MINI COOPER S

What’s the scores on the doors?

During the three-door Cooper’s stint in the TG Garage, a new arrival has joined its Mini family: the fve-door hatch. For an extra £600 over the three-door Mini, it ofers a pair of back doors, just enough space for a couple of rear passengers and a useful chunk more boot. A worthwhile upgrade?

Well, with most hatches – Polo, Golf, whatever – the choice between three and fve doors is a pretty straightforward one. Prepared to sacrifce a bit of practicality for slinkier looks? Go three-door. Need the space? Go fve. Swings and roundabouts.

But the Mini is a little diferent. After all, the true Mini has always been, since the Fifties, a three-door. That’s what a Mini is. And, let’s be honest, BMW’s attempts to diversify the posh Brit brand beyond its core ofering haven’t generally been especially successful – Paceman, Countryman, Roadster, Coupe, we’re looking at you.

But the fve-door is a surprisingly successful mutation of the Mini DNA. The additional room for luggage and passenger legs – the three-door Mini ofers precisely bugger all for either – makes it a more feasible day-to-day proposition than the 2+2 threedoor, while it seems no more sluggish in the ride and handling department. It doesn’t, to my eyes, look signifcantly less elegant either.

Perhaps this is a refection that even the three-door Mini has become rather more grown-up in its third generation of BMW stewardship. Our Cooper is not the raucous ankle-biter it once was, but rather a fne, mature little hatch that doesn’t sufer by the addition of a couple of rear doors.

Despite – or perhaps because of – this, in its six-month tenure, the little Cooper proved one of the most borrowed cars of the TG feet. The three-cylinder turbo has remained beyond reproach, if not quite so frugal as its claimed 60mpg, while the big-car kit made it an easy place for long journeys. It may not be the tearaway of old, but in three- or fve-door guise, the MkIII Mini is one of the classiest city-car contenders. Just make sure you go easy on the options…