The new five-door Mini hatchback has been revealed, and is set to give the brand the biggest sales boost of any single model so far when it goes on sale in October. BMW insiders believe it could outsell today’s three-door model by a factor of three to one.
It is thought that this new model could account for around 150,000 units annually, massively boosting Mini’s sales overall.
The five-door Mini will go on sale initially with the choice of three-cylinder Cooper petrol and three-cylinder Cooper D diesel engines and in four-cylinder Cooper S petrol and Cooper SD form. A six-speed manual gearbox is standard while the six-speed Steptronic torque converter automatic transmission is optional.
Despite being a physically larger and more capacious car than the new Mini three-door hatch, BMW UK is charging a premium £15,900 for the entry-level 101 bhp three-cylinder turbocharged Cooper petrol model.
That model offers a tempting mix of relative pace (0-62mph in 8.2sec) and a promised 60 mpg on the combined cycle. The six-speed automatic version is marginally quicker in the sprint and offers an impressive 58 mpg combined. The 189 bhp Cooper S hits 62 mph in 6.9sec (6.8sec for the auto) and returns 47.8 mpg or 52 mpg in automatic form. Prices rise to £20,050 for a top-spec SD version.
Measuring a compact 4 m from nose to tail, the five-door is 72 mm longer in the wheelbase than the three-door and 161 mm longer overall, with the extra wheelbase length going entirely into the rear cabin. BMW says the new car also offers 15 mm more headroom and a useful 61 mm of extra interior width “at shoulder height”.
Boot space is now fully competitive with rivals at 278 liters, up 67 liters on the three-door. This just pips the 270-liter boot capacity of the Audi A1, which BMW sees as one of the five-door Mini’s key rivals. With the 60/40 spilt rear seats both folded, the Mini’s maximum load capacity is 941 liters, again ahead of the A1’s 920 liters.
BMW’s engineers have gone beyond simply increasing the basic load capacity of the Mini five-door and added a number of neat features to improve the utility of the car. There’s the option of a folding false boot floor which can be fitted at two different heights, the upper of which allows a completely flat load bay when the seats are folded forward. Unusual extendable clamps have also been fitted to the rear seatbacks, allowing the backs to be locked in an upright position in order to further increase the load space.
Subjectively, this new Mini’s looks appear better balanced than those of the three-door. The longer, higher nose of the Mk3 hatch is now offset by the car’s extra length. The five-door is also marked out by a distinctive shoulder on its rear rather than having the three-door’s near-upright tailgate.
The rear doors are short, although the height of the door aperture aids access to the rear cabin for taller adults, and while the front sports seats fitted to the car pictured here are substantial, their backs feature a large cut-out to accommodate the knees of taller rear passengers. The low roof-line is also relieved inside with a ‘scooped-out’ headlining, which offers surprisingly decent headroom.
While getting in and out requires some agility, a 6ft-tall rear passenger can sit behind a similarly sized driver, albeit with just a few millimeters of knee and head clearance.
In the front, the new dashboard intrudes on the driver’s sense of space and the seating position remains unusually low, but there’s a decent amount of shoulder-room for two adults.
Mini sources believe the new five-door model will attract more male buyers and help to “de-feminise the brand” and balance the split between male and female customers.
Industry wisdom suggests that female car buyers will buy a model that is seen as a ‘male car’ but male buyers will not buy what’s perceived as ‘female’. This sub-strategy might also explain why the third model to appear in the Mk3 Mini range will be the longer and wider Clubman sports estate rather than the popular convertible.
The five-door will be available in three solid and nine metallic colors, including the color pictured above, which has been revived from the original launch colors for the 2001 Mini Cooper S. A black or white roof and door mirror caps are no-cost options.
BMW is also offering the option of a mobile phone SIM card that can be embedded in the dash. This can be used with an emergency call system to contact a central call center in the event of a collision, transferring information such as the car’s location, the number of vehicle occupants and which airbags may have been triggered.
Source: Autoblog
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