Starting at $26,795
BY DREW DORIAN
Overview
While the Mini Cooper may well be the quintessential fun-to-drive small car, its diminutive footprint and snug cabin may not make sense for every buyer. Those who can make a subcompact car work in their lifestyles will find the Cooper a real creampuff, with a fun-loving nature that begs you to take it on a brisk drive on twisty roads. The standard setup is a three-door hatchback, but a five-door hatchback and a convertible are also offered, and all of them feature Mini’s iconic retro-modern styling. If you’re easy on options, you can get into a base-level Cooper for the price of a well-equipped Honda Civic, but as soon as you start adding desirable options—including swapping the standard 134-hp turbo three-cylinder for the punchier 189-hp turbo four—the Mini suddenly wears a price tag similar to that of an Audi A3 or a BMW 2-series. If you have even more money to spend and want to ramp up the performance and handling, check out the Cooper JCW (reviewed separately), which uses a 228-hp version of the Cooper’s turbo four-cylinder engine.
Where This Vehicle Ranks
What’s New for 2024?
Mini added the manual transmission back to the lineup last year, but only on the three-door hardtop models. Now, the six-speed stick is available across the entirety of the Cooper lineup, including convertible and five-door hardtop models. Last year’s Resolute Edition package sticks around for the 2024 model year due to its popularity. Based on the top-spec Iconic trim, the Resolute Edition package adds Rebel Green exterior paint, bronze-colored hood stripes, and yellow and cream tweed interior upholstery. The Seaside Edition is new for 2024 and is exclusive to the Cooper S convertible models. The Seaside Edition comes in either Caribbean Aqua or Nanuq White exterior colors and wears unique body stripes, special wheels, black leather upholstery, and special decorative dashboard trim; only 500 will be offered, making the Seaside Edition cars fairly rare.
Pricing and Which One to Buy
The price of the 2024 Mini Cooper Hardtop / Convertible starts at $26,795 and goes up to $46,455 depending on the trim and options.
We’d choose to go with the manual transmission and put it in the more powerful 189-hp Cooper S Hardtop to maximize the fun-to-drive factor. The five-door Hardtop costs a bit extra, but we’d stick with the three-door since neither Mini is all that spacious. Beyond that, the personal customization options are numerous and desirable, and we’ll leave them up to you.
Engine, Transmission, and Performance
The standard engine is a 134-hp turbocharged 1.5-liter three-cylinder, which provides adequate pep in this small, lightweight, front-drive vehicle. We prefer the S models, which come with a 189-hp turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder. With the larger engine, the S proved to be a little more than a second faster to 60 mph than with the base 1.5-liter engine, clocking in at 6.2 seconds. We found the automatic transmission shifts well, but the manual transmission is still our favorite as it provides the most driver engagement. The firm suspension lends itself to enthusiast-oriented driving, which can make the Mini Cooper exciting, but the ride can be unforgiving on rough roads.
View Photos of the 2022 Mini Cooper
