Road test: Bigger mini makes minimum impact

Minis aren’t really mini any more. The latest and seventh MINI body style is called the Paceman, a sloping-roofed and lowered three-door version of the Countryman, available with the full range of MINI engines.

It’s meant to be a bit sportier than most Minis, and it certainly has the usual go-kart handling and cute Mini interior, but it’s now a million miles from Alec Issigonis’s original recipe for cheap, economical motoring with quart-into-a-pint-pot packaging.

For a start, it’s big. Similar to a Countryman at the front, rear styling makes it look imposingly tall, and its new horizontal tail lights emphasise its girth. Next, it’s not cheap. Prices for the Cooper S version I tested start at £22,355, but the well-specced car I drove back from the launch in Bilbao cost almost £29,000.

It was quiet, well equipped and comfortable, especially on smooth European roads, but once on pot-holed UK roads the ride became choppy and loud.

MINI claims combined mpg of 46.3 for the 184hp Cooper S, but in well over 1,000 miles of mixed driving my test car managed only 31.5mpg — hardly competitive in the era of efficient petrol and diesel engines.

Despite its size, rear legroom is limited — it couldn’t carry four adults in comfort — and its high rear parcel shelf and thick rear pillar made reversing into a parking space tricky. But the boot is a decent size for a MINI. This is no utilitarian runabout, it’s a high-quality family car competing with the likes of Nissan’s Juke and even Range Rover’s Evoque. However, both of those cars beat it on practicality, economy and ride.

MINI Cooper S Paceman
Top speed: 135mph;
Combined fuel consumption: 46.3mpg claimed;
Emissions: 143g/km;
Price: £22,355