Hands-On With The 2025 F65 MINI Cooper S Five Door (F65)

DimON · June 20

We send time with the 2025 Five Door MINI Cooper S to see how the updated design works with the Largest Cooper.

If you’ve been reading MotoringFile over the years you’ll likely know we’ve always thought the five door MINI Cooper was a strange car. When it came out it felt like a compromised product that awkwardly fit somewhere between the three door Cooper and the much more capable Clubman. Has that changed with the Clubman dead, the Countryman larger and MINI’s new minimal design language applied? Let’s dig in.

Like the F66, the F65 is an evolution of the previous F55 five door. It’s mechanically evolved underneath with a completely new look and feel inside and out. The basic layout is the same albeit with slightly tweaked dimension. There are no exterior parts (outside of glass and the roof) shared between the two cars and subtle changes are everywhere. But even these subtle changes can have big effects. Take the lights. MINI has pushed the headlights forward and made them slightly more upright. It means that this car feels more upright and a little closer to the R50 and R56. It also marks this car out as different than the sleeker J01 MINI Cooper EV.

Then there’s the taillights which adopt the triangular design we’ve seen on the J01 and F66. Here they actually feel more obvious because of the rear hatch protrudes from the glass. Love them or hate them, they are more in your face on the F65 as compared to the three door F66 Cooper.

In our time with the F65 MINI Cooper five door we came away liking the more minimal styling on the outside but really loved the subtle tweaks inside. The general layout is the same up front but there is slightly more rear width than before offering a bit more room for rear passengers. In the US this is purely a four seater due to regulations. However in the rest of the world the three seat layout becomes more doable with these revisions.

Worth mentioning is MINI’s new Vescin seats which are miles ahead of the old Leatherette material. While they don’t quite have the suppleness of the previously optional (and expensive) Lounge Leather, they feel great to the touch and promise better wear. And that new blue color looks great in person.

One thing that hasn’t changed are the tiny doors. Due to the size of the car, MINI had to shrink the front doors considerably as compared to the three door in order to make room for the rear doors. Subsequently the rear doors are also tiny. I’m 6′ 2″ and getting in and out of the five door Cooper has always been something that required attention. This new F65 model is no difference.

The boot is fractionally larger but the difference is negligible based on our real-world experience. Similarly the car itself is fractionally wider than the F55 but without the two side by side and a tape measure you’d not be able to tell.

Performance Upgrades For The F65 MINI Cooper C & Cooper S

MINI has upped the ante in terms of power with both models while sadly ditching the manual. The F55 Cooper is getting a 14% power upgrade going from 134 hp to 156 hp in the F65 Cooper C. This change takes the C from 0-62 mph (0 to 100 km/h) in 7.7 seconds. The more powerful F65 Cooper S gets a less dramatic 7.4% horsepower boost from 189 to 204 hp but sees a significant torque increase to 221 lb-ft. This is all driven to the front wheel courtesy of a revised 7 speed dual clutch transmission.

Model	F55 Cooper	F55 Cooper S	F65 Cooper C	F65 Cooper S
Power	134 hp	189 hp	156 hp	204 hp
Torque	162 lb-ft/1480 rpm	206 lb-ft/1350 rpm	170 lb-ft/1,480 rpm	221 lb-ft
Transmission	Manual/DCT	Manual/DCT	7 speed DCT	7 speed DCT

This gets the new F65 Cooper S to 62 mph in 6.6 seconds (60 mph in 6.3 seconds). And keep in mind these are both likely a conservative numbers knowing how BMW calculates figures.

Early Conclusions on the 2025 F65 MINI Cooper Five Door

With the Clubman gone and the Countryman now larger, the five door layout for the Cooper starts to make a bit more sense. Simply put there’s nothing in MINI’s line-up at this stage that overlaps with this car. Thus if you want the feel of a Cooper but need a bit more room, this is your choice. Put another way, for the first time this model actually makes sense in the line-up.

2025 F65 MINI Cooper Five Door Product and Release Info

The F65 MINI Cooper Five door will begin production July 1st in both Cooper C and Cooper S variants. That means dealers in the UK and Europe will have cars on hands in mid to late July. In the US that should translate into early to mid August. Pricing for each market will be release shortly.

If you’re looking for a full preview of the new F65 MINI Coop five door, head to our in-depth report on the car where we go into details on MINI’s latest model.