Review: Mini Cooper SE

Despite its familiar looks, the new Mini Cooper has just undergone its biggest update this century. The ionic headlights, white roof, and city-friendly dimensions remain, as they have throughout BMW’s two decades at the helm of the Mini brand. But under that familiar skin, it’s all-new.

For starters, the 2024 Mini Cooper sits on a new electric platform. It has more range and straight-line performance than its predecessor, plus an all-new interior that boasts more tech and more space, despite the exterior being slightly shorter (but a little wider) than before.

That new platform comes from a partnership between BMW and Great Wall Motor, the Chinese firm whose catalog of EV brands includes Ora, makers of the unremarkable and unrelated 03 (née Funky Cat). The new electric Cooper is made in China, with extra production to commence in Oxford, England, in 2026. Only then might the car head to North America, since it will no longer fall victim to import tariffs imposed on Chinese-built EVs.

In addition to a new platform, there’s new nomenclature to get your head around: All versions of the smallest Mini are now called “Cooper.” This includes the electric Cooper E and higher-performance Cooper SE, both reviewed here, but also the internal-combustion Cooper C and Cooper S, which are available in a three- or five-door configuration.

Cooper SE: 0 to 62 mph in 6.7 seconds

Photograph: Mini USA

Cooper E: 0-62 mph in 7.3 seconds

Photograph: Mini USA

Although also “new,” those ICE versions sit atop the old platform, and are more heavily facelifted than truly all-new. If the Cooper is too small for you, there’s the equally new (and electric-only) Mini Aceman, or if you need even more space there’s the range-topping Mini Countryman, which is offered with both gas and electric drivetrains.

All clear? Good. Actually, no, one more thing: Mini doesn’t make a hot John Cooper Works version of its EV hatchback—at least not yet, anyway. So while the SE driven here was positively dripping in JCW kit, this is all available from the options catalog, and changes nothing about the car’s performance. Adds plenty to the price, mind you, but we’ll come back to that later.

Extra Mini Miles

The new electric Mini has a lot more range than the previous model.

Photograph: Alistair Charlton

WIRED drove both the standard Cooper E and quicker Cooper SE. The base car is powered by a 135-kW (181-hp), 290-Nm (214-foot-pound) motor driving the front axle. Mini claims a 0-62 mph time of 7.3 seconds, a top speed of 105 mph, and a range of up to 190 miles from the 36.6-kWh battery, using the WLTP standard. It also claims an electric consumption of 4.4 miles per kWh. For context, the previous generation of Mini EV claimed a circa-140 mile range from its 28.9-kWh pack.