Long-term test: MINI Aceman SE Exclusive

People moan that new cars have too much equipment nowadays, but the vast majority of this mandated kit is there to keep us safe. That said, I did roll my eyes when I noticed our MINI Aceman is equipped with an interior camera. At face value it appears superfluous given how poor the picture quality is. But on the bright side, end-to-end encryption means MINI won’t be able to snap me nipping out for a late-night snack in my pyjamas. 

Does tech enhance the ownership experience?

As household budgets tighten and having several vehicles becomes less financially viable, cars nowadays must be all things to all drivers – and that’s exactly the intention of MINI’s ‘Experience Modes’ that I’ve been exploring on our Aceman.

I spend the vast majority of my time in the Aceman driving in the Core and Efficiency settings. The former provides the most balanced blend of power delivery and battery drainage, while the teal ambient lighting and interface colour associated with Core mode, in my opinion, very much complements the specification of our MINI.

Flick the wonderfully tactile toggle switch on the centre console and this will put you into Efficiency mode, accompanied by a sound very much akin to what you’d hear logging onto a Windows computer. Each Experience Mode has its own unique main page, with Efficiency’s offering a gauge of how economically you’re driving. Yet rather than using miles per kilowatt-hour, MINI’s chosen unit of measurement is the animal kingdom; gentle throttle usage is represented by a fluttering hummingbird, whereas a heavy right foot will cause a cheetah to sprint across the screen. 

This Efficiency setting also limits power to preserve range, with the optional ‘Max Range’ mode capping the maximum speed to 60mph and turning off the air-con – something that I’ve seen can add a couple of dozen miles. 

Standard Efficiency mode is less extreme, with an air-con system that’s dialled back but still functioning, plus a reduced amount of ambient lighting, particularly surrounding the panoramic sunroof; when switched on, this looks utterly fantastic and makes the glass roof a worthwhile addition, even at night.

At the other end of the spectrum, you have Go-Kart, MINI’s take on the traditional ‘Sport’ mode. As expected, Go-Kart improves the throttle response while adding weight to the steering. The G-force meter on the central display was also a welcome touch on some recent spirited drives in North Yorkshire. 

Yet while most car makers stop there, the Aceman still has more options for those wanting additional customisability. Vivid mode is great for a night-time singalong, because it matches the ambient lighting to the album art of your current track, while on the Personal mode I’ve added a photograph of my cat. 

The two modes I’ve used least are Balance and Trail. The former is supposed to help you relax by playing calming music and drawing the sunroof blinds, while Trail displays compass, elevation and pitch-angle data.

Finally, there’s Timeless mode, which was the one I was most excited about before driving the Aceman. This pays homage to Mini models of old with a classic look for the central speedometer, as well as driving sounds that are said to be evocative of old-school petrol engines. Yet while this might sound like the ideal solution to get Mini purists on-side, the application falls short of expectations.

That engine sound, for starters, is barely reminiscent of the BMC original, while it could do with being a step louder to help sell the illusion. I do like the speedometer graphics in the centre screen, but I do also wish they were accompanied by a more drastic change in the look of the head-up display; this felt like a wasted opportunity given the retro-inspired dials found in Ford Mustangs and the new VW ID. Polo.

a tricky spider crack appeared on the MINI’s windscreen, but a Halfords mobile repair proved quick and surprisingly effective 

When developing the latest generation of MINI, the designers ensured it had the brand’s iconic upright windscreen. While it attracts lots of admiring looks, the Aceman’s is also a magnet for wind noise, insects and, in my case, a stone chip. 

Thankfully, one of Halfords’ Mobile Experts came to the rescue. Despite the so-called ‘spider crack’ being hard to put right, it was reduced to little more than a minuscule smudge in under half an hour – for £45 and without leaving my driveway.

MINI’s supposed mass-market trump card is already proving a pain in the neck – quite literally

As one of the slightly more ‘fresh-faced’ members of the Auto Express team, I must admit that I thought it would be at least a couple more decades before I had to worry about neck and back problems. Alas, despite being in my mid-twenties, this is exactly what I’ve developed over the past year, which has already helped me forge a love-hate relationship with the newest addition to our fleet, the MINI Aceman SE.

For anyone unaware, the Aceman is, in effect, a five-door version of the all-electric MINI Cooper. Note I said ‘all-electric’, because you can’t actually buy a petrol-powered Aceman; five-door versions of the combustion-engined Cooper maintain that car’s name, as well as its hatchback design.

The Aceman, on the other hand, adopts a more à la mode SUV appearance, putting it in direct competition with one of the best-selling EVs on the market, the Ford Puma Gen-E. Both Ford and MINI are known for building small cars that are great to drive, and on first impressions the Aceman SE’s characteristically darty steering and almost startling 215bhp muscle suggest that it could prove plenty of fun on a winding rural road – I look forward to taking it for an outing.

Yet, while the Puma Gen-E manages to deliver genuine driving enjoyment alongside a comfortable ride, I only needed to drive down my own street to discover that this certainly isn’t the case with the Aceman. 

My first car was a 2014 MINI One, and I’d happily concede its rather firm suspension made it feel less like a supermini and more akin to a mobile bouncy castle. The Aceman’s set-up, on the other hand, appears to have been modelled on a very different type of fortress to the one that might appear at a child’s birthday party. 

Its rock-solid, uncompromising nature feels rather at odds with the mass-market segment the model occupies. Even more conflicting is the specification of our Aceman, which seems to give with one hand and take with the other when it comes to comfort and relaxation. It’s an all-bells-and-whistles Exclusive model with the Level 3 options pack, which means there’s very little equipment the MINI doesn’t have. 

Of particular note are the ‘Dark Petrol’ blue vegan leather seats, which are incredibly distinctive and feel every bit worthy of this particular Aceman’s eye-watering £40,000 price tag. These are complemented by matching blue fabric on the doors, which I wish had slightly more padding for my elbow; the office chair-style armrest on the left-hand side is a lot cushier, though.

One of the benefits of the Level 3 pack is the driver’s seat massage function, which comes in particularly handy on longer journeys. It’s easily accessed via a button on the side of the chair, unlike the seat-heating function that requires two taps of the Aceman’s admittedly responsive and vivid 9.4-inch circular touchscreen to activate.

Speaking of lengthier drives, these have so far not been a problem thanks to the Aceman SE’s 49.2kWh usable battery, which is returning around 180 miles on a single charge. I just wish the MINI benefited from a higher charging maximum speed than 100kW, which feels a bit leisurely these days.

On the motorway, our Aceman’s upgraded 19-inch alloy wheels – as standard, the Exclusive gets 18-inch rims – tend to jiggle somewhat over bumps, plus the lower-profile tyres they’re wrapped in generate rather noticeable tyre roar. Such an arrangement is accompanied by the whistle of wind hitting the Aceman’s characteristically upright windscreen. That said, I tend to drown this out with the Harman Kardon stereo (part of the Level 3 pack) which is, to my ears, the best sound system in this class of car. 

Where the Aceman can’t quite trump its small SUV rivals is in terms of practicality, because the 300-litre boot falls well short of the aforementioned Puma’s 556-litre offering with the rear seats in place. Yet despite the glass sunroof eating into headroom slightly, every adult passenger I’ve carried around so far has had no problem getting comfortable. Until I drive over a speed bump, that is.

*Insurance quote from AA (0800 107 0680) for a 42-year-old in Banbury, Oxon, with three points.

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Tom is Auto Express' Consumer reporter, meaning he spends his time investigating the stories that matter to all motorists - enthusiasts or otherwise. An ex-BBC journalist and Multimedia Journalism graduate, Tom previously wrote for partner sites Carbuyer and DrivingElectric and you may also spot him presenting videos for the Auto Express social media chaels.

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