2025 MINI Cooper S Review: Small Car Is Big Fun (With A Big Price)

What car embodies the idea of smallness? What car personifies classic British motoring? What car covers smallness and classic British motoring? There is no other car than the MINI Cooper S. Like the Ford Mustang, Porsche 911, VW Beetle, and Fiat 500, there are few cars more instantly recognizable than the Mini Cooper. It's had silly roles like the ride of choice for Mr. Bean, and serious roles as one of the star cars in "The Italian Job." You could write whole books on the presence of the classic Mini.

The Mini I was tasked with evaluating was not, however, the Austin Mini from yesteryear, but a brand new 2025 MINI Cooper S. I was already a little familiar with the 2025 Cooper S as I had a little bit of time behind the wheel (including the equally fun convertible version) late last year at BMW's test facility. It's safe to say I was pretty excited to get a lot more time. In short, the 2025 MINI Cooper S was an absolute blast to drive, thanks, in no small part to its miniature nature.

Before I get into the various hijinks the MINI and I got into over the course of the week, let's take stock of what makes the Cooper S tick. Under the hood is a BMW-sourced twin-turbo four-banger that generates 201 horsepower and 221 pound feet of torque. It also enjoys a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox (sorry, manual transmission purists). 201 adorable ponies is a sizable bump over the base Cooper's 161 horsepower.

Alex Hevesy/SlashGear

Given the fact it's a microscopic two-door, the interior isn't much to write home about. You get two bucket seats in the front and a rear bench that might fit a set of golf clubs or some people you shot with a shrink ray. It's really small. The biggest change to the interior follows the changes seen in the 2025 Countryman I also drove last year. 

Namely, you get a heads-up display as your gauge cluster and a circular OLED screen as your infotainment screen. You also get different "Experience" drive modes. Other than that, the Cooper S has a barebones cabin. However, that's not entirely the MINI's fault as there is only so much surface area for which to adorn with bells and/or whistles. I will also note that, as a taller person, the MINI Cooper wasn't uncomfortable in the slightest. I fit just fine.

Driving the Cooper S was some of the most fun I've had behind the wheel of a car in quite some time. It was impossible not to smile the entire time while jauntily hopping down winding roads and up and down the highway. There's a rhetorical question that car enthusiasts love to ask each other: "Do you like driving a slow car fast, or drive a fast car slow?" 

If the MINI Cooper S is any indication of my answer, I like driving a slow car fast. The MINI isn't exactly a slouch, the 0-60 time is still a respectable 6.3 seconds, but that's a glacial pace compared to most performance cars.

The Cooper S was fun no matter how fast you drove it. I cackled with joy just whipping around a roundabout at 20 miles per hour. Whooshing down a back road at 45 miles per hour felt like you were going light speed. It's just goofy fun. 201 horsepower isn't much for bigger cars, but it's just enough for the MINI. I took every opportunity I could to mash the accelerator or slide through a gravel parking lot. It was nothing short of a joy.

Small cars like the Cooper S might have the reputation for being impractical, but I can attest that is not the case. Starting off at the Circle D Farm, an event venue in Maryland, and ending in historic Ellicott City, Maryland, a friend and I spent the whole day running errands and shopping around with the trusty MINI and it never felt lacking. It was even able to fit a huge, framed "Grateful Dead" poster in the back seat. Top that off with a rating of 32 combined miles per gallon and you have a pretty great city car.

Because we live in a world beholden to the laws of entropy, the 2025 MINI Cooper S was not the most perfect car in all of creation. I did have some small quibbles. The infotainment system was a particular weakness: Like the Countryman, it's not very intuitive to use, and relying on something simpler like Apple CarPlay or Android Auto for music might be a better option. Similarly, tapping through a touchscreen to adjust the climate control quickly became annoying.

Now, with a car as small as the Cooper S, you'd expect the price to match that? You're sort of right. The base model 2025 MINI Cooper (non-S) starts at $28,950. That's not as cheap as say, a Nissan Sentra, but it's about what you can expect for a goofy and sporty little car made in Oxford, England in 2025. Add the consonant S and you end up with $34,600. The MINI Cooper S I drove was fitted with the $1,700 "Iconic Trim" which added a Harmon-Kardon sound system, extra driving assists, and an interior camera. The "Comfort Package Plus" which adds keyless entry, parking assists, and wireless charging, is included. The only additional fee was a $995 destination charge, and you end up at $37,295.

There are better ways to spend nearly 40 grand when shopping for a car. You could buy any number of used muscle cars for half that price. The MINI Is pricey for what it is, and there's no escaping that fact. However, the Cooper S was so fun to drive that it might be worth the cost of entry to the right person (who has enough disposable income).

Given the fact that I summed up my issues with the car in a single paragraph, and the rest of my time heaping praises upon it, it's clear that I like the MINI. The MINI Cooper S was one of the most fun cars I have driven in a while. "Fun" might be an overused word (I've already used it six times in this review). But, I think it's the best word to describe this charming little two-door.