Careers Wind Driver

When flying in an airplane, there is always a passion to sit in a much nicer seat. It could be the aisle or the window, it all depends on you. Then there’s the first class area (with the appropriate cost upgrade).

What I have come to realize is that the 2011 MINI Countryman has the same type of luxurious seating.

Sonic Seating is what I call it.

I have listened to a few really nice car systems in my life. Maybe not the best, but more than a couple and the sheer auditory pleasure I received when driving the 2011 MINI Countryman created a visceral reaction.

From the deep, but not metal grating and rattling bass to the clear and sharp highs I have not figured out how you can create such clear sound inside of a production vehicle.

Trust me, you will wonder if the engineers with MINI didn’t watch Spinal Tap and become excited enough to put down their beers and declare “We shall make an audio system that goes to 11!” and stomp off together at midnight to accomplish this feat.

Maybe this isn’t what happened but this is the way I like to think it went down.

For me there are only 3 type of seats in cars. Premium Sonic, First Class, and Coach. While I got to review the 2011 MINI Countryman S I would definitely say that the seats would be considered Premium Sonic seats.

MINI Connected

While the speakers delivered the premium sound, the MINI Connected (using my iPhone 3GS) was … less than an 11 I have to admit.

I spent two days and about 200 miles running all over Orange County listening to radio, streaming podcasts and music downloaded to my phone and my biggest complaint was that ‘finding’ the music I wanted to listen to was a little annoying.

If you don’t want to hassle with finding your music I would suggest creating some big lists of your favorite music because once you are using the MINI Connected you won’t be able to access things outside of a list.

If I had to choose between the sound system, and making MINI Connected’s menu better, I would keep the incredible sound and be subjected to creating a few lists rather than the reverse.

Well, honestly, the system allows you to play MP3 cd’s and burning Cd’s with similar music is probably the easiest (one for hard rock, one for ambient etc.) solution if you don’t mind having a dozen Cd’s stored in your car.

Considering the great connection with the iPhone I could have used Pandora, Rdio or now Spotify and just streamed the music as an alternative. I happen to have the AT&T No Limit data plan – your ability to select this option might be limited.

If you want to know more about MINI Cooper Orange County then click here. If you don’t live directly in Orange County then you can click here for Irvine MINI news.