Actually, the Countryman is smaller in the back than the Clubman. Or, smaller USEABLE space. I think it's not very well designed in that regard, but it does have the handy 4 doors feature. We went in to test drive the Countryman but ended up ordering the Clubman becuase the cargo space was better (for dogs, not bikes...but still!). The Countryman is slightly lower in gas mileage than the other MINI's (low 30's HWY) and it's not quite the zippy little thing that the other Coopers are, but it's still a very nice car and plenty fun to drive. It also comes in AWD, which would be handy in a snowy place.
I'll also ditto that we could fit two bikes in the back of the Prius with the seats down. Mine with wheels on, DH had to remove his front one (bigger frame). While the Prius handles ok in the snow (I drove it over the mountains near Denver in a snow storm!), the mileage drops significantly in the cold.
I'll also throw the Toyota Matrix out there. Handles fantastic in the snow (seriously, with chains, it blew our 4x4 out of the water for handling!!), gets low 30's MPG, easily fit two bikes in back with plenty of room for other stuff (more vertical space than the Prius) and ours has been 100% issue free in the last 117K miles. Great car. Boring car, but great car.![]()




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