- 13 hours ago
MINI OS9 brings a distinctive retro look to a modern infotainment system, and this hands-on walkthrough explores how it works in the new MINI Countryman. The tour covers the head-up display, physical controls, touchscreen menus and multiple ways to reach key vehicle settings, along with classic-inspired display styles and customizable ambient lighting. It also looks at MINI sound modes, parking cameras, driver-assistance settings, Android Auto and the built-in navigation system, including augmented-reality guidance and adaptive cruise control features. The result is a practical, informal review of the MINI interface, its design choices and everyday usability.
For drivers researching MINI OS9, MINI Countryman technology, car infotainment systems or connected-car features, this walkthrough offers a useful look at menus, settings, navigation and in-car displays. Explore a modern MINI user interface with retro styling, and compare its touchscreen controls, Android Auto integration and driver assistance technology.
For drivers researching MINI OS9, MINI Countryman technology, car infotainment systems or connected-car features, this walkthrough offers a useful look at menus, settings, navigation and in-car displays. Explore a modern MINI user interface with retro styling, and compare its touchscreen controls, Android Auto integration and driver assistance technology.
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MotorTranscript
00:01Hey, Minnie.
00:05Can you make the air temperature a bit cooler?
00:10I will lower the temperature.
00:29Hello. What am I doing here and why am I talking to the car and asking it to lower the
00:36earth temperature? I said a bit, but whatever.
00:41I'm in the new Minnie Countryman. This is the new operating system, Minnie OS 9, and because today on my
00:50Polish channel there is something very much dedicated to the Polish market, I thought I'm going to do something a
00:57bit different and record a video about the new infotainment system in the new Minnie.
01:04I think infotainment systems are something that many of you are interested in, and yeah, let's get on with it,
01:13shall we?
01:15Okay, so the big news is that there is no speedo in the new Minnie. It doesn't matter whether it's
01:23the Minnie Cooper, which was formerly known as the Hatch, Minnie Countryman or the upcoming Aceman.
01:31There is no speedo as such. There is only a head-up display, which shows you the speed, the speed
01:36limit, and the sat-nav directions, and then everything else, or 90% of everything else, is done on the
01:44screen.
01:46Before we go to the screen, I'll just tell you what's not done on the screen, or what can be
01:51done outside the screen.
01:52So, there are a couple of switches and buttons down here. We have the gear selector, we have the engine
02:00stop-start twist switch toggle, which is very cute.
02:06We have the experiences or modes, drive modes toggle, we have the volume knob, and then we have the menu,
02:14camera, hazard lights, front window defroster, and rear window defroster buttons.
02:21And you can get to these basic car functions using your sort of muscle memory, let's say.
02:29Everything else is on the screen. However, what I really like about this is that the engineers decided to give
02:38you more than one option to achieve what you want.
02:41So, for example, to go into the lights menu, I could either press the lights menu button on the lights
02:47and indicator stock, so that's one way to get in.
02:50I could go into the main menu, and through some car settings, I would find the lights menu somewhere in
03:01here, God knows where.
03:04System, vehicle, car, maybe car settings, driving settings, probably somewhere through here.
03:17Or, another way to do it, another way to do it, is to just press the lights icon indicator here.
03:26And from here, I can do various things with parking lights, these are the, sorry, with lights in general, driving
03:33lights, parking lights.
03:34Also, I can change the design of the LED lights in the back and in the front.
03:43Sorry for the cutaway, but you have to turn the engine off to do it, so I don't want to
03:50lose the AC.
03:50It's quite warm today.
03:52Okay, so that's very cute.
03:55What's the same thing with more advanced drive settings?
04:00I can either press a button down here, or I can just press the gear icon, and that will take
04:06me into the same position.
04:08So, that's, I don't have to, I don't have to remember what the engineer thought is going to be the
04:16right choice.
04:18I'm given a couple of choices how to access a given menu.
04:23I also like, and I said this in the BMW M2 review, why having digital screens, why not let the
04:36user choose either modern or perhaps a classic skin mode display, whatever you want to call it.
04:44For example, Volkswagen has shown us this very nice classic display in the, whatever is going to be the electric
04:51polo when it arrives, finally.
04:54And here I see that Mini is leaning heavily into its heritage.
05:01I mean, this looks more or less like the original Mini Speedo, and if you want to make it even
05:09more classic looking, you can go to something like Timeless, and okay, I'm sure you can turn those chimes off.
05:20I'm sure some of you had or have the original Mini, the Sir Alec Isigonesis Mini, and I'm sure you
05:29will tell me that, oh no, this looks nothing like it.
05:32Well, to me, it looks pretty damn good, and I like that they're leaning into it.
05:43Okay, before I start playing with modes too much, let me show you another thing, which I noticed.
05:52Okay, there is Mini sound in here somewhere.
06:01Now, you won't pick it up just yet, but there is slight bassy sound all of a sudden, and it's
06:12not heard, you can't hear the difference outside.
06:15It's all inside, if we now go into the go-kart or sports mode, you will hear the difference.
06:28Can you hear the bassy sound?
06:35And now, if I turn this thing off.
06:40That's it.
06:43All the pops and bangs which can be heard during driving from the Mini sound are from the inside.
06:50It's not, it's the same, it's not, sorry, you can't hear it outside, by the way.
06:56Anyway, this is, this is just so, so cool, so nice.
07:02I'm really blown away by shiny things on the screen.
07:08But, you know what, compared to the BMW OS 8 and 8.5, I like the Mini OS 9, it
07:15just, it just appeals to me.
07:17Okay, let's get back to the core mode, which I think I like the most.
07:27Okay, and in it, if we go to, to the main menu, this main screen, I think if you had
07:38a Mini, the previous generation Mini, the one with the rectangular screen in the middle of the round, former Speedo,
07:49you know this array of options, more or less.
07:57So, there is no surprise here.
08:00I haven't found a way to rearrange these menu items.
08:05I would really like to, but I haven't found a way to do it.
08:11But, generally speaking, you can have your, sort of, most important functions up here.
08:16Then, you can go into the menu with, this looks more or less like, this looks more or less like
08:25a BMW menu, where you have icons for various settings.
08:32You can group them by infotainment, vehicle, recently used, etc.
08:38What I like is that they are in alphabetical order, so once you kind of learn what's in here, you
08:46should be able to find them.
08:48These three on top aren't alphabetical, but everything else is.
08:54You can also search for various, for various settings, etc.
09:00There is a very good parking camera and parking assistance.
09:06This is finally upper class BMW level, and now you can have it also in the Mini, because the previous
09:131 Series and X1, X2, the ones before the current generation,
09:19were really stripped down, when it comes to assist features.
09:26Now, the new X1, X2, the new 1 Series and the Mini, they have all the features that you'd expect
09:36from a premium brand.
09:37So, finally, Mini and BMW have caught up with, say, Mercedes.
09:44I really, really like the way all this looks, all this works.
09:52And all the settings are so legible, and there is so much you can store here.
09:59And, fortunately, you can store it in your cloud account.
10:05So, this is the only reason why you would use your account, I guess.
10:11Because many of the things could be stored with the key or with the seat memory settings.
10:18But I kind of understand why they want you to have an account, because now you can finally store these
10:27settings and carry them from one car to another.
10:30And I think that's useful.
10:34What else do we have there?
10:35Ambient lighting, for example.
10:37Ambient lighting is actually quite funny, because it's not...
10:44Okay, first of all, it's available in...
10:48You can change it in the personal experience mode, or whatever you want to call it.
10:54And it's not like the dashboard is lit up.
10:59It's actually projected from behind the screen.
11:02So, that's interesting, let's say.
11:06Again, you can set absolutely everything here when it comes to your ambient lighting or interior lighting in general.
11:20If you go into the driver assistance settings, this is very clear.
11:28You know what you're about to click into.
11:32And once you go in here, again, you have drawings which kind of lead you into what are you looking
11:43for.
11:43You don't have to read small letters.
11:45You see, oh, this is lane assist, probably.
11:48That's what it is.
11:51Similarly, if you go into safety and warning settings, side collision warning, front collision warning, lane change warning, it's a
12:03pictogram.
12:04So, you don't have to, you know, put your glasses on, take your glasses off, depending on what eyesight problems
12:15you have.
12:15And I'm sure many people already have them from sitting in front of computers.
12:20So, I'm really glad that they did it so clearly for their target group, which is probably not getting any
12:31younger.
12:31Hence, this countryman is much larger than the previous generation.
12:38The only thing I'm not quite sure about is how they implemented Android Auto.
12:44And I know it's not their fault and they have to work with Google, but this is a round display.
12:54And when you click Android Auto, it's square.
13:00I mean, it works fine, it's excellent, but I wish they could have done something around it.
13:09Maybe just added a little, added some little buffers, which would be mini buffers, but they would just look nicer.
13:18But if you don't want to use Android Auto sat-nav, there is very good OEM sat-nav, if we
13:27can just go into it.
13:29Perhaps I have to exit.
13:31Okay.
13:32Yep.
13:34You'll see in the cutaways that there is augmented reality, which is nice.
13:41And also, it works with the adaptive cruise control.
13:47So, whenever there is a maneuver you have to perform, like maybe take a left turn, right turn, whatever,
13:53it's going to start slowing you down before this maneuver.
13:56Also, the car recognizes roundabouts, crossings, where you would have to slow down,
14:02and it slows down when you're using adaptive cruise control.
14:07Again, you can play with the settings and disable it.
14:10Like ESA, that's one click of the set button on the steering wheel.
14:20It's easy, and I'm just very positively surprised by how seamless it is.
14:31Because after BMW, which I detest to say the least, this is absolutely brilliant.
14:39Anyway, sorry if this is not as structured as my usual reviews, but this is just a brief walk around,
14:51walk through the infotainment system.
14:54If you would like me to make these more structured and go step by step, it's going to take much
14:59longer,
15:00and it's going to be a lot more boring.
15:01And if you don't mind me just kind of blubbing about how I feel about the infotainment system completely unscripted,
15:09then I hope I'll just get better sooner rather than later.
15:15Since I know some of the kind of last episode of the month or first episode of the month where
15:23I have a special episode on the Polish channel,
15:26since I know the English version of it doesn't usually perform very well in English,
15:30I will probably be doing an infotainment review, walk around, walk through every once in a while.
15:38I hope you don't mind.
15:39If there are any other car features you would like me to discuss instead of or besides the infotainment system,
15:47let me know in the comments below.
15:49I'll gladly address those issues in the near future.
15:55And yeah, you know, like, subscribe, all that sort of stuff.
16:01And I'll see you in the next one.
16:03Oh, by the way, the Countryman review is probably already available or will soon be available for channel members.
16:12If you like my sarcastic, down-to-earth and possibly mildly amusing car reviews,
16:17join me every Friday at 3 p.m. Central European time.
16:21And don't forget to subscribe and like this video as it helps me with the YouTube algorithm.
16:26Thanks for watching and I will see you in the next one.
16:30See you in the next one.