With the previous MINI Hatch, Cooper was the middle-ranking performance and trim combination, sandwiched between the humbler One and faster Cooper S. Leaving the rapid John Cooper Works version aside, this new-era MINI Cooper now has just two levels of petrol-powered urgency — C with 156PS and S packing...

The entry-level MINI Cooper E comes with a relatively small battery and 190-mile official range, but many buyers are expected to go for the MINI Cooper SE. This comes with a bigger battery pack and an official range of up to 249 miles. Now that's the ‘head’ stuff out of the way, does the new MINI...

Their numbers may be on the decline, but there are still plenty of petrol-powered small cars out there – the budget-focused Dacia Sandero , for example, or the Hyundai i20 . Or if you fancy a used model, there is no shortage of Ford Fiestas . Smaller, shorter and lighter than most of its small...

What is immediately obvious is that the Mazda 2 Hybrid looks quite different to the conventional Mazda 2 , and has a lot in common with the Toyota Yaris Hybrid. Indeed, the Mazda 2 Hybrid is the result of a collaboration between Mazda and Toyota, and is based on the Toyota Yaris Hybrid, with some...

MINI has been very good at filling niches, even ones we never knew existed until it launched a model. It’s surprising, then, this company took as long to offer a five-door version of the popular hatch. Amazingly, it took until 2014 for the five-door hatch to arrive, some 13 years after the first of...

The Citroen DS3 was one of the most must-have cars of the past decade. A small hatch good enough to take on the all-conquering MINI, with avant-garde styling, a premium cabin, fun-to-drive dynamics and a range of efficient and punchy engines. The car became the DS 3 Cabrio when DS Automobiles split...