What is it?
This is the latest version of the Mini, making its debut almost exactly 20 years to the day since the first BMW-engineered version of the car first appeared as a 21st century reinterpretation of the original Sir Alec Issigonis icon.
Much ink was spent at the time pondering whether this Anglo-German creation could ever be a true ‘Mini’, but the reality is that it sparked a huge success story – one that went from a single model to a globally recognised brand whose line-up now includes crossovers, estate cars, PHEVs and EVs.
Yet at the heart of the line-up has always been the standard Mini: the simple three-door hatchback that comes closest to distilling the essence of that famous original, and remains the most popular, making up around 50% of production at the Oxford factory. Now approaching six years old, this generation of the model (along with the five-door and Mini Convertible) has been treated to a mid-life refresh. Nothing major - just a nip here and a tuck there - but it comes at a poignant time, shortly after Mini revealed that it would be the first brand in the BMW Group to go all-electric.
With Mini's last new internal-combustion-engined vehicle slated for launch in 2025, bosses claim the whole Mini line-up will be electrified by the early 2030s, so while this isn’t the last chance to grab an old-school Mini, this refreshed car certainly represents the beginning of the end for the firm’s four-stroke fun.
As ever, there’s a wide range of engines and trims to choose from, but Minis tend to make the most sense when sticking to the keep-it-simple maxim. So that means, for our first taste, we’re sticking with that three-door body and plumping for the middle-ranking Cooper S, which historically has delivered the best blend of performance and price.
So what’s new? Well, the bulk of the changes have been reserved for the exterior styling and, as is always the case today, the infotainment system. At the front is a wider and lower bumper design that aims to give the car a more aggressive stance, which it does, while a similar exercise at the rear also includes the addition (on Cooper S and JCW models) of a cartoonishly large diffuser either side of the trademark, centre-exit twin exhaust pipes.
There's also a trio of new colours, including the retina-wilting Zesty Yellow on convertible models, and clearly the Mini procurement department got a good deal on gloss piano black trim because it’s everywhere on our Sport-spec test car. (There are also entry-level Classic and all-singing and all-dancing Exclusive versions.) The headlight internals and surrounds, front grille, door handles, badges, filler cap and door mirror caps are all dripping in the stuff.
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The F56 generation has been a disaster from the get go. It's never looked remotely as good as the first two generations, didn't drive anywhere close to the same level of excitement either, and the engines have been so milquetoast from day 1. The latest version of this 2.0T offering now even less power than before (175 vs. 192, wtf) is even more of a reason not to buy one. The old Prince 1.6T was a gem. It sounded good without any synthetic warble, it was feisty pulling hard from just off idle to redline at 6500rpm and it was quite delicate on consumption, easily hitting a real world 40mpg. The 2.0t never felt remotely as good. When I drove one back in 2014, it really put me off the car. 7 years later, I've been waiting for this generation to die off so hopefully a G56 could be released that harkened back to the R53/56 of yore. Doesn't seem like that will be happening unfortunately.
Good to see the Mini is still a unique automotive anachronism, as it always has been.
It is still friendly, familiar and gets the job done, even with modern power and tech grafted onto it's perennial hard riding, go-kart like chassis.