Five door mayhem

What we like:

Improvement to the comfort of rear seat comfort. Continues to offer lively Mini driving fun.

What we dislike:

Limited legroom in the rear seats despite the stretched wheelbase.

On the inside there are little changes in the design of the dash area but upon entering, you do feel like the dashboard seems closer than in the smaller Mini. This seems to be a consequence of optimizing the space by moving the front seats forward to create slightly more room in the back. Rear passenger comfort is further improved with a 72mm increase in the wheelbase.

However rear comfort doesn’t see a stellar improvement and although headroom isn’t a problem, rear legroom remains barely adequate especially if a tall driver is at the wheel. The small aperture of the rear doors can also make entry and exit challenging for larger or older folks. Boot capacity though has been bumped up from 211 to 278litres.

While Mini ownership has always been more about heart than head, the five door has made it less conflicting in both respects.

Credits: Story and Photos by Benjamin G. Kline