Mini Cooper SE (EV)

Ionised

I've ordered moonstone grey, black wheels, mirrors and roof. Also deleted the yellow grill section. Current info from dealer is still August.
May I ask which dealer you ordered through? I'm going with Joe Duffy Finglas

liamog

I went through Frank Keane on the Naas Rd, the sales guy has been really responsive through the shutdown.
You don't get a choice of the yellow on the BRG, not that I'm complaining!

Ionised

The guy in Joe Duffy always answers emails which is a rare enough thing these days. Fingers crossed for August this end.

Odd to think I'm currently in my last ever petrol vehicle after nearly 40 years of driving.

unkel

Frank Keane BMW, Naas Road is a top class dealer. Always has been. Total professional outfit. Treat you with respect whether you're picking up a €3 bolt or a €160,000 7-series

ELM327

unkel wrote: »

Frank Keane BMW, Naas Road is a top class dealer. Always has been. Total professional outfit. Treat you with respect whether you're picking up a €3 bolt or a €160,000 7-series

Agree. I used to live quite near there and popped up on a saturday when to nosey about. Obvious tire kickers but they still came over and tried the sales pitches etc .

R.O.R

Had to collect a car from Airport Long term parking (customer stranded in foreign climes) and my BMW contact said he'd help out as they are close, so took a MINI EV for the Job.

Only the 2nd EV I've driven, and the first on a public road, but it's an absolute hoot to drive. Left a much more expensive car in it's wake on the way back

Apart from the much better, instant acceleration, it didn't feel any different to drive than a standard MINI Auto. Didn't notice the extra weight, so handling was the normal, excellent MINI standard. What did surprise me was the lack of wheelspin - roads are pretty wet out so I was expecting it to struggle to get grip, but I only managed to the the yellow light flashing under serious provocation.

About 2,000km on the one I drove so far. Had to unplug before we set off and I'm sure it was fully charged, but range was only showing 86km (with A/C on and regenerative braking set to low) and dipped as low as 60km on the way back. As it's mainly used for test drives, and probably driven pretty hard most of the time, that sort of range wouldn't be the norm.

Will try to grab one for an overnight to see how it deals with a motorway commute and how that affects the range, but I've still got a huge smile on my face after that.

unkel

And it's basically a 2013 BMW i3, with FWD. Imagine what BMW could have been like if they had marched ahead with their EV program? An EV 3-series with the same setup in about 2016 from around €35-37k on the road after subsidies. More models and longer range versions in the years after. They would have been well setup by now to dominate the EV market. Instead they appointed Krüger as CEO in 2014, who promptly pretty much shut down the program :mad:

liamog

unkel wrote: »

And it's basically a 2013 BMW i3, with FWD. Imagine what BMW could have been like if they had marched ahead with their EV program? An EV 3-series with the same setup in about 2016 from around €35-37k on the road after subsidies. More models and longer range versions in the years after. They would have been well setup by now to dominate the EV market. Instead they appointed Krüger as CEO in 2014, who promptly pretty much shut down the program :mad:

I think it was Deiss who was behind the BMW I programmes, they lost him to VW where he kicked off the MEB platform and the ID programme. If he had been supported BMW I reckon Tesla would of had serious performance competition against an EV 3 series, instead we only have BMW's big PHEV push which will cover them on short term emissions.

unkel

Books will be written and films will be made about this stuff.

liamog

Good review of the Mini on Harrys Garage. Especially if you are looking for a non EV kind of review.

quokula

Was it just me or was he basing his price comparison on the top level electric with all the additional equipment compared to the basic entry level petrol version? Most people on here seem to agree it's actually very competitively priced when you compare like for like.

unkel

Yeah noticed that too. He was all over the shop. I guess his strength is not in comparing costs of cars

liamog

He was indeed, Mini's have always been expensive when you add all of the toys.

A Cooper S starts at €29,428 with no options versus the SE at €27,764.

ainsyjnr

Took a level 2 out on a 24 hour test drive yesterday. I drove for pretty much 2 and 3/4 hours and covered 110 miles, 40% 100km/h, 40% 80km/h with the rest 50/60km/h. Got home with 15% left. I wasn’t taking it too easy but not hammering either. That’s my commute normally and although the car is great I am going to give it a miss for those purposes as I just need something a bit smoother over the bumps; but as a second car when we replace the Ionia phev, absolutely. I even went to Tesco’s, had two young children in the back without a bother in this small car.

Coming from the leaf tekna with the Bose system the stock upgraded stereo is not too bad, good bass but the mids were a little thin at times. Nothing a better set of door speakers wouldn’t fix. I imagine the Harmon kardon is better than the Bose.

Many won’t go for it because of the range but as an electric car it is excellent, no compromise on the driving for being electric and quality build also, I’ll definitely consider it in the future.

Ionised

Finally some good news on my order. My level 3 is due to be delivered 16th September.
There is going to be a two week gap but the dealer has offered to loan me a car for that period. They are basically going to buy my car into stock so they will pay off my PCP before its due on 28th August.

Ordered 22nd January so might be some kind of record for a non tesla ev

KCross

Ionised wrote: »

Finally some good news on my order. My level 3 is due to be delivered 16th September.
There is going to be a two week gap but the dealer has offered to loan me a car for that period. They are basically going to buy my car into stock so they will pay off my PCP before its due on 28th August.

Ordered 22nd January so might be some kind of record for a non tesla ev

Did the dealer say anything about the vat reduction and whether they would pass it to you?

Ionised

KCross wrote:

Did the dealer say anything about the vat reduction and whether they would pass it to you?

We haven't had the final conversation on cost just yet but it will feature in it for sure.

unkel

You should get the VAT reduction as the delivery is not until September.

KCross

unkel wrote: »

You should get the VAT reduction as the delivery is not until September.

Should is the appropriate word there. If you haven’t signed a contract they can take the vat reduction as increased margin. It would look bad but the dealers are in for a tough year or two so they could go either way.

Ionised

I'm more keen to get the charger grant application going so I can get that sorted in good time.
As far as final deal figures go I'm sure there will be some changes from the original quote back in January!

liamog

Bjorn doing tests with the Mini at the moment.
At 90km/h covered 229km with an efficiency of 12.7kWh/100km. He also tested at 120km/h where he got an efficiency of 17.7kWh/100km and an estimated range of 166km.

Charged at Ionity, charging curve 50kW up to 78%, then it started ramping down, though still going at over 12kW at 95%.

To me, it looks like the Mini has a very similar battery and efficiency as the 2016 Ioniq, with only the 50kW CCS limit scoring against it. This is great to see, as a lot of newer small EVs really suffer at motorway speeds.

unkel

Not quite like Ioniq as that is more efficient and more aerodynamic. More like the i3 you mean? Very efficient setup with reasonable drag coefficients, very similar between MINI and i3 at 0.30 and 0.29 respectively. People forget but for years i3 was the second most efficient EV after Ioniq, no small feat for a car launched way back in 2013

liamog

It's more efficient than the I3 because it has a lower frontal area, the CD is important, but it's the CDA that really affects the air resistance, in terms of Bjorn's testing it's the third most efficient car at motorway speeds, after the Ioniq, and Model 3. He was very surprised.

My drawing parallels to the Ioniq 28 was due to the good motorway efficiency, fast charging up to 80% and decent enough up to 95% and the general range at motorway and none motorway speeds.

unkel

I'd love to take one for a test drive, must book that in some time. I just know it will be a cracker to drive :cool:

Kramer

Bob didn't seem too impressed?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mkdPoxaoLQ

kris_2021

Kramer wrote: »

Bob didn't seem too impressed?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mkdPoxaoLQ

Well he does not really like ev's...give him golf and he is in heaven 😂😂😂

liamog

He did 90km from Sandyford to Portlaoise on a mix of 100km/h and 120km/h roads and used 50% of the battery, a consistent result with Bjorn's.

Ionised

If it averages 200km on a charge over the year I'll only need to charge twice a week. Happy days.

I was surprised how positive Bjorn was overall to be honest.

For myself, if it handles as a Mini should, and is good for 100km a day then it works for me.

McGiver

Ionised wrote: »

If it averages 200km on a charge over the year I'll only need to charge twice a week. Happy days.

I was surprised how positive Bjorn was overall to be honest.

For myself, if it handles as a Mini should, and is good for 100km a day then it works for me.

It's an offshoot of the i3 really, with further updates to the drivetrain I guess, hence the better energy efficiency.

Tiny boot but who cares if it suits as a city car. Even OK for longer trips, charge at Ionity and you're grand.

McGiver

Looks like this is the only EV that is cheaper as electric as opposed to the comparable ICE version?
At least in Ireland..

liamog

McGiver wrote: »

Looks like this is the only EV that is cheaper as electric as opposed to the comparable ICE version?
At least in Ireland..

Mini were smart, they could of released it as Mini One, but it would of been more powerful and €5,000 more expensive. Instead they've badged it as the comparable Cooper S model, and so it comes in as cheaper than the ICE. Supposedly the engineers put the I3 drive train in the car, and "realised" it had the performance of the Cooper S, so chose to market it that way.

unkel

0-100km/h in a touch over 6.6s. That's very decent and a good bit better than the official figure of 7.3s from BMW

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11cKgOK20ZA

Kramer

unkel wrote: »

0-100km/h in a touch over 6.6s. That's very decent and a good bit better than the official figure of 7.3s from BMW

Isn't it front wheel drive though? I'd say it'll struggle on wet roads or accelerating aggressively onto roundabouts with that performance.
Mad_Lad says it's rear wheel drive or nothing (* and a small petrol generator in the boot ).

I saw many test driving these while waiting for my 530e alignment check in Joe Duffy's recently. It's probably one of the better, recent, EV offerings IMO & no doubt will sell well.

It's not a motorway mile muncher so 200km range & 50kW charging isn't bad for its intended target market.

McGiver

Kramer wrote:

Isn't it front wheel drive though? I'd say it'll struggle on wet roads or accelerating aggressively onto roundabouts with that performance. Mad_Lad says it's rear wheel drive or nothing (* and a small petrol generator in the boot ).

I agree with him on the RWD. RWD in i3 is awesome, it will be very hard for me to change to any other car because of this.

unkel

Big fan of RWD myself. Particularly if you can switch off traction control, or even better, when the car is so old skool it doesn't even have traction control

I've yet to drive the MINI EV but there's no denying it's a real drivers car, even though it is "only" FWD

Ionised

Update on my incoming Mini.
Dealer contacted me to say they had a cancelled order available immediately. Same Level 3 spec but in Enigmatic Black (where do they come up with these colour names). My original order is still at least 8 weeks away.
After a short discussion with the OH it was decided to swap to this car. All being well with grant application by the dealer, it should be less than two weeks to delivery.

If anyone is looking for a 172 Leon Cupra 300 in grey with 27k on the clock, mine should be appearing on some dealer forecourt fairly soon.

Now I just have to get my home chargepoint sorted in a timely fashion.

Ionised

Quick update. Collecting Monday 17th.

MarkN

Driving one this week, amazing fun to drive. Thank God I’ve a home charger though. Will you be getting the rear lights?!

ewj1978

Is it very similar drive to the I3? since it has the same motor etc?

MarkN

Much livelier.

Ionised

Those rear lights are standard fitment afaik

listermint

Ionised wrote: »

Those rear lights are standard fitment afaik

thought they were extra.


they are also ghastly.

Silent Running

listermint wrote: »

thought they were extra.


they are also ghastly.

I'm sure I read somewhere that it was a €600 option to get rid of them and to have normal lights instead.

liamog

The car comes with the Union Flag rear lights, you cannot factory delete them, however, my dealer (and probably others) can do a dealer replacement for the standard lights. I was quoted around €500.

KCross

liamog wrote: »

The car comes with the Union Flag rear lights, you cannot factory delete them...

What a stupid production decision.

Sure no one is going to want a car with another countries flag built into it. :rolleyes:

I bet it wont be long before they change that!

liamog

I don't mind it that much, it makes the light cluster look more interesting.
I thought we were better than the Northern Ireland Flegs debate!

beauf

liamog wrote: »

I don't mind it that much, it makes the light cluster look more interesting.
I thought we were better than the Northern Ireland Flegs debate!

The issue is not us. Its if someone else has an issue with it, and damages the car.

Lot of morons out there.

liamog

Then switch them
I think the likelihood of anyone wilfully damaging the car because the LED rear lights look like half a Union Flag is very low on my list of concerns.

KCross

liamog wrote: »

I don't mind it that much, it makes the light cluster look more interesting.
I thought we were better than the Northern Ireland Flegs debate!

Would the English buy a car with a french or Irish flag on it?

It’s just unnecessary rather than it being an anti British thing.

unkel

My father in law once bought a second hand Rover 45. It had small Union Jacks in two little side panels. He tipp-exed them out

While I do find it a bit silly that the car comes with these flags, the MINI is supposed to be quintessentially British. Even though it is really German. But I guess Queen Victoria and her husband were German too and they only spoke German at home with their all German staff :eek:

Personally I wouldn't be worried about it being damaged over here. It is 2020, not 1980. And I don't think I would pay the dealer to remove them.