Range Rover Velar vs Mini 3D Hatch

What's the difference?

The Range Rover Velar P400e looks damn sexy and is large enough to house your family comfortably while still being easy to manoeuvre around town.

But I’m not a fan of these luxury brands forcing you to pay extra for what should be standard features when you’re at this grade level and price point. This is a model I’d pay close attention to in terms of the optional trims required to maintain a high-end feel.

But the powertrain works quite well here and it has pleasant on-road manners.

The Mini Cooper surprised me. I didn’t expect this little car to be electrified with such success. It’s fun to drive, easy to charge, and aside from its range, which is naturally limited by its size, the remaining drawbacks are no different from the rest of the Cooper range.

Who is the Cooper SE Electric best suited for? Probably a buyer who is looking for a second car to use primarily as a runabout who also happens to love the art of driving. Few EVs fit that bill so well.

Land Rover hasn’t updated the exterior looks of the Velar and for good reason. It is almost flawless in how sleek and sexy it looks. It hovers between its larger Ranger Rover siblings and the more nimble-looking Discovery Sport.

There is still a distinctly ‘Range Rover’ vibe but it looks more agile and fun than its bigger siblings. But while its external looks are beautiful, the cabin loses me.

It’s even more pared back now than the pre-facelifted model and while the minimalistic style will appeal to some it doesn’t tick the luxury factor box for me.

There are too many plain and empty spaces in the dashboard and doors. The multimedia system has been updated to the cool 11.4-inch floating-effect screen but all the buttons and dials are gone. So, there’s even less going on and it makes you 100 per cent reliant on the screen.

And funnily enough, the grey knit fabric and synthetic material that’s used in the upholstery and trims is an optional extra and replaces Windsor leather. The knit-fabric adds some warmth but the black synthetic stuff is awful to touch or clean and reminds me too much of neoprene-style wetsuit material.

The large panoramic sunroof keeps the cabin feeling bright and cheery when it's open, though.

The Cooper SE, at least in this ‘Yours’ trim, is iconic Mini. Like the concurrent Fiat 500, the Mini is one of those cars which does ‘modern classic’ so well it’s hard to tell how old it is underneath.

The commitment to the core shape of this car is admirable, but to me this is a particularly rare case of everything clad in black working brilliantly.

The little green bits which hint at the electrified nature of this variant contrast so well, and are much more subtle as a flourish on these ‘Tentacle’ wheels than they are on the somewhat ham-fisted ‘Power’ rims which normally come with the SE.

This extends to the inside of our test car, which also had black seats and black headlining to match the black dash.

Again, normally this would be a recipe for undue claustrophobia, but in this Mini it just feels right.

The seats are more comfortable than they look, and adjust for a low-slung and sporty feeling arrangement. The dash is a little clumsy, though, with its lumpy design and plethora of material choices, perhaps shaped more for style than to induce a feeling of spaciousness.

I’m still not a particular fan of it, but when you combine it with things like the toggle-style buttons and Union Jack imprints in the tops of the front seats, there’s no question Mini is committed to unique styling.

This is particularly true of the huge round centre panel, which in its original incarnation used to house the speedometer, but now houses a multimedia suite.

The positioning of the screen doesn’t feel entirely right for the driver to use as a touchscreen, and the software is overcomplicated at best, and downright painful to use at worst.

Thankfully, once you’ve managed to get the wireless Apple CarPlay working, you’ll be forced to use it less often.

This is beginning to sound overly critical, but the context is this car isn’t designed to feel spacious or function seamlessly. It’s designed to be a statement all on its own.

When you combine the unmistakable exterior presence with this particular colour scheme and wheels, the whacky interior falls into place to make for one somehow completely charming package.

It has so much charisma I found myself constantly forgiving, or at least overlooking, its flaws to enjoy it as an experience – just as intended.

Practicality on a whole is pretty good in the Velar and that comes down mostly to the space provided for each occupant and the high-end tech.

Up front, there is a lot of head- and legroom for my 168cm height and even when you have a co-pilot you’re not jockeying for elbow room.

The seats are very comfortable as they’re well-cushioned and feature excellent lumbar support. I miss a seat heat function on colder days but you can easily do a long trip in the Velar and not feel too fatigued.

The 214mm ground clearance has made it an easy SUV to get in and out of, for me and my seven-year old. Annoyingly, though, some of the doors don't close properly unless you slam them.

The individual storage is a bit less than you might expect as there's not a lot of centre console storage for little items but you still get a small glove box and middle console, two cupholders, two drink bottle holders and a phone cubby up front.

The back seat offers enough space for me to be comfortable but I did have a comment from my dad, who is 183cm, that it was a smidge squishy for him.

The seats are comfortable and amenities are good with two USB-C ports, a 12-volt socket, directional air vents, map pockets and a fold-down armrest with two cupholders. There are storage bins but they're very shallow.

Because of the sleek rear shaping, the boot space is smaller than most of its rivals at 625L when all seats are in use. It’s large enough for my gear and you should still be able to stack luggage easily for a road trip.

The technology on offer is pretty darn good. The multimedia system takes a while to get used to but once you do, it's an easy enough system to get around but not having any buttons/dials means you tend to look at it more than I like while on the go.

Unlike the Disco Sport I was just in, which features the same system, there have been no issues with connectivity with my iPhone with the Bluetooth or wireless Apple CarPlay. There’s also Android Auto and the built-in satellite navigation is top-notch.

I've already mentioned the rear charging options but up front you're spoiled for choice with a USB-A port, three USB-C ports and a wireless charging pad.

Does anyone buy a car called a Mini for practicality? I hope not. How does this little hatch line up with the segment or the EV market, though?

The answer is still not well. Even compared with design-led cars like Mazda’s MX-30, the Mini is smaller again, having hardly any boot space (211 litres to be precise) and only four seats. Even then, the rear two seats are difficult to access and no good for adults.

There’s a handy space under the boot floor for charging gear, although as the Cooper uses run-flat tyres, there’s no spare.

It is worth noting this electric version doesn’t actually lose any room compared to the standard combustion variants.

As driver-focused as this little car might be, it’s hardly a better story up front, as the Cooper SE trades away practicality to stay true to its retro design.

The driver's seat is comfy, low, and sporty, clasping your sides nicely and I like the trim a lot. But, as mentioned the space feels quite claustrophobic due to the proximity of the A-pillars and up-close dash features.

Functionally, the dash layout is a little awkward, with the small digital instrument display being partially obscured by the wheel in my driving position. The exaggerated centre screen panel and other trimmings feel as though they close in what little space is available, particularly if you’re tall and have knees.

There’s hardly any cabin storage on offer, either, with a small wireless charging bay in the armrest console, a tiny bay below that for loose objects, two small cupholders with another small bin in front of the shifter, and tiny pockets in the doors.

To make things worse, the two-door Cooper design has enormous doors, making it hard to slide in and out of in tight parking spots. Ironic given how easy it is to park this compact car in the first place.

The Mini Cooper SE costs from $55,650 before on-roads (MSRP) for the base Classic trim, and our car in the higher ‘Yours’ aesthetic trim package actually wears an even higher price-tag of $63,475. Topping off the range is the limited-edition Resolute trim, which wears a starting price of $63,825 - it is only available in the ‘Rebel Green’ colour scheme with an off-white roof.

There’s no getting around the fact that’s a lot of cash for a three-door hatch. Even hot hatches in this size-category are significantly cheaper.

But in the EV space it doesn’t look so bad when lined up against the Mazda MX-30, which has a similar range, or this car’s outgoing BMW i3 cousin which cost a whopping $71,900 before it was discontinued in 2021.

However, range is a weakness. With a 233km range, the Mini is essentially confined to city limits, while for a significantly lower MSRP you can be hopping in a trendy Tesla Model 3 or stylish Polestar 2 which both offer north of 450km of driving range – enough for most inter-city trips.

I suspect the intention is for this Mini to be best kept as a second car for darting around town in a fuel-free manner and not as a primary mode of transport. Even so, the pricing makes it a tall order for a niche customer.

Regardless, the standard equipment is decent, as the now ageing third-generation Mini has been significantly augmented with better tech over time.

This version comes with 17-inch ‘Tentacle’ alloy wheels (I like these a LOT more than the dorky standard ‘Power’ wheels on the electric version), leather ‘lounge’ seats with a leather steering wheel, an 8.8-inch widescreen multimedia touchscreen with wireless Apple CarPlay (but no Android Auto), a wireless phone charger in the fold-down armrest, digital radio and built-in sat-nav, heated front seats, dual-zone climate control (feels overkill for such a small cabin), and a heat pump (helps regulate the battery temp and support the car’s electrical features).

There’s also a head-up display and a quaint 5.5-inch digital instrument cluster to support the driver. All Minis get LED headlights and tail-lights, complete with the Union Jack pattern, which is either a fun attention-to-detail piece or dangerously close to Austin Powers levels of self-parody, depending on who you ask.

What do you miss out on? Not much. The seats are manual adjust which is rare at such a tall price, but otherwise there’s a decent active safety suite, and Mini even throws in a Type 2 to Type 2 public charging cable as well as the standard wall socket version.

There are more good things to say on the topic of charging, too, but we’ll leave that for the relevant part of this review.

The Range Rover Velar P400e's plug-in hybrid powertrain combines a 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol engine with an electric motor to deliver 297kW of power and 640Nm of torque.

The Velar features an eight-speed auto transmission and is an AWD. With that optioned Terrain Response feature, it can do some mild off-road adventuring or tackle a trip to the ski-fields with relative ease.

This electric Mini takes the best bits from BMW’s late i3 hatch, and one of those is its electric motor. With 135kW/270Nm on tap, it’s a punchy little thing, and in a package this small it feels energetic.

There’s a single-speed transmission with an integrated front differential, and this version of the Cooper will sprint from 0-100km/h in 7.3 seconds.

The motor also uses a particularly aggressive regenerative braking profile, which is strong by default but can be adjusted down by the driver.

It can also make use of an array of drive modes: 'Sport', 'Normal', 'Green', and 'Green+' (which maxes out regen and won’t let you use the air-con!).

I spent the majority of my time in the car using Green or Normal modes, with a stint in Sport. It was nice that each mode seemed to give the steering and accelerator response a distinct but not overtly artificial character.

The official combined fuel-cycle consumption figure is 2.2L/100km and my real-world usage came out at 6.0L/100km after doing mostly open-road trips with some urban stuff thrown in.

I have charged it to full twice with a few (small) charging moments scattered in between as that’s been realistic for life this week. 

Claimed pure electric driving range is 69km but expect closer to 50km in the real-world. 

Based on my real-world consumption and the 69L fuel tank, expect a theoretical driving range of 1150km.

The only draw back with a PHEV is the charging element as you get the best economy if you charge it to full every time you drive, and that's not always realistic!

The P400e has a Type 2 CCS charging port, so you can hook it up to a fast charger. On a 50kW system you can go from 0-80 per cent in 30 minutes and on a 7.0kW system, you can go from 0-100 per cent in two-hours and 12-minutes.

On a standard domestic socket, expect to leave on overnight for a 0-100 per cent fill.

Land Rover recommends a minimum 95 RON premium unleaded petrol for the Velar.

The Cooper SE draws its power from a 32.6kWh Lithium-ion battery pack, one of the smallest of any mass-market EV on sale today.

This grants it an official combined cycle range of 233km on the realistic WLTP testing protocol, but you can expect a real-world range of around 200km. My car was reporting around 180km at 100 per cent charge.

The WLTP-rated energy consumption for the SE is 16.8kWh/100km, and I saw 14.0kWh/100km. That's better than the 16kWh/100km I’m getting from my MX-30 electric long-termer, but still not as adept as the smaller Hyundai electric offerings.

I drove it around with regen maxed out aside from a stint on some back roads in Sport mode which dials it back a little. As the battery is very small, expect every little change in road conditions or regen usage to have a bigger effect on the range remaining.

The Cooper SE has a single European-standard Type 2 CCS charging port on the rear driver’s side. For a car with such a small battery, the Cooper charges very fast which helps make it more convenient to use.

On the slower but more readily-available AC chargers it will charge at a max rate of 11kW which will see a charge time somewhere in the range of three and a half hours, while on a fast DC charger it will get to 80 per cent charge from 10 per cent in 36 minutes.

The 11kW AC inverter is particularly welcome, as with a battery this small, it means you can realistically rely entirely on AC charging which is an increasingly common feature of council parking locations.

No other car with a battery this small offers AC charging this fast, and it’s convenient to avoid the need to seek out a DC charger for a full juice every once in a while.

The P400e has a deep well of power to dip into and fantastic pick up when you need to overtake or get up to speed.

Like other plug-in hybrids I’ve sampled from Land Rover there's a little lag sometimes when you accelerate from a full stop but it’s not as pronounced in this model as others. 

The back brakes seem to hold a couple seconds longer than they should and if you accelerate as you would in any other car, there is a ker-clunk sound and you shift forward in your seat until they release.

This was most noticeable in stop-start city traffic and to be fair might just be a quirk on our test car and not on the model as a whole.

The switch between the electric and petrol components is mostly smooth and the cabin is refined because it’s so quiet. Pretty much no external noise makes its way inside.

I did a trip with my father-in-law this week and he said riding in the back seat was smooth, comfortable and very quiet. In fact, he fell asleep not long after we left! A high compliment, indeed.

The wide windows and higher ride have ensure excellent visibility but you only get a reversing camera. Yes, it’s great quality and clear but a 360-degree view system should come standard on a large SUV like this, especially considering its price tag. That being said, the P400e is still pretty easy to park.

The Cooper SE not only nails the Mini brief of feeling “like a go-cart” on the road, but to me this car particularly proves electric vehicles can have distinct and engaging characteristics.

Immediately, all the Mini cornerstones are present. This car feels low-slung, firmly sprung, with heavy and direct steering ensuring you really feel the road.

Few electric cars have come close to something so engagement-oriented. The Model 3 is firm and fast, but somewhat removed from the road with its unusual cabin and heavily computerized steering, while Mazda’s MX-30 is a similarly lightweight and engaging EV, just with the ride height and pleasantries of an SUV.

The Cooper has more the personality of a track-ready hot hatch. It leaps into action with the responsiveness of its electric motor, and the steering tune gives it a dart-like feel in traffic.

The firm ride won’t be for everyone. It’s a little hard on the day-to-day, and its lack of wheel travel compared to, say, an SUV gives it more trouble balancing out bigger bumps and corrugations which can get unpleasant in the cabin.

Carving up a curvy road on the weekend, though? There’s no EV better than this bar Porsche’s Taycan, and even then, you’ll need one hell of a road to make the most of it.

The tightly-wound little Mini simply comes alive in the corners. Anyone who doubts electric vehicles can still be fun needs to drive one of these before they settle their mind.

The downside? While the Mini will put a smile on your face, the electric drivetrain here feels a bit like cheating. No transmission and an instantly responsive regen brake makes it all too easy to carve corners without the need to even take your foot off the accelerator pedal.

And having the weight so far down in an already low car makes it stick to the road like glue. You never really feel like something can be done wrong in this car.

While it’s so much more fun than most electric cars, it’s still missing the engagement of the need to grab a gear yourself.

On the topic of regeneration, the Mini’s aggro little motor will slow you down as quickly as it can accelerate, and in Green mode in particular it can be driven as a ‘single pedal vehicle’ around town.

You have to watch its bite, as a minimal release of the accelerator will bring you to a halt. This is good for economy though, and you’ll need it to make the most of this little hatchback’s short range.

Despite being a few years old now, the Cooper SE comes with a suite of active safety items, including city-speed auto emergency braking with pedestrian detection and forward collision warning, lane departure warning, and adaptive cruise control with stop and go function.

While these items are decent, the standard has really moved on now, requiring items like blind spot monitoring with rear cross-traffic alert.

The Cooper features ISOFIX child-seat mounting points and top-tethers for the rear two seats, as well as the standard array of six airbags. It also has the useful inclusion of front and rear parking sensors.

The Mini Cooper three-door only wears a four-star ANCAP safety rating, and it is to an antiquated 2014 standard. It’s worth noting this rating only applies to combustion variants, leaving us with another unknown for this electric version.

The Range Rover Velar comes with a five-year/unlimited km warranty and the battery is covered by an eight-year/ 160,000km warranty, which is a usual term for the class now.

There is a five-year capped-price servicing program which costs a flat $2100, or $420 per service, and is more affordable than a pay-as-you-go option.

Servicing intervals are very reasonable at every 12 months or 20,400km, whichever occurs first.

You also get five years roadside assistance through Assist Australia as a part of your servicing plan.

Mini, like its BMW parent, persists with an off-the-pace three-year and unlimited kilometre warranty promise. This includes roadside assist, and the battery components are covered by a separate industry-standard eight-year and 160,000km warranty.

Minis have ‘condition-based servicing’ whereby the car will decide when to send you back to the workshop, so intervals could be variable.

A ‘basic cover’ service program will set you back just $940 for four years, or $1280 for six years, which includes a vehicle check, fluids, and an air conditioning filter.

The more comprehensive ‘Plus Cover’ which has location-based pricing will also include brake pads and discs and wiper blade replacements where required.