New Mini Cooper 5-Door review

We probably don't need to over-explain this one – the Mini Cooper 5-Door name says it all. It’s a Cooper with five doors instead of three, so it promises to be just as stylish a small car but with a bit more practicality.

This is the second time the modern Mini has received the five-door treatment and the recipe is pretty much identical: take a three-door Mini then stretch it and add two rear doors. In terms of size, this new five-door Cooper is a few centimetres longer than its predecessor.

Still, it uses the same mechanical basis as the Mini Hatch it replaces, and a couple of engines have been carried over too. You might not have guessed that the two were so strongly related because the latest car looks noticeably different, especially inside. The Cooper's interior is much more minimalistic and colourful than the Hatch's.

Are the changes all for the better and is the new Mini Cooper 5-Door a truly family-friendly small car? Or would you better off with, say, an Audi A1 or VW Polo? Read on to find out...

The C version of the Mini Cooper 5-Door gets a 1.5-litre three-cylinder engine with 154bhp, and that's a lot for the entry-level engine of a small car. Performance is brisk, with a 0-60mph time of eight seconds, and it’s our pick of the engine range.

The 201bhp Cooper S has a 2.0-litre engine and drops the 0-60mph time to 6.8 seconds but we don’t feel the extra grunt is needed here – the C is more than punchy enough. What’s more, the Cooper S’s engine doesn’t feel much more special or exciting.

Indeed, the Cooper S as a whole isn’t much better to drive, even though it might look like something of a hot hatch on paper. Its handling isn’t too dissimilar to that of the C and there’s no added layer of driver engagement or agility.

Is that a bad thing? Well, not necessarily, because the Cooper C is generally good to drive. It has quick, meaty steering and a grippy front end that makes the car feel sharper and more playful than the Audi A1.

It’s not perfect though. The Cooper 5-Door is pretty heavy for such a small car (even more so than the three-door Cooper). On a fast, twisty road, you begin to notice that, and you’ll find yourself wrestling with its weight more than in the lighter Seat Ibiza.

Likewise, the Cooper's ride is less forgiving than the Ibiza’s, and with its relatively stiff suspension it tends to jiggle you around over bumps and potholes more than the A1 or Ibiza does. That's still the case on Sport trim versions, which get adaptive suspension.

Mind you, the ride smoothens out on motorways and if you make sure your Cooper has one of the smaller wheel options. Speaking of motorway driving, there's more wind and road noise than in a VW Polo but never to annoying degrees.

“The Cooper is pretty fun to drive overall, but I was disappointed that the faster you drive, the more that initial sense of agility starts to fade.” – Oliver Young, Reviewer

For interior quality, the Mini Cooper 5-Door remains a step above the Skoda Fabia and VW Polo but the margin isn’t quite as apparent as it was with its predecessor. Sure, it looks more colourful and modern now, but the material quality has dropped, with far more scratchy plastics than before.

The infotainment system feels like a step backwards in some ways too. Again, it looks great, with high-quality graphics displayed on a thin circular touchscreen. However, it's slow to respond at times and the menus can be confusing.

Plus, when you call up the reversing camera feed, or use Apple CarPlay or Android Auto smartphone mirroring, they're shown in a rather small square or rectangle in the middle of the touchscreen.

There's no driver's display, but the S version (or the C with the Level 1 pack) has a head-up display – although it doesn’t show enough information to make up for the lack of a screen behind the steering wheel. For example, to check whether an indicator is flashing, you have to look over at the infotainment screen.

Another annoyance is that the way the head-up display is tinted means that at night it takes a rather annoying chunk out of your view ahead. In other words, it darkens the area right in front of you.

The Cooper 5-Door's low, sporty-feeling driving position does give you reasonable all-round visibility compared with small car rivals, although the chunky front pillars can limit your view at junctions.

“I was hopeful that the Cooper's interior would be an example of minimalism done right, in a similar vein to the Audi TT, but unfortunately that’s not really the case here.” – Oliver Young, Reviewer

Up front, the Mini Cooper 5-Door feels a little narrow and taller occupants might find their heads grazing the roof, but there’s a decent amount of space for a small car.

In the back, there’s more leg room than in a three-door Cooper and you fit four six-footers with only minor grazing of the knees. There is a third seat in the back (unlike in the three-door) but it’s so slim you’d need a silhouette like a stick figure's to use it.

If all that sounds like a bit of squeeze, try out the roomier interiors offered by the Skoda Fabia and VW Polo.

Likewise, the Cooper 5-Door's boot space is a bit bigger than the 3-Door's but it's still not a super-practical car. The total storage volume is 275 litres, which falls well short of the Fabia (380) and Polo (351).

The boot opening is a little on the narrow side, reinforcing the argument for buyers who plan to carry bulky items regularly to look elsewhere. The Fabia, again, is a great choice for boot access.

The Cooper 5-Door does have some handy in-car storage, including a stylish cubby box between the two front seats. The rear seat backs fold down in a conventional 60/40 split – there's no 40/20/40 split or handy ski hatch here.

“While the five-door model is down on space next to rivals, I got on well with what’s available, and I can see it working for a lot more people than a three-door Cooper.” – Oliver Young, Reviewer

The Mini Cooper 5-Door is more upmarket than most small cars and the price reflects that – it looks a bit expensive when you compare it with the Renault Clio, Seat Ibiza and VW Polo. They also offer more space for your money.

The 5-Door is also – understandably – more expensive than the three-door Cooper but their list prices are within £1000 of each other. We consider it a reasonable amount for the added practicality you’re getting.

Despite costing more than rivals, the Cooper can still make some financial sense thanks to competitive PCP and leasing offers. Its depreciation is reasonably slow over three years – on a par with the Audi A1 according to predictions.

Some rivals are better on fuel. The Cooper C 5-Door officially averages 45.6mpg and the Cooper S 5-Door 43.5mpg. The official average of the A1 35 TFSI is only marginally better (at 47.1mpg) but the Honda Jazz and Toyota Yaris exceed 60mpg.

There are three trim levels available: entry-level Classic, Exclusive and range-topping Sport. Classic is the most affordable – and we’d recommend sticking to that – but the differences are more cosmetic than anything else. You’ll find most of the kit you could want within one of the three optional packages.

The Level 1 package has LED headlights, keyless entry, heated front seats, a head-up display and a few other desirable things. It's not cheap, demanding a hefty £2000, but we can see it being justifiable in many people's eyes.

What's less justifiable is Level 2. It adds a panoramic sunroof and an upgraded sound system as well as a few other items, but it chucks another £2000 on top of the already hefty price. Level 3 adds a massaging driver’s seat, an interior camera, adaptive cruise control and a 360-degree parking camera.

As a brand, Mini triumphed in the 2024 What Car? Reliability Survey coming top out of 31 brands. We don't have reliability data for the Cooper yet.

The model has yet to be crash-tested by safety experts Euro NCAP but it comes with a good amount of safety kit, including automatic emergency braking (AEB) and lane-departure warning.

“The optional packages are costly so I’d recommend looking at them carefully and determining how much you value the kit they offer.” – Oliver Young, Reviewer

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