MINI Aceman Review & Prices

Small electric SUVs are all the rage, and this is Mini’s latest. The new Mini Aceman slots into a gap in the brand's lineup, left by the Countryman as it grew from a small SUV into a proper family-sized Nissan Qashqai alternative.

The Aceman is smaller, all-electric and a natural alternative to cars such as the Kia EV3, Jeep Avenger Electric and former Carwow Car of the Year-winning Volvo EX30. It’s a bit like the Waitrose Essentials range - trying to capture customers who’ve been left behind as the main product evolves.

The Aceman is a genuinely small car. It’s about 20mm longer than a Renault Clio hatchback, and around the same width, so it has a dinky footprint that’ll be easy to park and drive around the city. It has styling inspired by its two siblings - the proportions and charm of the Mini Cooper hatch, but the same squared-off details as the Countryman SUV - such as rhombus-shaped headlights and black plastic cladding around the wheelarches.

Interior space is of course a big improvement on the Cooper, which is only a four-seater in the same way as a Ferrari is affordable. However with quite tight rear seats and only a 300-litre boot, the Aceman js not going to give the roomy Volvo EX30 or Kia EV3 much to worry about, both of which have more room in the back.

Range: 192-252 miles
Efficiency: 4.5-4.6 miles per kWh
Battery size: 42.5 - 54.2kWh
Max charge speed: 75-90kW
Charge time AC: 6hrs-7.5hrs, 0-100%, 7kW
Charge time DC: 30 minutes, 10-80%
Charge port location: Right side rear
Power outputs: 184-258hp

Neither of those cars can compete with the Aceman’s interior ambiance, though. It’s similar to the Cooper and the Countryman, which means it’s both stylish and high-quality.

Instead of cheap plastics, much of the dash and doors are covered in a cool woven fabric trim, and instead of a traditional instrument cluster you get a superbly cool circular infotainment screen for both infotainment and driver information. It’s high-resolution and easier to use than you might think, but it can be fiddly in places and it’s a bit of a pain looking to the centre of the car to get your speed all the time - a problem shared by the Volvo EX30.

You can get your Aceman in three powertrains and three trim levels. The Aceman E is the entry-level model that’s good for a range of 192 miles (officially). The Aceman SE is a bit quicker, and has a larger battery giving it an official range of up to 251 miles.

There’s also a standalone John Cooper Works model, which gets a 243-mile range but improved performance thanks to a higher-powered motor and some tweaks to the chassis and suspension.

The Aceman drives a lot like the Mini Cooper hatch - it’s fun, darty and agile, making it great to nip around town in. However, like its smaller sibling, it has very firm suspension, which means it can be uncomfortable for passengers especially on longer journeys or over rough surfaces.

If this sounds up your street, check out our best deals on the Mini Aceman here, or get a great deal on other Mini models. You can also check out used Minis, and remember that Carwow can even help you sell your old car.

Prices for the Aceman kick off at just under £32,000, undercutting the Volvo EX30 and Jeep Avenger Electric, though it has less range than either. The Aceman SE, which has range to rival the Avenger and more than the entry-level EX30, costs over £36,000.

There’s also a standalone John Cooper Works model, which comes in at over £40,000 - quite chunky for a small SUV. It’s a similar price to the Volvo EX30 Twin Motor Performance, but nowhere near as powerful.

Three trim levels are available called Classic, Exclusive and Sport, and mostly change the car’s looks - Classic gets limited paint options and duller upholstery with 17-inch wheels, while Exclusive and Sport have some brighter options available and 18-inch alloys.

Options, meanwhile, are bundled into easy-to-digest packs called Level 1, 2 and 3. All models do come with a rear-view camera, lots of driver assistance kit and wireless smartphone connectivity. Keyless entry, a head-up display, premium sound system and panoramic sunroof can all be found within these packs. SE and JCW models get the Level 1 pack as standard equipment.

Agile and quite fun to drive, but firm suspension is bound to become tiring

In town

The Aceman’s dinky dimensions and good visibility, combined with quick, accurate steering mean it’s really easy to drive around town. As a fully electric car you of course don’t have any gears to worry about - just point and squirt - and you’ll find that the Aceman’s acceleration is a bit less hyperactive than some alternative EVs. While this means you might not surprise as many people with your pace off the traffic lights, it is easier to keep things smooth, which is good for passenger comfort.

The turning circle isn’t quite as good as you might hope for such a small car - it’s over half a metre more than a Jeep Avenger Electric - and the suspension is extremely firm. This means you’ll find yourself bouncing over speed bumps, and swerving to avoid potholes rather than confidently going over them. It probably won’t be a dealbreaker for some, but a Kia EV3 or Volvo EX30 are both much more comfortable.

On the motorway

The firm suspension of the Aceman doesn’t affect you so much on the motorway, though you do still feel lumps and bumps such as expansion joints more than you would in a more softly-sprung alternative.

There’s enough performance for relaxed cruising, but a Volvo EX30 is more powerful and feels more at home getting up to speed on a short sliproad or overtaking.

The Mini has plenty of driver assistance features as standard, and you can silence the more annoying ones with a quick shortcut on the steering wheel, which is nice. It’s pretty quiet at a cruise too.

On a twisty road

An undulating B-road should be where a Mini shines, and there’s no denying that the Aceman is more fun to chuck about than a Volvo EX30 or Kia EV3. You get a collection of eight ‘experiences’ you can cycle through with a switch on the dashboard and the topmost of these - named ‘Go-Kart’ - ramps up the throttle response and the artificial engine noise to make the Aceman feel just a little more entertaining.

Neither the Aceman E nor the SE feel hugely rapid, but the SE does get an extra 30hp which you tend to feel more at higher speeds.

It corners quite flat as most of its weight is low down, and the stiff suspension means it resists body lean. If you’re driving at a more relaxed pace, though, you still suffer from poor ride comfort and you might find yourself weaving over the road to avoid bumps. Plus, a Cupra Born or MG4 are arguably more fun to drive than even the Aceman, as they have rear-wheel drive.

More practical than a Cooper hatch, but not by much

The front of the Aceman is very similar to that of the Cooper hatch, it’s just a little taller - so you sit more upright. The window line is still quite high up, though, so while visibility isn’t bad it can feel a little like you’re peering out of a letterbox.

The front seats are very adjustable, comfortable and supportive for drivers of all shapes and sizes. The steering wheel is too, though its incredibly thick rim felt too chunky for our tester’s fairly large hands - if you have smaller paws you might find it’s just far too girthy to be comfortable.

Storage for smaller items isn’t bad. The door bins and glovebox are a bit small, but there’s an easy-to-access pad to wirelessly charge your phone, nice big cupholders and a neat little storage bin between the front seats which looks a bit like a designer clutch.

Space in the back seats

Having rear doors makes the Aceman instantly more appealing than the Cooper hatch when it comes to practicality. While loading a child into a car seat in the Cooper requires you to be something of a contortionist, it’s far easier to lean into the Aceman and do it. You get two ISOFIX points to help facilitate this.

That doesn’t mean there’s tons of room back there, though. A six-foot adult could just about squeeze behind a driver of a similar size but they wouldn’t want to stay there for a long journey, and if you want to fit a bulky rear-facing child seat you’ll have to ram the front seat almost as far forward as it’ll go. Headroom isn’t awful but is limited slightly if you opt for the panoramic sunroof. A Kia EV3 is much more spacious for passengers.

Boot space

With 300 litres at your disposal, the Mini Aceman’s boot is bested by the 318-litre Volvo EX30, the 355-litre Jeep Avenger Electric, the 363-litre MG4, and especially by the 460-litre Kia EV3. You don’t get a frunk, either, so you’ll need to find room in those 300 litres to store your charging cables.

There’s also a bit of a lip to load items over, and the boot opening itself is quite small. The seats do easily fold flat, though, leaving a reasonable amount of space with a perfectly flat floor.

Super-stylish and with some cool tech, though it can be fiddly to use

The Aceman’s interior is near-identical to both the Cooper hatch and the Countryman SUV. All three use a really interesting selection of materials which are a lot quirkier than just the standard boring black plastic of alternatives.

You get a swathe of fabric trim across the dashboard and door cards, which has a woven texture and feels quite hardwearing. Unlike the Cooper and Countryman, though, the very tops of the doors now feature regular plastic, so you can rest your elbow on them - previously it felt rather like you were exfoliating.

There are chunky metal details too, and some unusual touches like a watchstrap effect right in front of the driver and one of the steering wheel spokes replaced by a fabric strip.

Everything feels really nicely screwed-together and high-quality, though obviously if you head lower down on the dashboard you’ll find some cheaper plastics. This is true of all the Aceman’s alternatives.

The big circular display in the centre of the car is what you’ll interact with most of the time. Like the Aceman’s sister cars, it’s 9.4-inches in diameter, which doesn’t sound huge, but the interface is cleverly divided up to make use of the dead space around the edges while most of your interaction is done with a square in the centre. However, certain actions, such as changing the temperature, are just a little too fiddly, and not every menu feels particularly intuitive.

You get wireless smartphone connectivity as standard but this does look a little ridiculous running in a window at the centre of the screen - something of a square peg in a round hole. It can also be annoying to have to continually look over to the centre of the car to see your speed - we’d recommend going for a head-up display, which is standard for the Aceman SE and a reasonably-priced option for the E.

The Aceman’s range won’t win any records, but it does have a pretty small battery making it quite efficient and cost-effective to run. The entry-level Aceman E has an official range of 192 miles, which is likely to be closer to 160-170 miles in the real world. A heat pump comes as standard, so you’ll retain a good amount of that range in the winter. However, an entry-level Kia EV3 costs less than £1,000 extra and has an official range of 270 miles, making the Aceman look quite basic.

The Aceman SE ups the official range to 252 miles, which in our experience with a Cooper fitted with this size battery is likely to be around 210-220 miles in the real world - again, not too bad but far less than you’d achieve from a Kia EV3 or Volvo EX30.

The Aceman charges at different rates depending on which version you get but both aim for a 10-80% charge time of 30 minutes from a suitably powerful public charger. That’s slower than a Kia EV3 or Volvo EX30.

As a fully electric car, the Aceman is cost-effective for company car tax, and pays the lowest rates of VED.

None of the current crop of Minis have been crash tested by Euro NCAP just yet, but we wouldn’t worry - they’re built by BMW and share much of that brand’s safety and driver assistance tech, and BMW consistently achieves five-star safety ratings.

All Aceman models come with the basics of safety equipment including autonomous emergency braking, speed limit assistance and lane-keeping aids. You also get adaptive cruise control as standard, which is a nice addition. Adding the well-priced Level 1 options pack (standard for the Aceman SE) gives you adaptive LED headlights and a head-up display among various other options, so it’s well worth the cost.

The Aceman is far too new to have any reliability data. The brand as a whole came a fairly disappointing 20th out of 32 in the most recent Driver Power owner satisfaction survey, but the previous-generation Mini hatchback came fifth in the top 50 models, so it’s not all bad.  You get a three-year warranty, which is bested by the seven years of cover you get from Kia or MG - but the Mini’s is unlimited mileage, which could be useful.