The new MINI Cooper has been revealed. The new Cooper name replaces the old 3-door and is one of three new models that include the latest Countryman and all-new Aceman.
Update: Since this article was published, we've driven the all-new 2024 MINI Cooper. Click here to read our full 2024 MINI Cooper Review.
2024 MINI Cooper: exterior design
The new MINI Cooper will keep the retro design of the current model, but stretched dimensions will free up more interior space, although the car is expected to remain 3800mm long.
The new car will have a cleaner design than the old model. Up front, you’ll find oval-shaped headlights, complete with horizontal LED daytime running lights that will give the Cooper a distinctive signature at night.
The car will look more purposeful thanks to shorter front and rear overhangs, a longer wheelbase and a wider track, while recessed door handles tidy up the profile. A neater panoramic sunroof, with a single pane of glass, will replace the current car's two-part panoramic sunroof.
The rear will get the same light revamp as the front. The car’s wide wheel arches and narrow glasshouse emphasise its squat stance, while Matrix LED tail lights mean the MINI will perform a synchronised light dance when you lock and unlock the car.
The Cooper will be highly personisable. You'll be able to choose from Union Jack graphics, contrast paint jobs, racing stripes, and a plethora of alloy wheel designs. Fashionable moody black plastics will take precedence over the chrome found on older models,
2024 MINI Cooper: interior
The cleaner design of the new MINI's interior will have plenty of nods to the current model. A head-up display – that projects information directly onto the windscreen – will replace a digital instrument binnacle on some models.
The obvious carryover from the old model is a huge, circular OLED screen that floats free of the dashboard. Its higher-set position should make it easier to read and use on the move. The new display replaces the central screen that started life as a speedometer in the original BMW MINI, before being replaced with a circular infotainment display set into the dashboard.
Below the OLED screen, you'll find retro-throwback toggle switches for features like the car’s engine stop-start.
2024 MINI Cooper: engines, EV range and battery capacity
Like no MINI before it, the latest Cooper will turn towards electric power. Diesel engines will not be available (they have already been removed from the current range).
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You get two electric versions of the new MINI to choose between. The 184PS Cooper E with a 40kWh battery and a 200-mile range. Or the 218PS SE with a larger 54kWh battery and a 250-mile range. By comparison, the current Cooper E gets up to 142 miles between charges if the EV stars align.
Electricity is also expected to power the fast Cooper JCW, giving MINI a direct rival to the souped-up Abarth 500e.
MINI’s venerable 1.5-litre, three-cylinder 136PS petrol engine will power basic models. All will come with an eight-speed automatic gearbox.
2024 MINI Cooper: price and on-sale date
Electric versions of the car will go on sale in April 2024 priced from over £30,000 to compete with the £28,000 Fiat 500 Electric. Petrol MINIs will follow in July, priced from around £23,000, more than the £17,000 you'll pay for a petrol Fiat 500.