MINI’s new offer makes sacrifices for style

Philip Lord
Nov 17, 2015, updated Nov 17, 2015

Expert rating: 71/100

Engine, drivetrain and chassis: 14/20
Price, packaging and practicality: 12/20
Safety and technology: 16/20
Behind the wheel: 14/20
X-factor: 15/20

About fifteen years ago, the automotive industry seemed to go all misty-eyed with nostalgia and began making new cars to look like old ones.

No doubt it wasn’t nostalgia but actually the cynical realisation that sticking a retro top hat over an existing platform would yield healthy profits. Whatever the reason, retro car design became the new black.

Some retro cars, like the Chrysler PT Cruiser, have creaked into wrecking yards, joining whatever insipid design that spawned them. Others, like the MINI, Fiat 500 and Volkswagen Beetle, have endured.

• Owners held ransom in car-nappings
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In the MINI’s case, it has not just endured; it has thrived.

We’ve now rolled into the third-generation of MINI with its mushrooming number of variants, with the One five-door a recent arrival to the portfolio.

The five-door extracts all of the goodness of the One three-door and pours it into a stretched platform with an extra two doors and better rear legroom.

Slide into the cabin and you’re faced with a neat dash presentation.

The absence of cruise control is a real downer.

The absence of cruise control is disappointing.

The circular chrome-accented dials and centre-cluster toggle switches not only tip their hat to the original Mini, but function well too.

Turn your attention to the steering wheel, and the look turns from retro-chic to retro-kitsch.

Maybe the two-spoke wheel is meant to pay homage to the slim, two-spoke of the 1959 original, but instead it recalls the twirler from a 1987 KE-series Ford Laser.

The steering wheel not only detracts from the rest of the interior, it also lacks the controls that help avoid driver distraction.

No audio or phone buttons here — in fact, no controls whatsoever except for the horn.

There are no cruise control buttons either, because the only cruise control here is your right foot.

If you jump into the MINI options catalogue, you can tick the three-spoke leather steering wheel option – which includes cruise (and the controls on the wheel for it) and controls for audio and phone. That will cost you an extra $700.

A stylish aesthetic, but missing gadgets such as steering wheel controls is annoying.

Another curious omission is a lack of seatbelt height adjustment for the front occupants.

You can get around this to a degree by ratcheting up the seat, but it’s not ideal.

What the MINI’s cabin shares with many retro efforts is very thick side pillars.

Rollover protection requirements are just a touch more strict now than in 1959 – and the new MINI just a bit heavier – but there must be a better way of doing it.

Peering around the pillars to see what’s going on around you is not a deal-breaker, but it’d be good if they were slimmed down to reduce blind spots.

Getting in and out of the MINI also requires limbs with a bit of flexibility; the sills appear relatively high and for rear occupants the doors are short, meaning that you need to bring your feet back quite a bit to get in or out.

Perhaps MINI expects a young cohort of owners who won’t have to worry about such things, but if you want a MINI One five-door and you’re getting on a bit, you’d better book those yoga lessons now.

The seats themselves are comfortable and supportive.

They don’t have the side support for serious corner carving, but then this is not exactly a MINI you’ll ever see on a race track either.

While some aspects are sacrificed for style, overall the MINI handles well.

While leg, shoulder and headroom up front are ample, you’d not want to put six-footers in the back for very long.

The rear bench is really comfy for the outboard passengers, but that comes at the cost of the centre occupant perch.

Perch is exactly what the person in the middle will have to do, because the seat is shaped for the outboard occupant’s comfort at the cost of the poor soul stuck in the middle.

The boot is shallow but there is the option to drop the removable floor down to a lower level or in the upper position use the space underneath for small items you don’t want rattling around.

With this boot design there is no room for a spare wheel, you have to rely on the wonders of aerosol goo in a can to fix a flat.

Not that long ago, if a car like this could crack a zero to 100km/h time of 12.0sec it would be considered quick. But the MINI’s 10.5sec time seems slow.

Perhaps it’s the three-pot’s linear power delivery, but off the mark acceleration feels like it takes a healthy chunk of time.

The ($2350 optional) auto has a shorter first-gear than the manual but maybe it’s lost in translation through the slushbox.

The original Mini had pin sharp handling at a time when most small cars would prefer to quietly lay down and die at a corner.

The MINI One five-door isn’t head and shoulders above its peers like its namesake was, but it does have a very responsive, sweet chassis.

It can be steered on the throttle and if you are too enthusiastic, it is very forgiving. Steering is dulled by electric assistance but is quite direct.

Ride quality is unusually good for this class; the five-door’s standard wheels might not look sexy but the thick slabs of rubber hit-ting the road absorbs road shocks much better than larger diameter wheels encased in rubber band-thin hoops.

Pulling off retro design doesn’t always end well. In the light and small car classes, only the MINI and the Fiat 500 have avoided the post-retro party hangover.

While some of the MINI’s practicality is hampered by its retro design, the end result is a funky-looking car with a nice blend of handling and ride balance.

2015 MINI One five-door pricing and specifications:
Price: $28,400 (plus on-road costs)
Engine: 1.2-litre three-cylinder turbo-petrol
Output: 75kW/180Nm
Transmission: Six-speed automatic
Fuel: 5.1L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 119g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety Rating: Five-star ANCAP