Almost everyone remembers the original Mini, whether you knew it as an Austin, a Morris, a Leyland or even as Mr Bean’s yellow machine. This Mini was the original miniature Mini.
So, when BMW took over the marque in 2000, the brand entered a new era to become MINI. In 2001, MINI launched the new MINI Cooper, which was a small car, but compared to an original Austin or Leyland Mini, it had become not-so-mini.
In 2010, MINI launched the new Countryman, as the larger version of the not-so-mini MINI.
Today, MINI has launched the Aceman, another larger not-so-mini MINI, but mini-er compared to the other larger not-so-mini MINI Countryman, but less mini than the not-so-mini-MINI Cooper.
Come again?
The mini version (okay, I’ll stop), is that Aceman is a new, fully-electric small SUV, entering the MINI range between the MINI Cooper and the MINI Countryman. It is the third model introduced into Mini’s line-up, and is only available with fully electric powertrains.
Anyway, the Aceman brings two questions to mind.
First, does the new Aceman fulfill its niche, or is it a confused middle child? Second, and perhaps more importantly, is any good? Is it fun-to-drive as the new Cooper?
What We Like and Dislike About The 2025 Mini Aceman JCW
| What we like | What we don’t like |
| Charismatic interior design Build quality Engaging to drive Excellent drivers assistance tech | Irritating Bluetooth settings Sub-par range Abysmal ride quality Price |
What’s In the 2025 MINI Aceman JCW Range?
There are three variants of the MINI Aceman available for buyers in New Zealand. All variants of the MINI Aceman are electric vehicles.
| Model | Price |
| MINI Aceman E | $51,990 |
| MINI Aceman SE | $69,990 |
| MINI JCW Aceman | $75,990 |
The entry-level Aceman E utilises a 42.5kWh battery, connected to a single electric motor powering the front wheels. It produces 135kW of power and 290NM of torque, and provides a range of up to 310 kilometres (WLTP) on a charge.
The Aceman SE can be considered the long-range variant, utilising a 54.2kWh battery and a single electric motor, to provide 160kW of power and 330Nm of torque, and a range up to 406 kilometres (WLTP) per charge.
The JCW is the performance variant of the Aceman. It uses the same sized battery as the Aceman SE, being 54.2kWh and uses a single electric motor. Although, the JCW has more juice flowing through it, producing 190kW of power, 350NM of torque and will do the 0-100kph sprint in 6.4 seconds.
The compromise for the extra performance is that range is diminished, providing a range of 355 kilometres per charge.
Another good thing about Minis is that they have an array of colours to choose from, with five options available for the Aceman E, eight options for the SE and five options for the JCW.
Aceman E Colours
- Rebel Red with Black roof
- Blazing Blue with Black roof
- Melting Silver III with Black roof
- Midnight Black II
- Nanaq White with Black roof
Aceman SE Colours
- Rebel Red with Black roof
- Blazing Blue with Black roof
- Melting Silver III with Black roof
- Midnight Black II
- Nanaq White with Black roof
- Chili Red II with Black roof
- British Racing Green with Black roof
- Indigo Sunset Blue with Black roof
JCW Aceman Colours
- Midnight Black II
- Nanaq White with Black roof
- Chili Red II with Black roof
- Legend Grey with Red roof and mirrors
For more information about the MINI Aceman, visit the MINI New Zealand website.
How Does The 2025 MINI Aceman JCW Compare To Its Competition?
| Make/Model | Battery capacity (kW-hr) | Power/ Torque (kW/Nm) | Range (WLTP) (km) | Boot space (litres) | Price |
| Mercedes EQA 250+ | 70.5 | 140/385 | 578 | 340 | $92,000 |
| MINI Aceman JCW | 49.2 | 190/350 | 355 | 300 | $75,990 |
| SMART #1 Brabus | 66 | 315/543 | 400 | 313 | $74,990 |
| Volvo EX40 (Dual Motor) | 69 | 315/543 | 490 | 400 | $69,990 |
| Kia EV3 Light SR | 58.3 | 150/283 | 436 | 460 | $55,520 |
| MG4 Essence 64 | 64 | 150/250 | 435 | 350 | $49,990 |
| GWM Ora GT | 57.7 | 126/250 | 380 | 228 | $40,990 |
First Impressions of The 2025 MINI Aceman JCW
As mentioned in the rather vexing introduction, the Aceman enters the MINI range between the smaller MINI Cooper and the larger MINI Countryman.
Dimensionally, it’s rather stout, being just over 4 metres long, around 1.75 metres wide, and roughly 1.5 metres tall.
Essentially, it looks like a slightly shrunk down Countryman, and targeted at those who thought that Cooper was too small, but the Countryman too large.
Either way, the new Countryman is a great-looking SUV, and by extension, so is the Aceman. In typical MINI fashion, there’s also plenty of colour options and a rather funky interior too, though you’ll hear about that next.
What’s The Interior Like In The 2025 MINI Aceman JCW?
It would seem that so many manufacturers don’t really design interiors any more. Instead, it appears that everyone just wants to copy the trend which Tesla pioneered, which is slapping one big screen in the centre, incorporating everything into it, and provide little else under the guise of ‘Minimalism’.
Just look at some of my recent reviews of the BYD Shark 6, GWM Cannon Alpha, Volkswagen Tiguan, and others, and try telling me you don’t see the similarities.
Fortunately, MINI has stepped-up where others have been stepping-back, having designed another interior where it actually looks like the designers were allowed to exercise some creativity.
The most obvious design piece is the circular screen in the centre of the dash, which is unique in-of-itself. Although, MINI’s creativity has extended beyond cutting the corners off of a rectangular screen.
There are several individual elements which make this interior unique. The more obvious these include textile dashboard, with the red chequered patterning and the use of contrast colour stitching and piping through-out. Another is the bronze-coloured features, among which includes the speaker grilles, the door handles and even the “MINI” badge on the steering wheel.
There are also small woven nylon straps, one of which exists as the third ‘spoke’ on the steering wheel, and the other as the pull-tab for opening the centre storage.
Beyond the physical, MINI has inserted several design features within the digital realm. For example, there’s several different infotainment themes, including “Go-Kart” which prioritises your speed, power and torque outputs, and even a “timeless” theme, which is a digital throwback to the dash cluster layouts of the old Austin and Leyland Minis.
There’s even a digital assistant dog (which looks like a Corgi), and several other Anglo-inspired animations. Altogether, the details and the configurability within this interior, makes it quite a unique space compared to anything else that would naturally compete with it.
Of course, this interior isn’t all surface design and quality. Instead, it’s a comfortable space, with good interior ergonomics. The build quality and materials are what you’d expect of a BMW product, i.e, it’s excellent. The infotainment is responsive, the screen is high resolution and it has a decent user interface. The Harman/Kardon audio system is also fantastic, as expected.
In general, it’s a lovely experience, but I will admit that this interior is underbaked in areas.
For example, the heads-up display is an older design, utilising a pop-up screen instead of projecting onto the windshield. It’ll be familiar if you’ve owned or driven any of the previous generation Mini’s, but it was difficult to position it properly for my driving position, to where it always had some part of the display cut-off.
The next problem is related to the circular infotainment, specifically the Bluetooth settings. The car will not retain your Bluetooth information when you turn it off, unless you have established a BMW ID. This meant I had to re-sync with the car every time I got in. I’ve not come across any other manufacturer that does this, either. I suppose it mightn’t be an issue when you own the vehicle, and have your BMW ID set up, but what if you have a passenger that you’re travelling with and they want to control the music?
Although, it’s the principle of it that matters more, because the consumer should never be compelled to do something in order to regain functionality that is otherwise normal in other cars, particularly when they’ve paid $75,999 for a vehicle.
On a completely different issuer, I did find that the doors were unusually heavy. That said, they shut with a satisfying clunk, so I can tolerate this.
What’s The 2025 MINI Aceman JCW Like To Drive?
An interesting interior goes a long way for expressing the personality of an EV. That’s because they’re largely devoid of any powertrain character.
It’s this reason that many enthusiasts struggle with EVs. Even the rip-your-face off speed of EVs like the Audi E-Tron RS still don’t really scratch the itch. That’s because EVs are quite homogenous from a performance perspective. Many produce their power in the same way, and their heavy batteries and skateboard platform designs means that they’re dynamically quite similar too.
Of course, the rational enthusiasts realise that this doesn’t make EVs inherently bad. If anything, I know several enthusiasts that use an EV for daily driving, but keep an ICE vehicle for the weekend.
Although, this matter poses a conundrum for MINI, and particularly for a model adorned with the John Cooper Works or “JCW” badge. The JCW badge derives its name from the racing car company founded by John Cooper (and father of MINI Cooper), and today is worn by hotted-up, performance-focused MINIs. In other words, the JCW is the enthusiast’s choice.
So, how would the Aceman, a small fully-electric MINI SUV, respond to the JCW treatment? More importantly, would enthusiasts like it?
It does seem that MINI has given it a good swing, however.
First-off, the Aceman JCW uses a 54.2kWh battery (49.8kWh usable), powering a single electric motor outputting 190kW of power and 350 NM of torque, to power the front wheels. In general, 190kW of power is nothing to sniff at, and can shift the Aceman JCW from 0-100kph in a claimed 6.4 seconds and charge onto a top-speed of 200kph.
Although, the Aceman will only produce 190kW/350Nm when in Go-Kart mode. In any other mode, the Aceman runs around with only 170kW/340Nm available. Also, you can up the performance further by clicking the flappy “boost” paddle that is mounted on the steering column. This will temporarily boost power to 200kW and torque to 356NM for around 10 seconds.
So yeah, the Aceman does have some squirt behind it, but the output from the motor isn’t the whole story. Instead, MINI has opted for a smaller battery size of 54.2kWh (49.8kWh usable), when compared to many of the direct competition. In general, a smaller battery means less weight, and with a kerb weight of 1,745Kg, the Aceman JCW isn’t too heavy for an EV.
For context, it’s about 100kg lighter than Kia EV3 Air, and around 150kg lighter than a Smart #1 Brabus. In fact, compared to those on the table above, only the Ora GT is lighter (and about 70kW/100Nm down on performance).
Still, the Aceman JCW is closer to 2 tonnes than it is to 1 tonne, or in other words, it is still quite a heavy vehicle. The lighter weight (relatively speaking) means that the chassis doesn’t feel quite as inert as other EVs.
The Aceman does feel lighter on its feet. It’s keener to turn-in and rotates better than other EVs. The chassis also moves around and communicates with you when you’re pushing it. Sure, it isn’t a sports car, but there is some feeling in there.
Of course, the smaller battery capacity and the performance oriented-nature of the Aceman JCW does compromise its general liveability. The most obvious compromise is the range, where the Aceman JCW claims a WLTP driving range of 355Kms and a claimed energy consumption figure of 16.9kWh per 100kms.
During our test, we achieved a consumption figure of 19.2kWh per 100kms, meaning that the realistic range was only hovering around 300kms.
Yet, the biggest problem with the Aceman JCW is the ride quality. The suspension setup is incredibly stiff and the whole-body rebounds harshly, even across surfaces that you’d swear are smooth.
Admittedly, the ride does improve as you start going faster, or when you hit highway speeds. But for a MINI, which by nature, is a city car, should have better ride quality than this. If anything, the ride is the biggest detraction from the JCW, and the “fun” aspects of the car aren’t great enough to offset it. We haven’t tested the other Aceman model, but I expect they would be better than this.
To give some credit back to the Aceman, I can confirm the driver assistance systems are well-calibrated. After all, it’s a BMW product, and BMW are among the best at this sort of tech.
2025 MINI Aceman JCW – Specifications
| Vehicle Type | Small electric SUV |
| Starting Price | $75,990.00 |
| Price as Tested | $75,990.00 |
| Powertrain | Single Electric Motor (Permanent Magnet Synchronous) |
| Battery | 49.2kWh (Net) |
| Range (Kilometres) | 355 (WLTP) |
| Power/Torque (kW/Nm) | 190/350 |
| Transmission | One-speed |
| Spare Wheel | Puncture repair kit |
| Kerb Weight (Kg) | 1,745 |
| Length x Width x Height (mm) | 4079 x 1754 x 1514 |
| Cargo Capacity, (litres, seats up/seats down) | 300/1,005 |
| Energy Economy, (kWh/100km) | Advertised Spec – Combined – 16.9 (WLTP) Real-World Test – Combined – 19.2 Low Usage: 6-10 / Medium Usage 11-19 / High Usage 19+ |
| Towing Capacity (Kg, unbraked/braked) | N/A |
| Turning circle (metres) | 11.1 Small: 6-10m / Medium 10-12m / Large 12m+ |
| Warranty | 5-year/100,000kms New Vehicle Warranty |
| Safety information | ANCAP Rating – Not tested Rightcar.govt.nz – 5 Stars – RDF371 |
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