I am not saying it was bad, it was quite comfortably familiar and roomy. I think it had to do with the over all size as it wasn't as sporty as its skin let you on to believe it would be. Although, we did not do any off-roading when we had it as I wanted to.
Charlie, I know what you mean; however, (and not speaking as a purist), I do think BMW are stretching the brand a little thin.
I've had a generation 1 Mini Cooper S and a Generation 2 Cooper S convertible. Both were excellent cars to drive and well built (the gen 1 a little less so in terms of build quality). They made a lot of sense to me as a hot hatch and delivered a huge amount of enjoyment when you took into account the price point.
Where the marque starts to make less sense is where BMW are already offering a viable alternative (the X1 vs the Countryman) and pricing the Mini at a level where the price makes it comparable. I know shared platform projects happen a lot within the automotive world but the Mini brand would seem one where deviating further and further from the core values makes it less attractive as a whole.
