I’m an authorized Mini individual. I personal a 2017 Mini Cooper S 4-Door hardtop, and I find it irresistible to the moon and again. It is whimsical and has options that exist solely to make its occupants smile — my automotive is perpetually in what I name “disco mode,” which constantly shuffles between the entire ambient lighting colours. If I need to change that, I merely flick the ceiling-mounted toggle change to simply choose any one of many colours, or press and maintain it to re-engage disco mode. That spirit of enjoyable and tactility is unfold all through each Mini inside, and it is even stronger with the most recent technology.
The Mini Cooper S was redesigned for 2025, and the corporate went with a design ethos of “charismatic simplicity.” I believe the brand new design went a bit too far, contemplating that it did away with the frivolous-yet-distinctive hood scoop, the center-mounted beer can–formed twin exhaust, and the general quirky maximalist ideology that made trendy Minis so interesting. I am glad to report, although, that driving the brand new Mini remains to be amusing.
Full disclosure: Mini gave me a Chili Pink 2025 Mini Cooper S 4-Door to stay with for every week, and I had a blast scooting round LA and blasting down some mountain roads. I instructed my Mini to not fear, and that the 2025 Cooper S was only a new coworker, not a long-term factor.
It is the new hatch you need to take dwelling
It is no secret that the Volkswagen GTI is the ever-present (and fairly objectively greatest) scorching hatchback, and has been for a very long time. It is a exact, quick, succesful little automotive that may deal with a monitor day simply as tactfully as it will probably deal with a Costco run. It is good-looking, and it rides the road between a plasticky financial system automotive and a leather-lined luxurious automobile. It is quiet, stable, well-made, spacious, and distinguished. The GTI is the automotive you choose if you need your scorching hatchback to be objectively good in each state of affairs. If it had been a canine, it will be a well-trained service canine that may deal with nearly any process you ask of it.
A Mini Cooper S, in distinction, is extra like a pet that you just love greater than life itself and need to unleash all of your cuteness aggression on, however that is nonetheless clumsy, is not essentially the most obedient, and might drive you a bit of loopy at instances. The brand new F65 technology receives a great addition in energy over the outgoing automotive, however the entrance wheels torque-steer in all places below exhausting acceleration, so the comically chunky steering wheel at all times requires a agency grip. Its turn-in habits is so keen it appears like you’ll be able to whip it round 90-degree turns quicker than a Porsche 911, however push it too exhausting on a severe driving street and the nostril runs broad. It turns day by day commutes on crowded roads into enjoyable zippy adventures, however the journey is agency sufficient that you will wince driving over damaged pavement when you have even the slightest little bit of mechanical sympathy. It isn’t excellent, however I am going to inform ya, if you need your automotive to make you smile whereas staying near the velocity restrict, it is nonetheless exhausting to beat a Mini.
No extra handbook and no solution to choose your individual gears
The fourth-generation Mini Cooper S lastly breaches 200 horsepower for the primary time in a non-JCW mannequin. It is nonetheless powered by a trusty turbocharged 2.0-liter inline-4 and a seven-speed dual-clutch computerized transmission, nevertheless it now makes 201 horsepower and 221 pound-feet of torque, up 12 hp and 14 lb-ft. No handbook transmission is obtainable within the F65 Cooper, and the one solution to choose your individual gears in a 2025 Mini Cooper S is by opting into a number of possibility packages that can finally embody a sports activities steering wheel with paddle shifters. To get these paddle shifters, the automotive will need to have the $5,100 Iconic Trim Package deal, which unlocks the flexibility to pay a further $1,200 for the John Cooper Works Type Package deal that features paddle shifters. That is a complete of $6,300 above the Cooper S 4-Door’s $34,375 base worth (together with $1,175 vacation spot). That is wack.
My press automotive did not have that bundle, so I had no solution to choose my very own gears, and what? I did not actually care. Even after I was hustling it via mountain roads, I simply pushed the gear selector down once more into “Low” mode which holds the bottom gear doable, and I discovered it to be efficient at protecting me within the energy band. If I actually wanted to wake it up, the kickdown change that lives below the accelerator pedal is definitely accessed by flooring the throttle for a quick second and the engine is raring to go. Within the canyons the Cooper S’ brakes carried out exceptionally nicely, with a splendidly agency pedal really feel and linear development as I depressed it tougher. All of it comes collectively to kind a enjoyable expertise that was satisfying regardless of the dearth of shiftability and a few sloppiness at its restrict.
The elevated energy output makes the brand new Mini fairly fast, particularly as soon as I am already in movement. Mini claims the 2025 Cooper S 4-Door goes from 0 to 60 mph in 6.5 seconds, which is just one-tenth of a second quicker than the outgoing automotive regardless of feeling noticeably extra highly effective in day-to-day driving. I by no means wished for extra energy after I was within the Mini, as its torquey bottom-end made passing or quick nook exits a breeze. Launching from a dig exposes the pitfalls of its front-wheel-drive nature, nevertheless it nonetheless will get going fairly shortly. I didn’t count on the Mini to masks its velocity in addition to it does, so control the speedometer when on the freeway otherwise you may find yourself cruising at 90 with out realizing.
It nonetheless drives like a Mini
As I discussed when explaining the pet concept, the brand new Cooper S remains to be a chuckable, zippy enjoyable machine. It may not be essentially the most composed at excessive speeds or close to its dealing with limits, nevertheless it elicits devious grins and cheeky chortles from the driving force in each metropolis state of affairs, which is the place most Minis stay out their lives.
The agency suspension retains physique roll to a minimal, and the very fats steering wheel does talk a few of what the entrance wheels are doing. Enter a nook too scorching and I discovered understeer, however faucet the brake pedal and the rear finish is keen to rotate, swiftly reestablishing the supposed course. Most grip ranges aren’t tremendous spectacular, nevertheless it’s nonetheless enjoyable to scoot down a twisty street, and most of that pleasure might be accessed when zipping round city. I haven’t got to assume twice about making that yellow flip arrow, I can simply whip the Mini via a 90-degree flip on the velocity restrict with out drama. My tester had the $500 Dynamic Damper Management possibility, and I did not discover any cause to have it. In comparison with my 2017 Mini’s adaptive damper possibility, the 2025 at all times rode as harshly as my automotive does after I change it into Sport mode.
Although the brand new Mini has grown a bit in measurement, at 158.9 inches lengthy it is virtually two ft shorter than a Civic hatchback and 10 inches shorter than a GTI, which makes parking a breeze. The Consolation Plus Package deal on my press automotive included Mini Parking Assistant Plus that can autonomously squeeze you into the tightest spot conceivable, and get you prepared to tug out of it once you depart. Every thing about its in-town habits is entertaining, other than the annoyingly agency journey. That agency journey does showcase how stiff the up to date chassis is and the way stable the entire automotive feels, which is reassuring after I’m driving a relatively diminutive 3,089-pound Mini in LA visitors subsequent to 9,000-pound Cadillac Escalade IQs.
The vibe has shifted
The 2025 Mini’s new design is a completely completely different vibe than the 2024 automotive. Styling is subjective, however I believe the brand new Mini is a bit too grown-up and reserved. The outgoing automotive had a particular hood scoop that was not purposeful in any respect, purely there for the optics. Each Mini Cooper S within the twenty first century previous to the 2025 redesign had twin center-mounted exhaust ideas, however that is all been thrown out the window with the brand new mannequin, which has no seen exhaust except you go for the JCW. Each Mini Cooper hatchback and convertible previous to the redesign had a aspect indicator or a badge mounted on the base of the A-pillar that showcased an enormous pink swooping “S” on Cooper S fashions, however that is additionally now gone. The fuel cap could possibly be optioned to be a retro-style chrome one, the place the brand new Mini is caught with a plain outdated physique shade flap. The brand new design remains to be extra charismatic than one thing like a GTI, nevertheless it feels just like the candy, playful Mini I do know and love has grown up too quick.
Mini has gone from maximalist to minimalist on the inside as nicely, however there are nonetheless some enjoyable design particulars. The supplies used within the inside are in contrast to these in lots of different vehicles, with a really coarse material overlaying a lot of the surfaces the place the earlier mannequin had padded leather-like panels. Nearly any floor that is not lined in that elbow-scraping coarse material is made from exhausting plastic, save for the arm rests. The entrance seats are simply as spacious because the outgoing Cooper S 4-Door’s, at the very least, and if the entrance seats are spacious sufficient to comfortably match my 6-foot-8 physique, they’re spacious sufficient for most people. The again seats are ineffective in the event you’re my peak, but when entrance seat occupants are of common peak and scoot the seats up a bit, the rear seats are literally moderately comfy and spacious.
That dinner plate-sized touchscreen poses challenges
The massive controversy with the redesigned fourth-generation Mini Cooper surrounds the trade’s first round OLED touchscreen infotainment system, since all the pieces besides the drive mode selector and quantity knob are actually built-in into that display. Almost the entire bodily switchgear, like these toggle switches I like a lot, has been over-consolidated. The display in query is exceptionally clear and the image high quality is improbable, however the software program is laggy every now and then, and the menu construction is concerningly convoluted.
Generally adjusted capabilities like altering the observe distance for the adaptive cruise management can solely be carried out by tapping via a number of menus. Probably the most important frustration with working the display is that there is not anyplace pure to relaxation my wrist whereas I make my on-screen choices. Making an attempt to press the specified icon on the display with out someplace to stabilize your hand whereas getting jostled round by the Cooper S’ jittery agency journey is infuriating. And as somebody who prefers handbook local weather controls to auto local weather management, altering the fan velocity is a needlessly overcomplicated course of on a Union Jack display that is exhausting to decipher at a look.
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Some people take situation with the truth that the redesign does away with the standard gauge cluster, and whereas I do not like that the first gauges are actually built-in into the middle display, the usual head-up show does an excellent job of displaying the requirements.. That commonplace head-up show is the deployable sort, which initiatives data onto a flip-up plastic rectangle mounted on the base of the windshield. It doesn’t undertaking knowledge straight onto the windshield, which bugs some folks, however I’ve no situation with it. It really works nicely, and I really like that it is not projected onto the windshield.
Maybe essentially the most disappointing inside function misplaced within the redesign is the dying of that disco mode. I’m an enormous proponent of disco mode, clearly.
Lastly stuffed with options
Minis occupy a bizarre area of interest available in the market; they are not financial system vehicles however not fairly full luxurious vehicles both, and price-wise they are usually nearer to the premium worth spectrum, which was a tough capsule to swallow. Now although, the Cooper S is lastly obtainable for the primary time ever with — drumroll please — energy seats! (Although solely on the highest trim.) It additionally comes commonplace with blind-spot monitoring! These two options have been obtainable on far more widespread and reasonably priced vehicles for years now, however by no means on a Mini Cooper. Together with these newly obtainable very luxurious options is a succesful $600 adaptive cruise management system with cease and go performance in addition to Energetic Driving Assistant which supplies adaptive cruise management, lane-keeping and lane centering carried out flawlessly in my week with the automotive.
Different options I loved on my press automotive had been the usual panoramic sunroof, and the upgraded Harmon Kardon stereo, fancy parking tech and wi-fi charger which are all included as a part of the $1,700 Iconic trim. The trim ranges and packages are very complicated. If you happen to select one other trim, these options are all included within the Consolation Package deal Plus.
That is the pet for you if…
In a world the place the typical transaction worth of a brand new automotive is sort of $50,000, my check automotive’s $38,795 worth appears virtually affordable, and the Cooper S 4-Door’s $34,375 base worth (together with vacation spot) extra so. My check automotive felt well-equipped, with the one obvious omission being energy seats. The brand new Honda Civic Hybrid might be geared up as much as about $38,000, and a equally geared up Volkswagen GTI Autobahn prices over $41,000, so the Mini’s closest rivals are now not the perfect bargains, both
If you happen to’re the kind of one that would not take life too severely, in the event you stay in a metropolis and like having enjoyable behind the wheel, in the event you worth whimsy and are not afraid of what different folks take into consideration you — the 2025 Mini Cooper S could possibly be the new hatch for you. It is distinctive, daring, enjoyable and funky, in a world the place few approachable new vehicles are.
Nevertheless, with Trump’s tariffs looming, the brand new Mini’s affordability might all exit the window. On the brilliant aspect, in case you are prepared to purchase used, previous-generation Minis have a lot of the identical attraction with a friendlier infotainment interface, and you may even get them with handbook transmissions if that is your desire.
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