FIVE STAR? (some text hidden) --NONE--

By Jonathan Crouch

The MINI Cooper 5-Door broadens this latest-era MINI Hatch model's sales reach. Jonathan Crouch drives it.

Ten Second Reviewword count: 23

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.

Backgroundword count: 154

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 Experienceword count: 303

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 156hp (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 204hp (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. As the fascia design suggests, MINI's rather sadly decided to no longer offer a manual gearbox option with this this generation model. So the previously optional Steptronic 7-speed auto is now non-negotiable but at least comes in sharp-responding 'Sport' form (though you'll only get paddles on the steering wheel with top 'Sport' trim). One thing this combustion MINI Cooper can offer that the Electric version can't quite replicate is really agile handling - because it weighs an awful lot less. This petrol model tips the scales at not much more than 1.2 tonnes, around 400kgs lighter than the EV.

To see the full road test text contact us on 0330 0020 227