Mini Cooper 5-door hatch returns with petrol power

Mini has unveiled the five-door version of the new Cooper hatchback – the last car the firm is set to offer exclusively with combustion powertrains.

It is effectively a stretched version of the three-door Cooper and swaps that car’s four-seat interior for a more conventional five-seat set-up with a rear bench.

At 4036mm overall, it is 160mm longer than the three-door and 31mm longer than the old five-door. This brings an extra 38mm of rear leg room compared with the three-door and 65 litres more boot space, at 275 litres.

As with the three-door Cooper, two petrol versions will be available. The entry-level Cooper C has a turbocharged 1.5-litre three-pot that sends 152bhp and 170lb ft through the front wheels and dispatches 0-62mph in 8.0sec.

The Cooper S gets a 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine, with outputs boosted to 201bhp and 221lb ft. That enables a 0-62mph time of 6.8sec, which is 0.3sec slower than the three-door Cooper S.

The new Cooper is available exclusively with an automatic gearbox, Mini having dropped the manual version from the line-up last year.

Unlike the three-door, the bigger Cooper will not be offered with a battery-electric powertrain.

The role of five-door electric car has effectively been taken by the Chinese-built Aceman crossover, which is based on the same platform as the electric three-door Cooper.

Prices for the new five-door start at £24,050, which is £555 more than the previous version. This puts it in competition with larger family hatchbacks such as the Hyundai i30 (£22,710), Mazda 3 (£23,955) and Seat Leon (£23,905).

The Cooper S starts at £28,450 – almost £2000 more than you would have paid for the now-discontinued Hyundai i20 N, but also undercutting the Volkswagen Polo GTI (£30,195). UK deliveries will begin in August.