MINI Malaysia recently launched their first locally-assembled cars – the MINI Countryman Plug-in Hybrid (RM255,888) and the MINI Cooper S Countryman Sports (RM245,888).

That’s a lot of money, but is it worth it? That might be subjective but my opinion is that no, you’re not. Just add RM3000 to your budget and you can get a BMW 330e, which is also a PHEV, if that’s what you’re looking for.

You’ll get a longer warranty, a more dynamic and powerful car, and you might even get a sizeable discount, so forget about that RM3000 price difference.

Either way, there are some things that this new MINI Countryman Plug-in Hybrid does alright. I believe it is the lowest priced Plug-in Hybrid on sale in Malaysia.

There are also 6 colour options to go for, which is another thing it’s got going for it.

The battery warranty is for 6 years/100,000km, which is the common standard in the premium segment.

The other car they launched, the Countryman Sports, is just made to anger enthusiasts. It comes wearing a John Cooper Works Aerodynamic Kit and JCW badges. But is it JCW levelled fast? Not really. The kit cools the brakes and the sports suspension makes it more dynamic. But its 0-100km/h time of 7.4 seconds is uninspiring. Especially next to an A 250 or GLA 250. And those cars are fully-imported from Germany too.

So, yes. Good on MINI Malaysia for bringing in all that capital investment to locally-assemble the car. But we are sure the pricing could have been a lot better.

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