2024 Mini Cooper to launch as an EV before petrols arrive later

Mini is introducing this new car in its electric guise first, and by the way things are worded you’d be forgiven for thinking the Cooper will be electric-only. Rest assured, there will be a petrol version eventually. Likewise larger more-door Coopers are on the way with both petrol and electric powertrains, based on a totally different platform no less. This three-door is about as classic a Mini as you’ll get in 2024.

2024 Mini Cooper design – ‘reduction to the essentials’

So what do we think of it design-wise? Looks are arguably a standard ‘classic’ Mini’s most important weapon, an aspect the last few generations of the ‘new’ Mini could have made more of. We’ve seen a fair number of leaks and renders of this latest Mini’s design, and it’s safe to say there are some pretty big changes on the way, in terms of styling, but also a push Mini says to reduce everything down to the bare essentials in terms of looks.

Right off the bat, we can see the Mini Cooper has done away with its trademark arches and chrome, for a cleaner look. The lack chrome we can approve with to a point, but the lack of arches at the side does leave the new car looking a little naked. It’s also got a more raked windscreen than ever too, obviously for improved aerodynamics. The same goes for the now-flush door handles.

Happily, those round lights, short overhangs, three-part body division and ‘floating’ roof make it otherwise unmistakable. In the right light, you can see the proportions have been preserved in the hips, just without the classic ripple around the wheel arches.

At the front there’s a new octagonal grille complete with body-colour fill and at the rear, the jellybean lights make way for more triangular units, still with the Brexit-tastic Union Jack graphics, among cleaner, clearer body surfacing.

Those lights at the front, while almost identical in shape to the outgoing car, are a little bigger and have no less than three unique light signatures. Mini is of course all about fun, quirks and gimmicks, and that’s what we see here with horizontal graphics as well as the signature circle DRLs which are configurable to ‘greet’ you and display one of three graphics while driving. It’s all thoroughly simplified, modernised, digitised and contemporary.

2024 Mini Cooper – ‘a giant leap into the digital era’

It’s inside that we see the biggest changes. This is without doubt a Mini for the iPhone generation, with all separate readouts and infotainment now packed into a single, near rim-less OLED display – a world-first no less. This expensive circular panel certainly looks futuristic and crisp but its success will be entirely down to how intuitive and reliable it turns out to be.

With a 240mm diameter, it runs Mini OS 9 and contains all vehicle functions, which can also be voice-controlled via the first-ever Mini Intelligent Personal Assistant. Yes, you can open communications with it by saying ‘Hey Mini’…

The upper half of the screen is dedicated to essential driver information like speed and battery status. This and other driver-essential information will also be shown in a head-up display.

The lower half contains navigation, media, climate and phone controls and can be customised with widgets from the home menu. Cabin temps are permanently displayed too, on the left and right edges of the screen. The nav is very fancy-looking, with realistic 3D visualisations showing turning situations and even traffic levels. It can also optimise the route for charging and even help with paying to park.

At the bottom, there’s a fixed status bar for quick jumps to navigation, media, telephone and all apps, while a tool belt can be swiped up – or called from the star button on the wheel – with customised favourite functions.

Inside the 2024 Mini – ‘Experience modes’ and new materials.

Okay, much as it pains us youngens to look away from a screen for a single second, there’s a lot going on in the rest of the cabin too. New ‘Mini Experience Modes’ dictate the ambiance of the cabin, with a projector on the back of the display teaming with ambient lighting to create each cabin experience.

There are seven of them too, ranging from Core, Green, Vibrant and Timeless to Go-Kart, Personal and Balance. Go-Kart is the sporty one, in case you were wondering, while Personal allows you to select a background for the screen, with the colours of the image being projected out onto the dash and used in the ambient lighting. Crikey.

There’s a new three-spoke steering wheel, with materials, motifs and the general cabin feel dictated by three trim levels. These are Classic, Exclusive and Sport. Classic in particular uses a fun new 2D knitted textile, while you get houndstooth with Exclusive and multi-coloured knit with Sport. Classic looks cool to us. The rest of the interior design? Minimal yet premium, as you’d expect of Mini. Save for the big circular glass slab, it all looks pretty airy and light too.

2024 Mini Cooper – still a ‘Go Kart’

As above, for now the new Mini Cooper is all-electric, with Electric E and Electric SE models available. They have 184PS (135kW) and 218PS (160kW), with 190-mile and 250-mile respective stated range figures. They’re pretty peppy too, with the E getting to 62mph in 7.3 seconds. The SE takes just 6.7 seconds. Charging is predictably swift in the right circumstances, with up to 95kW available, allowing for 10 to 80 per cent charge in under 30 minutes. The Mini Cooper Electric can also prepare its battery for charging if you use the in-built navigation to plot a course for a charger.

The new Mini is, unsurprisingly, wider and longer than its predecessor, although that’s nicely disguised by the styling. The driving dynamics have been finely honed to give that signature Mini feel, while driving modes dictate the car’s personality.

In Go-Kart mode you can play with configurable steering and traction control settings while Green mode optimises all systems for efficiency. There are new driving sounds for the interior to match each mode, as well as a range of new jingles, signals and warning sounds.

2024 Mini Cooper Electric prices

What will this all cost? It actually sounds pretty reasonable. The 184PS Mini Cooper E will start from £30,000, while the 218PS SE will start from £34,500, options, trims and trinkets notwithstanding. Expect petrol versions of the new Mini, which will be revealed at some point in the future, to be cheaper, while the bigger five-door models will be the most expensive options with both types of powertrain. Deliveries for the Mini Cooper Electric are set to begin next Spring alongside the new Countryman.