Mini 5D Hatch vs Mitsubishi eK X EV

What's the difference?

That the 2020 Mini Clubman John Cooper Works is the most powerful Mini to have landed in Australia isn’t all that surprising. After all, parent company BMW has squeezed the thumping four-cylinder engine from the M135i under its bonnet, and that thing creates a snarling beast of any vehicle it finds a home in.

What is a surprise, though, is that having now driven this angry, crackling, snarling hot hatch, what with its burbling exhaust and properly rapid acceleration, is that it took Mini this long to get around to doing it.

So does the engine upgrade now put the Clubman JCW on the same pedestal as the best European hot hatches?  There's only one way to find out.

If EVs are to make a meaningful difference to our collective environmental impact, there's one thing standing in the way: price.

Complexity, competency and capability have all improved since EVs started entering new car showrooms a decade ago, but in that time the price tags haven't improved all that much.

Buying an EV is still a rich person's game and scarcity on the used-car market means there are few true bargains for those willing to go with something second-hand. Even the Chinese aren't selling electric cars below the $40K barrier yet.

And that's where the Mitsubishi eK X EV comes in - or at least it would, if Mitsubishi Motors Australia chose to bring it to our shores.

Though it's unconfirmed for our market for now, we took the opportunity to spend a bit of time behind the wheel in its home (and so far, only) market of Japan.

Appetite for eco cars has been strong in Japan for a long time now, and the eK X EV (along with its platform twin the Nissan Sakura) arrives at a time where Japanese motorists are crying out for more affordable all-electric options.

Though its diminutive size and limited single-charge range would exclude it from consideration for a large number of Aussie motorists, would the compact eK X EV nevertheless make sense in Australian cities as a low-cost runabout for urbanites? It's certainly a question worth asking.