Money Saving Hero Awards 2023
Best Urban Car - MINI Electric

Our award for the best Money Saving Urban Car goes to the MINI Electric. If you do most of your driving in cities, you want a car which is small and nimble. It would be a bonus if it is fun to drive - and we want it to be affordable too!

We are naturally drawn to the Fiat 500 electric - winner of our previous Electrifying Car of the Year, but the starting price of that car has shot up in the past year which now rules it out for us.

The cheapest 500 was under £20,000, but now the entry-level model with a smaller battery has been discontinued, meaning it is now more than £30,000 for the entry level. But the MINI is still available for with prices starting at £29,000.

Despite this, the MINI doesn’t feel anything like a budget car. It has proper BMW quality, decent tech and drives really well too. As you’d expect from a MINI it’s fun, but it also feels solid and refined.

The elephant in the MINI’s room is the limited range. A comparatively small 32kWh battery means it has an official range of 145 miles, which is more like 120 miles in the real world. But that’s not so important in the city, where driving 120 miles would take the average motorist more than a week before they need a top up.

It will make good use of the power you put in too, gaining a A+ in our Efficiency Rating. Add it together and we think it means the MINI Electric is a great way for urban-dwellers to save money without feeling like they are economising at all.