Mini Electric (2019-2023) review

All Mini Electrics get a screen behind the steering wheel showing speed, charge, range and trip data – a huge improvement on the previous do-it-all dial – plus an 8.8-inch circular infotainment screen (now touch sensitive as well as iDrive operable), which works as well as anything else out there. There's very little that's going to offend or distress here, and in our eyes it still looks the part, too.

You also get tactile, physical climate controls instead of a touchscreen sub-menu, plus toggle switches for a range of other features including driving modes, etc. Let's hope the next generation doesn't eschew buttons altogether...

Is it comfortable?

As ever, front passengers are sat low and straight legged, the steering wheel telescopes plenty from the dash, and overall, the driving position is superb.

It’s, er, slightly less comfortable in the rear, where legroom is pretty much non-existent – this is a car for smaller families only. Buyers after a Mini with bigger families will need to look to the Mini Countryman plug-in hybrid, if it’s electric propulsion you need to ferry around the little'uns. Or you could wait for the EV-only Aceman crossover, set to arrive in production form in the near future.

Is there much boot space?

Mini is at pains to point out the battery has been housed deep in the chassis where it can’t impinge on boot volume, which remains 211 litres. That’s on the small side for a supermini, but splits the likes of the Honda e (151 litres) and the Renault Zoe (335 litres). Both of those rivals are five-doors too, while the Mini is stubbornly a three-door.

Again, Mini says its research suggests most owners treat their Mini like a two-seat coupe and use the back seats chiefly as a parcel shelf, so the meagre rear access and pinched (non-existent) rear space needn’t matter.

There’s a useful bevy of stowage in the armrest, door pockets, and under the boot floor for storage cables. It’s all very well put together, certainly more expensive-feeling than the Renault Zoe, though the Honda e feels slightly homelier.