If you’re looking to break into the luxury segment without spending a fortune, this stylish and surprisingly refined compact car is your best bet. As the most affordable new luxury car you can buy in 2025, it proves that premium doesn’t have to mean pricey.
It blends distinctive European design, premium materials, and agile handling into a city-friendly package that’s both fun to drive and easy to live with. Despite its small footprint, the interior feels upscale with available leather upholstery, intuitive tech, and refined finishes that rival more expensive competitors.
This isn’t just an entry-level model with a luxury badge, it’s a true premium vehicle that delivers charm, character, and value in equal measure. For 2025, luxury starts here.
to give you the most up-to-date and accurate information possible, the data used to compile this article was sourced from various manufacturer websites and other authoritative sources, including TopSpeed and the EPA.
The 2026 Mini Cooper Offers a Premium Experience at an Affordable Price
The Cooper hatchback is easily among the most iconic and instantly recognizable cars ever produced. For the 2025 model year, the hatch received an update that improved everything, from the styling to standard technology. While it isn’t everyone’s idea of a traditional luxury car, it comes loaded with plenty of premium elements that help itcompete with cars priced much higher.
$30,675
$31,675
$33,975
$34,975
$35,775
Cooper S Convertible
$39,075
There is still a lot of customization on offer when building your new Mini Cooper, with the brand offering a two-door hardtop, a four-door hardtop, and a two-door convertible. These three body styles are offered either as the standard Cooper or the more powerful and engaging Cooper S. From that point on, you can choose from three trim levels, the Signature, Signature Plus, or Iconic.
This leaves you with a lot of choices to make, though. Once you’ve decided how many doors you want and whether or not you’d like to be able to drop the top, we’d recommend going for the Cooper S in the Signature Plus trim. Assuming you go with the two-door model, this would bring the price up to $35,200. It adds additional levels of customization as well as a driving assistant, sport seats, and wireless device charging.
Warranties and Maintenance
Mini is pretty competitive when it comes to its warranty packages. Whilst not mind-blowing, the bumper-to-bumper coverage is slightly better than average while the powertrain warranty is pretty standard. What is nice is the fact that Mini offers three years of complimentary maintenance. Other competitors like BMW and Volvo do match this offering, though.
Mini’s Hatchback Feels More Comfortable and Upscale Than You’d Expect
Mini has always prided itself on being different and a little bit quirky. The new Cooper leans into this ideology, with a cabin that is different from just about anything else on the market. While its price tag is resonably low, the Cooper is much more upscale than you’d expect, though it is tight on passenger space.
Cargo Capacity
13.1 Cubic Feet
At the end of the day, the Mini Cooper is a small hatchback, which is something you should definitely remember before taking one home. Regardless of which body type you opt for, rear seat legroom is going to be pretty compromised. That being said, it does feel more spacious than its specifications suggest. Just note that the above table is for the four-door Cooper.
If you’re someone who sticks to urban areas and doesn’t often lift more than a single passenger, then the Cooper still has a ton to offer. Its interior is retro, with plenty of callbacks to the 1959 Mini. Tons of nice materials cover every surface, though, with a dashboard covered in soft fabrics. Behind the fabric are LED lighting elements that adjust based on a number of different factors.
Infotainment and Technology
A key part of the Mini Cooper’s unique identity is linked to its infotainment screen. Rather than having two separate screens, one for the infotainment system and one for gauges, the Cooper has a single circular display which sits in the center of the dashboard. It features a number of different themes and can be adjusted based on your individual preferences. A heads-up display is standard, though, meaning all the info you need is still right in front of you.
Mini offers a plethora of other features in the Cooper hatchback. As mentioned before, wireless smartphone charging is available in addition to the USB ports in the cabin. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are standard features. If you opt for the top trim, you can also get a Harman Kardon sound system. When parked, the central screen can also be used to play single or multiplayer video games.
This Hatchback Remains a Fun and Engaging Car To Drive in 2025
The original Mini made a name for itself by being playful and fun, something that the current generation of the hatchback aims to continue. As well as having quirky exterior styling and a unique cabin, the Mini is animpressively enjoyable car to drive, particularly if you opt for the more powerful Cooper S.
161 HP
201 HP
184 LB-FT
221 LB-FT
0-60 MPH
130 MPH
150 MPH
Despiteits pretty humble-looking figures, the Mini Cooper is an exceptionally perky car to drive. Both the Cooper and the Cooper S feature a turbocharged inline-four under the hood, but the S makes quite a bit more power. The S also makes 12 more horses than it did back in 2024 before its update. The manual transmission is now off the table, but a slick dual-clutch automatic is standard across the board.
The Mini Cooper is a torque-happy engine, willing to be pushed hard regardless of which model you opt for. While it has become quieter and a lot more refined than it used to be, the Cooper remains an athletic hatchback that is an absolute joy to drive through twisty sections of road.
If neither the Cooper or the Cooper S feel sporty enough for you, two-door models can get the JCW treatment. This pushes horsepower up to 228 and torque up to 280 pound-feet. It also gets a lot of other performance upgrades that help it feel more focused, such as Brembo brakes, an electronically locking differential, and a unique suspension tune.
28 MPG
39 MPG
32 MPG
27 MPG
37 MPG
30 MPG
26 MPG
36 MPG
For a gas-only car that is as peppy as the Cooper is, Mini’s hatchback is impressively efficient. Whether you opt for the two-door model or the four-door model, it achieves the same 32 miles per gallon combined. There is also no penalty for opting for the more powerful S model, which achieves the same fuel economy in hardtop form.
The convertible model, however, is where you see the Mini start to lose some efficiency. The change isn’t drastic, though, with the biggest losses incurred during highway driving. The Cooper S with the drop top does lose another mile per gallon over its non-S counterpart.
Safety and Driver Assist Features
Mini loads their small hatchback with a ton of standard safety tech, including collision detection and avoidance systems, blind spot monitoring, and systems that keep you from drifting out of your lane. As well as features like adaptive cruise control, you can also get Parking Assistant Plus, which parks your car for you using a number of different cameras and sensors.
