Mini Countryman John Cooper Works test drive since 2012 crossover

Give the corner!

Choose the most funny car for a reckless winter driving.

With each snowfall, Moscow roads get into deaf traffic jams until late at night, and hundreds of drifters are selected under the cover of dark roads and parking, worn in drifts as abnormal. We are against such hacks on public roads, although we love to drive sideways ourselves. That's why the motor assembled five cars of different classes on the ice of the Machikovo Avtodrod to find out which will deliver more buzz on the winter road?

For this test, we chose the most grooved, in our opinion, cars. And, of course, mostly rear-wheel drive: the most fashionable compartment of 2012 Toyota GT86, the good old RODERTER MAZDA MX-5 and the most driver’s hot hatch in its BMW M135I class. And let the rear -wheel drive in winter not the fastest, but the most driver!

Is it good, of course, in winter and all -wheel drive, but the question is: who else, except for Subaru and Mitsubishi Motors, knows how to make gambling all -wheel drive machines? We decided to give a chance to the stylish Mini Cooper SD Countryman crossover, and the Audi R8 V10 was called from the Supercars camp as a heavy artillery.

Let's see what the German-Italian coupe is capable of asphalt in the conditions of harsh Russian winter.


We deliberately did not include in this test Subaru Impreza WRX STI and Mitsubishi Evolution X - only the lazy did not write about them. We wanted fresh blood!

All cars are completely different capacities: from 143 to 525 horsepower, and all for completely different money: from 1 million 300 thousand for a simple Mazda mine to more than six millions for Audi. Let's say right away: we did not freeze the time of passing the circle and arrange special tests.

We were worried about only one question how wide the driver’s smile will be after a trip on each of these cars.

In addition, all the cars were completely different tires: the Audi R8 and the BMW M135I were equipped with high-speed unsuccessful Pirelli Sottozero tires, the Mini was in the Nokian Hakkapelitta R. Mazda MX-5, the Michelin X-reice north, with a ramp, with a ramp, with a ramp. And the Toyota GT86 not only was content with the modest Velcro Bridgestone Blizzak, so its rear wheels were bald as the head of the diesel wine!


On the straight line, Audi R8 easily breaks away from competitors. Moreover, not only on asphalt

Supercar at the price of six million rubles on ice? Why not? After all, Audi positions R8 as a car for every day. With the summer operating conditions of the R8, we are familiar. And what will happen in winter, will there be a spectacular sports car helpless? After all, he has a clearance with a thimble, and the tires wide with the rink of the asphalt layer.

For the test we also got a dorestyling version of the machine with a 525-horsepower V10 engine. It differs from an updated machine mainly by a robotic gearbox with one clutch instead of a two -sided, and ordinary headlight headlight instead of LED. So, it still annoyes with jerks when switching up, but this is not the worst.

Because Hitchcock himself could be covered from the Audi R8 manner to drive slippery turns!

In theory, the winter road should not become a problem for Er-Vosema, because it is all-wheel drive. True, at the front wheels, under ordinary conditions, there are 10 percent of traction, and in the limit of Wylianft is able to serve up to 30 percent of the torque. But this is in theory


Audi salon is good! High -quality materials, sufficient (but not excess) set of options, cool seats. But the landing is imperfect: the legs are bent a little stronger than necessary, but I want to move the steering wheel to yourself a little more

BAC! And the car in a gentle turn goes into the deepest demolition. You dump the gas, straighten the steering wheel wait until the supercar stops going past the bend a little add gas, and it falls into a sharp skid! And so all the time: despite the rear -wheel drive transmission settings, the Audi R8 compartment has become the most incomprehensible dough car.

Drift on ice on a narrow highway is not about her. You will have to get used to the features of management, and get used to it for a long time. The most important thing is to carefully monitor whether there is a clutch at the front wheels, or no longer.

It’s not that the pleasure is to receive, but simply to go along the ice highway already confidently.

Nevertheless, on the snowy roads of the Moscow Region with the stabilization system turned on, everything is fine: R8 does not twitch from side to side and does not seek to turn around in every turn. You can really ride it in winter! A powerful V10 responds quite linearly to pressing the gas pedal, so that the wheels do not seek to go into slipping with each acceleration. Even jerks when changing gears do not destabilize R8.


To the unstable behavior of Audi on slippery coating, we are not used to the line between demolition and drift on this machine incredibly thin. To learn to ride R8 on ice, you will have to change your driver's skills and even reflexes

The clearance is only funny and the pleasure of such a ride is not enough. So on winter tires to the owners of the Audi R8, it is better not to spend money let your supercope survive the winter in the garage.

Okay, maybe an all -wheel drive mini, which is cheaper than R8 by four times, will deliver more than a fan? After all, the Mini of the new era has always been famous for their bright sled habits. And even if his 143-horsepower diesel engine is the weakest in the test, but the torque is enough for two.


Countryman on ice is fast, but not very exciting

In terms of speed, Mini is wonderful. Even on non -navigated tires on the ice track, the Cantrman very fast all -wheel drive allows you to accelerate at the exit from the turns very quickly. Only now it’s not very exciting.

The system of the concerned all -wheel drive on the Mini Countryman is traditionally arranged: the multi -disc courst in the rear wheels drive distributes the torque constantly, works preventively, and its control algorithms are tied to the gas pedal, the indications of accelerometers and the stabilization system.

Such a scheme is practical and works adequately, but nothing more. In civilian regime, Mini practically does not slip, but goes quickly and efficiently. In this, he is helped by the ESP Countryman integrated into the all-wheel drive circuit fights with demolitions not only with the help of selective braids of the wheels, but also due to the active redistribution of the torque.


Mini goes well side by side, but you need to handle it in Old ones a few meters before turn and then smoothly straighten the trajectory with gas

But if the stabilization system is turned off, then the five -door crossover can quite effectively go sideways. True, Countryman is not the most gambling all -wheel drive car: in order for everything to go as it should, you will have to carefully monitor the hook of the front wheels. You will lose it and fly into a snowdrift: the car will only go straight, and even under the reset of gas the desired correction of the trajectory does not occur.

Therefore, it is better to handle mini without ceremonies in advance before turning, so that he will go through the turn in the sliding of all four wheels.

You just need to get used to the high landing at the wheel. By the standards of crossovers, it is not bad, but there are not enough room adjustment ranges for departure, and the seats are flat. The central speedometer in Countryman is traditionally blind: while you consider testimony from it, you will have time to get from Moscow to St. Petersburg. It is good that in a tachometer on the steering column a digital understudy understudy is built, albeit tiny, but it is better than nothing.


Mini Countyman salon pleases with the design, but upset the quality of it, wherever possible! Plastic is mostly cheap, the equipment is not so hot. And landing at the wheel is disappointed: the legs are very bent, and the steering column chronically lacking a range of adjustment on the departure. And is this premium?


The chairs look quite sporty, but in reality the lateral support is weak.

The price of Countryman is also strange. Not only is the base car costs 1 million 350 thousand rubles, so there is nothing in it for this money! It's not even about xenon, but about things like heating mirrors, an on -board computer or fog headlights. Fortunately, Mini buyers do not have to pay extra for wheels and emblem on the hood.

All! Enough. Only rear -wheel drive, only hardcore!

Beauty Mazda MX-5 is our long-standing acquaintance. We drove on it on the roads of Crimea and Stavropol, alpine serpentines and even participated in the ice race. We also traveled to an extremely lightweight concept frame of the MX-5 Superlight, which in which there is no frontal glass in general, we know it as a peeling!


But each time Mazda opens from a new side, and every time it is pleasant to sit in it, even if you just got out of the supercar. A two-liter 160-horsepower engine is simple, but still cool. He is not as responsive as his opposition colleague in Toyota, but gives an easy (equipped mass with a driver only 1173 kilograms!) A car with excellent dynamics. To a hundred MX-5 accelerates in a peppy 7.9 seconds almost as much as the 200-horsepower Toyota GT86!

Of course, due to the studded tires, the Mazda MX-5 became the fastest on the track in Myachkovo, but it was not so simple to control it in slipping.

The matter is either the shortest among the participants in the wheelbase (only 2330 millimeters), or in a relatively soft suspension, which makes us more carefully relate to a change in the dynamic weighting of the machine. But to write a spectacular arc, playfully changing the angle of drift, the MX-5 was harder than on other machines all the time have to work more actively by the steering wheel and a gas pedal, which is why the trajectory of movement was usually more torn.


You have to go boldly on the Mazda! The machine slides with pleasure sideways, but requires a solid hand. The main problem is not to keep the right angle of drift (there are no problems with this), and to pay it off at the exit of the turn

However, cursing on the MX-5, especially in the Sport configuration (and it is equipped with a rear differential lock) is sinful. Good, damn it!

A little norovist, but you get a buzz from such a nature much more!

The car forgives even gross errors, so you still have to try to turn around on it. But at the exit from the turns, the aking Mazda MX-5 is reluctant to stabilize: at the beginning, you already want to accelerate straight, and you are still forced to extinguish the skid.

There is another thing that will annoy the high drivers in a slurred landing. I want to move the steering wheel to itself, but it is regulated only in height. Put the back of the seat more vertically? You will pick your head into the ceiling. However, all this MX-5 can be forgiven.


Salon Mazda Prostitsky, but, oddly enough, this is not annoying. The landing is annoying: there is no steering wheel adjustments to the steering wheel, and drivers above 180 centimeters rest their heads on the ceiling. Eh!


Recaro seats are good wonderful side support, an excellent profile! Well, large riders, like drivers in dense winter clothes, will be crowded in them.

Mazda MX-5 is not without flaws. The motor is weak, the suspension could be a little more collected, and noise insulation is better. And, since it went to that, the salon here comes from the nineties: both in terms of decoration, and in ergonomics and equipment. Even in the maximum configuration there is no USB input or banal blueters. And this is for 1 million 300 thousand!

MX-5 captivates with balance and drive: I don’t want to change anything in it. Everything is good and so! The Japanese Roger provides incendiary riding on public roads and is not at all a pass on the ice track. Moreover, this car is the only one in the entire company has a folding roof. So, in the summer, all emotions from driving can be safely multiplied by two.


Thanks to the studded tires, the Mazda MX-5 did not leave any chance to competitors

But no matter how good it is light and simple in design Mazda MX-5, in our test there are cars and more abruptly. For example, the current King of the BMW M135i hot hatch is one of the first intermediate cars of the M Performance line, which should fill the gap between the usual BMW and the evil Emks.

Under the hood of a half-euma 320-horsepower six-cylinder turbo engine. Hot?

At least quickly! BMW gains the first hundred for Supercarovsky 4.9 seconds, and if you order a car with all -wheel drive, then the hatchback will fulfill the same standard in 4.7 seconds almost at the same level with the eight -cylinder Audi R8!


This is not a hamster - this is a penny of BMW, smiling, with pleasure rides sideways even on a straight line

Moreover, even the rear -wheel drive version incredibly effectively accelerates through winter asphalt, flooded with slippery reagents. All that you need to press the gas pedal on the floor from the driver. It is not necessary to dose traction: the stabilization system will strangle the motor exactly to the extent that it can most effectively realize its power.

The same thing in the snow. And with the stabilization system, a powerful motor (it develops the brutal 450 nm at 1300 rpm) will allow the M135I to send a power sliding as simple as switching tracks in the radio. No need to crush it fiercely on the gas, no need to rock the car: I just pressed the pedal a little, and the BMW is already going sideways.


BMW box is good! It seems to be a machine gun, but driving is as convenient as on mechanics. In addition, the box has an honest manual mode, and the selector also has the correct algorithm: you swing the step down from yourself, up to yourself.

It seemed that I had to drive on ice with a sleeve on such a powerful car without spikes that trying to paste the flea with a sledgehammer. However, the one always remained incredibly fast and obedient.

Even with a fully disconnected stabilization system, the car does not try to bury the driver in the first snowdrift!

On the contrary, it extremely effectively accelerates at the output and is incomprehensible even from very deep drifts. The steering wheel is informative, the craving and responsiveness of the motor is simply amazing.

Even an eight -speed machine did not interfere with our BMW M135I to ride our BMW M135i (there are also six -speed mechanics). On the track, you can use a completely honest manual mode, but there is no much sense of the box and so does everything perfectly. And when you transplant with BMW into a car with mechanics, you feel like you are changing a tracksuit to a leopard skin.


In the salon M135I Highk! But the landing seems too high, and the steering wheel has too thick rim. However, the latter for an amateur.


BMW seats have a huge amount of adjustments and adapt to any figure.

What is missing BMW on ice is anger. Unlike oak Mazda MX-5 and Toyota GT86, the BMW M135i has a fairly comfortable and not the most energy-intensive suspension, an excellent interior and chic noise insulation all this slightly reduces a degree of emotions that can give an rear-wheel drive hot hatch. On the other hand, if you ride a unit not only on the track, then all these shortcomings will probably turn into advantages.


Around this perspective, the BMW M135i will be remembered by most stream neighbors. Especially in summer

In general, the BMW M135i is a wonderful car. He is amazingly fast, obedient and practical. And even the price of almost two million does not look high until you look at the basic configuration. Leather? No. Xenon? Missing. Double-zone climate control? Wind a conditioner. Or pay extra. If you accept the BMW M135I with a navigation system, good music, electric seats and a system for projecting readings on the windshield, then its price will closely get to three million.

E can find the car easier?

Yes! Toyota GT86 for funny 1 million 300 thousand with a penny. It is simple, like a felt boot: even if you assemble a car interior from the Lego designer, it will look less plastic. This in the photographs of Toyota salon looks good, and the climate control adjustment handles in the form of washers and a variety of toggle switches hint at Nissan GT-R. But in practice


In winter, and even on the absolutely bald tires of the two hundreds of this machine, there are too many forces. But in the summer, such a cool chassis sooner or later will want to add power

The keys, as in the Chinese, are stone plastic, and the carbo inserts will disappoint even street racers on prioros. Noise insulation at the Toyota compartment seems to be completely absent: if you go along a rough asphalt at a speed of 60-80 kilometers per hour, then communicating with a passenger is better through a rally negotiation. Finally, Toyota GT86 has clear problems with comfort: as a car for every day, it is suitable only conditionally.


But how convenient is it here! Planting behind the wheel is perfect: better than in the Audi R8 and BMW M135i combined. The cool armchair is installed extremely low, the steering wheel costs almost vertically, the control ranges are sufficient to comfortably sit down even with a two-meter verzili. The location of the pedals is exemplary. If you want, brakes with your left foot, you want to show off your toe-nasop-toe.

No fashionable rudders in the form of a piece of plasticine twisted into a ram. The round, ideal section of the steering wheel is convenient and honest.

Honesty is generally about GT86. Oh gods, how tasty and honestly this little beast with a two -liter opposite motor and rear -wheel drive!


Six -speed manual gearbox ideal. In terms of clarity, it is very similar to the mechanics from the charged Subaru Impreza WRX STI: the lever has short moves, a rather large effort and perfect selectivity. Only in Toyota everything is a little better. The moves are even a little shorter and more precise, and the step in force when switching below. Therefore, you can juggle the programs with the speed of the guys from the film Fast and the Furious. The only drawback of the Subarovskaya clutch pedal is still uninformative, but at least it has at least less.

In Toyota there is no unnecessary electronics like a sports mode of a motor, suspension or steering amplifier. If you want to go smoothly, just don't trample the pedal! You wish the car to show the character of a hysterical saleswoman in the Selpo everything in your hands! The two -liter atmospheric motor is not very powerful only 200 forces, but amazingly responsive: you get exactly as much as you pressed. And you get without a single hitch.


The suspension is bulletproof. In the city, at first it seems to be a dentifily stiff, but on the first serious unevenness you understand that its energy intensity is prohibitive.

Pits, joints? Nonsense. To slow down in front of the lying policemen? No, I have not heard! Krains? They are not here!

And it is not surprising from the words of the Toyota, the center of gravity GT86 (only 460 millimeters from the ground) is lower than that of Porsche Cayman! On the asphalt, the car reacts to the steering wheel without a single delay, and the steering wheel itself is perfectly informative. On slippery coating is no worse: you feel perfectly the car. It is a pity that because of the worn tires, the GT86 could not boast of high speed. But mutual understanding with her was complete.


To effectively drive the GT86 in drifts, you will need stable rear -wheel drive drills. Because the stabilization system will have to be completely turned off: in ordinary and even sports regime, it works extremely clumsy. At first he yawns, letting a little skid develop, and then rudely and unceremoniously interferes, strictly stabilizing the car. There is no question of any delicacy and preventiveness of work, like the BMW, Audi or Mini cars.

In the hands of a skilled driver Toyota works wonders! You can send it in a sloping on slippery coating at least a million different ways: if you want, under the discharge of gas, you want a counter -schedule or on braking, and you want to corny excess traction. GT86 on bald tires glided and switching to a low gear, and in response to sharp movements by the steering wheel, but at the same time remained crystally understandable and obedient.

Toyota GT86 is a real time machine that takes the driver 20-30 years ago. When cars were created by engineers, not marketers and owners of iPades.

And let them ask for the Toyota GT86 more than for the 250-horsepower hot hatch Renault Megane RS, which will smash it into chips on the track. After all, you cannot measure real pleasure from the car with seconds and horsepower. The little Toyota compartment is a pure fan! Sitting behind his steering wheel, you enjoy not at speed as such, but from the control process itself. This is a buzz recommended for use! And for us this is the most important.

 

Source: Motor magazine [February 2013]