The Aceman certainly offers a good deal more practicality than the Mini Cooper; although, by compact crossover standards, that’s no saying much.
There’s room for adults in both rows of seats, and a usable boot, as you’d expect from a B-segment SUV (although compared with rivals like the Smart #1, Citroen eC4 and Fiat 600 Electric, it’s only averagely spacious).
The cabin styling is all unmistakably Mini, and very familiar to the Cooper hatch. The huge, circular OLED touchscreen dominates, while the dashboard is swathed in textured, woven fabrics complete with bright colours that fade into more muted blues or blacks.
Sure, maybe the peculiar belt that adorns the dash behind the steering wheel on those cars with a head-up display is a bit much, but there’s no doubt that Mini makes a fantastic interior; high class, yet quirky and interesting. In the small car classes, Mini currently has the best perceived interior quality and design flair, and that’s no doubt one of the most compelling reasons to buy one.
Mini’s simplified layout of instruments and controls stretches the bounds of easy usability a little bit. There’s no physical cursor controller for the 24in round infotainment display, for instance, and very few menu buttons. Mini’s ‘tool belt’ swipe-up shortcut screen saves it from offending or irritating once you’re used to it, however – and meanwhile, if you don’t like the idea of looking over at the centre screen for a speedometer all the time, Mini will provide one in the car’s head-up display (which comes as part of the ‘Level 1’ options pack, but really ought to be standard-fit).
The driving position is good, and has enough adjustment and space to suit tall drivers. There’s definite a ‘big car’ feel of composure and solidity to the Aceman’s forward cabin, so we’ll even forgive it for having the air-con temperature controls in the screen.
As for practicality, the Aceman may disappoint a bit if you’re looking for a small family car. The rear seats can seat three across if you’re willing to squeeze in, but legroom is a bit tight. You’ll get a short adult or child in there okay, but expect lots of muddy scuff marks on the back of the front seats, and there’s no centre armrest.
The boot gets 300 litres of space, so will be fine for a lightweight buggy or a couple of cabin bags, and the seats fold in a 60/40 split if you need them to, but the Lexus LBX has usefully more space with its 400-litre boot, and the Kia EV3 (granted, also a chunkier car at 4.3m long but available at a similar price) is way roomier for passengers and luggage, not to mention has a longer driving range.
