MINI Cooper 1.5 C Sport 5dr Auto

Ten Second Review

The MINI Cooper 5 Door delivers more MINI for lovers of the brand's small hatch, in a combustion-only package. But not too much more.

Background

Take a standard MINI, add a dash of length and practicality and you'd have a strong seller. You'd have a car like this, the MINI Cooper 5 Door. This is the second version of this design - and it marks the end of an era for the brand; the last car the company will launch exclusively with combustion powertrains. The earliest BMW-engineered MINI Hatch models couldn't be had in 5 Door form because the platform used for them wasn't big enough. All that changed in 2013 when the third generation Bavarian-developed 'F56'-series version arrived, complete with significant increases in length, width and height. That paved the way for the first 'F55'-series 5-Door Hatch design a year later, a car then updated in 2018. The F66-era MINI Cooper which arrived in Autumn 2023 was also engineered with this F65 5 Door body shape in mind, though strangely, only in combustion form. Let's take a closer look.

Driving Experience

Unlike with the Cooper 3 Door, there's no full-electric drivetrain available here. First because the separate platform designed with the Chinese for the Cooper Electric 3 Door wasn't ever engineered for this larger body style. And second because MINI wants those in search of a five-door EV of this size to choose its Aceman small SUV. So for the Cooper 5 Door, it's a combustion-only range, shared of course with the 3 Door version. The base Cooper C variant has a 1.5-litre three cylinder turbo powertrain that puts out 230Nm and 154hp (20hp more than before). The rest to 62mph time suffers slightly with the weight of the 5 Door bodystyle, falling from 7.7s to 8.0s en route to 139mph. The alternative powerplant is the 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo in the Cooper S, which comes with 300Nm and 201hp (25hp more than before). That gets the Cooper S 5 Door to 62mph in 6.8s (0.2s slower than the 3 Door version). No faster John Cooper Works version is yet planned. Both variants offer the freshly-introduced seven so-called 'MINI Experience' modes - 'Core', 'Green', 'Go-kart', 'Personal', 'Vibrant', 'Timeless' and 'Balance'. As the names suggest, these do a lot more than just affect steering feel and throttle response, altering cabin colours and graphics. What you can't have in this generation Cooper 5 Door, rather sadly, is a manual gearbox. The previously optional Steptronic 7-speed auto is now non-negotiable and can be had in sharper-responding 'Sport' form complete with paddles on the steering wheel, if you specify 'Sport' trim. It works via a gear selector relocated from the centre console to a panel below the centre screen.

Design and Build

Does it all work aesthetically? Well you'll be the judge of that. What we will say is that if you like the look of the F66 Cooper 3 Door, the changes made here are subtle enough to probably keep you loyal to this, its bigger F65 stablemate. The overall length is 4036mm, which is 172mm longer than the Cooper 3 Door and 72mm longer than the previous generation Hatch 5 Door. Styling chief Oliver Heimler has based this latest Hatch model's penmanship around the company's current DNA-defined design language, called 'Charismatic Simplicity'. You might think it doesn't look much different; the silhouette's certainly recognisable, with its flush glazing, 'floating' contrast-coloured roof and blacked-out window pillars. Inside up front, it is of course just the same as the Cooper 3 Door. As with every MINI, the cabin's centrepiece remains a familiar large circular central display - here 9.5-inches in size. Now though, it's the only one; there's nothing to view through the re-designed steering wheel except the new textile-trimmed dashboard panel - though a head-up display can be specified. The minimalist fascia is largely shorn of buttons and the gear selector has been relocated to a toggle beneath the central screen (rather nauseously now known as the 'MINI Interaction Unit'). You sit low, which adds to the promised 'sporty' feel. And the previous round vents are replaced by slimmer ones. Obviously, the key difference with this 5 Door model is in the back, which was cramped in the previous generation design but is a little better here, with easier access; there's 38mm more legroom than you get in the Cooper 3 Door. And out back, 65-litres more boot space, at 275-litres.

Market and Model

There's quite a premium for this Cooper 5 Door body style. From launch, prices started from just over £24,000 for the base Cooper C variant, which is just under £2,000 more than the equivalent 3 Door model. If you want the 2.0-litre Cooper S version of this Cooper 5 Door, the price from launch was around £28,500. Whichever version you choose, MINI boasts that this generation Cooper model is its most connected car ever, courtesy of a revised 'My MINI' app; and a "Hey MINI" personal assistant voice control system, via which owners can choose digital depiction of a British bulldog named Spike as their screen avatar of choice. There are three available trim levels - 'Classic', 'Exclusive' and 'Sport' - and all are well equipped. The knitted textile dashboard gets a two-tone houndstooth pattern with 'Exclusive' trim and a multi-coloured finish with 'Sport' spec. The black synthetic leather sports seats get perforated trim with 'Exclusive'-spec and contrast red stitching on 'Sport' models. You'll need to avoid base spec to get a contrast-coloured roof, a 'Spray-Tech' top which blends three different colours. Key available features include 'Park Assist Plus' parking set-up, 'Digital Key Plus' (which allows you to unlock the car with your smartphone) and the 'Remote 360' surround view monitoring system. On longer journeys, the Active Cruise Control with Stop & Go function, and the 'MINI Driving Assistant' enhance comfort. The 'MINI Interaction Unit' central screen offers 'Apple CarPlay' and 'Android Auto', but only the former fills the whole circumference of the 24cm-diameter OLED round display. Third-party apps like Spotify now fit and work in it too.

Cost of Ownership

Don't expect too much change with the combined cycle fuel consumption figures for this Cooper 5 Door over the equivalent 3 Door model. For reference, the 3 Door version returns around 48mpg in Cooper C form and around 45mpg in Cooper S guise. MINI says that the Cooper C 5 Door is capable of up to 136g/km of CO2, while the Cooper S 5 Door manages up to 141g/km of CO2. To get anywhere near these figures, you'll need to drive most permanently in the 'MINI Experience' 'Green' drive mode. That 'Green' setting modifies throttle and transmission response and tweaks the standard gear shift point display. It also includes a so-called 'coasting' function where at high cruising speeds the drivetrain is temporarily decoupled for extra frugality when you come off the accelerator. What else? Well, residual values are bound to be strong - they always have been. You can expect your MINI Hatch to have retained just over half its value at the three year / 60,000 mile point. As expected, there's the normal three year unlimited mileage warranty with the usual BMW-style variable service indicators. Beyond that, there's an optional extended 'MINI Insured' warranty available that can cover you for up to 100,000 miles and can also be specified to apply to particular components, like the clutch, the engine or the gearbox.

Summary

Like its predecessor, this Cooper 5 Door offers supermini buyers shopping at the premium end of this segment something a bit different. More fun, more customisation, more technology, more... MINI. You'll either like the whole adventure or you won't. As is always the case with this Anglo-Teutonic brand. The extra length of this 5 Door variant has done nothing to dilute the classic MINI joie de vivre, which is why this car will appeal so much to the young at heart. At the same time, the enhanced media connectivity and camera-driven safety kit of this new generation model will also appeal to the head, as will cabin quality that really does make this car feel like a cut-sized BMW, with all the quality and technology you'd find in a design from that parent company. MINI hopes all of that might tempt buyers from the next segment up who don't really need much rear seat space to get one of these instead. You could see that happening. Of course, not everyone is MINI-minded. Some don't like the way the looks have evolved. Others still think it isn't big enough. And this car can certainly be expensive once you've added in a few essential options. But these are issues the creators of this car never set out to address. The improvements they have made though, are resoundingly successful. Though the endearing raw edges that characterised older MINIs may now be distant memories, added maturity brings many compensations.