All I can say is, “It took you long enough Mini!” Or maybe I should have directed that comment at BMW, which has been applying
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
its own unique brand strategies to the British city car manufacturer since it purchased it way back at the turn of the new century.
Of course if they’d come out with a five-door model back in the mid-aughts it’s quite possible the brand’s many ardent fans would have become irate and not bought into the new Mini philosophy, but now with a decade and a half of Bini (BMW-Mini) models behind us, which have included nearly every body style configuration seemingly imaginable, from hatchbacks, convertibles and the four-door Clubman, to a coupe, roadster and even a coupe-crossover combo, not to mention the compact Mini Countryman crossover SUV that quite literally opened up the door to more doors, the new Cooper 5-Door is a fitting inclusion. That it also happens to look really cool is
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
just a bonus, as its newfound functionality makes this the car that could really make a difference on the sales charts.
By all points and purposes Mini has been a success since BMW took over, although here in Canada the Munich-based automaker will need to quantify the term “success” in different ways than just the usual sales numbers. As far as subcompact car brands go Mini has done well here, but there aren’t many to compare it to. There’s Smart, but with only one model to its credit there isn’t much to work with. The Mercedes’ spin-off brand sold a total of 2,550 units in Canada last year, and I’m certain that number includes hundreds of Car2Go fleet sales, while Toyota’s Scion brand, which has an iQ city car of its own yet also includes
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
compact models that are larger than most of Mini’s offerings, sold a total of 3,962 units. Let’s not forget about FCA’s North American restart Fiat that managed to find 5,566 homes for its three body styles in 2014, while last year’s Mini sales actually dropped by 630 units when compared to 2013’s best-ever tally, to only 5,383 deliveries in 2014, and that’s despite so many new additions to the lineup. As you can see the new Cooper 5-Door is needed, and if January 2015’s impressive tally of 608 sales are any indication then this is going to be a banner year for the British brand, that number extrapolated over 12 months equaling almost 7,300 units.
No
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
doubt Mini Canada will be celebrating if the 5-Door manages to help it bypass the 7k-threshold let alone achieve the aforementioned lofty total. Even more importantly the new Cooper 5-Door is a good reason for celebration amongst young families and all those who regularly go out with friends, as they no longer need to settle for a comparatively boring subcompact hatchback in order to ease rear seat entries and exits, while the new model maximizes comfort inside too.
As you can probably tell the 5-Door is longer than the regular Mini 3-Door, so rear seat roominess benefits from added foot space, knee space and generally more airiness
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
all-round. For those who like to crunch the numbers (or rather have someone else crunch the numbers for them) the 5-Door is 161 millimetres (about 6 inches) longer than the 3-Door, which was already 114 mm (4.5 inches) longer than the old Mini Cooper hatchback it replaced, while the new 5 rides on a wheelbase that’s been stretched by 72 mm (2.8 inches) over the 3; the new regular wheelbase model again being 28 mm (1.1 inches) longer than the old car.
The extra length doesn’t just benefit rear passenger space, with legroom expanded by the same 72 mm (2.8 inches), elbowroom increased by 61 mm (2.4 inches), and headroom up by 15 mm (0.6 inches), plus a third rear seatbelt for five-person occupancy, but also cargo capacity, the 5-Door’s luggage compartment increasing from the 3-Door’s 246 litres (8.7 cubic feet) to a total of 278
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
litres (9.8 cubic feet) behind the rear seats, whereas total volume with those 60/40 split seatbacks folded forward increases from 731 litres (25.8 cubic feet) in the 3-Door to 941 litres (33.2 cubic feet) in the 5-Door.
One of the reasons the 5-Door looks good is its uniquely abbreviated rear doors, although this makes getting in and out a bit more difficult than your average subcompact hatch. Those who still want more length can breathe a sigh of relief, however, as a revised Clubman is on the way with six doors, the rear hatch of the 5-Door replaced by the Clubman’s traditional Dutch oven doors. Thanks to similar increases in overall dimensions to the rest of the new Cooper lineup, the longer Clubman won’t likely be as much of a niche player anymore.
No
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
matter the model, the Mini Cooper’s front seat occupants will find plenty of room and a new level of refinement. Consider that the new 5-Door starts at only $26,740 plus $2,295 for freight and pre-delivery preparation, and you’ll understand why its unusually welcome to find cloth-wrapped A-pillars, soft synthetic surfaces from the dash top to the kneepad under the dash, not to mention the upper half of its door panels, while the textured matte finish of the remaining interior plastics appears upscale and looks durable.
The 5-Door’s switchgear is also way above the class average in quality, while the new start/stop ignition toggle switch is much more appealing than the previous tiny black pushbutton. It’s situated right in the centre of a classic row of chromed toggles
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
placed on the centre stack just below my tester’s optional dual-zone automatic climate control system, the toggle to the left assigned to the idle-stop system’s on/off mode, and the one on the right for turning the stability control system off or back on.
My 5-Door tester was almost devoid of piano black lacquered interior trim, which was a welcome omission as the high-gloss and checkered grey substitute surfacing treatments looked great and matched the car’s rich new Thunder Grey exterior paint, which is $590 extra, incidentally, meaning that it’s priced the same as any of the car’s many metallic colours despite not being metallic.
My test 5 also boasted a cool set of black mirror caps that came with a black rooftop,
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
a no-cost replacement for standard white, although its classic black bonnet stripes with pin-line detailing added $150 to the total bill. Its gorgeous $740 17-inch Roulette Spoke two-tone machine-finished alloys with black painted inserts were a dead giveaway that the Essentials Package was also chosen for this car, a $1,250 prerequisite that adds front and rear fog lamps, a sensational two-panel panoramic glass sunroof with sunshades and heated front seats, while Mini’s $1,150 Loaded Package was also included, adding proximity-sensing Comfort Access keyless entry to go along with the standard toggle switch ignition system, plus an auto-dimming rearview mirror, rain-sensing wipers, automatic headlamps, dual-zone automatic climate control, a front centre armrest, and Dynamic Damper Control that adjusts the shocks automatically to compensate for lateral loads and, essentially, improve the 5-Door’s handling.
As
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
quickly as this car can take to the curves, I appreciated the addition of brighter, clearer lighting that actually bends around those corners when provoked by the steering wheel, all part of the $1,050 LED Lights Package that includes LED headlights (their adaptive cornering capability added on for another $250), LED fog lights, and white turn signals, whereas the cabin received some additional backlit night lighting via a larger infotainment screen with integrated GPS navigation. It all comes as part of the $1,450 Wired Navigation Package that adds an onboard nav system to the Mini Connected Package, all coming together to fill the 5-Door’s circular central audio panel with one of the most advanced and easiest to use infotainment systems in the business, complete with a brilliant full-colour high-resolution display controlled by a BMW iDrive-style rotating knob capped off by a touch-sensitive top. The controller is surrounded by a number of quick
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
access menu buttons, all within easy reach between the front seats. I especially appreciated that this package allowed me to stream audio from my own collection via Bluetooth, so I was able to catch up on some of my favourite podcasts while I wasn’t groovin’ along to Scissor Sisters, Bowie, Frank Black, Arcade Fire or any number of other classic acts in my Sony X2’s Walkman app.
That groovin’ was done to the standard audio system, which is quite good for a stock stereo but not as impressive as the optional Harmon/Kardon setup I’ve tested on other occasions. Mini offers loads of other options too, such as numerous colours and textures of leather upholstery, a dark anthracite roofliner, heads-up
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
display, universal garage door opener, more chrome interior and exterior trim, a rear parking sensor, automated parking assist, an alarm system, cargo organizers, plenty of wheel and tire combinations, a sport suspension, an automatic gearbox, etcetera, but this said I certainly didn’t feel like a have-not wannabe driving the model provided.
It’s hard to feel bad about anything when at the wheel of a Mini. Really, that’s how the brand should market its cars. Living with a Mini is all about feeling good! Embracing a certain quality of life, a raison d’etre that otherwise can’t quite be grasped. The 5-Door simply adds more quantity to all that quality lifestyle, allowing more grinning people into your little world of joy. Really, I’m not joking. Everything, from the way the new instrument pod tilts along with the steering column to the peripheral fun of watching the 5’s tachometer seemingly spin relentlessly as speed quickly climbs,
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
the latter so much more intoxicating now than any non-S or JCW branded Mini has ever been.
It’s all because of a brand-new direct-injected, twin-scroll turbocharged 1.5-litre three-cylinder engine that makes a heady 134 horsepower and even more commanding 162 lb-ft of torque. That’s a lucky 13 horsepower and formidable 44 lb-ft of torque over the old 2013 base Cooper, which makes it good for a 0 to 100 km/h time of 8.2 seconds with the six-speed manual or 8.1 with the six-speed auto, not to mention a top speed of 207 km/h (128 mph) with either gearbox.
I tested the manual, and while it’s a tad slower off the line it would still be my choice in this car. Don’t get me wrong, as the automatic is an excellent transmission
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
that truly makes the most of the torquey little three-banger, but I love the way a manual allows absolute control through corners, where any Mini transforms from a playful puppy to a greyhound on the tail of a racing rabbit. Fling the 5-Door into a corner and it responds flawlessly no matter what line you take or for that matter its level of speed. It’s the ultimate point and shoot car, with wonderfully direct steering that’s sharp but never nervous, the longer wheelbase tracking my tester’s 205/45 Hankook Optimo rubber as ideally through tight high-speed curves as it does on long sweepers. All the while the six-speed’s short throw shifter delivers notchy engagement while the clutch pedal needs just enough effort for ideal pushback, its usage so smooth and linear that a novice could enjoy it as much as an expert.
Mini’s new generation of Coopers can be made even more playful via a sliding switch at the base of the shift lever displaying two words and some graphic icons, “SPORT << . >> GREEN”.
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
I found ample opportunity for both settings during my test, sliding it to the left for moments like I just mentioned, or to the right amid heavy traffic to soften throttle response and activate the fuel-saving idle-stop system. So engaged, the 5-Door is quite thrifty with a claimed fuel economy rating of 8.2 L/100km in the city, 5.9 on the highway and 7.2 combined with the manual, or 8.5 city, 6.3 highway and 7.5 combined with the six-speed automatic.
Just in case you forget where you’ve set its “SPORT << . >> GREEN” controller, you’ll get a big glowing reminder around the infotainment interface I spoke of a few minutes ago. Set to Sport mode the big dinner plate-sized rim glows red, while Green mode glows (you guessed it) green; default is yellow. Mini didn’t limit its Excitement Lights to just these features, mind you, but rather set them to glow blue
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
for cooler climate control settings and red for warmer, while increasing audio volume adds more red to the mix.
My test car’s seats were simply black, and covered in a high-quality leatherette that looks a lot like leather and no doubt will stand the rigours of everyday use. While these are merely base Mini Cooper seats, they’d be considered sport seats in a competitor’s offering. They’re very supportive and extremely comfortable, ideally suited to the 5-Door’s sporty nature yet perfectly capable of daily commuting as well.
That really sums up the new Mini Cooper 5-Door. It’s a sports car that you can use every day for car pool commuting as well as all of your errands, yet its premium-level interior and loads of upscale features make it a companion you’ll likely never tire of. It’s a Mini whose time has come. Drive one and you’ll know what I mean. Like me, you might find it a bit unorthodox at first, but spend a little time with the new 5-Door and its unusual lines will no doubt grow on you if they haven’t already, and then live with it a little longer and you’ll never want to go back to life with only three doors.
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