Mini’s five-door model opens up the doors to the corporate market for the brand, and we will be putting the vehicle through its paces on the BusinessCar fleet over the next six months.

Mini is a very desirable brand but the hatch three-door model has been locked out of many fleet choice lists due to five-door only policies.

Fleets have had the option of a Countryman crossover model, which has five doors, but it’s really the hatch that is closer to the core of what Mini is all about.

The new variant will boost Mini’s true fleet sales from 6500 to 10,500 units in its first full year of sales and will eventually overtake the Countryman as the brand’s main fleet player.

It has a £600 price premium over the three-door (on all models), but drivers get an increased wheelbase of 72mm and an increase in boot space of 67 litres to 278 litres. The extra room is immediately apparent, with more headroom and space to actually fit someone comfortably in the back seats, unlike the three-door.

That extra space doesn’t come to the detriment of looks though, as both the front and back end views totally hide the fact there are, in fact, extra doors.

The boot space isn’t cavernous, but it’s actually more competitive than the Mini’s closest premium five-door rival, the Audi A1 Sportback, which has slightly less at 270 litres.

There’s a 60:40 folding rear seat and it’s possible to create a flat loading surface with a modular boot floor, which can be stacked on three different levels.

The 95g/km CO2 Cooper D is expected to take the majority of fleet sales at 50%, and that’s what we have here. It’s absolutely loaded with spec, and while most fleets wouldn’t go as crazy as this with options (there’s over £5000’s worth on this model) it’s a great demonstration of, and chance to assess, what Mini has to offer.

Mini’s efficiency technology is standard across the range and includes automatic engine stop/start, gearshift point display function, and brake energy recuperation.

While many drivers will be attracted to Mini purely from the brand alone, the running costs are good enough for fleets to take notice. A 20% taxpayer will pay £51 a month for this model and it works out at 42.2p per mile to run.

The A1 is slightly cheaper to run at 39.8p, and you could choose a high-spec Ford Fiesta or VW Polo for less money, but none has as much personality as the Mini. Its bulletproof residuals at 44.4% also help make a strong case for fleets.

My first fuel economy result of 49.3mpg isn’t great considering the official figure is 78.5mpg, but I’ll put that down to the amount of start-stop city driving the Mini has done so far. Hopefully, a few more long-distance trips and driving in green mode will get the efficiency figures creeping up in the coming weeks.