Cars

Maximum feel-good with more-than-minimum space

The less mini Mini has grown again, this time with the addition of two back doors. William Scholes finds out how the Mini five-door measures up

Mini Cooper SD 5-door (2015)
Mini Cooper SD 5-door (2015) Mini Cooper SD 5-door (2015)

I HAVE never hidden my admiration for the Mini in these pages. In fact, I like them so much that over the years the driveway at Scholes Towers has been home to several examples.

Our current Mini is a Cooper S. It's one of the last generation models with the 1.6-litre petrol turbo engine and is a brilliant device, albeit with an appetite for expensive engine oil.

My investment in the brand means I approach every Mini test car with a mix of hope and trepidation.

I want it to be not merely good but brilliant, and each time I get into a brand new one I am a little worried it will let me down by being simply ordinary.

Thus far my faith has been rewarded. BMW, who revived the famous nameplate in 2001, has always endowed its Mini models with a level of engineering superior to other small cars.

This is in part reflected in the price - Minis are expensive, especially when a visit to the options list is factored in - but also in its feel-good factor; no other small car is as nice to drive as a Mini; none feels as inherently right.

The latest Mini, the third generation under BMW's stewardship, was true to form when it arrived in three-door hatchback guise last year.

Highlights included a leap forward in refinement and superb 1.5-litre three-cylinder petrol and diesel engines. If there was a disappointment, for me it was that the Cooper S model - the successor to my own car, if you like - was less immersive than before.

Once again the Mini grew a little in size though there is still no way that it can be called roomy in the back.

Even if whoever is being committed to confinement in the back seat has legs short enough to fit, access remains best-suited for contortionists.

The essentially non-existent back seat has never been a problem for us - we've never used the rear pew in any of our Minis, though it is a handy place to throw coats and bags - as the complex logistics of Scholes family life mean the car never has to carry any more than driver-plus-passenger. It's just as well; when set for my lanky frame, the driver's seat backrest is flush with the cushion of the back seat.

Doubtless many other Mini customers are also in the position of not being particularly bothered about the lack of back seat lounging opportunities, but Mini is acutely aware that for others it could be a deal-breaker.

It has moved to address this problem before with the oddball Clubman and charmless Countryman models but now it has done what it should probably have done in the first place by building a five-door hatchback version.

As well as two extra doors it gets a wheelbase stretched by 7cm. Overall, it is 16cm longer and 1cm taller than the three-door.

There is a bigger boot too, up by 67 litres to 278 litres, meaning there is now room for more than two days' shopping. Drop the back seats and 941 litres presents itself.

The growth spurt means that while still an adult-free zone, the back seat is now comfortable for two children of primary school age; how three would ever fit is beyond me. Either way, they'll be able to nip through the small door aperture with little bother.

Anyone bigger will find it a squeeze; I could only get in there by sliding myself in backwards, and once inside I had nowhere to put my feet. And I couldn't close the door. This is less than ideal.

Children will like it, but then children enjoy Minis anyway - the wacky switches and large centre-mounted display, complete with colour-changing lights around its rim, see to that.

The latest three-door Mini has quite a pronounced front overhang, in contrast to earlier models' wheel-at-each-corner stance. The extra length of the five-door's bodywork improves the balance of the styling though it still looks awkward from some angles.

The upcoming - and even larger - Clubman model looks like it will have the most cohesive styling of the lot, plus a bigger boot and more rear legroom; it's the one you will want if your regular back seat passengers have done the transfer test.

To my eyes, the Mini is now more sensitive to paint colour and wheel size and style than ever before. The test car was fitted with 18-inch multi-spoke alloys and finished in Royal Navy frigate grey paintwork with a black roof, and looked great. Other combinations are less flattering...

I've written previously about how the petrol Cooper S is a little less 'S' than the previous cars to wear the badge - it looks like its rawer and sportier drive is being reserved for the John Cooper Works model - and this sense was amplified in the diesel-fuelled Cooper SD test car.

It's still a sprightly little thing, with tidy handling and a grippy chassis, but the steering is less communicative and it somehow doesn't feel right that a sporty Mini should be equipped with a diesel engine.

What it loses in sportiness it gains ten-fold through refinement. This car feels properly plush. Nor was this all down to the test car having been blunderbussed by the eye-watering options list (see At a glance panel).

The diesel engine might not properly convey eager tug-at-the-leash sportiness but it is silky smooth, punches hard and is never caught snoozing. Paired with an automatic gearbox - another feature I struggle to reconcile with a car wearing a Cooper S badge - the Mini is a properly rapid little thing, a real point-and-squirt machine.

It genuinely feels as quick and as comfortable as something like a BMW 5 Series, which is praise indeed.

And that's perhaps the best way to think of the Cooper SD; rather than it being a genuinely raw hot hatch it's a more than capable substitute for a larger executive saloon. Downsizing has rarely been as satisfying.

Few cars make you feel as good as a Mini. It drives superbly, is well built and has a posh vibe that some larger cars would struggle to match.

There's a sense in which this is as it should be; for a small car, the Mini is expensive, though strong resale values help take the sting out of ownership costs.

In the world of premium small cars with five doors, the Audi A1 Sportback is the only real Mini rival worth considering.

It is a lovely thing, too, but - raucous S1 apart - it is hard to escape the impression that it is a far more staid and introverted option.

That will suit some people just fine. But it's the Mini you will really want.