MINI Cooper review: The perfect small car?

This is the new MINI Cooper!

It’s available as either a petrol or electric car, and we’ve got our hands on the electric car for this review. The question is, when it comes to compact cars, is this one of the best you can buy in 2024?

For starters, let’s check out the design. From the outside, it is unmistakable as a MINI. There are three trim levels available, and we’ve got our hands on the top-spec Sport edition. This means it comes with an aggressive front bumper, black tone detailing, side skirts, and a large (but fake) rear diffuser.

Step inside and the new MINI is a nice place to sit. The main feature of the interior is the large circular infotainment screen in the centre of the dash. The majority of the car's functions are housed here, including the climate controls, but unfortunately, it’s not the most responsive system. Elsewhere in the cabin, there are well-designed, recycled materials on the dash, but in lower-down spots, there’s a fair bit of plastic material. Thankfully though, the seats are super comfortable.

Given we’ve got the electric edition, it’s only available as a three-door. If you want a five-door MINI, you’ll need to choose the petrol car!

There are two versions of the electric MINI available. The entry-level is the Cooper E, which comes with a 37kWh battery that can produce 184hp and 190 miles of range. The other edition is the Cooper SE, which has a 49kWh battery, 218hp and 250 miles of range.

If you choose the petrol car, the entry-level has a 1.5-litre 3-cylinder turbo that can produce 156hp, or there’s a 2-litre 4-cylinder turbo petrol that can put down 204hp. All MINIs are front-wheel drive, and they’re all automatic!

The petrol-powered MINI starts at £23,000, while the electric edition starts at around £30,000. However, the price can rise by a lot - the top-of-the-range car we have here costs over £42,000!! So is it worth it? You’ll need to stick with Mat and see for yourself!

Chapters
00:00 Intro
00:42 Design
02:15 Price
02:49 Interior
05:24 Back Seats
06:49 Boot
08:18 Annoying Features
10:32 Cool Features
13:45 Engines battery
14:51 Town Driving
17:03 Motorway Driving
18:13 Country Road Driving
20:02 0-60mph
20:37 Verdict

[faustinaadu]

What world are we in where a Mini cost over £42, 000 and weighs 1.7 Tonnes?

[Scamuel]

How car companies manage to sell you a £40, 000 car with a touch screen worse than a £100 phone will always blow my mind. How is that acceptable in a £40, 000 car when it controls EVERYTHING

[alexbradbury-hall]

Putting John Cooper Works badging on a MINI that isn't a proper JCW should be a crime

[elliotrowe]

42K is CRAZY. The way EV's devalue so harshly makes it an utterly silly purchase, surely?

[cp]

Those electric Minis are hugely expensive. The depreciation will be savage! 🤑

[ThompterSHunson]

If the thumbnail was saying "Suzuki Swift" I'd have believed it.

[austinosborne]

I honestly still prefer the early 2000s - 2010 models then the new modern renditions.

[livinagoodlife]

How tf can the infotainment systems still be slow in 2024?? Even cheap Android phones aren’t laggy anymore. It’s embarrassing.

[joebazooka]

The rear lights look weird. Personally I think they could have done a better job designing them.

[Arthurzeiro]

The interior is what the brits would call naff. I hate, absolute hate, how Tesla has managed to convince the average buyer that a huge screen in the middle of the dash is cool and luxury, it's much cheaper to make and design, it's such a huge cost cutting thing and it's now the replacement for a normal cluster and physical damn buttons

[tuffandco]

The original Mini was a packaging masterpiece. This car is big on the outside, and small on the inside.

[Stringwar]

Looking forward to the £80, 000 JCW version.

[nickw]

So…no hard buttons for the fan or temp… but one for a change in driving profile… which will be used precisely 5 times and then never touched again…perhaps I’m not the target audience for this..

[rustler]

One of the cool things about the new Mini Cooper is how it's not "mini" at all.
Guess we should not be surprised with it being a Chinese junk mobile.

[James-semaJ]

It looks great. No other mini has been comfortable in the back seats and you don't expect a big boot.

[greglee]

Why not review the petrol model that's more affordable?

[peterdavies]

Why would I care what the BMW/Audi tailgating me sees in my brake lights? They don't look at them anyway 😂

[davek]

Way too expensive. The Suzuki Swift is the only propper small car left 😔

[techreview]

somebody please clip when Matt says “that’s a little too small.” 😂

[ewadge]

I like the styling but other than that why the hell would you choose it over a Model 3. The Model 3 is now (finally) decently built, is faster, much much more practical, goes further, is more comfortable, has a better infotainment, can comfortably seat 5 people, has a large boot and has access to the Tesla supercharger network. Mini has lost its mind.