Written by Ted Welford Updated: 16 September 2025

Overview

Should you buy a Mini Cooper 5-Door?

If you like the regular three-door MINI Cooper but find its lack of rear doors and general interior space too limiting, the five-door model is certainly worth considering. That’s because it retains all of the standard car’s key strengths that make it one of the best small cars you can buy, with its fun driving experience continuing to set it apart in this class. 

The trouble is, even with five doors, the MINI Cooper still isn’t particularly practical, with a smaller boot and less rear seat space than cars such as the Audi A1 and Volkswagen Polo. If you want a MINI that would work as a practical family car, the far larger Countryman crossover is the direction we would point you in. 

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What is it?

The MINI Cooper 5-Door is unsurprisingly a MINI hatchback with a couple of extra doors, though there is a bit more to it than that. It’s been stretched, with a 72mm longer wheelbase, and the overall car is 172mm longer than a MINI Cooper 3-Door. 

Much of that goes into freeing up more space for rear passengers, and it also gets a middle rear seat, whereas the standard Cooper makes do with four seats. You also get a larger boot, with all this helping to make this small MINI better suited to carrying more people and luggage. 

MINI has made five-door versions of its smallest model for more than a decade, introducing this more practical version with the previous-generation MINI Hatch in 2014. It’s proven popular since, with around 40% of all new Coopers sold now being the five-door. It’s worth noting that this car is also produced at MINI’s factory in Oxford alongside the three-door model. 

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But don’t think it transforms the Cooper into being spacious family transport, this is still a small car at just over four metres in length. Rivals such as the Renault Clio, Skoda Fabia and Volkswagen Polo all offer roomier and more useful interiors, though they undoubtedly lack the charm and style of the MINI. 

The new Cooper is a car we’re very familiar with, too, having driven it in every three-door guise, and we’ve also run one as a long-termer over six months, but does a pair of extra doors and extra room mean this is the version you should go for? Read on to find out, and you can also explore how we test cars at Parkers to see how we reach our decision. 

What is it like inside?

Up front, the 5-Door Cooper’s interior is exactly the same as the three-door model, and in fact every other new MINI, with a modern, screen-dominated interior being rolled out across its full line-up of cars in the past couple of years. A super-thin circular screen is used to operate most functions, with few physical buttons across the interior. Generally, at Parkers, we’re not a big fan of this approach, though the MINI’s screen is one of the easiest to negotiate, with easy access to the most-used features, including changing the temperature. 

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It’s a fun and distinctive interior, too, which feels like a premium product even on lower trim levels. A wool-effect dashboard looks great, and depending on the version, you’ll get fancy ambient lighting and a panoramic sunroof. We think it’s generally one of the best interiors in any small car, though there are a couple of small exceptions. The steering wheel, borrowed from BMWs, is very thick-rimmed and far too big for such a small car. 

There is no instrument cluster on the latest MINIs, either, so we highly recommend choosing the ‘Level 1’ option pack, which (among other things) brings a head-up display. Without this, you’re reliant on looking at the main screen as a speedo, which can be quite distracting. 

Comfort

Though the Cooper’s ride comfort is on the firmer side, which we’ll explore in later sections, the physical comfort itself is excellent. Even the standard seats on them offer plenty of support and adjustment. It shouldn’t take long before you can get comfortable. If you like to have a sportier driving experience, as some of our testers do, you can also get the seat nice and low. 

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Heated seats are also included as part of the Level 1 option pack, while the most expensive Level 3 option pack has electric front seats with memory function and a massage function.

MINI Cooper 5-Door boot space and practicality

The three-door MINI Cooper’s lack of rear space is what lets the car down. If you even occasionally carry rear passengers, we would strongly recommend looking at this five-door model. Make no mistake, it’s not meant as a large family car, but the additional wheelbase length means adults will be able to travel in the rear more comfortably. 

Though it has three seats in the rear (unlike the 3-Door model), it’s not any wider, and therefore it’s best to rule out that middle rear seat ever being used unless in emergencies. If you want a small car with more rear seat space, we recommend looking at the Skoda Fabia. 

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At 275 litres, the boot of this 5-Door is larger than the 211 litres provided by the standard MINI Cooper, increasing to 925 litres with the rear seats folded. It still lags behind most rivals in this class, though, with a Volkswagen Polo having 351 litres of boot with the seats upright, and 1,125 with them folded. 

Safety

So far, it’s only the electric MINI Cooper that has been tested by Euro NCAP, and though that car received a five-star rating, this cannot be applied to this petrol car as they’re completely different underneath. 

It’s worth noting that the platform of this new MINI Cooper 5-Door isn’t significantly different to its predecessor, which did only score four stars when it was safety tested in 2014, though we couldn’t apply this rating to this new model. 

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Standard safety kit on the Cooper includes full LED lighting, a rear-view camera, and mandatory tech such as lane keep assist and traffic sign recognition. But you’ll need to splash out on the most expensive Level 3 options pack before you can get adaptive cruise control, which is slightly disappointing considering it’s standard on an entry-level VW Polo. 

MINI Cooper 5-Door engines

MINI doesn’t offer a five-door Cooper hatchback with an electric powertrain – the Aceman crossover ticks that box – so instead it’s only available with petrol engines. You can’t have a John Cooper Works model, either, unlike the three-door car. 

The choice consists of the Cooper C and Cooper S, with both offering more power than most rivals, and they only come with a seven-speed automatic gearbox – you can’t buy a new manual MINI these days. The Cooper C uses a 156hp 1.5-litre petrol engine, with 0-62mph taking eight seconds, a few tenths of a second slower than the three-door car. 

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If you want more performance, there is the Cooper S, which comes with a 204bhp 2.0-litre petrol engine, which knocks the 0-62mph time down to 6.8 seconds. 

What’s it like to drive?

The MINI is renowned for its fun driving experience, and this Cooper 5-Door is no exception. It’s our favourite small car to drive, with a level of excitement and fun missing from most rivals. The Cooper’s engines are a real strength, both delivering plenty of performance and power to make them feel like junior hot hatches. In most cases, we think the entry-level Cooper C will offer enough power. It can quickly get up to speed, is refined and is happy to sit at motorway speeds without feeling out of its depth. 

The MINI’s steering is quick and well-weighted, giving you the confidence to keep pressing on. The chassis is great, too, helping to keep the car flat through the corners and still lively for a small car. We wish you could still have the option of a manual, however, as the auto gearbox can sometimes lag. If you want to override it, the only version with gearbox paddles is the Sport trim level. 

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The Cooper also has a firmer ride than many of the softer-focused cars in this class. If you enjoy driving and want a sportier feel, it’s a compromise worth making, and cars on smaller wheels are far from uncomfortable. But we’d stay clear of the optional 18-inch alloys as they make the ride overly fidgety and aren’t well-suited to Britain’s potholed roads. 

MINI Cooper 5-Door running costs

With no smaller petrol engines on offer, the MINI will cost more to run than many of its less powerful engines. With the Cooper C, the firm claims 46.3mpg and 137g/km CO2 emissions, compared to 44.8mpg and 143g/km CO2 emissions for the Cooper S.

Expect servicing costs to be a bit more expensive than more run-of-the-mill rivals, such as the Vauxhall Corsa. Service intervals are quite lengthy, though, with MINI’s recommended intervals being every two years or 18,000 miles, whichever comes sooner. You can spread out the cost with pay monthly service plans, costing from around £26 a month. 

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A four-year plan, including two services and a bi-annual ‘seasonal health check’, will cost £935.

What models and trim levels are available?

On the Cooper 5-Door, there’s the choice of two engines and three trim levels – Classic, Sport and Exclusive, though these are predominantly based around style. 

Standard equipment is quite comprehensive, including LED lights, two-zone climate control, a large OLED touchscreen with sat nav and blind spot monitoring. The Classic trim gets a black roof, blue and black interior accents and small 16-inch alloys (17s on the Cooper S). 

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The Sport grade gets the look of MINI’s John Cooper Works (JCW), including a specific bodykit and gloss black detailing. The interior also gets sports seats and a sports steering wheel. Other important changes include adaptive suspension, a sports gearbox with paddles and a heated steering wheel. 

The Exclusive trim aims to be the most refined version, coming with gold-coloured 17-inch alloys, blue leather upholstery and a knitted dashboard. 

What else should I know?

MINI doesn’t offer many individual option packs; instead it groups them into packages. We highly recommend the £2,000 Level 1 pack, which adds keyless entry, heated front seats, a head-up display and wireless smartphone charging. 

The £4,000 Level 2 bundle adds a Harman Kardon sound system, panoramic sunroof and privacy glass, while the Level 3 pack (not available on the Classic trim) adds an electric and massaging driver’s seat, adaptive cruise control and automated parking. 

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Prices for the Cooper 5-Door, at the time of writing (September 2025), start from £26,265 for a Cooper C Classic, with the Cooper S available from £29,265. The 5-Door is exactly £1,000 more expensive to buy than the 3-Door, too.