Mini Cooper review

Let’s get the Mini Cooper cliches out the way, shall we? It’s as English as a cuppa (despite the current German ownership), it’s bursting with retro style and – oh, look – it’s much bigger than the original Mini. The Italian Job, The Bourne Identity... you choose the film reference.

The Mini Cooper is an icon for a multitude of reasons and one of the best-selling new cars on the market – hence the brand has taken a careful yet comprehensive approach in overhauling the model.

You see, compared with its predecessor, the Cooper has only subtle styling changes, and uses updated underpinnings rather than new ones (unlike the latest Mini Cooper Electric). Indeed, the most noticeable change is the car’s completely different interior.

Are those subtle changes enough to keep this three-door Mini Cooper in competition with the best small cars, including the Audi A1, Honda Jazz, Seat Ibiza, Toyota Yaris and Volkswagen Polo? Read on to find out...

The entry-level Mini Cooper C has a 154bhp 1.5-litre, turbocharged, three-cylinder petrol engine – and it's our pick of the range. It’s a strong and feisty unit that dispatches 0-62mph in 7.7 seconds, which is impressive for the entry-level version of a small car.

With a larger 2.0-litre, turbocharged, four-cylinder petrol engine, the 201bhp Cooper S is even more potent, cutting the 0-62mph sprint to 6.6 seconds. You’ll struggle to find a hot hatch at this price point that’s faster, but for even more pace there's the Mini John Cooper Works (JCW).

At 228bhp, the JCW is the most powerful petrol Mini you can buy, and it certainly feels like it. It surges forwards when you put your foot down, riding a wave of torque and getting you from 0-62mph in 6.1 seconds. That’s only slightly slower than a Cupra Leon or Ford Focus ST.

It’s just a shame you can't have it with a more-involving manual gearbox. All versions have a seven-speed auto, although Sport and JCW versions do gets shift paddles on the steering wheel, allowing you to change gears manually.

Every Mini Cooper rides pretty firmly over typically undulating British roads. Thankfully, well-judged damping stops the car feeling like a pogo stick. In fact, the only time it gets uncomfortable is over a particularly vicious pothole or if you encounter mid-corner bumps at speed.

The news isn’t as good for town driving – the Cooper jostles you around a bit on roads that the VW Polo would smother far more effectively. As is often the case, we’d recommend sticking to the smallest 16in wheels because the 17in and 18in alloys make the car more unsettled.

Going for the Sport trim or the JCW adds adaptive suspension into the mix, allowing you to soften or firm up the ride by changing mode. Even so, the Mini still feels very firm and you’re jostled around in your seat almost constantly.

Mini likes to talk about the "go-kart feel" of its cars and in practice the Cooper has quick, darty steering and a grippy front end that makes the car feel pointy and agile – more so than an Audi A1.

This is where the firm suspension comes into its own, easily keeping body lean in check and giving you a good amount of grip through corners. Indeed, it only really starts to push wide on faster twisty roads.

JCW and Sport trim are better, giving you more grip and lots of confidence to push on. True, the Focus ST with the Track pack will be even better to drive, but the Mini does more than enough to put a smile on your face.

All three Mini Cooper engines are remarkably smooth and quiet, with the two sportier ones adding some synthetic engine noise through their speakers. A lot of cars do that these days, but some do a more convincing job – it’s a real shame that the Mini’s quintessential exhaust pops are now fake.

The relatively upright windscreen and pillars mean wind noise is very noticeable at motorway speeds. There’s also plenty of road roar, especially with big wheels fitted, meaning an A1 or Polo is a more hushed companion.

The automatic gearbox shifts smoothly and quickly, happily dropping down a gear when you need a burst of pace. The manual shift paddles – where fitted – are pleasingly responsive.

"I like automatics, but it's still a shame you can't have your Mini Cooper with a manual gearbox. It does feel like some of the magic has been lost." — Dan Jones, Senior Reviewer

The driver's seat in the Mini Cooper is comfortable and has a wide range of adjustment as standard. You can get the seat nice and low, which will appeal to those chasing a sporty driving position.

There's knitted fabric across the dashboard and on the insides of the doors – available in a variety of colours depending on trim level – and toggle switches for the gear selector and for changing driving modes. Meanwhile, instead of a start button, there's a plastic knob shaped like a key.

Unlike most cars, the Mini doesn’t have a driver's display – your speed is displayed on the big circular infotainment touchscreen. Helpfully, adding the Level 1 pack, upgrading to the Cooper S engine or going for the JCW adds a head-up display, allowing you to see the speed and other info more easily.

The Mini Cooper has reasonable all-round visibility compared to rival small cars but its chunky front pillars can limit your view at junctions.

The rear pillars are much slimmer so the view over your shoulder is good and the car's compact size means it’s easy to judge its extremities. Parking shouldn’t be an issue, but it’s made even easier by standard-fit parking sensors and a rear-view camera.

You’ll see plenty at night too, thanks to every Mini coming with bright LED headlights. Adding the Level 1 pack or going for the Cooper S and JCW upgrades them to adaptive LEDs that automatically shape the light (so you can leave them on full beam without dazzling anyone).

Taking centre stage on the Cooper's dashboard is the circular 9.4in touchscreen. It’s essentially the same as the one you get with the Mini Countryman and features Mini’s latest infotainment software.

The graphics are very crisp and there are several brightly coloured themes, but it’s not as simple to use as it is snazzy. The screen is littered with small icons that are tricky to aim for and the menus could be more logically laid out. You do get Android Auto and Apple CarPlay smartphone mirroring though.

One of the previous-generation Mini’s best attributes was its interior: you could immediately tell it was a premium product. The new Cooper has been given a more modern, minimalistic design, but it still looks properly stylish.

What’s more, in a class guilty of some rather dark and drab interiors, the fact that you can have the seats and fabric portions of the dashboard in a classy light grey or beige is appreciated. The Cooper S and JCW both get a sporty red pattern on the dashboard too.

It’s a shame there are more cheap-feeling plastics than before, such as on the door and lower parts of the dashboard, but the Mini remains a step above most rivals. Build quality feels solid and is on a par with the Audi A1.

"I found the Cooper's infotainment screen more style than substance. And please, Mini, bring back the physical buttons!" — Doug Revolta, Head of Video

The Mini Cooper has the most front leg room of any premium small car we’ve tested because the front seats slide back a long way. There’s plenty of head room up front for most drivers to get comfortable too, although you’ll find more in the VW Polo and even more in the Honda Jazz.

There are two cupholders and decent-sized cubbies up front, including one with knitted fabric on it for a touch of extra style to go with its practicality.

The three-door Cooper is tighter in the back than all its rivals for rear head and leg room. What’s more, its rear bench is restricted to two passengers. (If you need to carry three in the back – or want better rear access – it's worth considering the five-door Cooper, which has a small middle seat.)

With two seats, there’s a fair amount of shoulder room to get comfortable, but the Honda Jazz and some other rivals are much roomier in the back.

Once they're inside, the Cooper's back-seat passengers will find the seats comfortable thanks to the angle of its backrests. There are storage pockets in the backs of the front seats and a cupholder that will take a large coffee cup.

The three-door Cooper has a lever on the shoulder of the front seats that allows the seatback to fold forwards and the whole seat to slide if you give it a shove, providing access to the back.

The rear backrest is split 60/40 and each section topples forward easily when you pull a toggle on the shoulder of the seat. If you want more rear-seat versatility, the Honda Jazz will be the car for you – its seat bases lift up like cinema seats to increase vertical space for tall items.

The Mini Cooper has 210 litres of boot space. That's not as much as the Seat Ibiza or Skoda Fabia but is just about large enough for a big weekly shopping trip.

The Cooper's boot is a good square shape and you don’t need to lift items too far off the floor to get them over the load lip. There’s a shallow rectangular storage area under the boot floor for smaller items.

To maximise the available storage space and accommodate boxier items, you can lock the rear seatbacks at a right angle. When they're folded down, there’s a big step up to them from the boot floor.

"The panoramic glass roof helps bathe the interior in light, but I found it robs some of the already-limited headroom in the rear." — Oliver Young, Reviewer

The Mini Cooper is a premium product and is priced as such so it looks a bit expensive when you compare it with more mainstream small cars such as the Renault Clio, Seat Ibiza and VW Polo. That’s especially true when you consider how much more space those rivals offer.

That said, the Mini can still make some financial sense, thanks to competitive PCP and leasing offers, and slow depreciation compared with rivals. If you're looking for a company car you'll find that the Mini Cooper Electric is a much cheaper option because of its low BIK tax rate.

On the other hand, some rivals emit less CO2 and return better fuel economy. The Cooper C officially averages 47.9mpg, the Cooper S 45.6mpg and the JCW 43.5mpg. That's decent, but some small hybrid cars – the Honda Jazz and Toyota Yaris for example – can now exceed 60mpg.

There's a choice of four trim levels for the Cooper – Classic, Exclusive, Sport and the JCW hot hatch version. The differences between them are mainly cosmetic, but with some it affects which engine you can have. Every version gets parking aids, rain-sensing wipers and touchscreen infotainment and you can add more equipment by adding a Level 1, 2 or 3 options pack.

Level 1 – which comes as standard with the Sport and JCW versions – includes adaptive LED headlights, keyless entry, electrically-folding mirrors, front heated seats and wireless charging.

Level 2 includes a panoramic sunroof and an upgraded sound system.

Level 3 adds a massaging driver’s seat, an interior camera, adaptive cruise control and a 360-degree parking camera.

While the new Mini Cooper as a model didn't feature in our our 2024 What Car? Reliability Survey, Mini as a brand did exceptionally well, coming top of the table, above 30 other car makers ranked.

All Coopers come with a three-year warranty and breakdown assistance, and both can be extended with a variety of cover levels and price plans. Three years is fairly typical, but Toyota's impressive warranty covers you for up to 10 years if you use official centres for servicing.

Euro NCAP hasn’t tested the petrol Mini since 2014, when it scored four stars out of five, and that score has now expired.

At least there's a good amount of standard kit to help you avoid an accident, including automatic emergency braking (AEB), lane-departure warning, blind-spot detection and rear-cross traffic alert.

"I think it’s a shame that, despite the generous levels of safety equipment, you don’t get adaptive cruise control unless you opt for the most expensive option pack." – Dan Jones, Senior Reviewer

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