Paceman joins MINI lineup in 2013

A two door Countryman for the sporty family
by Imthishan Giado

In its ceaseless quest to cover every single imaginable niche, MINI has launched its seventh model – the Paceman.

No, your eyes don’t deceive you – this is in fact a two door version of the Countryman, MINI’s first ever crossover (that is, if you don’t count the Moke). It’s just 6mm shorter than a regular Countryman and sports two fewer doors, but is other identical to its four dour cousin. That means it’ll also have the same range of 1.6-litre four-cylinder engine options including a naturally-aspirated Cooper and a turbocharged Cooper S.

If past history is any guide, we’ll probably only get the top Spec Cooper S with 189bhp which does the 0-100kph sprint in a respectable 7.5 seconds. When we drive the Countryman last year, it was a good engine with plenty of pep and a reasonable facsimile of trademark go-kart handling was present and accounted for. No, it doesn’t corner anywhere as near as well as a regular Cooper S hatch, but was certainly more fun than a Golf GTI, and a damn sight more interesting to look at.

Another holdover from the Countryman is the fact that it’s a strict four-seater and that’s likely to be the case with this car as well, although it does sport a rather nifty centre rail storage system that allows you to pass items between the front and rear rows.

The main compromises of turning any four door into a coupe is interior dimensions – and the Paceman is no exception. Boot space goes down by 20 litres, while headroom is reduced by 10mm – although the roof is actually 40mm lower than the donor car.

So if it’s less practical and is more difficult to get in and out of, who exactly is the Paceman for? No idea at all. This is the same braintrust that also gave us the backwards baseball cap-sporting MINI Coupe last year and that was just as much of a headscratcher.

The Paceman will be launched at the Paris Motor Show last month and should be on sale in the GCC early next year.

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