Test Drive: Mini Cooper ups the ante for 2015 (04:12)

The Mini Cooper may be bigger for the 2015 model year, but it's still a small car.

Particularly under the hood, where the car saw its 1.6-litre four-cylinder engine replaced with a turbocharged 1.5-litre three-cylinder.

It may be down a cylinder, as Graeme Fletcher explains, but the new powerplant puts out 134-horsepower and 162 lb.ft. of torque and a baker's dozen more horsepower and 48 more lb.ft. of torque than its predecessor.

The Cooper S is still available with a four-cylinder engine and a turbocharged unit, to be exact—that puts out 189-horsepower and 207 lb.ft. of torque.

So how good is the new Mini?

Well our favourite Brit calls this favourite Brit the best one yet.