Sexy C 5-door adds convenience, retains real Mini ethos
As far as we’re concerned, a Mini must be small. Fortunately then, the Mini Cooper C is still small. But that does not mean it’s not versatile. Available as an EV for those who are happy to live with that in the limited local infrastructure for it, it is as always also still to be had with two petrol engines. And it comes in three and five doors too.
This one is the five-door three-cylinder. It adds the rear doors along with a 72mm longer wheelbase and another extra 100 mm rear overhang to end up 172 mm longer than the three-door. That brings more legroom at the rear without unduly stealing too much space from the front passengers. They still need to hunker a bit forward to make it work four, or even five-up, where the 3 door is really just a push at even a four-seater.
Better still, the boot is up 64 litres to a far more practical 275 litres. And with the rear seats folded down, the 5-door expands to 925 litters versus the 3-door’s 725 litres. So the 5-door is a far more practical car. While still maintaining slight enough overall dimensions to, well, qualify as a Mini in our humble opinion!
Now you hardly notice the 5-door difference
Best of all is that you hardly notice the difference at a glance. The previous five-door Cooper seemed long and flat versus the 3-door. This one, well you hardly notice the difference. We find ourselves counting door handles to tell the difference. Which even better quantifies our personal requirement to call a car a Mini. Not all of them are…
So the 5-door is small enough. Like a Mini should be, without compromising, never mind in this case, liberating space inside. It still looks like a Mini too. Well, mostly. Some may find the triple horizontal option daytime running LEDs a little out of proportion. Others like them edgy, but they do work with the ‘filigree contoured octagonal grille’.
The taillights push the Mini theme, in albeit edgy style. But clear surfaces and a short bonnet and overhangs on a stretched wheelbase certainly deliver Maximum Mini pleasure and Minimal Mini footprint.
A minimalist, avant-garde cabin
Step inside to a splendid merge of minimalist design and avant-garde materials hewn together in BMW brilliant build quality. A well thought out new multifunction steering wheel sits ahead of the two-tone textile dash with the 24 cm round touch-intuitive high-quality high-resolution ‘Hey Mini’ OLED interface dominant on the centre dash.
IPA-backed with a wireless charging shelf, there are knobs for the start-stop key, parking brake, gear selector, experience mode and volume on the typical Mini toggle bar. Featuring Operating System 9 with new MINI Experience Modes and a wide range of digital functions ‘to create an immersive user experience. But we struggled with it in the two previous current-generation Minis we had on test.
Simply put, it does not work very well all on its lonesome. But if you buy a Mini, it comes The Mini App and that changes everything. As journalists, we just get the car delivered and get on with it. So faced with a few challenges last time, we wrote it up like that. Mini wasn’t too happy with us so we promised to do better this time.
Don’t drive your 5-door without the Mini App!
A mobile application that allows owners to remotely access and manage various car functions, the Mini App is compatible with all ConnectedDrive Minis and smartphones. We borrowed a copy of the App on an office phone for the week and it made all the difference to living with the Mini.
So this time, rather than having to reset everything every time we restarted the car, the Mini App recognised and welcomed us and switched the car to our preferred profile if it was not already there. So you’re on your expected climate, radio, driver assistance, etcetera, settings, every time.
The long and short of it? Just don’t drive your Mini without it connected to your app! Once you’ve set it up, the Mini App still allows you to choose various modes seamlessly switch between users too. We also dig the big, bold graphics on the round screen. But we really miss AM for our preferred radio station.
Is Mini 5-door the best little car on the block?
For the rest, the 115 kW 230 Nm turbo triple is just as fun to drive, darty and responsive as the 3-door. Great steering feel matches those kart claims and it goes a bit too. A tad off the 3-door in performance thanks to the extra sixty kilos of bodywork, 7.9 seconds to hundred is still certainly quick enough. It’s also comfy and quiet on the flipside.
Reasonably priced, the 5 Mini C -door adds less than twenty grand to the list price of the 3-door. It also lacks the likes of auto seats and a little other spec we’ve come expect at this level in most just as cheeky Chinese price rivals. But its backed by BMW and all the positives that come with, so the premium is probably well worth it.
Once again we loved our time with this spunky little Mini Cooper C 5-door. Slightly longer and more practical, its makes for a great primary school mum’s taxi and will even take five adults up at a push. And having now experienced it with the Mini App, we have very little negative left to say about it.
All of which make, this practical, versatile and still Mini enough Mini among the very best little cars on the block. No doubt about it… - Michele Lupini
Images & Testing: Giordano Lupini
ROAD TESTED: MINI Cooper C 5-door
Engine: 115 kW 230 Nm
Drive: 7-speed automatic FWD
TESTED:
0-60 km/h: 3.89 sec
0-100 km/h: 7.91 sec
0-120 km/h: 9.93 sec
0-160 km/h: 17.78 sec
400 m 15.5s @152 km/h
60-120 km/h: 6.51 sec
120-160 km/h: 6.76 sec
CLAIMED:
VMax: 225 km/h
Fuel: 6 l/100 km
CO2 137 g/km
Range: 730 km
Warranty/Service: 2y unl./5y 100K km
LIST PRICE: R624K
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