The Cooper’s exterior design ditches the busy ornamentation of previous generations, but the interior takes it a step further. Fortunately, minimalism has been applied with more sense of design, style and warmth than with Teslas.
As with the Mini Countryman SUV, the controls and instruments have been reduced to a large, circular touchscreen and a small panel of buttons and switches below. Despite how modern it is, the interior of the modern Mini has never so strongly referenced the original Issigonis Mini.
Mini has used a knitted fabric on the dashboard and doors that adds a touch of softness and tactility. It’s much more interesting than the screen-on-a-plank approach that Tesla favors. There are plenty of other nice details, like the band that forms the bottom spoke of the steering wheel or the denim-and-houndstooth upholstery.
Of course, this screen-dominant layout has a pretty profound effect on usability. Apart from a handful of shortcuts, the screen has absorbed almost every function, including that of the instrument cluster.
The lack of an instrument panel in front of the driver has been particularly divisive. Some testers found this problematic, others didn’t mind it so much and even enjoyed the clear view outside. It is worth remembering that Mini has form with this: the first and second generations of the Mini from the BMW era had the speedometer in the center, like the original Mini from 1959.
The Level 1 option package includes a head-up display, although it is the cheaper type, with the information projected onto a small screen.
Anyway, it gets quite busy on the center screen, and it’s absurd that you have to be in Go-Kart mode (Mini’s term for sports mode) to have a tachometer at all, and if you want one with numbers on it, you need to open the speedometer app on the infotainment. ‘Speedometer app’ isn’t a collection of words that should be mandatory in a car review, but here we are.
The general infotainment interface is typical of current-generation BMWs in that it’s incredibly complicated, with overloaded and overly deep menu structures that tend to put functions in places you wouldn’t expect them. Familiarity helps, but you’ll still find yourself tapping and swiping a lot more than even the touchscreen-intensive systems from Mercedes-Benz and Renault.
A little storage space is reasonable, but if you’re looking for a car with lots of passenger or luggage space in the back, a 21st century three-door Mini has never been and never will be the car for you. For two people and their luggage or the occasional rear passenger, however, it’s more than adequate. The boot is surprisingly deep and has a height-adjustable floor.
As before, you sit very low for a B-segment hatchback and there is a lot of adjustment in the steering column. Because this is a three-door car, it is also very easy to get to the front and the B-pillar is very far back.
However, we end with a small minus: the chairs no longer have adjustable tilt and length cushions and no longer adjustable lumbar support. This makes them slightly less comfortable than in the old Mini.