2011 Mini Cooper Countryman Priced at $21,650, up to 35 MPG

The Countryman will be available in three versions: the Cooper Countryman, Cooper S Countryman and Cooper S Countryman with All4 all-wheel drive.

A well-equipped Cooper S Countryman with all-wheel drive could come in at less than $30,000, said Nathalie Bauters, Mini’s communications manager. More detailed pricing should be released sometime after next week, once dealers get pricing descriptions, Bauters said.

Compared with the Countryman’s other tiny CUV competitors — such as the Nissan Juke ($18,960), Mitsubishi Outlander Sport ($18,495) and Volkswagen Tiguan ($23,200) — the Mini is priced somewhere in the middle.

The base Countryman is equipped with a 121-horsepower four-cylinder engine. The Cooper S Countryman is equipped with a 181-hp, turbocharged 1.6-liter four-cylinder. All Countrymans come standard with a six-speed manual transmission; a six-speed automatic transmission is optional on both models. Seventeen-inch wheels and run-flat tires are also standard, with 18- or 19-inch wheels available.

The base Countryman gets 27/35 mpg city/highway, the Cooper S Countryman 25/32 mpg, and the all-wheel-drive Cooper S Countryman 25/31 mpg. That makes the Countryman one of the most fuel-efficient CUVs in the segment.

The Countryman will go on sale in January.