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If you think the new Mini Countryman, unveiled this week, looks more maxi than mini, you’re not wrong. It’s the biggest Mini ever launched — 20cm longer and 3cm wider than its immediate predecessor.

Some 57 years after the original, designed by Sir Alec Issigonis, stunned the world as a nimble 10ft square box on wheels with go-kart like performance, one might expect a little middle-aged spread to creep in.

Indeed, the new car measures 4.3 m, or around a metre longer than the 1959 original.

New Countryman is biggest Mini ever launched - 20cm longer and 3cm wider than its immediate predecessor | Daily Mail Online