Mini Cooper Electric review

Hard to believe that it's been over 20 years since the new Mini arrived. Perhaps even harder to believe that the renaissance car is on its fourth generation already, this arguably its most significant upgrade in those years. As a generous treat for electric Mini customers, this version is on a new platform, while the petrol one is a heavily reworked version of the old car with similar styling. 

As has become the norm in the last two decades, the newest Mini is a bit bigger than before (it’s taller and wider but not quite as long), the new Countryman SUV is even bigger and that’s created space for the Aceman small SUV, which might end up jostling with the Cooper for sales.

Three versions of the Cooper Electric are available: the 181bhp Cooper E (from £30,000), 215bhp SE (from £34,500) and 255bhp John Cooper Works (from £39k). It's up against stuff like the Renault 5, Peugeot e-208, Vauxhall Corsa Electric and Fiat 500. 

Not so mini anymore, is it?

Which is what everyone will say for the first three months of you driving this around. But then none of the Minis built this century have been particularly petite, and indeed none of them have sought to replicate the revolutionary tiny nature of the original.

You can’t help feeling nostalgic though, so the new Cooper scratches the itch in some inventive ways while still being fully future-focused. Few cars were as analogue as the original Issigonis-designed Mini, or as ingeniously packaged. Its immense character was in inverse proportion to its diminutive size, but its creator, Sir Alec Issigonis, was ruthless when it came to weight saving.

BEV porkiness is such an issue that soon our multi-storey car parks will be wilting under the extra pressure. At 1,600kg, the new Mini Cooper Electric is kinda chunky, but it’s actually shorter than the outgoing car, with minimal front and rear overhangs. It’s 3.8m long overall.

It does look good though.

Design director Oliver Heilmer and his team have instigated a clever evolution of the Mini’s visual language, while preserving its wheel-at-each-corner stance™. The body, window area and floating roof are distinct yet coherent elements (see also that other British ‘icon’, the Range Rover), and the nose receives a new octagonal treatment.

The circular headlamps now come with three different light signatures, and the rear lights’ jingoistic union jack motif can be switched out. The whole lot does a welcome and farewell fandango when the car senses the key (or smartphone) as you approach. It's all trying very hard, you'll either love it or hate it.

Inside, the car continues to pay tribute to the original while simultaneously being an absolute tech-fest. It’s mostly quite minimalist, with flat air vents, fun use of materials around the dash and handy storage, but the interior is dominated by the slightly crazy 9.4in central circular touchscreen. The sharp OLED number actually works well, bringing character to the car along with a whole heap of, er, complication. See the Interior tab for more.

How does it drive?

The handling is sharp and enthusiastic, so you can chuck it about with confidence. But the ride is too firm. And you can’t escape the weight of the car, either: BMW Group is generally quite good at disguising heft, but there’s no substitute for just being light in the first place.

I need range and performance stats, stat!

Time to get sensible. The lower-powered E models (181bhp/214lb ft, 7.3 seconds 0–62mph) come with a 36.6kWh battery that’s officially rated for up to 185 miles of range. That’ll probably come out at around 150 miles in the real world, and is better if you mostly keep to town driving.

The more powerful SE (215bhp/243lb ft, 6.7s) gets a larger 49.2kWh battery that’s good for up to 247 miles WLTP; think 210/220 in practice.

Strangely, the quicker John Cooper Works (255bhp/258lb ft, 5.9s) is rated up to 250 miles, presumably because its aero stick-ons help with efficiency.

Fundamentally, this is a great little car, overflowing with personality. This one just happens to be electric. The Cooper Electric is firm-riding, as so many EVs are, but has the handling smarts and eager reactions to make this a trade-off worth tolerating. The interior tech is occasionally infuriating, but mostly clever and well judged. Need a bit more practicality? Then there’s the new Aceman for you.