7th best-selling new car in the UK May 2026 - registration data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders.
Ranked #12 car in the UK · Hatchback · 20,913 units sold last year
Premium small hatch with go-kart handling and a near-bottomless options list. F56 (2014–2023) is the used buy; new J01/F66 generation arrived late 2024 with a circular OLED.
WLTP
The short version
Forecourt score
Value 82 · Reliability 26 · Insurance 65
The Mini Cooper holds its value well and costs about average to run. Its MOT-based reliability is average, 67 out of 100, ahead of 26% of the cars we track. On three-year value retention it ranks better than 82% of models. The main things to check on a used one are the timing chain (b38/b48).
The Forecourt score blends how this car ranks against the catalogue on value retention, reliability and insurance cost (weighted 40/40/20). Higher is better; running cost is not yet folded in.
Fuel
Petrol · 1499cc
Power
136 ps
Drivetrain
FWD
Cam drive
Chain
Quoted MPG
47 mpg
Sport trim with the dual-clutch automatic.
Tidy and well looked-after for its age — the typical car.
Remembered as you browse other cars.
Optional — fills in the exact year and ULEZ status for your specific car. The registration isn’t stored.
Estimated market value
How we got this number — click for the breakdown, or to challenge it.£18,350
Range £15,200 – £21,800
medium confidence
How a 2023-registration Mini Cooper loses value over time.
Based on the 2023 car with 22,500 miles you entered above — worth about £18,350 today — here is the cost of owning it for the next 5 years, at roughly 7,500 miles a year.
5-year total
£17,826
Per year
£3,565
All-in per mile
£0.48
Fuel per mile
15.8p
If a company carAround £281/mo Benefit-in-Kind tax at the 40% rate (£140/mo at 20%) — 33% band
If you're a company-car driver
At 33% BIK, a 40% taxpayer would pay about £281/month in company-car tax (£140/month at 20%) — on top of the running costs above. Full BIK table below for context.
Best age to buy — around 5 years
A 5-year-old example loses roughly £800 a year — under half the £1,950 a one-year-old sheds. The steepest drop is behind it.
Uses current UK pump and home-charging prices (DESNZ weekly), typical-driver insurance and manufacturer service intervals. "Fuel per mile" is just the energy input — so an EV at ~9p and a diesel at ~22p make running-cost comparison direct. A guide; your own costs will vary.
Where this car ranks against the 340 vehicles in our index — higher is better.
Percentile rank across our full index. A measure is shown only where the data spreads meaningfully across the index.
How the available versions compare on price, running cost, and the headaches each tends to develop.
The budget Mini — 102 PS three-cylinder, manual only. Fleet/airport-rental favourite, plentiful used but expect cosmetic wear and run-flat dramas.
Watch for
The classic 136 PS Cooper with the manual gearbox — feels lighter and more characterful than the auto. Cooper Classic naming new for 2024 facelift.
Watch for
The volume seller — 7-speed DCT auto, 136 PS, Sport trim. Most-shopped used Cooper. Watch DCT health on test drive (slow take-up, hesitation off the line).
Watch for
The hot-Cooper sweet spot — 178 PS, much quicker than the Cooper, still sub-£30k new. Most balanced of the petrol Minis for spirited driving.
Watch for
Top-of-range JCW — 231 PS, four-pot turbo, the proper hot Mini. Holds value better than lesser Coopers because supply is limited. Inspect service history.
Watch for
Fuel/energy costs based on this week’s UK averages (w/c 22/06/2026) · Petrol 153.3p/L, Diesel 172.5p/L, Electricity 27.0p/kWh · DESNZ
Group 18 of 50 (mid — around the UK average) · Comprehensive · 3 years NCB
Indicative annual comprehensive premiums for this car, by driver age band and risk profile. Pick the combination closest to your circumstances.
Estimated annual premium · typical, age 33-39
£928/ year
Roughly £77 per month
Typical
Average UK driver — 3 years NCB, average postcode, no recent claims.| Age band | Lower risk | Typical | Higher risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| Age 17-25 | £2,116 | £2,645 | £3,438 |
| Age 26-32 | £1,104 | £1,299 | £1,585 |
| Age 33-39Selected | £817 | £928 | £1,095 |
| Age 40-49 | £693 | £770 | £893 |
| Age 50+ | £618 | £687 | £810 |
How we estimate this
Indicative annual comprehensive premium estimates. The 'Typical' figure represents an average UK driver in each age band; Lower and Higher risk show the realistic spread driven by factors UK insurers legitimately price on (postcode, occupation, claims history, NCB, voluntary excess, modifications). Based on 10,000 miles/yr, £250 voluntary excess, and the no-claims bonus selected above. Always get individual quotes before buying.
Adjust the annual mileage to match how you'll actually use the car. Insurance is what you selected above (age 33-39, typical risk, 3 yrs NCB).
Routine service
£300
Annual main-dealer service
Major service
£260
Every 2 years, annualised
Road tax
£195
Standard rate, post year-one
Electricity
£471
4.3 mi/kWh, 27p blended
Insurance
£928
Age 33-39, group 21
Clean-air zones
⚠ Depends on variantBased on London ULEZ standards — Birmingham, Bath, Bristol, Sheffield, Glasgow and other UK clean-air zones generally follow the same rules.
Excludes depreciation and unscheduled repairs (see next section).
What out-of-warranty repairs typically run, by mileage band. Your selected mileage is highlighted.
0-30k miles
£90
per year · low risk
30-60k miles
£270
per year · medium risk
60-100k miles
£580
per year · medium risk
100k+ miles
£1,000
per year · high risk
195/55 R16 · 205/45 R17 · 205/40 R18 · run-flat
What a full set of four will cost you (including fit and balance), and which brand each tier of buyer should pick. A typical set lasts about 17,000 miles.
Budget
£360
set of 4, fitted · £75 per tyre
Mid-range
£520
set of 4, fitted · £115 per tyre
Premium
£760
set of 4, fitted · £175 per tyre
Goodyear EfficientGrip Performance 2
Long-life option. Comes in run-flat sizes for Mini OE.
Pirelli Cinturato P7 (P7C2)
OE fit on most JCW models. Available as RFT or conventional.
Vredestein Quatrac
Dutch-made all-season. Strong winter grip, civilised summer manners.
Run-flat tyres make for a harsher ride than conventional. Most Mini upgraders switch + carry a tyre repair kit.
Drawn from owner reports and warranty data. Filtered for relevance to 22,500 miles.
Watch now
Failure typically happens around your current mileage.
Upcoming
A known weak point — but you haven't reached its usual mileage yet.
Already due
Past its usual failure mileage. Either already fixed, or about to.
Rattle on start-up. Better than Prince N18 era but still a concern.
Electric pump — failure causes overheating warning.
Heavier on JCW from launch abuse.
Some owners switch to conventional tyres with a tyre-repair kit.
Common on B38 3-cylinder.
"Parts low/medium/high" indicates how easy the replacement part is to source — discontinued or specialist parts mean longer workshop time and bigger bills.
Euro NCAP's independent crash-test rating for the Mini Cooper, from its 2025 assessment.
The passenger compartment of the MINI Cooper remained stable in the frontal offset test.
Independent crash-test data from Euro NCAP. Star ratings reflect the test protocol of the year shown — newer protocols are stricter, so a 5-star from 2024 represents a higher bar than a 5-star from 2014.
How this model fares at its MOT as it ages — from 2,760,837 real DVSA test records.
MOT pass rate by age
A 3-year-old Cooper passes its MOT 90.3% of the time; by 25 years that has slipped to 75%. The y-axis is zoomed to this model’s range so the trend is readable.
Longevity
From 509 vehicles registered in 2001.
Survival by registration year
Each point is one registration cohort. Older cars on the left, newer on the right. A flatter line means the model holds up over time; a steep drop means cohorts disappear from UK roads faster.
What’s on the road
The fuel-type split of every Cooper currently MOT’d in the UK. From 479,970 vehicles.
Common MOT failures by mileage
The defect categories this Cooper fails on most often, and how the failure rate climbs as the miles add up — from the same DVSA test records.
| Category | 0-30k | 30-60k | 60-100k | 100k+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tyres & wheels | 4% | 5% | 6% | 6% |
| Brakes | 1% | 2% | 3% | 6% |
| Lighting & signalling | — | 1% | 3% | 6% |
| Driver's view | 2% | 2% | 2% | 3% |
| Suspension | — | 1% | 3% | 6% |
| Emissions | — | — | 1% | 3% |
Share of MOT tests in each mileage band with at least one defect in that category. The peak band for each is highlighted.
Typical mileage by age
The average odometer reading for a Cooper at MOT, by age — measured from the same DVSA records, not assumed. A useful yardstick for whether a given car has done more or fewer miles than its age suggests.
Mean recorded mileage at MOT by vehicle age, from DVSA test records (ages with at least 10 tests shown).
Average
MOT outlook · age 5 years
66th percentile — About catalogue average
Based on 361,192 MOT tests · ranked against 248 catalogue models with comparable data
Where this car sits in the catalogue
Pass-rate distribution across 248 catalogue models
Safety recalls
Manufacturers occasionally issue safety recalls to fix a fault free of charge. You can check whether the Mini Cooper, or your exact vehicle, has any outstanding recalls on the official DVSA service.
Check on GOV.UKOpens the Driver & Vehicle Standards Agency recall checker. Choose the make, model and year of manufacture — no registration needed.
A general indicator from UK 2025 theft data and this car’s characteristics — not a prediction for any one vehicle.
Whole-car theft
Around average
Theft risk is around the UK average. Like most modern cars it has keyless entry, so relay theft is the method to guard against.
Parts theft
Around average
Parts-theft risk is around average — catalytic-converter theft is the main thing to be aware of on any petrol or diesel car.
Worth doing
Whether driving a Mini Cooper into a UK clean-air zone will cost you anything. Rules use the same Euro standard across most zones — petrol from 2006 and diesel from 2015 onwards are exempt; pure electric is always exempt.
| City | Area | Daily charge | Likely outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| London | All of Greater London (within the M25) | £12.50 | Likely exempt Petrol from 2006 meets Euro 4. |
| Birmingham | Inside the A4540 Middleway | £8.00 | Likely exempt Petrol from 2006 meets Euro 4. |
| Bristol | City centre and part of the Portway | £9.00 | Likely exempt Petrol from 2006 meets Euro 4. |
| Glasgow | City centre | — | Likely exempt Petrol from 2006 meets Euro 4. |
| Edinburgh | City centre | — | Likely exempt Petrol from 2006 meets Euro 4. |
| Aberdeen | City centre | — | Likely exempt Petrol from 2006 meets Euro 4. |
| Dundee | City centre | — | Likely exempt Petrol from 2006 meets Euro 4. |
Model-level guidance only. To check a specific registration, use the official gov.uk clean-air zone checker. Zone charges and boundaries are set by local councils and change over time.
UK charging network
As of 2026-04-01, the UK has 119,080 publicly available EV chargers, up 12.6% on the prior year (13,281 added in 2025). 23% of those are rapid (50 kW+) or ultra-rapid (150 kW+), so the network can support both home and on-route charging.
3-8 kW
50%
Standard
8-50 kW
27%
Standard plus
50-150 kW
12%
Rapid
150 kW+
11%
Ultra-rapid
Source: Department for Transport / Zapmap · Released 2026-05-21 · DfT statistics
What HMRC's Benefit-in-Kind charge looks like if you ran this Mini Cooper as a company car, by tax year and income-tax band. Calculated from a CO₂ of 144 g/km, using £25,500 as the P11D value.
| Tax year | BIK % | Tax @ 20% | Tax @ 40% | Monthly @ 20% | Monthly @ 40% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-26 | 33% | £1,683 | £3,366 | £140 | £281 |
| 2026-27 | 34% | £1,734 | £3,468 | £145 | £289 |
| 2027-28 | 35% | £1,785 | £3,570 | £149 | £298 |
| 2028-29 | 35% | £1,785 | £3,570 | £149 | £298 |
| 2029-30 | 35% | £1,785 | £3,570 | £149 | £298 |
P11D value is approximated from the latest new price; the exact figure on your tax code will depend on options fitted. The 4% diesel surcharge applies only to non-RDE2 (pre-2021) diesels — we assume RDE2 compliance for current models. Bands and rates from HMRC's Autumn Budget 2024 confirmation through 2029/30.
How well-supported Mini is across the UK — a practical read on how easy servicing, parts and warranty work will be to find.
Franchised UK dealers
~135
Large network
Premium mainstream
Network size relative to the UK's largest (Mini is 3% of all franchised outlets)
Servicing, parts and warranty work are easy to find UK-wide, and most independent garages know the brand well — which keeps maintenance competitive.
For context, the UK has roughly 4,500 franchised car-dealer outlets in total, plus about 15,500 independent garages.
Approximate figures, curated from public UK industry sources (NFDA, Car Dealer Magazine). Franchised networks shrink year on year — these indicate network size, not an exact count.
Of every Mini Cooper ever registered in the UK, this is what's actively on the road, parked off the road on a SORN, or gone for good.
Total ever registered
545,101
Currently taxed & on road
505,822
93% of all registered
SORN (off road)
39,279
7% of all registered
Scrapped or exported
0
UK fleet trend — 2014 to 2025
+0.4% vs 2024Source: DfT VEH0124 vehicle licensing statistics (year-end 2025) · Updated 1 Jul 2026
Common questions
Similar cars
Same underpinnings
Front-wheel-drive transverse-engine platform for BMW's smaller models, also shared with current Mini. Different badges, often substantially different residuals, but broadly the same mechanicals and repair cost profile.
BMW Front-wheel-drive Architecture · BMW
Common questions
Answers are generated from this car's Forecourt data — DVSA MOT records, DfT licensing statistics and our valuation model — and update with the weekly data refresh.