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MINI Cooper D five-door: Practical, frugal, still fun

MINI five door front 800
MINI Cooper D five-door

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24 September 2014

MINI, Cooper, D, five, door
The MINI five-door has an extra 72mm on the wheelbase, six-footers can travel in comfort

What’s hot?

  • The Cooper D is powered by a three-cylinder, 1.5-litre turbo diesel engine, with 116bhp. It might not sound much, but acceleration to 62mph takes a sprightly 9.2 seconds and the top speed is an impressive 127mph.
  • Despite the keen performance, the Efficient Dynamics tweaks equal a claimed combined consumption of  78.5mpg, with CO2 emissions of 95g/km.
  • Buyers will be pleased to know that the Cooper D five-door falls into the 15% company car tax band for 2014/15.
  • The Cooper D’s six-speed manual gearbox is slick and the clever rev matching technology, which blips the throttle on down changes, keeps things smooth.
  • Good news is that despite the longer wheelbase, the Cooper D handles like you’d expect a MINI to. The steering is precise, although sometimes inconsistently weighted. Body control is as fine as ever and body roll is virtually non-existent.
  • Even in Sport mode, the Cooper D’s ride is impressively refined.
  • The MINI’s driving position is comfortable and all-round vision is generally good.
  • The circular centre design theme for the high quality dashboard remains, but the speedo is now relocated to a column-mounted pod along with the rev-counter.
  • That extra 72mm on the wheelbase has increased the MINI’s rear room, so six-footers can now travel comfortably in the back, but access via those small rear doors is still tight.
  • The five-door MINIs’ taller roofline means there’s now enough headroom.
  • This MINI has a 278 litre boot, 67 more than the three-door. The extra space is noticeable and makes for a spacious load area. There is also a clever adjustable load floor available to increase practicality.

 

MINI, Cooper, D, five, door
It is a case of two people comfortable and one uncomfortable in the back of the MINI five-door

What’s not?

  • Despite the fuel economy and performance, the Cooper D’s three-cylinder diesel engine feels a bit gruff both at idle and at speed.
  • Only two rear passengers will be comfortable in the back of the MINI five-door. The third person will have to straddle the long centre console.

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