Surprisingly good off road for a 4 wheel drive Mini
Discussion
Hi folks
I had the chance to use a Mini Countryman 4x4 for a few days, which I must say was an excellent car. Incredibly comfortable on the motorway and a good steer on my favourite A/B roads.
Anyway, something cropped up and without access to any of our proper 4x4s I had no choice but in taking the Countryman. Before hand I watched a few videos on the 'tube and it looked fairly capable, if lacking enough ground clearance.
Well cue a very damp Sunday morning, the boot was loaded up with the days equipment and off we went. The tracks and fields were very muddy, however the Mini kept going and achieving fuel economy the Landy could only dream of. Yes we did get stuck once or twice on the shoot, but then so did my friends SJ.
The Mini was completely out of its comfort zone, but it did incredibly well and for that I salute you, Mr Countryman.
So, does anyone else have any stories like this?
PB
I had the chance to use a Mini Countryman 4x4 for a few days, which I must say was an excellent car. Incredibly comfortable on the motorway and a good steer on my favourite A/B roads.
Anyway, something cropped up and without access to any of our proper 4x4s I had no choice but in taking the Countryman. Before hand I watched a few videos on the 'tube and it looked fairly capable, if lacking enough ground clearance.
Well cue a very damp Sunday morning, the boot was loaded up with the days equipment and off we went. The tracks and fields were very muddy, however the Mini kept going and achieving fuel economy the Landy could only dream of. Yes we did get stuck once or twice on the shoot, but then so did my friends SJ.
The Mini was completely out of its comfort zone, but it did incredibly well and for that I salute you, Mr Countryman.
So, does anyone else have any stories like this?
PB
It's amazing where a car will go. I've been Green Laning with a 1.0 Metro and taken an MG Maestro over a Land Rover trails section.
But I guess there is a difference between going off road and proper off roading. The latter generally requires far better suspension travel, ground clearance and approach/departure angles.
For example, doing something like this would not be possible in many soft roaders and even a few proper 4x4's would struggle as they'd become cross axled and likely try and rip the front and rear bumpers off.
But driving along a muddy fairly level track or field is quite a different thing.
EDITED to add:
Glad the MINI served well and goes to show they aren't a bad vehicle at all.
But I guess there is a difference between going off road and proper off roading. The latter generally requires far better suspension travel, ground clearance and approach/departure angles.
For example, doing something like this would not be possible in many soft roaders and even a few proper 4x4's would struggle as they'd become cross axled and likely try and rip the front and rear bumpers off.
But driving along a muddy fairly level track or field is quite a different thing.
EDITED to add:
Glad the MINI served well and goes to show they aren't a bad vehicle at all.
300bhp/ton said:
But driving along a muddy fairly level track or field is quite a different thing.
EDITED to add:
Glad the MINI served well and goes to show they aren't a bad vehicle at all.
Agreed. Some people consider a muddy track to be off road and it serves a as reason for them to justify the purchase of a 4x4 EDITED to add:
Glad the MINI served well and goes to show they aren't a bad vehicle at all.
Anyways. I've always liked the look of the Countryman. so fair play for for the OP taking it off road. I'd be interested to see some photos
Two types of 4x4 requirement:
1: "I'm over here and I need to be over there, on the top of that hill; I'll take the easiest route to get there"
2: "I'm over here and I'd like to see how tricky a route I can take and how much I can get stuck and then end up back here; I will actively make life difficult for myself and my vehicle."
The vehicle requirements for each are very different.
1: "I'm over here and I need to be over there, on the top of that hill; I'll take the easiest route to get there"
2: "I'm over here and I'd like to see how tricky a route I can take and how much I can get stuck and then end up back here; I will actively make life difficult for myself and my vehicle."
The vehicle requirements for each are very different.
agent006 said:
Two types of 4x4 requirement:
1: "I'm over here and I need to be over there, on the top of that hill; I'll take the easiest route to get there"
2: "I'm over here and I'd like to see how tricky a route I can take and how much I can get stuck and then end up back here; I will actively make life difficult for myself and my vehicle."
The vehicle requirements for each are very different.
Or...1: "I'm over here and I need to be over there, on the top of that hill; I'll take the easiest route to get there"
2: "I'm over here and I'd like to see how tricky a route I can take and how much I can get stuck and then end up back here; I will actively make life difficult for myself and my vehicle."
The vehicle requirements for each are very different.
1: People that have a job to do
2: 4x4 response members
PhillipM said:
Nah, there's number 3 too:
3) I'm here, and I want to be over there on top of that hill, wonder how fast can I get there?
surely there's 3) I'm here, and I want to be over there on top of that hill, wonder how fast can I get there?
4) I'm not sure where "here" is, I don't know where "there" might be. Ohh look a nice muddy bog to play in while I think about it.......
Derek Chevalier said:
Haven't they all got traction control these days?
I think many do, but I'm not sure how many are biased for off road use. The systems, as far as I understand work differently. On a road car TCS is there to reduce slip and will normally kill the throttle. But on a 4x4 off road TCS is there to promote traction by inducing wheel slip and loading on a spinning wheel.e.g. on a RWD car in the wet on tarmac, if you spin the inside wheel. TCS will brake the wheel and usually reduce the throttle input to try and stop the wheel spinning. (e-diffs work a bit differently).
On something like a Disco3 for instance, when one wheel spins the system will still brake the wheel, but it isn't trying to stop it spinning and it won't reduce the throttle. The reason being is you actually need to keep the power on, by braking the wheel while it's spinning, this in turn causes load and will make the wheel on the opposite end of the axle rotate. This in many ways simulates a mechanical diff lock off road.
300bhp/ton said:
Derek Chevalier said:
Haven't they all got traction control these days?
I think many do, but I'm not sure how many are biased for off road use. The systems, as far as I understand work differently. On a road car TCS is there to reduce slip and will normally kill the throttle. But on a 4x4 off road TCS is there to promote traction by inducing wheel slip and loading on a spinning wheel.e.g. on a RWD car in the wet on tarmac, if you spin the inside wheel. TCS will brake the wheel and usually reduce the throttle input to try and stop the wheel spinning. (e-diffs work a bit differently).
On something like a Disco3 for instance, when one wheel spins the system will still brake the wheel, but it isn't trying to stop it spinning and it won't reduce the throttle. The reason being is you actually need to keep the power on, by braking the wheel while it's spinning, this in turn causes load and will make the wheel on the opposite end of the axle rotate. This in many ways simulates a mechanical diff lock off road.
Traction control on our Disco 4 is very impressive - on a cross axle it effectively stops the wheels that are off the ground from turning at all (when in rock crawl mode).
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