The new MINI Cooper proves electric can be fun (and not too embarrassing when you take a wrong turn)

I must start with an apology to the Archbishop of Canberra.

I was told to meet at Gate 1 for entrance into Floriade for an early-morning photo shoot – before the day’s crowds descend on Commonwealth Park – but Apple Maps took this to mean “drive up Regatta Place” – the driveway for Archbishop’s House.

And when I say driveway, it literally takes you under a covered entrance directly past the front door.

I ended up having to back-track, fingers and toes crossed the Archbishop’s bodyguards – alerted by my passing moments before – weren’t lying in wait this time with a blunderbuss.

I would say that “fortunately, I was in the new electric MINI and it’s very quiet” but it isn’t really.

It emits a whirring noise at low speeds to alert pedestrians (if not Archbishops) to its presence and, on the inside, there’s the option of “MINI Sound”.

Depending on what drive mode – or as MINI calls them “Experiences” – you’re in, this varies from the surge of the Millennium Falcon entering hyperspace to the sound you might hear if you were being flushed down a drain pipe, all pumped through the speakers.

It’s very well done. For instance, lift your foot off in the ‘Go-Kart’ experience, and it even braps like a petrol car.

After reviewing quite a few EVs over the past few years, they all begin to feel pretty much the same after a while. They have one party trick and one only – acceleration. The rest is pretty dull, and you’re stuck with conversation-slaughtering stuff like battery sizes and charger socket types.

But there have been a few that are more than that. The Abarth 500e, by all reports the Hyundai IONIQ 5 N (review coming soon), and this.

The petrol MINI still exists, heavily facelifted for 2024, but its fully electric sibling, available in both E and SE versions, is new from the ground up.

Well, sort of. MINI’s German parents, BMW, joined forces with China’s Great Wall Motors (GWM) and borrowed underpinnings from the GWM Ora to make this.

Being electric, it weighs 1540 kg and, if you were to park it alongside an original MINI, it would look like a moored cruise ship.

My E model, kindly lent by the Canberra MINI Garage in Phillip, has a 0-100 km/h time of 7.3 seconds, which isn’t outstandingly quick either.

But to drive, it feels light and playful and energetic and engaging. The steering is on-point, and the pedals telepathically connected. It bounds through corners, and even squirrels a bit under its own power when you really put your foot into it.

It’s like a puppy dog, complete with the wide and adoring eyes.

The MINI was beginning to get a bit pudgy in recent years, but it seems 2024 came with a resolution to slim down. It looks good. The British blood might be heavily diluted now, but it’s nice to see the Union Jack still making an appearance in the tail light design.

The fun continues inside too, from the third spoke of the steering wheel, which is actually a strip of taut fabric, to all the colourful shapes and textures and ambient lighting options – it’s a work of art.

To start it, you turn a switch like it were a key in the ignition. The touchscreen is round, in honour of its forebear’s speedo, but it’s very easy to get used to. A heads-up display on the windscreen means important things like speed and navigation are still right in front of your eyes.

My only complaint is the … um, girth, of the steering wheel – it’s a little too thick to be comfortable.

The reason I’ve come to Floriade is because Canberra BMW and the Canberra MINI Garage are sponsoring this year’s event, and two of their cars are already here – the MINI Countryman filled with small balls and a BMW i4 filled with flowers. It’s the job of visitors to guess how many are in each one, and the person who comes closest will win a week with the car.

I’m not sure how the Cooper would compare here. There’s plenty of space up front – other areas, less so. Like, maybe 50 balls max in the boot.

Claimed driving range is also only 305 km, and in the real world, probably even less. With the little 36 kWh battery at 75 per cent charge, the screen was saying I had only 200 km to go.

Damn. There I go, talking about battery specifications.

But to be fair, you’re not buying a MINI for boot space or highway legs. You’re buying it for fun. And it might not have a figure, but you get a lot of that here.

2024 MINI Cooper E

• $59,769 driveaway
• Electric motor, 36 kWh battery, 135 kW / 290 Nm
• Front-wheel drive (FWD)
• 0-100 km/h in 7.3 seconds
• 305 km estimated driving range
• 1540 kg
• Not yet tested for safety

Thanks to the Canberra MINI Garage for providing this car for testing (Region has no commercial arrangement with the Canberra MINI Garage). Thanks also to Events ACT for allowing access to Floriade for these photos.