Clearly, the box marked “new ideas” is empty in the Munich studio where Minis are designed, because this latest redesign is real blink-and-you’ll-miss-it-stuff. This car is, to the untrained eye, almost identical looking to the first generation new...

Let’s get something important out the way. The diesel Mini is no where near as good as the Cooper, S or even the One. But a small diesel will never (well maybe not never) be as good as a petrol equivalent so that’s not a fair comparison. Importantly,...