on the market.

The Mini Countryman SE also excels on a curvy road, especially when you enable Go Kart mode and are met with a “woohoo” sound effect in the style of Nintendo’s Mario and a notification that DSC is disabled.

“You can totally ride out a little drift once you get the rear end unloaded,” features editor Scott Evans said. “This Mini is stupid fun.” The Countryman SE delivers sportiness, then, fulfilling our performance of intended function criterion.

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As a city runabout, it doesn’t make many compromises for the sake of athleticism. Judges noted excellent damping on rough and choppy surfaces. Punchy though not extreme power delivery from the 308-hp dual-motor AWD system is plentiful.

The electric Mini meets our safety criterion, as well. The gas-only model gets a Top Safety Pick from IIHS, so the SUV starts with a solid foundation. Judges also found it easy to engage the adaptive cruise control and lane keep assist.

Yet the Countryman SE suffers from crucial issues that prevent it from reaching total glory. In terms of engineering excellence, we like the powertrain and tuning, but the circular infotainment display and its user interface are a sticking point. The display is thin, and the graphics are sharp, but responsiveness can be frustratingly slow. Pairing various retro-inspired skins with the Countryman SE’s various drive modes seems like a good idea—until the graphics lag and you need to toggle through every profile to find your preferred setup.

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Equipped with a 66.5-kWh battery (64.7 usable), our contender is only good for 212 miles of driving range. When you’ve used all the juice, it takes 31 minutes to charge from 5 to 80 percent at an average rate of just 100 kW. Peak DC fast charging maxes out at just 130 kW, a figure eclipsed by the rest of the segment. Using this SUV as your one and only vehicle is likely to lead to a frustrating experience.

Value isn’t its strong suit, either. Our test car came equipped with the Iconic trim and Comfort Package Max, raising the price from $46,375 to $51,295. Yes, the interior space and cargo volume are surprisingly practical, but the MSRP is a lot of coin if you’re buying a car purely as a gas-free fashion accessory.

This review was conducted as part of our 2026 SUV of the Year (SUVOTY) testing, where each vehicle is evaluated on our six key criteria: efficiency, design, safety, engineering excellence, value, and performance of intended function. Eligible vehicles must be all-new or significantly revised.