Countryman is a more grown-up Mini but still playful

The four-door car is a bit longer than the modern Cooper hardtop — the better to accommodate such things as back-passenger legs and groceries. It finds the middle ground between fun and practicality.

Back in the day, vintage Minis were so narrow they could drive on sidewalks. They were so short, the only view out the driver's side window was often another car's hubcap.

Then BMW came along and cashed in on the cute-as-a-button British classic, adding a couple of feet of length, six inches of height and a 21st-century makeover to the compact it resuscitated in 2002 and rechristened as its own Mini brand.

Mini, which had its best U.S. sales month ever in April, is offering a new take on its popular two-door.

The 2011 Mini Cooper Countryman is an ever-so-slightly larger four-door that, befitting a retro model coming up on its 10-year anniversary, has a sort of prepubescent quality. It's still cute, but in its bigger form, it's slightly more awkward looking.

The Macaulay Culkin of compacts, the Countryman is 15 inches longer than the modern Cooper hardtop — the better to accommodate doors, back-passenger legs and groceries in its rear cargo space. It's a car that finds the middle ground between fun and practicality.

The version of the Countryman I tested will appeal to fans of the movie "Italian Job" — drivers who wish there were a Michael Caine driving school to tutor them in the finer points of maneuvering through stairwells. The Cooper S Countryman ALL4 is the sporty, all-wheel drive version.

It's equipped with a turbocharged, direct-injection 1.6-liter engine that comes to speed quickly. It's also outfitted with permanent all-wheel drive that does the hard math, calculating driver speed, steering and acceleration so it can distribute the car's engine power and torque between the front and rear axles and keep the car planted in turns.

Painted an inspiring metallic blue with a pair of retro white racing stripes running up its bonnet, my tester was equipped with a six-speed manual transmission that was torque-y enough for me to make a game of joining freeway traffic. A six-speed automatic is available in two of the Countryman's three trims.