► A Mini Cooper with some extra doors
► More rear legroom and a bigger boot
► So it it now a usable small family car?
The quintessential Mini will always be one with three doors, but for many, that’s too compromised. It’s not a new phenomenon, of course, Mini has been dabbling with more practical layouts for the best part of two decades.
There’s the now-mahoosive Countryman SUV and electric Aceman, but what about a simple five-door hatch to please those wanting one of the best small cars, just with a touch more space? It’s existed for more than a decade, and has now been named the Cooper 5-Door as part of this latest generation. Time to find out if it’s the Mini you should choose.
At a glance
Pros: Strong engines, good fun to drive, more space than a 3dr Cooper
Cons: It’s still not exactly spacious, reduced choice compared to the 3dr, expensive
What’s new?
The Mini Cooper five-door is unsurprisingly a Mini hatchback with a couple of extra doors, though there is a bit more to it than that. It’s been stretched, with a 72mm longer wheelbase, and the overall car is 172mm longer than a MINI Cooper 3-Door.
Much of that goes into freeing up more space for rear passengers, and it also gets a middle rear seat, whereas the standard Cooper 3dr makes do with four seats. You also get a larger boot, with all this helping to make this small Mini better suited to carrying more people and luggage.
Mini has been making five-door versions of its smallest model for more than a decade, introducing this more practical version with the previous-generation Mini Hatch in 2014. It’s proven popular since, with around 40% of all new Coopers sold now being the five-door. It’s worth noting that this car is also produced at Mini’s factory in Oxford alongside the three-door model.
What are the specs?
Mini doesn’t offer a five-door Cooper hatchback with an electric powertrain – the Aceman crossover ticks that box – so instead it’s only available with petrol engines. You can’t have a John Cooper Works model, either, unlike the three-door car.
The choice consists of the Cooper C and Cooper S, with both offering more power than most rivals, and they only come with a seven-speed automatic gearbox – you can’t buy a new manual Mini these days. The Cooper C uses a 156hp 1.5-litre petrol engine, with 0-62mph taking eight seconds, a few tenths of a second slower than the three-door car. It’ll go onto a top speed of 140mph, too.
If you want more performance, there is the Cooper S, which comes with a 204bhp 2.0-litre petrol engine, which knocks the 0-62mph time down to 6.8 seconds. It’ll max out at 150mph if given the chance.
Running costs, on paper at least, are broadly similar for the Cooper C and S, returning 46.3 and 44.8mpg respectively, with CO2 emissions between 137 and 142g/km.
What’s it like to drive?
The Mini is renowned for its fun driving experience, and this Cooper 5-Door is no exception. It’s our favourite small car to drive, with a level of excitement and fun missing from most rivals. The Cooper’s engines are a real strength, both delivering plenty of performance and power to make them feel like junior hot hatches. In most cases, the entry-level Cooper C will offer enough power. It can quickly get up to speed, is refined and is happy to sit at motorway speeds without ever feeling out of its depth.
The Mini’s steering is quick and well-weighted, giving you the confidence to keep pressing on. The chassis is great, too, helping to keep the car flat through the corners and still lively for a small car. We wish you could still have the option of a manual, however, as the auto gearbox can sometimes have a bit of a lag. If you want to override it, the only version with gearbox paddles is the Sport trim level, which we’d recommend if you want that more engaging experience.
The Cooper also has a firmer ride than many of the softer-focused cars in this class. If you enjoy driving and want a sportier feel, it’s a compromise worth making and cars on smaller wheels are far from uncomfortable. But we’d stay clear of the optional 18-inch alloys as they make the ride overly fidgety and aren’t well-suited to Britain’s potholed roads.
What’s it like inside?
Up front, the 5-Door Cooper’s interior is exactly the same as the three-door model, and in fact every other new Mini. A super-thin circular screen is used to operate most functions, with few physical buttons across the interior. Generally speaking, I’m not a big fan of this approach, though the Mini’s screen is one of the easiest to negotiate, with easy access to your most-used features, including changing the temperature.
It’s a fun and distinctive interior, too, which feels like a premium product even on lower trim levels. A wool-effect dashboard looks great, and depending on version, you’ll get fancy ambient lighting and a panoramic sunroof. We think it’s generally one of the best interiors in any small car, though there are a couple of small exceptions. The steering wheel, borrowed from BMWs, is very thick-rimmed and far too big for such a small car.
There is no instrument cluster on the latest MINIs, either, so we highly recommend choosing the ‘Level 1’ option pack, which (among other things) brings a head-up display. Without this, you’re reliant on looking at the main screen as a speedo.
If you even occasionally carry rear passengers, we would strongly recommend looking at this five-door model (over the 3dr) Make no mistake, it’s not meant as a large family car, but the additional wheelbase length means adults will be able to travel in the rear more comfortably. Though it has three seats in the rear (unlike the 3-Door model), it’s not any wider, and therefore it’s best to rule out that middle seat rear ever being used unless in emergencies. If you want a small car with more rear seat space, we recommend looking at the Skoda Fabia.
At 275 litres, the boot of this 5-Door is larger than the 211 litres provided by the standard MINI Cooper, increasing to 925 litres with the rear seats folded. It still lags behind most rivals in this class, though, with a Volkswagen Polo having 351 litres of boot with the seats upright, and 1,125 with them folded.
Before you buy (trims and rivals)
On the Cooper 5-Door, there’s the choice of two engines and three trim levels – Classic, Sport and Exclusive, though these are predominantly based around visual changes.
Standard equipment is quite comprehensive, including LED lights, two-zone climate control, a large OLED touchscreen with sat nav and blind spot monitoring. The Classic trim gets a black roof, blue and black interior accents and small 16-inch alloys (17s on the Cooper S).
The Sport grade gets the look of MINI’s John Cooper Works (JCW), including a specific bodykit and gloss black detailing. The interior also gets sports seats and a sports steering wheel. Other important changes include adaptive suspension, a sports gearbox with paddles and a heated steering wheel.
The Exclusive trim aims to be the most refined version, coming with gold-coloured 17-inch alloys, blue leather upholstery and a knitted dashboard.
The five-door costs £1,000 more than a three-door Cooper, with prices starting from £26,265 for a Cooper C Classic, rising to £32,765 for a Cooper S Sport. It’s one of the most expensive petrol-powered superminis, with even an Audi A1 costing less.
Verdict
If you like the regular three-door Mini Cooper but find its lack of rear doors and general interior space too limiting, the five-door model is certainly worth considering. That’s because it retains all of the standard car’s key strengths that make it one of the best small cars you can buy, with its fun driving experience continuing to set it apart in this class.
The trouble is, even with five doors, the Cooper still isn’t a particularly practical car, with a smaller boot and less rear seat space than cars such as the Audi A1 and Volkswagen Polo. If you want a Mini that would work as a practical family car, the far larger Countryman is the direction we would point you in. But if you simply what a small Mini that’s a bit more useful, the 5-Door is worth looking at.