Mini Cooper Electric review

The Mini Cooper Electric and Greggs' vegan sausage roll have more in common than you might imagine: they’re both guilt-free versions of a popular British classic. 

However, while the recipe of the sausage roll has remained unchanged since it first appeared on the high street, the battery-powered version of the Mini Cooper hatchback has just been reinvented for a new generation. 

It sits on all-new electric-car underpinnings, the result of a partnership between BMW (which owns Mini) and Chinese car maker Great Wall Motors. The original Mini Electric was essentially a petrol Mini with the engine ripped out and an electric motor shoved in its place. That meant it had some pretty big shortfalls.

Confusingly, there's still a petrol Mini hatch, which looks very similar to the new electric Cooper but is in fact a completely unrelated car. You can read all about that in our Mini Cooper review.

So how does the Mini Cooper Electric stack up against the best electric cars – including the equally retro Fiat 500 Electric, the MG4 EV and the Peugeot e-208? Read on to find out...

The entry-level Mini Cooper E has one 181bhp electric motor driving the front wheels. That gives it surprisingly nippy acceleration, with 0-62mph taking 7.3 seconds, which is quick enough to leave most rivals trailing, including the MG4 EV and Peugeot e-208.

The Cooper SE has an even more powerful 215bhp motor that slingshots it from 0-62mph in just 6.7 seconds. That's faster than an Abarth 500e – a car its maker markets as a proper hot hatchback. The SE surges forwards when you put your foot down, and both versions play sound effects as you accelerate (if you're not in the mood, you can switch them off).

The problem with the entry-level Cooper E is that it has a relatively small 36.6kWh (usable capacity) battery and a disappointing range. It can officially manage up to 190 miles depending on the trim level, which is quite a bit less than the entry-level MG4 (218 miles), e-208 (225 miles) and Vauxhall Corsa Electric (246 miles). In real-world driving, we'd expect the Cooper E to manage 100-160 miles.

That's why we think most buyers are better off stumping up for the Cooper SE. It pushes up the price significantly but gets you a 49.2kWh battery for an official range of up to 250 miles. That makes the Cooper Electric far more usable, and allows you to tackle longer journeys without a sense of dread. Expect 140-215 miles in the real world.

There's more good news when it comes to handling. The Cooper Electric feels light, agile and has plenty of grip, allowing you to corner more quickly than you would in an MG4 or Corsa Electric. It's not quite the go-kart Mini would like you to believe it is, but you'll still have plenty of fun along a twisting country road.

The sharp, direct steering gives you the confidence to attack corners and trust the front wheels are going to go where you aim them. The steering works well around town too, making the Mini easy to manoeuvre in tight situations.

There is, though, a compromise: the Cooper Electric's suspension is stiffer than most rivals'. That helps it stay upright through corners, and it avoids crashing into potholes, but occupants are subjected to a lot of vertical movement, with their heads bobbing back and forth, as the car goes over lumps and bumps. The petrol version has a calmer and more comfortable ride.

Assuming you've switched the sound effects off, the Cooper Electric is quiet on the move, with only a small amount of road and wind noise at faster speeds.

The brakes impress too, making it easy to judge how much pressure is needed on the pedal to slow down smoothly. That's not always the case with electric cars because of their regenerative braking systems. The e-208, for example, has a curiously spongy brake pedal.

If you're bored of bland interior designs with all the excitement and colour of a rainy day, you'll be pleasantly surprised when you get inside the Mini Cooper Electric.

There's knitted fabric across the dashboard and on the insides of the doors – available in a variety of colours depending on the trim level – and toggle switches for the gears and driving modes. Meanwhile, instead of a start button, there's a plastic knob shaped like a key.

The design is modern but takes inspiration from the 1959 original, with a circular 9.4in display in the middle of the dashboard. In the original Mini that housed the speedo, but here it's a colour infotainment touchscreen.

If you buy the entry-level Cooper E and don't pay for any of the optional packages, you don't get a driver display, so you'll need to look across at the touchscreen to check your speed and see sat-nav directions. The same is true of the Tesla Model 3 and Volvo EX30.

All other versions of the Cooper Electric have a head-up display on top of the dashboard behind the steering wheel. It's essentially a small piece of clear plastic that rises out of the dashboard when you start the car, and puts key information in front of you.

The arrangement works really well and is helped by the fact that the seat, steering wheel and pedals all line up neatly with one another – something that can’t be said of the larger Mini Countryman. The driver's seat is comfortable and holds you in place during cornering. You get some lumbar support, but it's only adjustable on cars with the Level 3 pack.

The touchscreen has sharp graphics and is quick to respond when you press it. The layout is a bit confusing though, and there are a lot of icons that are small and fiddly to hit while you're driving. You get Android Auto and Apple CarPlay smartphone mirroring as standard, but apps load in a fairly small rectangle in the centre of the circular touchscreen.

The Cooper Electric's air-con controls are part of the touchscreen rather than being physical. That's quite common in modern cars but is still a shame because it makes it fiddlier to adjust the temperature than with, say, a proper dial.

Practicality is not traditionally a Mini strength and the Mini Cooper Electric is no exception. If you need to carry more than one tall passenger on a regular basis, you're better off looking at the MG4 EV and Volvo EX30 – or even a Peugeot e-208.

Unlike all of the above, and most other rivals, the Cooper Electric doesn't have rear doors. That makes getting into the back a bit of a challenge, because you need to move the front seat forwards and clamber through a tight gap.

Once you're sitting in the rear, you'll find a reasonable amount of head room (far more than in the previous-generation electric Mini) but leg room is very tight and there are only two rear seats. Most rivals can squeeze three people in the back.

More positively, the Mini Cooper Electric has an impressive amount of leg room in the front, mainly because the front seats slide a long way back on their runners. There’s also plenty of head room in the front.

The Cooper Electric's boot volume is one of the lowest in the electric car class, with 210 litres below the parcel shelf. The MG4 can hold 363 litres while the e-208 can take 311 litres.

The rear seats folds down in a 60/40 split, which is something most electric cars offer. When the back seats are folded down, the height adjustable boot floor (with some storage underneath for the charging cable) means there's no big step in the floor of the extended load bay.

The Mini Cooper Electric is more expensive to buy outright than an MG4 EV or Vauxhall Corsa Electric but not by an outrageous amount. In fact, prices are broadly in line with the Peugeot e-208 – a rival that's likely to depreciate far more quickly.

That should help keep monthly payments respectable for those signing up to a PCP finance agreement and, like all fully electric cars, the Mini Cooper Electric is a seriously cheap option for company car drivers paying benefit-in-kind (BIK) tax.

The Cooper SE has a maximum charging speed of 95kW from a public CCS charging point. That means a 10-80% top-up will take around half an hour in ideal conditions. The MG4, e-208 and Corsa Electric can all charge slightly faster, but not by enough to shave a significant amount of time off your pitstops.

You'll be waiting a similar amount of time for a 10-80% charge in the Cooper E too – but remember it has a smaller battery, so you'll be adding fewer miles during that time due to its maximum charging rate of 70kW. That's another reason to stump up extra for the SE.

Either way, there are three basic trim levels to choose from: Classic, Exclusive and Sport. Classic is the entry-level trim and offers relatively little in the way of personalisation options. Going for Exclusive or Sport changes that, giving you a wider paint colour palette, bigger wheels and some more eye-catching interior trim.

After that, you need to decide how much kit you want. All versions of the Cooper Electric come with LED headlights, a heated steering wheel, cruise control and two-zone climate control. However, if you're buying the Cooper E, we'd recommend upgrading to the Level 1 package.

The Level 1 package comes as standard on the Cooper SE, and brings customisable front and rear light signatures, keyless entry, power-folding door mirrors, wireless phone-charging, heated front seats and the head-up display.

If that's not enough, there are Level 2 and Level 3 packs too. They add more creature comforts but push the Mini's price well into the territory of the Volvo EX30 – a bigger electric car with a longer range.

Mini finished in a solid third place out of 32 brands in the 2023 What Car? Reliability Survey with Lexus and Toyota above it. The Mini Cooper Electric was too new to feature in the survey.

The Cooper Electric has yet to be tested by the safety experts at Euro NCAP. However, it does come with lane-keeping assistance and blind-spot monitoring as standard. Disappointingly, adaptive cruise control is available only as part of the Level 3 equipment package, which pushes up the price significantly.

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