Mini Cooper D five-door UK 2014 first drive

The new five-door Mini 5-door hatchback, driven here in oilburning Cooper D form and on UK roads for the first time.

Mini is targeting a more grown-up demographic with this five-door variant. It is designed to appeal to those with more than one child or another need for more boot space and improved access to the rear seats.

To accommodate those extra doors Mini has extended the hatchback’s length to 3982mm, making it 161mm longer than the three-door version. It’s also extended the wheelbase by 72mm, while the seats-up boot capacity has grown from 211 litres to 278 litres.

That length pushes the five-door Mini not only into competition with models like the Audi A1 Sportback, Volkswagen Polo and Ford Fiesta, but also very close to family hatchback champions like the Volkswagen Golf. 

As you’d expect, the five-door looks similar on the outside to the well-received three-door model. The floating roof in particular continues to help the car stand out among its rivals, while design elements like Mini’s round headlight clusters and new front grille give the car a premium look.

That upmarket theme continues inside, too, where both quality and equipment levels are good. The standard specification includes a DAB radio, USB port and Bluetooth connectivity, keyless go and electric windows all-round.

The addition of a five-door model also opens up the Mini hatchback to corporate buyers, many of whom won’t have considered the brand before. To that end, sub-100g/km CO2 emissions on the One D and Cooper D variants should help Mini get its five-door into fleets. 

So how much is it? The five-door commands a £600 premium over the equivalent three-door model, meaning the range starts at £14,350 for the One and rises to £20,050 for a top-spec Cooper SD. 

This Cooper D has a list price of £17,050, but a long list of optional extras – including heated front seats, sat-nav, dual-zone climate control and 17-inch alloy wheels instead of the standard 16s – took the total cost of our test vehicle to £22,210.

The simple answer is that it is very much like the three-door Cooper D, except with more space.

In almost every respect, this five-door Mini performs and handles like the three-door model we drove earlier this year. Its 114bhp 3-cylinder 1.5-litre diesel engine is bursting with torque, and emits a pleasing burble low down in the rev range. Mini quotes a 0-62mph sprint time of 9.4 seconds, and a top speed of 126mph.

The car handles in an engaging fashion, but it has the same firm ride that's prevalent in this latest generation of Mini. Happily, though, one of the few criticisms we had of the three-door Cooper D – that the car could become unsettled on undulating surfaces – seems to have been cured by lengthening the wheelbase.

There’s still the same sense of urgency when driving the Mini at speed, helped by the addition of selectable driving modes in our test car. There’s little difference between Normal and Green modes, but in Sport the steering becomes heavier and sharper, and there’s an improved throttle response.