Verdict: Pushes the MINI brand straight into the white-hot competitive space of the family car market.
Company Car Review of the five-door MINI Cooper S
What is it?
The new MINI five-door is the biggest MINI to date, barring the questionable ‘MINI’ in the shape of its SUV cousin the Countryman.
Yet, despite now boasting a noticeably bigger boot, three rear passenger seats with increased legroom (72mm exactly the extra length added to the wheelbase over the Hatch), the 5-door still manages to sneak in under the crucial 4-metre long mark at 3,982mm in order to cling to its ‘smallest in class’ status.
It is also higher than the Hatch with more headroom (enough we’re told to suit hat wearers) and greater interior space for elbow room. Luggage space, too, is better with some 67 litres more than in the 3-door model.
In keeping with a more mature customer base, squarely aimed at the user-chooser company car market, this MINI offers the most luxurious interior trim package of any previous model with ‘lounge’ quality leather seats and the deepest blue paint possible in the MINI YOURS range-topping specification.
Naturally, it boasts all the cutting edge communications and infotainment packages launched with new MINI earlier this year and makes for an attractive package for a market segment not previously covered by the marque.
