Over the years, the MINI Countryman crossover has got progressively bigger and bigger, to the extent that there’s now a gap in the manufacturer’s portfolio for a smaller crossover to fit into. And here it is: it’s called the Aceman, it’s all-electric and it deploys a brand-new nameplate.
Developed in a joint project with Great Wall Motors, the Aceman is targeting rivals as varied as the Peugeot E-2008, Renault Megane and Opel Mokka Electric, as well as upmarket competitors such as the Volvo EX30. It does, however, probably mean the end of the MINI Clubman name, because there’s no need to have two crossovers and an estate occupying broadly the same compact sector of the market.
So, with all that in mind, and having sampled the Aceman in SE Exclusive format on the roads of Copenhagen and the surrounding Danish countryside, how does this new electric vehicle (EV) stack up?
How much is the MINI Aceman in Ireland?
With the electric MINI Cooper hatchback starting from around €37,000 and the zero-emission Countryman from €49,000, the Aceman happily sits closer to the former with an opening ticket of €40,026. There are currently two powertrain choices, the 135kW (184hp) E and then the more potent 160kW (218hp) SE, with both offered in Classic, Exclusive and Sport specifications. That makes the Aceman pretty competitive up against some of its main rivals, although bear in mind that if you combine the SE motor with Sport spec, you’re looking at a €51,356 Aceman.
What’s the styling like on the MINI Aceman?
The Aceman infers its look from both the MINI Cooper and the Countryman, having some of the rounder appearance of the hatchback with flashes of the angular, rugged styling of the bigger crossover mixed in. This is most apparent in the more advanced daytime running lights on the Aceman, which are vaguely pentagonal, and then the hexagonal ‘grille’ arrangement.
Along the sides of the car, you’ll find chunky black-plastic body cladding and a big ‘MINI’ logo in an oval on the lower front door, while there are roof rails on top. Throw in LED rear light clusters with the vague hint of the British flag to them and the resulting vehicle is very obviously a MINI - even if you were to pry all the company’s badges and emblems off it, you’d know precisely what it was.
A look inside the MINI Aceman
Again, the interior of the Aceman fits in with both the Cooper and Countryman cars to give MINI a unifying theme across all its cars’ passenger compartments. This, in the Aceman, is centred on the round infotainment touchscreen, which we’ll go into in more detail in the next section of the review, but elsewhere there’s the natty fabric-covered dashboard with ambient lighting projected onto it at night, a thickly padded steering wheel, lots of gold-coloured detailing and some interesting design flourishes - like those ‘floating’ grab handles for the doors, which aren’t attached at the top. However, some of the materials used in places feel carefully built down to a cost, reflecting the fact the Aceman is supposed to be one of MINI’s more affordable models.
In terms of practicality, it’s a fairly decent report card, albeit rear legroom is cramped - you couldn’t comfortably sit one average-height adult behind another for longer journeys, for example - and it feels like there is no way to get three people across the rear bench in the Aceman, even if MINI claims it is a full five-seater. Despite the fact the crossover is only going to be sold with electric power, there’s a ‘transmission tunnel’ hump in the centre-rear footwell that further limits passenger room.
However, a couple of cupholders up front, scalloped-out door pockets able to accommodate a bottle, a wireless smartphone charging pad, a little covered centre cubby hole and then a 300-litre boot mean the Aceman is better packaged than some MINIs of recent years, so it would happily suit a family of four if the two children travelling in it regularly were of a younger age.
The MINI Aceman’s on-board technology
The big, circular 9.4-inch infotainment control screen dominates the Aceman’s interior. This has some lovely graphics on it, and it responds keenly to inputs, plus it has the appealing MINI voice assistant called Spike, which can either be represented by a dog or a small MINI car. But, as ever with these modern vehicles, that means almost every function on the Aceman is run through this.
There are five main controls on the Toggle Bar, but these are for the engine start, parking brake, gearbox and drive mode selectors in the main, although there is at least a physical volume dial. There are also a few key shortcuts below that, for the rear heated screen and front-screen demist, but in essence everything else is controlled by the central circle - which requires a considerable degree of familiarisation to operate smoothly, and which isn’t always the most intuitive to use on the move.
That said, a crisp little head-up display does help to keep the driver’s eyes on the road more often than not, so the Aceman’s human-machine interface is largely a success.
How many child seats can I fit in the MINI Aceman?
MINI provides three ISOFIX points in the Aceman, one on the front passenger seat and then two in the rear row. The rear doors also open to a nice, wide angle - albeit not quite 90 degrees - to make loading in child seats easier, while the rear bench split-folds at a 60:40 ratio, which means you could still carry one child in the back of the crossover and have an extended boot area if required.
How safe is the MINI Aceman?
The MINI Aceman hasn’t been tested by Euro NCAP as at the time of writing, but the car does come with the Driving Assistant active safety pack as standard, which includes dynamic cruise control, forward collision warning with brake intervention, lane departure warning, speed limit info and assist, lane keep assist with blind spot detection, and a Parking Assistant with active Park Distance Control plus a reversing camera. So, it is very likely the car will pick up a high safety rating once it is officially tested.
Driving the MINI Aceman
With a suitably punchy 218hp/330Nm electric motor and a comparatively trim kerb weight (for an EV of this class) of less than 1.8 tonnes, the Aceman SE is rapid. It’ll run 0-100km/h in 7.1 seconds but that one on-paper metric doesn’t tell you how spry the MINI is for roll-on acceleration - it’s a proper little livewire. Even in Green mode, the throttle response and increase in forward momentum is more than acceptable, and - going the other way with speed control - the regenerative braking is well-judged too, so one-pedal driving is a doddle in the Aceman. In several of the eight available drive modes, it will overlay its performance with strange electronic noises, which might annoy some people but which we think are far better than an EV trying to mimic an internal combustion engine, so we don’t find them too vexing.
Generally, the Aceman also blends ride, refinement and handling sweetly, with some caveats. Our test car was on a set of whopping 19-inch alloys and, frankly, its low-speed ride on lumpen town streets wasn’t great. Too often, it’ll pick up minor transverse ridges and smaller compressions and amplify them into quite noticeable moments for the MINI’s occupants, while there’s a strange lateral ‘bobbing’ sensation to the crossover at times; in this regard, it’s a lot like the original, classic Mini, but that car’s frenetic, bouncy ride quality is not something the modern company ought to be replicating.
As ever is the case these days with EVs having a supposedly sporty bent, once you get out of town to speeds of 80km/h and more, the ride quality generally settles down and the body control is excellent, and while we’re not about to say the Aceman has marvellous steering, its set-up is good enough that you can hustle the car through a few challenging bends at a reasonable pace without it feeling horrendously hefty and out of its depth. However, it’s rarely ever fun. The JCW variant of the Aceman is going to need quite a bit more chassis sparkle than this to merit the use of those hallowed three letters on its rump.
Yet the refinement of the Aceman is first-class. There’s hardly any wind noise or tyre chatter, even at higher speeds, so the new MINI crossover makes the most of its electric drivetrain to provide a peaceful and civilised driving experience. Essentially, as long as you don’t expect any of that MINI ‘go-kart’ fun handling from it, the Aceman performs admirably on the move.
What’s the electric range of the MINI Aceman?
The basic Aceman E has a smaller 38.5kWh battery pack than this SE model, which means its outright range is limited to between 300- and 309km according to its spec and size of alloy wheel. That’s not great in the latest scheme of EV things, but thankfully the SE’s net battery is almost 50kWh.
A theoretical maximum range of 405km still isn’t resetting any benchmarks, but it does put it about on a par with any of the similar-sized Stellantis electric SUVs with their 51kWh (net) power packs, as well as eclipsing the shorter-range Volvo EX30. Basically, as the Aceman is designed for ‘modern urbanites’ (whatever they happen to be), if you’re one of them then you’ll be fine.
In our hands, it did beat its official energy consumption rating, turning in a superb 12.9kWh/100km across 175km of driving on a variety of road types, although that admittedly was in mild weather. For recharging purposes, at its fastest (95kW DC) the MINI will take 31 minutes to go from 10-80 per cent battery power, while on a typical 7.4kW AC domestic wallbox a full 0-100 per cent top-up would require nine hours.
The reasons you’d buy a MINI Aceman
Judging by the way the Aceman drew admiring stares from bystanders during our tour in it, we’re guessing this one will be another massive sales hit for MINI. It’s by no means perfect - the ride can often be choppy, the handling is only so-so, the rear-seat space is minimal and some of the interior materials feel cheaper than they should on a premium EV - but in general it’s a nicely polished, fine-driving, small zero-emissions crossover. Add in that fabled MINI desirability and you can see just how popular the Aceman is undoubtedly going to be.
Ask us anything about the MINI Aceman
If there’s anything about the MINI Aceman we’ve not covered, or you’d like advice in choosing between it and other cars, you can avail of our (completely free) expert advice service via the Ask Us Anything page.
