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The 2024 MINI Cooper Electric retains its fun, ‘go-kart’ driving experience, and it now gains a longer electric driving range – up to 188 miles for the Cooper E and up to 249 miles for the Cooper SE.
The MINI Cooper first appeared as a production electric car in 2020 (although prototype MINI EVs were around much earlier than that). It was fun to drive, but only had an electric driving range of 145 miles; the latest MINI Cooper Electric offers a much improved electric driving range, from 183 miles up to 249 miles depending on the model, making it more practical for everyday use.
The Cooper E is a MINI, so it’s supposed to be small (although it has grown over the years); it now measures 3,858mm in length. It also has just two doors and a hatchback. This means that it’s a challenge to get into the rear seats – and there are only two of them, making it a four-seater – and rear legroom is tight. The boot is also small (as you would expect), at just 210-litres (folding down the rear seats increases the luggage space to 800 litres).
The exterior still looks very MINI-like, especially from the front and side; the new rear lights are one of the biggest visual changes. The Cooper is also full of character on the inside; the dashboard features a large circular central touchscreen, with a head-up display being an option on our test car.
We actually tested a Cooper E (as seen in the photos) and a Cooper SE, and both have different size batteries – 36.6kWh for the E and a larger 49.2kWh unit for the SE. Both models also have different power outputs: 184 hp and 218 hp respectively.
The MINI Cooper may have grown over the years but compared to most other cars on the road it’s small – and low. Combined with sharp steering, a low centre of gravity thanks to the battery, and instant responses due to the electric motor’s torque, the MINI Cooper E is fun to drive. And yes, MINI’s PR department will be delighted that it can still be likened to a go-kart. In other words it loves corners. And looking through the relatively upright windscreen over the bonnet and past the rounded front wings, it’s very reminiscent of the original MINI.
However go-karts aren’t known for their comfortable ride quality, and the same applies to the MINI Cooper E – the relatively firm suspension means good body control but urban potholes transmit through the car – although the Cooper is perfectly capable of comfortably covering long distance journeys on smooth motorway surfaces.
Like all previous MINI Coopers, the E is front-wheel drive, so with the electric motor feeding the front wheels, there can be some torque steer, but overall the Cooper puts its power down amazingly well, displaying much more grip and much less wheelspin than most other front-wheel drive EVs.
The gear selector is no longer in the traditional position between the front seats, it’s moved onto the dashboard, along with a button for the parking brake; although it may be unconventional for a MINI, you get used to this location.
And another change is the introduction of ‘Experiences’, as seen on increasing numbers of new BMW models, which replace the more conventional drive modes. The Experience modes are Go Kart, Core, Green, Vivid, Timeless, Personal and Balance. Go Kart, Green and Balance may be fairly self-explanatory, but what the other modes do may not be that clear to people – other than Balance resulting in a different type of speedometer on the central screen, Timeless giving yet another style of speedo – an old-fashioned one, and a sunset over the hills appearing on the screen with Personal mode.
The large circular central screen may look impressive but accessing some controls such as fan settings isn’t straightforward because there are no separate climate controls. There are five digital shortcut buttons in a toolbar at the bottom of the screen, and if Apple CarPlay is included as one of these buttons, the Radio button disappears, and it’s a challenge to go delving into the screen to get back the controls for the radio.
If you use Apple CarPlay, a small square map will appear in the middle of the circular screen, but if you use the car’s own satnav, the map pretty much fills the screen.
Under the touchscreen are some ‘toggle’-style controls, and a useful button at the bottom left which allows you to switch off the lane departure warning system and the speed warning.
The Cooper SE model tested had electric seat adjustment, but the Cooper E had manual adjustment, including a strap to adjust the seat back, which certainly isn’t as user-friendly as electric controls.
The MINI Cooper E has a combined WLTP electric range of 183–188 miles and the SE model, with its larger battery, delivers 242–249 miles. The real-world range of the Cooper SE averaged 210 miles after a week of mixed driving, and 160 miles for the Cooper E.
The MINI Cooper E’s maximum rapid charging rate is 75 kW, or 95 kW for the SE, which is slower than some rivals.
The MINI Cooper E costs £29,420. Our test car had the options of Sunny Side Yellow paint (£550) and 17-inch Parallel Spoke 2-tone alloy wheels (£550), along with Level 1 trim (£2,000) which includes Comfort Access, Folding Wing Mirrors with Auto-dimming, Rear-view Mirror with Auto dimming, Front Heated Seats, Adaptive LED Headlights, High-Beam Assistant and MINI Head-up Display; all options came to £3,100, taking the total price of our test car to £32,520.
The MINI Cooper is available as an E or SE model, in Classic, Exclusive or Sport trim levels.
The MINI Cooper E is a fun electric car to drive, aiming to retain many elements of the classic MINI driving experience, even though the electric model now carries more weight. It has oodles of character, inside and out. The longer driving range is welcome, although the 75 kW maximum rapid charging speed of the Cooper E in particular could be better. The benefit of the ‘mini’ proportions is that the car is agile and easy to park, but the downside is that space in the rear and in the boot is tight. The MINI Cooper E is awarded a Green Car Guide rating of 8 out of 10.
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Paul Clarke, GreenCarGuide Editor
