Mini 3D Hatch vs Cupra Tavascan

What's the difference?

Coincidence is a funny thing. The same week I had the Mini Cooper S 60 Years, the last VW Beetle rolled down the line in Mexico. VW blamed its mammoth €25bn investment in electric, but the reality is that nobody was buying that nostalgia trip anymore.

The story of Mini is quite different. BMW's aggressive expansion of the range beyond the three-door hatch has breathed all sorts of life into a brand that could have disappeared up its own Union Jack. Instead of sticking to the formula, the brand tried all sorts of things but has since settled on the hatch (three- and five-door), the Cabrio, the wacky Clubman semi-wagon and the Countryman SUV. BMW is now making lots of cars on the same platform, a nice two way street.

The Mini Cooper S is 60 years old and unlike the Beetle, it's powering on past its birthday and the company - no stranger to a special edition - has slapped together a classic combo of colours, stripes and badges.

Timing is everything.

For instance, with all the bad publicity the man behind the brand is generating, right now might be the perfect time if you’re in the market for a Tesla Model Y alternative.

And that’s especially so if said alternative happens to be around the same price… such as the all-new Cupra Tavascan.

No, not an antacid for relief from indigestion, but the Volkswagen Group’s Spanish brand’s first medium-sized electric SUV.

Is it good enough to catapult Cupra into the big time in Australia?

Time to find out!