Mini Aceman review

From £31,800

The Mini Aceman is for you if you like the fun and premium finish of the electric Cooper hatch, but want five doors and a touch more practicality.

Find Mini Aceman deals
Offers from our trusted partners on this car and its predecessors...
Sell your car
84% get more money with
Powered by

The Mini Aceman is the filler in Mini’s electric car sandwich.

It's the one you go for if you rather like the electric Mini Cooper hatchback, but you can’t live with its slightly restrictive three-door layout. Yet you also don’t really want the bigger, costlier electric Mini Countryman. Nope. You’re an about-town kinda person, and you want compact but useful, with lots of style and plush, premium design goodness.

Well, Mini’s got you covered with the Aceman. It’s based on the same platform as the electric Mini Cooper – which is different to the platform used in the petrol Cooper hatch models, don’t forget, as that can in fact be had with five doors. The Aceman is electric only, and gets the five-door layout and an extra 22cm in length over the three-door Mini hatch.

The innards are the same, too, which means a choice of either 38.5kWh li-ion NMC battery in the entry-level Aceman E, or 49.2kWh in the Aceman SE, for a WLTP range of up to 185- or 252 miles, respectively. Rapid charging speeds peak at 70kW for the E and 95kW for the SE. Power output also goes up with battery size, from 181bhp to 215bhp, giving 0-62mph times of 7.9 and 7.1secs respectively.

Advertisement

DESIGN & STYLING

02 Mini Aceman SE 2024 review driving city

Mini will tell you that the Aceman is ‘the first crossover for the premium small car segment’, but we have a couple of bones to pick with that claim. First, Lexus may have something to say about that since the Lexus LBX (a key rival to the Aceman) has been out for a while already. Second, it’s very hard to find much crossover in the Aceman. Even if it is 22cm longer, 8cm taller and 2cm wider than the electric Cooper E, at 4.08m long, 1.51m tall and 2.0m wide (with the mirrors out), that’s still a compact hatchback.

Granted, it’s a hatchback with standard roof rails and chunky wheelarches, so there is a ruggedness to it, which is precisely what Mini’s getting at. But in practice this is a small, front-wheel drive car that is barely any higher to get into than plenty of ordinary hatches. And that’s great news, because small cars are brilliant. So, enough of the crossover classification madness, now. Please.

Anyway, the Aceman is unmistakably a Mini in its styling, with flag light design, wide-eyed cuteness and clever tricks including an optional, graduated blue-to-white contrast roof finish (and it is painted, not wrapped or stickered).

Naturally, there’s a good array of colours and personalisation features to choose from, too, and you get a metallic paint finish as standard – albeit a rather bland silver in entry-level Classic trim, while Exclusive gets a very handsome British Racing Green, and Sport has standard flat ‘Chilli Red’ with go-faster decals and all. There’s a John Cooper Works model on the way, which will have its own stylistic flair.

INTERIOR

09 Mini Aceman SE 2024 review dashboard

Slide into the Aceman it’s all unmistakably Mini, and very familiar to the Cooper hatch. The huge, circular OLED touchscreen dominates the cabin, which is swathed in textured, woven fabrics complete with bright colours that fade into more muted blues or blacks.

Sure, maybe the peculiar belt that adorns the dash behind the steering wheel on those cars with a head-up display is a bit much, but there’s no doubt that Mini makes a fantastic interior; high class, yet quirky and interesting. In the small car classes, Mini currently has the best perceived interior quality and design flair, and that’s no doubt one of the most compelling reasons to buy one.

The touchscreen’s graphics are fantastic, and it’s generally easy to use with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto – although some of the car’s settings can be tricky to find as they’re hidden two or three menu layers deep. More important is that you don’t get a speed readout in the driver’s eyeline on the lower two trims of the Aceman E - you have to add the head-up display, which is part of the £2,000 Level 1 pack (standard on every Aceman SE). Sure, that pack also brings heated seats, keyless entry and adaptive LED headlights, but it’s still annoying to have to add it to avoid relying solely on the speed readout that’s permanently visible at the top of the touchscreen display.

The driving position is good, and has enough adjustment and space to suit tall drivers. There’s definite a ‘big car’ feel of composure and solidity to the Aceman’s forward cabin, so we’ll even forgive it for having the air-con temperature controls in the screen.

As for practicality, the Aceman may disappoint a bit if you’re looking for a small family car. The rear seats can seat three across if you’re willing to squeeze in, but legroom is a bit tight. You’ll get a short adult or child in there okay, but expect lots of muddy scuff marks on the back of the front seats, and there’s no centre armrest.

The boot gets 300 litres of space, so will be fine for a lightweight buggy or a couple of cabin bags, and the seats fold in a 60/40 split if you need them to, but the Lexus LBX has usefully more space with its 400-litre boot, and the Kia EV3 (granted, also a chunkier car at 4.3m long but available at a similar price) is way roomier for passengers and luggage, not to mention has a longer driving range.

ENGINES & PERFORMANCE

16 Mini Aceman SE 2024 review front driving

There may be more practical alternatives to the Mini out there, but none have the Mini’s fizzy attitude. Performance is very decent, as the 215bhp and 243lb ft – good for 7.1sec to 62mph - of the Aceman SE suggests. Mind you, there is a fair bit of torque steer as that twist arrives, which gives the Aceman a scrappy feel that some will actively enjoy and others may find irritating. The same torque stream will have the wheels spinning up in damp conditions when you go for a quick getaway, too.

Pace is certainly fine, and the SE feels punchy even if you go for an overtake or rapid motorway merge. It’s not just about zippy urban wieldiness, after all; The Aceman is refined, and feels very confident at motorway speeds, and has a grown-up aura that’s another of its selling points, alongside the styling, brand kudos and Nintendo handling. We haven’t driven the 181bhp Aceman E, yet, but the 7.9sec 0-62mph sounds reasonable.

What is annoying is that the brake regen’ modes are accessed via the touchscreen, so you can’t switch between the adaptive, low, moderate or high settings without punching through a couple of menus. Even the heaviest setting isn’t quite a one-pedal mode, either. Still, at least the brake regen’ is never grabby, and we found it easy to predict and modulate even if the adaptive setting occasionally felt a bit overly intrusive.

RIDE & HANDLING

16 Mini Aceman SE 2024 review corneringish

There’s no mistaking the Mini’s almost forcefully perky handling. Even in the more laid-back ‘Experience’ modes, the steering is quick and gives a darty turn-in, so that you feel like you’re benefitting from the Aceman’s wide yet stubby stance. It’s good fun, without feeling overly nervous, and it’s to the Mini’s benefit that it feels so different to all of its rivals when it comes to the way it goes down the road.

But, ride comfort is the payoff for the Nintendo handling: You can’t add adaptive dampers to the Aceman, and the ride is rather busy. Vertical body movement is particularly noticeable as it bobs along restlessly, and the suspension thunks heavily over bigger intrusions. Sure, it’s damped well enough that it doesn’t get crashy or jarring, so is unlikely to be a deal breaker for anyone who’s keen on a Mini, but it can get tiresome on longer journeys.

While we’re having a bit of a grumble, it’s worth pointing out that the Aceman’s turning circle of 11.1m is underwhelming for a small car. A lot of rivals, including the Jeep Avenger, Kia EV3 and Lexus LBX, manage closer to 10.5m.

MPG & RUNNING COSTS

01 Mini Aceman SE 2024 review lead driving

It's not terribly cheap, the Aceman. It starts at £31,800 for the E, or £36,300 for the SE. That’s £1,800 more than the equivalent three-door Mini Cooper E or SE, which puts it in contention with some usefully bigger and longer range rivals, or is dramatically more than you’ll pay for the Renault 5 or Citroen e-C3 – albeit none have the premium finish and peppy handling of the Aceman.

Driving range in the Mini is very competitive with rivals like the Renault 5, even if the Kia EV3 goes much further, or you can opt for the full hybrid Lexus LBX. We managed 3.8m/kWh on our varied test drive in fairly warm conditions, which suggests a real-world range of 180-miles from the Aceman SE.

Equipment is decent on the SE, but the E really needs that £2,000 Level 1 pack to give it the level of comfort and convenience that you would expect of a Mini.

A standard three-year, unlimited mileage warranty is fairly par for the course, but can look underwhelming next to the longer warranties offered by Lexus, Kia and Hyundai. The Mini’s battery is warrantied for eight years and 100,000 miles.

VERDICT

The Mini Aceman isn’t cheap, and it’s not as practical nor as long range as some of its chief rivals. For all that, it’s easy to see why you’d still go for it.

The Aceman is, well… a Mini. The interior is second to none in this class for perceived quality, personalisation and sheer wow factor, and it’s also the zingiest to drive in this class - by some margi, too. Plus, it has style and brand lustre to spare.

In short, it’s got some pretty big objective shortfalls, but this is a car that you buy just because you want it, and we can all understand that. As long as you’re happy to pay to scratch that premium itch, then the Aceman is a likable and fun small car.