The coming Cooper generation with the motley camouflage foil still presents itself like a unicorn dream come true from an early childhood girl’s room. The Mini, which will be launched at the beginning of next year, is a sly old dog even without the John Cooper Works signet that will follow later on the rear. There is a completely new development and produced in Oxford with a combustion engine. The electric version of Great Wall from China comes as an optical twin, and Mini fans should like that in particular, because the new Cooper SE offers more driving fun than ever before. This is also due to the well-known carefully processed design, but primarily to the new drive technology. Because the package with the electric drive goes well with the pleasing Mini Hatch. Both versions offer front-wheel drive, battery packs with 40 or 54 kWh for ranges of up to 450 kilometers and two power levels of 135 kW / 184 hp (Cooper E) and 160 kW / 218 hp (Cooper SE). The top speed, which was limited to 150 km/h too early, and the hesitant reloading of the current conversion variant should also belong to the past.
On the handling course, the electric front-wheel drive makes an extremely agile impression. Despite the wet road and outside temperatures in the Austrian town of Saalfelden barely above zero degrees, the two-door model easily puts its more than 200 hp onto the road and, especially when braking, is much calmer than its predecessor, which was anything but sluggish. The situation is very similar when accelerating out, because the driving forces on the steering wheel are also less noticeable here. This means that there is significantly less twitching or tugging than before and if you bring the prototype of the Mini Cooper SE to the limit in the hanging fast right-hand bend, the rear can be easily caught just before the control systems intervene safely.
The image is similarly good later in public traffic. The Mini Cooper SE is noticeably more comfortable than its successful ancestor. There is a clear improvement here, especially when the road surface becomes uncomfortable, and the unevenness of disturbing and transverse joints or bursting asphalt has previously annoyed the occupants noticeably. More long-distance comfort and a significantly increased suitability for travel will please the little ones. The heavily camouflaged interior offers light and shade. This is dominated by a large, razor-sharp digital round instrument on which all important information is played. Bitter: the new Mini generation offers an informative head-up display as before, but this reflects the most important driving information unchanged on an extendable plastic pane. Just as annoying as the decision that Mini no longer equips its noble versions with leather seats. The new Mini Cooper offers a choice of imitation leather or fabric – that was previously much nobler with the animal skins. The new Cooper should set completely new standards in terms of connectivity and also significantly improve on the driver assistance systems compared to the current model. One can look forward to it. The world premiere will take place in autumn and the Mini Cooper will be rolling out on international roads for the first time in early 2024 – either electrically or with a combustion engine.
