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2019 Mini E Countryman Review | Not a great plug-in hybrid, but still great

At first glance, the 2019 Mini E Countryman plug-in hybrid is wildly unimpressive. It can only go a meager 12 miles on electricity alone, and when out of plugged-in electrons its turbocharged three-cylinder engine manages an EPA-estimated 27 mpg in combined driving. Pretty good for a compact SUV, but crap for a hybrid. Its price tag is eye-watering. Although it starts at $37,750, including $850 destination, my test Countryman hit the register at $45,750 and still didn't have power seats, leather, satellite radio, adaptive cruise control, and other items that should be included on a vehicle at this price range in this segment (compact SUVs like the Mercedes GLA or Volvo XC40). Admittedly, if you skip our test car's $2,000 John Cooper Works Appearance package (not a bad idea), you can add some of those extra niceties instead, but the price would still be steep. An E Countryman, or 2019 Mini Cooper S E Countryman ALL4 as it's officially and ridiculously known, is roughly about $4,000 more than a comparable gas-only Cooper S Countryman ALL4. There are some functional disadvantages as well. The plug-in hybrid lacks the regular Countryman's sliding back seat that adds cargo space without folding the seat backs and therefore wiping out passenger space (see video below). It also has only about 30 percent of the under-floor storage available in the cargo area, the result of the batteries needing to go somewhere. Now, Senior Editor Alex Kierstein reports that he found the E Countryman to still be perfectly space efficient. There was sufficient room for his wife to sit up front with a rear-facing baby seat behind her and a big stroller in the trunk. Still, he would've had even more room in the regular Countryman. The bottom suitcase in the right photo would not fit in the E Countryman since it lacks this regular version's removable floor panel. Really, all the above issues make the plug-in hybrid version of the Countryman a little hard to recommend ... at first. At second, third and fourth glances, it actually starts to make a lot more sense. Sure it only went between 10 and 12 miles on electricity after I recharged it, but hey, that's still 10 to 12 miles further than any other Mini can muster. You can even utilize the "Save Mode" that allows you save that electric range for times when you know it'll be most beneficial (say, the urban-driving conclusion to the morning commute).

Mini Cooper SE Convertible wheels made entirely from recycled aluminum

Mini has revealed an interesting fact about its limited-run Mini Cooper SE Convertible: It's the first production car with wheels made from 100% recycled aluminum. Despite sharing the same look as wheels available on the regular SE hatch, they're actually much more environmentally friendly. The wheels were developed with Swiss wheel manufacturer Ronal. The company sells aftermarket wheels under the Ronal and Speedline brands, and it supplies OEMs. And it's no stranger to more environmentally-friendly wheel production. It supplies wheels for the Audi E-Tron GT that are made using a smelting process that produces oxygen rather than carbon dioxide, and it now has a line of claimed carbon-neutral aftermarket wheels. But back to the Mini's wheels. Using all recycled aluminum has the obvious benefit of not requiring new aluminum to be manufactured. But the benefits are greater than just the raw material use. Mini points out that a major improvement in carbon emissions comes from being able to skip the electrolysis process for new aluminum manufacturing. Pure aluminum is extracted from aluminum oxide (which is in turn taken from the mineral bauxite). To do this large amounts of electricity are passed through molten solutions of aluminum oxide and cryolite (which takes energy to heat) across graphite cathodes and annodes. Not only does this use a lot of electricity that has its own carbon costs, the oxygen that separates from the aluminum bonds to the graphite annodes, yielding more carbon dioxide (which is why the production of those Audi wheels is also interesting). In total, Mini says the recycled wheel production reduces carbon emissions by 75%. More specifically, it estimates about 0.16 kilograms (0.35 pounds) per kilogram (2.2 pounds) of aluminum used. Mini also stresses that this process still maintains all the strength of conventional wheels, just in a greener way. And of course, the wheels themselves are recyclable again. Mini, and BMW more broadly, are looking at ways to upscale the process and to source suitable recyclable products, likely other old wheels from cars no longer on the road. Though neither company said anything about when we'll see fully recycled wheels more widely available. Related Video: MINI Electric Pacesetter inside and out

Cars selling highest above MSRP and lowest below MSRP

Automakers have returned to offering incentives and promoting new vehicles after a few years of tight inventory and elevated prices. Despite that, prices are still higher than they should be, as a new iSeeCars study found that the average new car is priced above MSRP, though they’re slightly less painful than they were a year ago. iSeeCars found that the average new car price has been marked up to 7.2 percent above MSRP, down from 8.9 percent a year ago. Interestingly, the five most overpriced cars came from two premium brands, while four of the five priced the lowest below MSRP were EVs. New cars selling highest above MSRP Mini Hardtop: 25.5% above MSRP Porsche Taycan Sedan: 23.1% Porsche Cayenne: 21.9% Porsche Macan: 21.3% Porsche Taycan Wagon: 20.9% Cadillac CT5-V: 20% Porsche 718 Boxster: 19.9% Toyota Corolla Cross Hybrid: 19.4% BMW X3 M: 19.4% Cadillac CT4-V: 19.3% Porsche, Mini, and Genesis were the three most overpriced brands overall, with Buick, Acura, and Infiniti landing as the lowest-priced brands. Electric vehicles dominated the list of the 10 most-discounted vehicles: New cars selling lowest below MSRP Hyundai Kona Electric: -4.6% VW ID.4: -3.6% Ford F-150 Hybrid: -3.3% Kia EV6: -2.5% Hyundai Ioniq 6: -2.4% Nissan Maxima: -2.2% Chrysler Pacifica PHEV: -2% Nissan Ariya: -1.9% Hyundai Ioniq 5: -1.9% VW Arteon: -1.8% Those numbers align with what we saw in the market last year, as EV sales grew, but far slower than many had hoped. iSeeCars executive analyst Karl Brauer said. (For a sense of that, you can look back at our coverage of most marked-up cars and most discounted cars from 2023.) “The market appears to have reached a saturation point for electric vehicles," Brauer said, "with both prices and sales struggling compared to a year ago. The high cost of full-size trucks and SUVs, along with the cost of fueling them in the face of inflation and reduced consumer spending power, has dampened demand for these notoriously pricey vehicles.”