| First Drive | Hamburg, Germany | MINI Countryman Cooper S All4 |

The MINI has sprouted a couple of extra doors and added an optional four-wheel drive system called All4; we take our first drive in the new showroom-ready MINI Countryman.

In the Metal

The Countryman is bigger, broader and somewhat more bloated than its hatchback siblings. It's the Porsche Cayenne of the MINI range. With five doors it's aiming to tempt those with families and a dog into the MINI way of life, combining SUV styling cues with the familiar MINI features. Inside, there's seating for four (expect a traditional 60/40 split bench in the back of UK cars) and 350 litres of boot space with the seats up - or 1170 litres with them dropped. While capable of carrying four large adults, luggage capacity is still less than that of Ford's Focus, or VW's Golf.

What you get for your Money

Come its UK launch in September the Countryman will be offered in both petrol and diesel with 'All4' four-wheel drive initially limited to Cooper S and Cooper D versions. Prices start at £16,000 while the top of the range Cooper S All4 driven here costs £22,030. Diesel versions feature the BMW Group's new diesel, developing 121bhp, with average CO₂ of 127g/km.

Standard equipment includes DAB radio, Bluetooth connectivity, ISOFIX child seat mounts and six airbags. There will be a choice of 11 colours, six alloy styles and an optional 'off-road' styling package. Its nearest rival, Nissan's Juke, starts at £12,795.

Driving it

Anyone familiar with the regular MINI will feel at home in the Countryman, with the new car sharing a near identical layout to other cars in the range. The sometimes fiddly switch gear remains, meaning some buttons are tucked away low in the centre console in front of the gear lever - making them awkward to access - while the aircraft like handbrake is unnecessarily fussy.

The large centre speedo houses the display for satnav and the new MINI Connected system, which allows owners of Apple's iPhone to listen to web radio, browse Google news streams and access social-networking sites such as Twitter.

Moving off, it's a willing performer, but with the optional four-wheel drive system there's a lot of weight to pull, so responses are somewhat dulled in comparison to those of the more nimble hatchback. Hurry it through the twisty stuff and there's evidence of body roll, the chassis betraying the car's increased height. The steering is artificially heavy and the car can even become a little twitchy if you ask it to react too quickly. It's a big car trying to handle like a smaller one, desperate to offer the 'go-kart like' handling cliché. It rode well, however, without crashing through pot-holes, or over cobbled streets.

Worth Noting

Taking its name from the old Austin Mini estate, the Countryman is the beginning of an effort to expand the brand. It's the biggest car yet, at over four metres in length; it's also the first time five doors have been offered on a car with the iconic badge and is built outside the UK, at Magna Steyr, in Austria. Four-wheel drive also makes its first appearance, with the optional All4 system.

Summary

MINI's Countryman is an odd beast to sum up. Styling is a question of taste, but despite its four doors it doesn't offer the practicality of either the Ford Focus or Nissan Juke. If you're a fan, and need the extra doors, then this could be the MINI for you.