Mini Cooper Electric test drive

Make and model: Mini Cooper Electric 
Description: New all-electric version of lifestyle-pitched small car
Price range: from £30,000 to £34,500

Mini says: “Mini takes a giant leap into the digital era and the brand’s all-electric future.” 
We say: A more practical electric version of a car many will buy because it’s a Mini. 

• Mini Cooper Electric (2024 onwards) – Expert Rating 
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Introduction

Few car manufacturers are as busy as Mini right now, the brand relaunching its entire range over the course of 2024.

Mind you that range is going to be rather simpler than in the past, as there will only be three models. Various names such as One and Clubman have been consigned to history, and instead we have Cooper – now encompassing the entire core Mini line-up – the Countryman SUV and a new model coming later in 2024 and called the Aceman. This will be a car designed to fit squarely in the middle between Cooper and Countryman.

The range re-invention also marks Mini’s move into an all-electric future with only the new Countryman also offered with a petrol engine. Hang on, we hear you say, Mini has already launched a new petrol-powered Cooper this year, and it looks just like the one in the picture above…

Well, pictures can deceive. While the petrol Cooper has the same visuals as the Cooper Electric, under the shell it’s a heavily-updated version of the previous model, which has been around since 2014. For the all-new Mini, keep reading… 

What is it?

The Mini Cooper Electric is the fourth generation of the car that BMW reinvented back at the turn of the century. Where once Cooper signified an engine in the Mini line-up, now it is used to identify the entire core supermini range, which will encompass a five-door, the three-door we are testing here and a convertible which we should see before the end of 2024.  

The car is available in two forms, the Cooper E and SE. Both promise more power and crucially more miles per charge over their predecessors – the poor range has been a criticism regularly levelled at previous electric Minis. 

The new Cooper E has a power output of 184hp equivalent to the former SE but with its range increased by close to 50 miles to an official figure of 190 miles. The SE, which is expected to be by far the most popular of the two, houses a larger battery and so packs even more power at 218hp, with an official range extended to 250 miles. 

Other major changes include a complete reworking of the styling outside and in, much more technology and a distinctly healthier level of standard equipment.  

Who is this car aimed at?

When BMW relaunched the Mini brand, it succeeded in creating some of the level of cult following that the classic original 1959 car enjoyed. Despite the brand being diluted since by too many derivatives and some serious girth gaining, many Minis are still bought because they are Minis and owners love to be seen driving them – and these owners vary widely, from lucky youngsters with their first cars to pensioners.

The Mini also scores with those who enjoy driving because it’s great fun to get behind the wheel of. The phrase ‘go-kart handling’ appeared in the first press releases and has been so over-used since, but the car does have excellent on-the-road dynamics, which Mini has now faced the challenge of transferring to the electric version.

One area where the previous Mini Electric didn’t score highly was with its poor driving range, hampered by the car being a converted petrol hatch that was never intended to take an electric motor when it was first conceived. The new model was designed from Day One to be electric, so there are no compromises in its design. As a result, Mini expects many more customers to be attracted to the new one.      

Who won’t like it?

There still exist traditionalists who write off the current Mini, saying it sullies the heritage of that 1950s original especially because it’s anything but mini in size. The new one is actually fractionally smaller than its predecessor (and the new visual treatment makes it look smaller, which is a plus) but it would still dwarf a classic Mini.

Others who might be put off include those who consider the Mini as something very British. While Mini’s home is still very much Cowley in Oxford, this new Mini Electric is built in Austria, as is its Countryman Electric big sister. Production from Oxford will be starting in the next year or so, however, so it won’t be long before you’ll be able to get a British-built Mini Cooper EV.

First impressions

On first view you will immediately be able to tell the new Mini from its predecessors, thanks to a new styling regime dubbed ‘Charismatic Simplicity’ (who thinks up these names?). All the detailing and plastic add-ons of previous models are no longer, while the distinctive clam-shell shape bonnet has gone too. 

What we have now is a much minimalist exterior of smooth expanses which has divided opinions. Something to break up the panels a little would not go amiss, though of course totally smooth surfaces, extending to flush doorhandles, does aid electric range. And signature MINI elements remain, notably the circular headlamps and a now much more visible grille line shaped just like the Minis of old.

What do you get for your money?

Prices start at £30K for the Cooper E and £34.5K for the Cooper SE and the car is offered in three trim levels, dubbed Classic, Exclusive (plus £2.2K) and Sport (plus £3.5K). The differences primarily involve styling, alloy wheel options and the interior look.

The cabin is based on a knitted textile design on the dash and fascia surfaces which we are told makes much greater use of sustainable materials, and there are contrasting designs for the three trim levels. The Sport also includes some of the long-established John Cooper Works styling touches, notably on the steering wheel. 

Common to all is a much longer standard equipment list. Navigation is standard for example, as are a heated steering wheel, a parking assist driver aid with blind-spot warning, a digital personal assistant allowing the driver to voice-control various functions with the words “Hey Mini…” and Mini’s ‘Experience Modes’, a selection of sound and vision offerings of which more shortly…

The Level 1 options package costs £2K though it comes as standard with SE models. It adds such niceties as heated front seats, adaptive LED headlamps, a head-up display in front of the windscreen displaying such information as speed and navigation directions, and wireless phone charging with a cooling feature to prevent said phone overheating.

Also part of the Level 1 package is ‘Comfort Access’, a digital key which allows unlocking and locking with the key in your pocket. This can be allied to a smartphone allowing the key to be shared with family or friends by means of a text message.

Level 2 costs £4K adding all of the above plus a panoramic glass sunroof, upmarket surround sound audio plus the technical bits you need for various autonomous driving functions under the banner of ‘Driving Assistant plus’. This comes fitted as part of the Level 3 package, and it includes active cruise control, a front-facing camera aiding the sat nav and features such as lane-keeping and automatically maintaining speed limits. 

Other features in the £6.5K Level 3 package include electric seats with the driver’s having a massage function, and an internal camera – this allows the taking of selfies by occupants (we kid you not) but becomes a security feature while away from the car, for example recording a break-in. 

What’s the Mini Cooper Electric like inside?

For many years the first box to tick when getting into a Mini was whether you’d fit in it – space inside was cramped in a way one would not expect in a car so much bigger than its inspiration, especially in the back seats. This has improved over time and the latest one improves things again, the electric powertrain helping with the interior packaging. We sat in the back and it remains cosy but now comparable to similar-sized rivals. You wouldn’t want to travel hundreds of miles on a rear seat, however, especially with tall front-seat occupants. 

That knitted design on the surfaces is certainly different – made we are told from 90% polyester. It’s quite stylish but we wonder over its long-term ability to remain pristine.

The controls continue the minimalist theme, with far fewer switches to cope with. The front remains dominated by the huge central dial, some 24cm in diameter, in traditional Mini fashion. This is now a touchscreen controlling most of the car’s functions, to the point where the driver doesn’t have their own display – everything is read from the touchscreen or if you can afford it the head-up display. It’s quite easy to get used to but this traditionalist would prefer to see such essential information as the car’s speed directly ahead on his own display.

You know how you have to update your phone or computer operating system? Well the Mini has undergone the same, apparently jumping from BMW’s ‘operating system 5’ to system 9. Among the extra ‘functionality’ this has provided are the ‘Hey Mini’ assistant and the ‘Experiences’ which are definitely a Mini thing.

Basically by using a toggle switch below the that big round screen you can choose from half a dozen settings – names such as ‘Core’, ‘Vivid’, ‘Balance’, ‘Timeless’ (our favourite), ‘Green’ (very irritating as it keeps lecturing the driver every time one accelerates) and yes ‘Go-kart’. They change the background colour and design of the digital bits, oh and the noise, read on…

What’s the Mini Cooper Electric like to drive?

The Cooper Electric launch event offered the opportunity from some serious mileage around A and B roads around the Cotswolds in both the E and SE models. Both are more powerful than the cars they’ve replaced and even the base model feels swift on its way from 0 to 62mph in 7.3 seconds. The SE cuts this to 6.7 seconds and the instant torque availability of the electric motor makes overtaking slower traffic in particular a rapidly completed operation.  

It handles like a Mini too. Okay this is a more practical car with a sensible range but a Mini should always be fun to drive, and thankfully it fulfils the brief. I won’t say ‘go-kart handling’ again (whoops) but it does produce excellent grip through twisty bits, a car that will very much outhandle the average supermini rival while also remaining very well-behaved at slower speeds on more urban roads.

Oh yes, the ‘Experiences’. Depending on which setting you choose you get a very electronic audio accompaniment, especially under hard acceleration. The sounds make not the slightest attempt to replicate the audio of a petrol engine, but instead something more akin to what you might expect when accelerating a land speeder in Star Wars… This is definitely a Marmite feature, but kids in the back will love it…

One other oddity is the front-facing camera that forms part of the Level 3 options package. As one approaches a junction it puts an image of the view ahead on top the navigation map and superimposes sat-nav direction symbols on said image. We’d argue keeping one’s eyes on the road would be a better option than looking at a central screen but it does have an additional safety function, recording and storing information if the car suffers an impact.

How safe is the Mini Cooper Electric?

As of August 2024, the Mini Cooper Electric has not been crash-tested by Euro NCAP so we can’t yet definitively answer that question.

The major electronic driver aids such as autonomous braking are of course present, while lane-keeping and blind-spot monitoring also feature in the standard specification. But it’s shame that to get adaptive cruise control you have to shell out more than £6,000 for the top options package. Pay out of course and you will also get the front-facing camera with its useful extra function as a dash cam in an accident.

Mini Cooper Electric economy, battery range and charging

Using the EU/UK government lab testing procedures, Mini quotes an official driving range of up to 190 miles for the Cooper E, 250 miles for the Cooper SE. In real-world driving, you’ll be unlikely to reach these figures, but the more popular SE should routinely go more than 200 miles between charges – much better than the car it replaces and plenty for typical owners of this sort of car.

The car accepts rapid DC charging up to 95kW allowing replenishment from 10 to 80% in half an hour. With a suitable charger plugged in ten minutes, or one coffee, will add more than 100 miles to the range.

Using an 11kW AC charger replenishment from zero to full takes four and a quarter hours on the E, another hour with the SE. And charging can be controlled using the Mini smartphone app.   

Verdict

The new Mini Cooper Electric is certainly a major overhaul of the car with most of the changes for the better, creating a much more practical machine which has not lost the enjoyment factor that is expected to come with Mini ownership.

To get the most out of the car, however, you will need to invest in the options packages, and then compared to rivals it will start to look expensive.

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• Mini Cooper Electric (2024 onwards) – Expert Rating 
• More Mini reviews, Expert Ratings, news and features

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