MINI Countryman goes hardcore

EARLIER this week I suggested MINI’s newest model - the four wheel drive Countryman - wasn’t really in the spirit of its cult classic predecessor.

BMW are obviously keen to prove otherwise because they’ve just revealed a hardcore rally version, which is much more like it.

With the same red colour scheme and foglight-heavy frontage as the Monte Carlo rally winners from the 1960s and stylised union flag on the windscreen, you can’t help feel the car’s makers are going for a bit of a Paddy Hopkirk nostalgia in their attempts to win the 2011 World Rally Championship.

What do you think?