2015 MINI Cooper S Hardtop 4 Door Road Test & Review

by Lyndon Bell

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May 20, 2015

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7 min. Reading Time

It’s just a matter of time until we see the maximum MINI. A huge step in that direction was taken with the introduction of the five-passenger MINI Cooper Hardtop 4 Door. In addition to the doors, the Cooper 4 Door offers more cargo capacity and marginally increased rear seat legroom. Completely redesigned for 2015 the Cooper Hardtop’s overall size was increased, the interior was redone and it got a new automatic transmission. New engines were fitted as well.

Though it has grown in size, the Cooper’s attitude and agility have remained intact. It’s still a playfully attractive car with engaging driving dynamics; adding the two extra doors only made it easier for people to access the rear seat. With that said, we’d be remiss if we didn’t say a MINI is more of an emotional purchase than a practical one —even with four doors. But when it comes to outright style, the MINI Cooper S Hardtop 4 Door has few peers, if any.

Models & Pricing

MINI offers the Cooper Hardtop 4 Door in base Cooper and Cooper S Trims. Unlike other members of the MINI lineup, the 4 Door is not offered with the John Cooper Works package. Pricing for the base model Hardtop 4 Door starts at $21,700. The Cooper S Hardtop 4 Door starts at $27,800.

Equipment largely follows that of the two-door Cooper. Standard features include 15-inch alloy wheels, automatic headlights, heated mirrors, a tilt and telescoping steering wheel with buttons for telephone, audio, and other secondary features; automatic climate control, a cooled glovebox, cruise control, Bluetooth handsfree telephony and audio streaming.

To all of the above, the Cooper S package adds a torque-vectoring limited slip diff to improve cornering, 16-inch wheels and run flat tires, LED foglights, sport seats, and of course a more powerful engine.

Options fitted to our test car included MINI’s $600 Cold Weather package’s power folding mirrors and heated front seats, The $4500 “Fully Loaded” package incorporated MINI’s Premium package which brought navigation, enhanced Bluetooth, keyless entry, a panoramic sunroof, and a Harman/Kardon premium audio system. The $750 Sport package fitted 18-inch tires and wheels and LED Foglights, plus a set of $250 LED headlights with cornering lights and white turn signal lights.

Folding in the $1,500 sport automatic transmission, the $250 John Cooper Works steering wheel, the $350 carbon fiber interior trim package, the $500 rear parking sensor array, the $500 head up display, the $250 anthracite headliner, the $500 electric blue metallic paint, and the $850 destination charge brought the total price of our Cooper S Hardtop 4 Door test car to $35,900.

Design

At 158 inches long, (157.4 for the standard Cooper 4 Door), our Cooper S 4 Door test car is just over six inches longer than the two door version, while the width remains identical. The wheelbase is stretched by just under three inches over that of the two-door, while the track is the same.

Even with the four-door body though, the overall silhouette is unmistakably MINI. If we had to characterize it, it looks kinda like a miniature MINI limo. The wide track and short overhangs we’ve come to expect as part of MINI’s styling language are present and accounted for. Further, the three-piece MINI look, owing to the visually distinct hood, body and roof structures of the marque's cars is nicely interpreted too. If you look closely, you’ll also note the windows narrow slightly at the rear of the Cooper Hardtop 4 Door, giving the subtle impression of a wedge shape to the little four-door hatchback, when viewed in profile.

Design cues specific to our S model test car include a honeycomb grille, high-gloss black bumper trim, a hood scoop, air ducts for the brakes in the lower section of the front fascia, and a rear apron with dual center-mounted exhaust pipes This Cooper S also features a red "S" logo with a chrome border in the grille, as well as in the side “scuttle” elements at the trailing edge of the front fenders. Additionally, for the MINI Cooper S Hardtop 4 door model, the grille and the tailgate handle are finished in high-gloss black.

Features & Controls

Inside the MINI Cooper S Hardtop 4 Door, it’s “seen one, seen ‘em all”; as the delightfully quirky MINI interior styling treatment we’ve come to appreciate in the two-door Hardtop is evident in the 4 Door as well. The large, round, centrally located styling element in our test car contained the infotainment system with the monitor for the telematics interface. Meanwhile, the speedometer and the tachometer were contained in a dual pods mounted on the steering column.

The optional MINI Connected in-car infotainment monitor with its displays for audio entertainment, navigation, telephony, and Internet based services when so equipped dominated the center of the dash. Designed to interface with compatible smartphones, the system allows direct access of certain applications through the controller on the center console. It supports control of a GoPro camera.

Another nice touch of the interior design is the oversized HVAC outlets trimmed in chrome. The tachometer resides on the steering column behind the leather wrapped steering wheel. The tiller also contains buttons for the audio system, telephone, voice controls, and cruise control systems. Naturally the toggle switches we’ve come to expect from MINI are there, although the window controls and door lock buttons have been moved to the doors.

While the layout emphasizes design, it’s quite functional too.

Comfort & Cargo

Though MINI’s product literature makes much of the fact the 4 Door offers seating for three passengers in the rear, along with .6 of an inch more headroom and a 1.8-inch increase in shoulder room over the standard Cooper Hardtop, with the driver’s seat positioned for a six-footer, only a baby in a child safety sit will fit comfortably behind it.

In other words, even though the two additional doors make accessing the back seat easier, getting in and sitting there comfortably for any reasonably sized adult is still an undertaking best performed by a contortionist. Of course, the other side of the coin is if you’re about to have a baby and you want to drive a MINI Cooper Hardtop, the rear doors make this a wholly viable option.

Front seat passengers have no such concerns; legroom is more than adequate for tall people, and shoulder room – while close coupled – still affords each front seat passenger a comfortable zone of personal space. Still, while the MINI Cooper S Hardtop 4 Door is considered a five-passenger vehicle (and yes there are three sets of seatbelts in the back seat), trying to transport adults in the car’s back seat for any considerable distance is basically inviting discomfort.

In terms of cargo capacity, the Cooper S 4 Door offers 13.1 cubic feet with the rear seat deployed, and 40.7 cubic feet with the rear seatback folded away.

Safety & Ratings

The standard safety kit is comprised of eight airbags; including side curtain and knee bags for occupants of the front seats. Rain sensing windshield wipers, run-flat tires, and automatic headlights are standard equipment too. You’ll also find ABS, traction control, and stability control. Optional features include a rear view camera, and a rear parking sensor array.

The MINI Cooper S Hardtop 4 Door has not been crash tested by NHTSA, nor the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety (IIHS). However, the two-door Hardtop scored four out of a possible five stars in NHTSA’s frontal crash testing, three of five in side crashes, four of five in rollovers, and four of five overall.

The IIHS rated the two-door Cooper Hardtop as “Good” (its highest ranking) in the moderate overlap offset frontal crash test.

We expect the 4 Door to respond similarly.

Photo by MINI

Engine(s) & Fuel Economy

With the redesign for 2015 came two new powerplants for the front-wheel drive MINI Cooper Hardtop models (both two-door and four-door).

The base engine is a turbocharged 1.5-liter inline three-cylinder, good for 134 horsepower and 162 ft-lbs of torque. A six-speed manual transmission is offered as standard equipment with the tri-cylinder powerplant. MINI also offers a six-speed automatic to go with it as optional equipment. Fuel economy with the manual transmission is rated at 33 mpg combined, 29-city, and 40-hghway. The automatic returns 31 miles per gallon overall; 28 in the city, and 37 on the highway.

The Cooper S Hardtop runs a 2.0-liter turbocharged inline four-cylinder with 189 horsepower and 207 ft-lbs of torque. Like the inline-three, it comes with a choice of a six-speed manual or a six-speed automatic. Fuel economy is rated at 27 combined, 24-city, and 34-highway with the manual. The automatic is said to be good for 29-combined, 26-city, and 33-highway.

By the way, both engines come with automatic stop-start to help improve fuel economy. We averaged 27.6 overall with the six-speed automatic – using a mix of city streets, freeways, and twisty back roads.

Driving Impressions

Aside from a mildly choppy ride over rough surfaces brought about by the short wheelbase, the Cooper Hardtop 4 Door glides along quite smoothly. Driven back to back with the two-door Cooper Hardtop there’s really no difference in terms of overall dynamics. The exceptionally quick steering and the dogged grip we’ve come to expect from cars wearing the winged MINI badge are faithfully represented.

(BTW, has anyone else noticed how many English car companies incorporate wings into their badges? What’s up with that?)

The sport seats fitted to the Cooper S provide thigh support extensions, and are also adjustable for height. We prefer our seating on the firm side and the Cooper S sport seats delivered solidly in that regard. However, we did have a few passengers complain they were too firm. Your results may vary.

Either way, if you’re a person enjoys driving; once you get accustomed to the Cooper’s quick reflexes you’ll find the Cooper S Hardtop 4 Door a wonderful driving companion. The 2.0-liter four loves to rev, and with so little weight to move, it generates speed quite quickly. MINI claims 6.5 seconds to 60 with the automatic; our independent testing verified these claims. The braking system takes speed back just as readily as the engine imparts it, and on winding roads, they respond nicely to modulation, delivering the exact amount of retardation you require.

Our test car was fitted with the MINI navigation system, so the six-speed automatic transmission was programmed to predict gear choices based on the situations and terrain we encountered as pre-informed by the GPS system. This worked so seamlessly we were unaware of the function. However, we did notice the torque-vectoring limited-slip differential’s ability to pull the car through corners when we got on the throttle early while exiting.

Another electronic feature fitted to the Cooper was the MINI Driving Mode selector, which gave us the ability to choose between “Sport’, which advanced throttle and steering response to sharpen the diving experience; “Green”, which retarded throttle response to improve fuel economy, and the “Mid” mode, which was good for day to day driving. In all honest, we primarily employed the Green mode for around town, and the Sport mode on back roads. We seldom used the Mid setting.

Final Thoughts

Does the world really need a four-door MINI Hardtop?

This is a rather valid question.

In all honesty, the back seat, as we mentioned before is pretty useless for adults. If you have very young children, with it you’ll get to enjoy motoring in a MINI for a few more years; basically until they grow legs.

Cargo capacity is increased somewhat, but not really enough to make a significant difference. Long story short, as we stated at the beginning of this review, a MINI Hardtop is more of an emotional purchase than a rational one.

With that said, if you love to drive, you will have loads of fun.