Mini Aceman SE 2025 review

As fringe-dwelling motoring goes, the Mini Aceman SE parks itself on the edge of the automotive landscape. And after spending a week with one, it remains a tough customer to pigeonhole.

This new-new-new era of Mini might be tough for the casual observer to wrap their head around as the brand reimagines its heritage via a broadening array of segments and body styles, and niches in between. And Aceman – a naming riff off the defunct Paceman, perhaps – may appear a proper head-scratcher.

Aceman is a blend of attributes of Cooper hatch and Countryman SUV, says its maker, if electric only, urban centric, crossover stylised and – why not? – an added “rush of a true-go-kart experience” as spice.

Even by Mini’s unorthodoxy, the only five-door electric in its line-up is a bit of a weird one, confused somewhat by Mini’s marketing ploy to simplify matters by referring to Aceman as a small (nope, it’s compact) SUV (it’s more a crossover, if we’re to be pedantic).

Of course, just one Aceman isn’t enough, and here comes the hairsplitting…

The Aceman lineup enters with the E Classic that was $55,990 list at its mid-2024 debut. Less than 12 months later, the entry E is now on $51,990 driveaway, curiously on runout. Meanwhile, the mid-range SE on test here was and remains $60,990 before on roads, so $67K in your driveway.

The elephant twins in the garage are that the SE is not only $15K pricier than the (seemingly short-lived) entry E, its compact four-metre-long, not-really-an-SUV form wants the sort of money a proper, two-segments-larger family-hauling Tesla Model Y wants for. The list of circa-$60K-something electric SUVs now available is a long one…

Given there’s so little of the Aceman SE, it’d want to be fun-filled and quite special, indeed… though there is a more-powerful and presumably even more go-kart-like JCW version sat above it, at $66K list or around $72K driveaway.

This three-grade line-up leaves our SE test subject in a curious middle ground, without an obvious accolade upon which to hang its hat. Then you drive it – in the right situation with a certain headspace – and the Aceman SE is so wonderfully seductive that you just might forget, even for a moment, the questionable price point, positioning or pragmatism at play.

It’s quite the special little car. But whether or not it’s special enough to successfully negotiate price, range, ride and practicality hurdles is what we aim to find out.

What are the Aceman SE’s features and options for the price?

At $60,990, the SE ups the high-voltage credentials over the base Aceman E by lifting outputs to 160kW and 330Nm (against 135kW/290Nm) and fitting a larger 49.2kWh net (against 38.5kWh net) lithium-ion battery, with a higher 95kW (against 75kW) DC charging peak.

All ‘Acemen’ are front-wheel drive.

This SE combination boosts the peak range claim to 406 kilometres (against 310km) WLTP, while the performance claim drops to 7.1 seconds (against 7.9sec) for the 0-100km/h sprint. In outright EV terms, there’s nothing groundbreaking here.

Meanwhile, the JCW trim peaks at an eLaunch Control-boosted 200kW/356Nm, with a nominal advertised 190kW and 350Nm. With an identical battery spec to the SE, the performance boost (to 6.4sec 0-100km/h claimed) comes at a trade-off of outright range (355km claimed).

The SE fits the so-called Favoured features set largely shared with the JCW – rather than the more basic Classic fitout of the E – that includes:

• LED headlights and tail lights
• Three-mode DLRs
• 19-inch Hexagram style wheels
• 240mm round OLED media
• Experience Mode with eight content ‘themes’
• Augmented reality satnav
• Wireless Apple CarPlay/Android Auto
• Wireless phone charging
• Mini Connected Services & Mini App
• Head-up digital driver’s instrumentation
• Dark Petrol Vescin faux leather seat trim
• ‘Favoured’ design theme with recycled knit fabric surface trim
• Glass roof
• JCW-type electric front seats w/ active driver’s seat
• Front seat heating
• Dual-zone climate control
• Four USB-C outlets
• Adaptive cruise control
• Parking Assistant Plus with surround view camera
• Interior camera
• Harman Kardon 10-speaker 315-watt audio
• Power tailgate
• Tyre pressure monitoring
• Tyre repair kit

The Aceman SE is available in eight body colours and two roof colours (black or white) for a total of 14 different available body/roof combinations. Our test car features no-cost Indigo Sunset Blue with Black roof.

Lost, however, is real personalisation options, which used to be the cornerstone of the Mini experience. Outside of pain choice, it’s fully loaded, no option boxes to tick. And that includes the Dark Petrol (Blue) Vescin interior theme, which might be a bit of an eyesore cloaked in British Racing Green exterior bodywork…

How does the Aceman SE drive?

Don’t be fooled by the stylised urban runabout facade, because the Aceman SE is a tenacious corner carver at heart. And one that, on the right bit of road or race track, will make you grin so much that your jaw might ache.

Go-kart like? Perhaps not literally. It does muster up an incredible amount of front-end point for front-driven electric, but its nature is to plant its rear 225mm Michelin E Primacy tyres hard enough that anything short of a red-hot go leaves the tail-end tracking on rails.

Point to point it’s impressively quick, if not ferociously so. With a set of properly sticker rubber it’d be wickedly rapid across a twisty backroad pass. Regardless of actual pace, there’s a genuine intimacy between the chassis, its steering, and the driver no matter how hard you choose to push on.

Lively? It doesn’t quite offer the sort of loose playfulness you’ll find in the (rear-drive) MG4 at a pace that doesn’t threaten your licence. But drum up some serious corner speed and the Aceman SE will shimmy and tuck with lift-off oversteer like a true thoroughbred – fun, fluid and keenly balanced.

Despite the modest 160kW power and the leisurely 7.1sec 0-100km/h, it feels tangible brisk, its 330Nm piling on instantly if with a nice rounded response to right foot input. The motor and chassis marriage is sweet indeed.

The outputs on tap does a decent job of masking the Aceman’s considerable 1710kg heft – electric rivals in MG4 and Jeep Avenger are considerably lighter – but this chassis would easily suit the JCW’s 190kW/350Nm offered in that car’s Go Kart mode.

Yes, there’s a delightful “Whoo-hoo!” when you activate the same mode in the SE – one of eight Experience Mode settings that, bar perhaps the Green (eco) setting, doesn’t really alter the Mini’s driving character at all.

On sonics, the Mini presents a solution so simple you wonder why it’s not adopted by all feisty electrics: the synthesized soundtrack is paired with throttle position and acceleration, not with road speed. Bury your right foot and it returns a bold propulsion thrum – lift off the throttle and it goes politely quiet.

It’s rorty character or EV serenity, in the appropriate conditions, when you actually want them. Neat stuff.

The trade-off for the Aceman’s cornering enthusiasm in the face of 1.7 tonnes of inertia is ride stiffness. It’s very firm. Still, carrying speed in what’s clearly Aceman’s sweet spot brings an acceptable degree of compliance across smaller road imperfections, and there’s no crashing or abrupt vertical movements.

Where the ride quality starts to become annoying and fatiguing is at low speed and around town. And to a point where its role as an urban runabout is quite compromised. You’ll really want to dig into Aceman’s corner carving virtues as suitable compensation.

Where the Aceman SE’s grander touring virtues become capped is range. Our real-world testing saw a theoretical 351km from a single charge – down on its 406km claim – and allowing for headroom for sourcing public fast charging out in the wild, every sunny Sunday romp will demand time on the hose.

If you’re a Sydney-sider, with few conveniently located twisties anywhere near the big smoke, this will be a major consideration. And, of course, the more you dig into the Aceman’s go-fast talents, the shorter its range will be.

What is the Aceman SE’s interior and tech like?

New-new-new Mini has managed to embrace the retro-futuristic design ethos more confidently and convincingly than most legacy car brands. And its current design language has (subjectively at least) managed to create distinction between its models reasonably successfully

Aceman is bold and distinctive rather than pretty. And its daring if achingly neat exterior styling, oh-so-fetching in dark Indigo Sunset Blue with frosted titanium highlights, carries through to the cabin with real conviction a huge sense of celebration.

Yes, it’s fancy. Sure, it’s techy. But if you’re a fan of design – where functionality and aesthetics blend clarity and relative simplicity – the Aceman SE cabin is downright inspired.

The blue and orange “recycled tactile knit” material adoring the dash fascia and door trims is adventurous and sumptuous – and absolutely polarises opinion in the Chasing Cars camp. Add its asymmetric ‘splash’ theme and it makes rival cabin designs look dowdy and boring.

The same goes for the superbly presented Dark Petrol Vescin seats. There’s no real leather at all in Aceman, but this fake material is so smooth and upmarket – and seats so seemingly lovingly crafted – that it makes the coarser-grain real stuff in some premium marques’ offerings look and feel cheap by comparison.

Like the seats, the wheel also has a chunky, purposeful vibe, which leans into the racy nature at play.

But the pride of place is the circular OLED media touchscreen. And the graphic design it flaunts through all eight Experience Mode settings – and their matching submenus – is nothing short of stunning. This is the best-looking infotainment system your review has ever seen. Period. And the Harman Kardon audio is superb.

Core, Go-Kart, Personal, Vivid, Balance, Trail, Green and Timeless – an excess of themes, perhaps. But there’s real devil in the detail, be it the ye olde Western kitsch of the Timeless design or how, in Green (eco drive mode), a hummingbird graphic transforms into a sprinting cheetah animation once you bury your right foot.

Necessary? No. Delightful? Indeed. And that neat and clever design ethos thread everywhere throughout the cabin, from the fabric steering wheel spoke and dash ‘strap’ ahead of the driver to the funky piston grip door grabs.

Clever is the driver’s head-up display (or, more accurately, head-down display). There’s no instrument binnacle, but rather a floating display tucked perfectly between the windshield cowl and the top of the steering wheel rim, so that it ‘floats’ above the wheel.

It’s an inventive bit of design that successfully executes an concept French carmakers – and the likes of Toyota’s BZ4X and Subaru’s Solterra – have thus far failed miserably at.

Burying into details further, even the physical switchgear feels solid and is clearly meant to enhance a sense of occasion.

That fanciness, in vibe and execution, continues faithfully through to row two, which is tight for space – again, Aceman is just over four metres long – but is packaged well enough to allow for reasonably comfortable plus-two rear accommodation. Realistically, it fits the two-adult, two-child bill, but anything more might be an uncomfortable stretch.

There are four USB-C ports – two front, two rear – split in the cabin by a nifty little lunchbox-style console bin. However, there are no rear air vents or fold-down centre arm rest.

The boot is an advertised 300 litres, which is pretty decent for a compact, but the underpinning theme for Aceman is that, really, if you’re chasing space and outright practicality, the considerably larger Countryman is a more appropriate solution.

Is the Aceman a safe car?

The Aceman SE fits an array of safety equipment that includes:

• Autonomous emergency braking
• Corner brake control
• Blind spot/lane change warning
• Exit warning
• Rear collision prevention
• Rear cross traffic alert with reversing AEB
• Driver attention monitoring
• High beam assist
• Adaptive cruise control
• Parking assistant plus with surround camera

There is an over-speed warning system in European spec though the system has not been enabled or fitted for Australian examples as fitment is not (yet) a mandatory requirement.

The Aceman has not yet been assessed by ANCAP.

What are the Aceman SE’s ownership costs?

Charging wise, the Aceman SE offers a 95kW peak DC charging rate – not bad, not great – with a typical 11kW AC peak. Mini quotes a 10-80 percent DC charge time of around 31 minutes, or five and half hours at 11kW AC.

The range claim for a 100 percent battery charge is 406kms, though as outlined above the real-world range is closer to 350 kilometres.

On test we saw consumption of 13.8kWh/100km for urban and 15.8kWh/100km on highway (with a concerningly slim touring outcome of 311kms of range only hitting the open road).

Servicing wise, buyers can opt for either a four-year $1500 or six-year $2225 service pack, with intervals that are condition based – the car (app) will notify you when it requires servicing.

The honest verdict on the Aceman SE

The Aceman SE entered the Chasing Cars garage and proceeded to swoon almost everyone who had the opportunity to throw it through some corners with gusto out beyond the confines of the urban jungle.

While it’s no EV performance flex by usual contemporary measures, it does pander oh-so convincingly to lovers of classic front-drive hot hatch fun factor.

Despite the modest potency, its magnificent chassis and steering brings driver engagement rarely found in a device under $70K on road, let alone one that’s electric.

Then there’s the cut of its design jib. Again, it’s not everyone’s cup of cocoa, but for those with an eye and an appreciation for finer things could well relish the Aceman’s highbrow execution in the areas of interior execution and swagger.

And for all of its fringe-dwelling nature – and in consideration of its Chinese-Germanic platform underpinnings – it really feels like a proper Mini in character and in the way that it drives. How its maker’s current regime can bottle so much old-school ethos in such a new-school model is truly impressive.

Still, those in it primarily for the funky urban runabout factor will find obvious barriers to entry when it comes to pricing, range and outright practicality. But that shouldn’t rob from the Aceman SE deserving its place on the motoring landscape that is somewhat richer because of it.