After the trek up through the heart of the Golden State on I-5, through Oregon and on to Seattle, the Countryman finally is headed southbound again toward SoCal. But in the meantime, I'll be stopping off at Infineon Raceway in Northern California for a little track action. More to come on that later.
I pointed our Countryman’s nose south this morning and set off at the crack of dawn for the 10 hour journey to California. In an effort to save the sanity I almost lost on the drive up, I planned on stopping off in Portland to meet up for breakfast with friends.
The Mini performed almost flawlessly en route to Portland. The little 181-hp turbo four-pot offered up plenty of passing power and the Countryman’s athletic chassis helped the cute-ute easily slot into small openings in traffic.
While making a pass uphill, the Countryman stumbled; as I signaled my intention to pass and slid out into traffic I pushed the accelerator down closer to the floor the car all of a sudden started surging back and forth violently. I quickly got off the gas and moved back to my lane and the surging stopped. I lightly tapped the throttle again and the problem was gone, and try as I might I couldn’t get the Mini to repeat the issue.
The rest of the journey went well despite the token Pacific Northwest rainfall and the earlier hiccup. While the Mini’s automatic windshield wipers worked as-advertised, its pint-sized sun visor didn’t. The visors were just too small to block out the sun unless you happen to be four-foot nothing and drive inches away from the steering wheel like my grandmother does.
As with the last post, I’ll be answering a few reader questions below:
thaitanium15: “How are the seats treating you?”
Our Countryman’s seats are pretty comfortable, even during long journeys. I was a little worried they’d become uncomfortable since they don’t have adjustable lumbar support but our optional heated seats help cancel out any discomfort.
One side note regarding Paul’s thermostat question last post; when I shut the Countryman off after the 10 hour trip I heard the radiator fan still running. I waited a few minutes, and when it still didn’t shut off I cycled the car on and off, and the radiator went off with it.
Since this is the third in a series of posts from my trip, let me know what questions you’ve got on how the Countryman is holding up, any requests on what you’d like me to talk about, or tips on places I can’t miss as I travel through Northern California behind the wheel of our Countryman. Stay tuned for the next Our Cars Countryman update coming soon.
Day Three Stats:
Miles Driven: 1774
Indicated mpg: 26.6 mpg
Indicated avg. speed: 68.2 mph
Time behind wheel: 26:56 hours
Photos and Blog post written by Christian Seabaugh