2023 MINI Cooper S 3-Door Review

Whenever we review cars, we often find ourselves wanting a little more personality from time to time. Some cars look quite generic, while others may look overdone and out of character. For MINI, the Cooper S 3-Door exudes all sorts of character, and it was difficult for us to want more personality. 

However, we had a few things that we wanted to point out, both good and bad because this is definitely on the premium level of cars, so you should sort of expect a bit more for your money. Let’s weigh in a little bit more on the things that we found nice and not so nice on the Cooper S 3-Door. 

So if you’ve watched the video, the first thing that you might have remembered is the price, and that is P3,150,000, which is quite a lot for a mainstream subcompact hatchback, which the Cooper S is. Rather than weighing it practically like we normally do for most cars of this size and class, we took a more emotional approach with this one. 

For the price, it’s not going to be a purchase of the mind, but of the heart. There are plenty of MINI owners, both current and future, who can get quite fanatical about the details and the design that the British brand brings to the table. The concept of “Is it worth it?” comes to mind, but rather than asking that, the question turned to “Who’ll consider this hatch to be worth it?” 

You don’t have to stare to determine what kind of people think that the MINI Cooper S is worth it. The three-door in particular has a certain appeal that you cannot really pin down with tangible elements like practicality and passenger comfort. Going with the three-door will net a bit of compromise, but all of that is made up for with heaps of personality. 

Just like all MINIs, this edition of the Cooper S 3-Door has bug eyes for headlights, but it now gets the updated front face which is something that we just loved seeing. When we got the car, we didn’t really mind that we would have to limit the number of people we could take with us at any given time. We were feeling a bit more selfish, and the MINI has just enough seats for two more people at the back, but it’s really the best when only two are riding in tandem, plus the three-door just has a more youthful appeal. We will admit that the design also appeals to the youth, it most definitely will be seen more with the young at heart. MINI’s style has always been unique to it, and really, the question of worth it kind of becomes moot. Get it if you want it. 

While the outside is straight-up MINI, the insides of it are BMW. As we said in the video, it’s hard to deny the German brand’s influence and technologies because underneath the quirky hood (complete with cut-outs for the headlights), is a 2.0-liter turbocharged engine that produces 198 hp with 280 Nm of torque mated to a seven-sepeed DCT. The engine configuration is not alien to us either (again BMW), but we’re fans of how it pulled and generally performed. 

Torque is strong at the low RPM ranges, which is still in keeping with MINI’s go-kart-like feeling. The car feels direct with its transmission as well which is great. The direct feeling of the steering and the direct feeling of the engine make for a great driver either in traffic or on a twisty road. 

Going over bumps, you will see just how sporty it is. It’s more on the stiff side of things which is good when you’re attacking bends with a bit of spirit, but when things wind down, the car still wants to feel a bit zippier. 

However, the chassis behavior is still very good. It’s stiff but it’s not unruly or unreasonable, things are more or less sorted with this car and the chassis feels very tight which is great. If you are expecting a more plush ride, then this might not be the car for you. It’s sporty and quirky, and the rest of the car’s details follow suit. 

To say that the MINI has a very quirky interior is needless to say. Conventional car design was thrown out the door and far far away from the exterior and especially the interior. Again, it’s needless to say because MINI is known for just that. 

There are a few critiques here like a few very minor squeaks that we would let go of if it were any other car. We didn’t really nitpick about it since the interior was very distracting. It took a bit of effort on our end to really judge the car and pick out some bad stuff, so it’s still something notable in our books. 

Other than that, you can’t really expect the car to be super practical. It’s more of a showpiece than a car that you drive because you need to. It’s a lot less soul-sucking compared to other cars, but the numbers are quite small for this three-door. If you are wondering, however, it is 231 liters with the rear seats up and 731 liters with the rear seats down. The cargo space is good in a pinch and if you don’t have other passengers with you, but if you’re hauling people and stuff, you probably should have brought another car. The other problem is, that you might always have extra storage space in a pinch because the space at the back is more reserved for small kids, or Caco. 

One thing that may leave tech-savvy car buyers in a bit of want is the feature set of the Cooper S 3-Door. It’s enough in the modern context, but it’s not knock-your-socks-off great. The camera is clear, the sensors are accurate, and it’s all done well. With great execution, however, we feel that it could have been better. We were left wanting a reverse camera, a more advanced cruise control system, and perhaps a few more goodies, but if you consider that the point of the car is to enjoy being behind the wheel instead of letting the computer take over, then it makes sense more or less. 

Good enough still is the smartphone pairing features like Wireless Apple CarPlay, sadly no Android compatibility for this car which is something that we expected from this premium offering. The infotainment screen is also surrounded by ambient lights and a ring that goes with your engine’s RPMs, which makes for an interesting stage. Nicer still are the drive modes. We were able to play with it and ascertain that our favorite mode was sport. The lights turn red and the exhaust opens up to let in a little more noise which was definitely nice. 

Apart from that, however, we will say that the screens inside the car are on the ‘mini’ side of things with a screen that is 8.8 inches across. Again, there is a lot of fluff around it that makes it look smaller than it actually is, but the really small screen however is the gauge cluster and it has no gauge hood covering it either. You’d think there would be glare, but the matte coating on top did a good job even on the sunniest of days. 

Really, the MINI Cooper S is a choice of the heart rather than the mind, especially the three-door variant in the model range. At P3,150,000, you have to want it and you have to want it truly. 

Otherwise, there are more practical options in the premium segment, but none are quite as interesting or titillating to drive as the MINI Cooper S 3-Door. Plus, you pull up in this and people will know that you’re about to have a bit of fun. 

Update: At the time of the review, the car was going for P3,150,000. A few months later and the price jumped up to P3,280,000.