2025 Mini Aceman Review: Goldilocks-sized Mini for families is not very mini, but still five-door fun
It’s helpful to think of Mini as being a bit like Taylor Swift, only less awesome. The world-conquering songstress of today is so widely different from the crimped-haired crooner of country crapulence of 20 years ago that they could almost be two different entities.
So, too, Mini is no longer what it was – literally mini. Today, 70 per cent of all Minis sold in this country can be amusingly described as SUVs. Stranger still, almost 40 per cent of its sales are now battery electric vehicles, which is why the Mini Aceman – a Goldliocks-sized almost SUV Not Very Mini for people who look at the Countryman and find it gauche awful – is an important new vehicle.
Throw in the fact that it’s now made in China, as opposed to the UK, or even Germany, and the essential Mini-ness is hard to find.
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Strangely, then, Mini chose to launch it to the public without letting the media drive and review it until March. This hasn’t stopped people buying them, apparently, but it sure made us all feel a bit left out.
Even more weirdly, Mini Australia has already decided that its entry-level Mini Aceman offering, priced at an attractive $51,990 plus on-road costs, was a mistake, and it’s now in run-out mode, with only limited numbers available in dealers.
One can only assume this was based on customer feedback, but it’s worth noting that it came with only a weedy 38.5kWh battery, 310km of range and 135kW. There were some hills on our drive route, and it’s not going to exist soon anyway, so we didn’t drive that one.
The one Aceman you can definitely buy is the more powerful SE, with 160kW and 330Nm from a 49.2kWh battery with 406km of range, and a price of $60,990 plus on-road costs.
2025 Mini Aceman price and equipment
The Aceman is a five-door very small SUV EV and it’s supposed to fill the gap between the two-door Mini Cooper, with a petrol engine or e-motor, and the much larger Mini Countryman. You can have a Mini Cooper with five doors, weirdly, but only with a petrol engine. If you want an EV, it has to be the Aceman.
For your $60,990 you get a very modern cabin with a very cool circular screen that can do many modern things, a selfie camera (shoot me, now), adaptive cruise, augmented reality navigation, heated front seats, a panoramic sunroof, a very funky sports steering wheel, a 100-watt stereo, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, 19-inch alloy wheels, tinted glass and a Harman Kardon stereo.
The Mini Cooper C Favoured five-door, by comparison, starts at $49,990 (plus ORCs), but you have to put dirty old petrol in that, and the Aceman is tiny bits bigger, but also, vitally, 36cm shorter than the Countryman with a roof that sits 12cm lower.
Eco fans will be glad to hear that the Mini Aceman features no chrome, or leather, and that even the alloy wheels are largely made of recycled materials and proceed using renewable energy. Much of the interior is 90 per cent recycled polyester, which is nice in theory, but it does feel a bit nasty.
2025 Mini Aceman: What we think
Theoretically, the Aceman and the Countryman exist – and will hoover up most of Mini’s total sales in Australia – because so many people love the brand but can’t fit their lifestyles in the tiny Cooper.
So this suggests that people with actual families and dogs and so forth could live with the Aceman, to which I say, have a look at the boot (300 litres) and the back seats. Both are far better than a Cooper, and an adult could sit in the back of the Aceman without crying. But not for long.
No, people just want bigger cars these days, and a family vehicle the Aceman is not (and even the Countryman is marginal).
It’s big for a Mini, but the Aceman turns out to be not that big.
Nevertheless it does have a bit of a Goldilocks feel, because it’s not as offensive to look at or to drive as the Countryman. It still has a bit of that Mini magic to it, although personally I’d be opting for the Mini Cooper SE (also a BEV) every time.
In terms of driving, a Mini must always deliver that famed “go kart handling”, and the Aceman does, far more so than the Countryman, but significantly less so than a Mini Cooper.
The issue is that go karts should not weight 1.6 tonnes, which somewhat blunts the zip and zing – 7.1 seconds to 100km/h isn’t that exciting, although the JCW model ($65,990 plus ORCs) improves on that. On the plus side, typical EV-style torque surge means it’s still fast off the line, and punchy everywhere else. Just don’t expect much top-end speed.
On the plus side, it really does deliver in terms of fun-feeling steering and the ability to really hang on through sharp bends in that typical, front-driven fashion Mini is famed for. Surprisingly, even tromping the pedal in tight corners doesn’t produce as much torque steer, or wheelspin, as I would have expected in a vehicle like this.
2025 Mini Aceman: Verdict
There’s a lot of fun to be had in the Mini Aceman, and for people who find a more traditional Mini just too small, this might be just the right-sized EV SUV not-so-Mini they’re looking for. Having really not enjoyed the Mini Countryman I enjoyed this car 200 per cent more than I thought I would, yet still only half as much as a two-doored Cooper version. I like my Minis mini.
Score: 3.5/5.0
2025 Mini Aceman price and specifications
Price: $60,990 (plus on-road costs)
Basics: EV, 5 seats, 5 doors, (very) small SUV, FWD
Range: 406km (WLTP)
Battery capacity: 49.2kWh
Battery warranty: Eight years
Energy consumption: 14.1kWh/100km
Motors: One asynchronous motor on the front axle, 160kW/330Nm
AC charging: 11kW Type 2 plug
DC charging: 95kW CCS combo plug
0-100km/h: 7.1 seconds
