Mini Cooper S

The switch from R53 to R56 Mini brought a 61mm stretch and I never wanted for more space in the comfy front seats. We hardly used the rears, but you can just squeeze small adults in for short journeys. The boot, too, is risibly fun sized, but then you’d have to be dense not to realize the Mini’s baggage handling is on a par with British Airways’. At least you can easily drop the rear car seats.

One thing very big about our Cooper S is its $16,000 base price, an expensive luxury, but I’d argue that your extra cash secures extra quality. And residual values are stronger than on any other small car’s industry forecaster CAP says our holds 54% of its value after three years/ 30,000 miles (Renault sport Clio 43%, Alfa Mito 51%, Honda Jazz 52%).

It feels every inch a shrunken BMW, from its flawless paint finish to that strangely mellifluous indicator tick tock. Most of the interior is crafted with quality materials, although we weren’t alone in experiencing an annoying creak from the dash near the driver’s A pillar. This was silenced when we replaced the cracked widescreen of the Mini Cooper S.