MINI SE Electric: Hood scoop or nah?

[Pushmi-Pullyu]

As for the hood, it would be so easy for MINI to install a base MINI hood [snippage of good stuff] All the MINIs go down the same production line...

Ah, I didn't realize that all Mini would need to do would be to use a different part that it already stocks. Thanks for explaining.

It does seem strange they would put a hood with an air scoop on an EV, but then block off the air intake. I guess it's just a style choice, then.

Seems like you should be able to find another Mini owner who would be happy to swap hoods, if your paint jobs match. Maybe advertise on Craigslist?

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[insightman]

It does seem strange they would put a hood with an air scoop on an EV, but then block off the air intake.

As others have replied on other forums, ALL MINI hood scoops have been blocked off after BMW's 1st-gen MINI. Certainly, the base MINI's hood costs less to produce than one with a fake hood scoop so why not agree to charge me more for less?

Here's what I just put in a letter to the MINI Head of Exterior Design in the UK, Thomas Sycha.



After bombarding 5 MINI executives with my plea, I should be receiving my cease-and-desist letter soon.

 

[insightman]

Sadly, from the limited number of electric MINI packages the company is offering, it appears it is less configurable than other MINIs. So my dream that someone could check a box and install the base MINI's scoopless hood on my MINI Cooper SE is fading. However, I was compelled to set up a website to voice my complaint so I could stop boring the people here with my hood-scoop anathema.

 

[insightman]

Silly me. I now realize how futile my quest was to get BMW to offer a hood-scoop delete option for the electric MINI Cooper SE. Here's BMW's new electric concept car, the i4. No, it doesn't have a fake hood scoop like the MINI Cooper SE, but instead it has a humongous fake grille (Nobody will confuse OUR electric car with a Tesla!). Silly me.

 

[rossferguson]

Ah, I didn't realize that all Mini would need to do would be to use a different part that it already stocks. Thanks for explaining.

It does seem strange they would put a hood with an air scoop on an EV, but then block off the air intake. I guess it's just a style choice, then.

Seems like you should be able to find another Mini owner who would be happy to swap hoods, if your paint jobs match. Maybe advertise on Craigslist?

​

It's totally a style choice. It makes more sense if you read the naming ethos behind the model...don't look at "SE" as a trim package like it would be on a lot of other makes (SE, GT, RS, etc. etc. etc.) If you mentally add a hyphen between the S and the E, it makes more sense...this is a Mini Cooper S, but with the E tacked on for Electric. The hood scoop is part of the Cooper S package - that's also why it's a Cooper S on the doorsills (only the S is chartreuse instead of red, which is awesome.) They've positioned the Cooper SE to be equivalent to the Cooper S in the model hierarchy, so it's spec'd out equivalently as well (right down to the hood scoop.)

I just bought my Cooper SE a week ago and I'm absolutely in love with the little bugger so far!

 

[insightman]

It's totally a style choice. It makes more sense if you read the naming ethos behind the model...don't look at "SE" as a trim package like it would be on a lot of other makes (SE, GT, RS, etc. etc. etc.) If you mentally add a hyphen between the S and the E, it makes more sense...this is a Mini Cooper S, but with the E tacked on for Electric. The hood scoop is part of the Cooper S package - that's also why it's a Cooper S on the doorsills (only the S is chartreuse instead of red, which is awesome.) They've positioned the Cooper SE to be equivalent to the Cooper S in the model hierarchy, so it's spec'd out equivalently as well (right down to the hood scoop.)

@rossferguson, you are, of course, correct. The whole reason the MINI Cooper S and SE both get a fake hood scoop is to recall the days when MINI Coopers had functional hood scoops to increase the performance of their internal-combustion engines. Honda, too, likes adding fake scoops and vents to make their cars look more sporty.

Another ornament I don't like is a fake spoiler. As far as I know, only the original Audi TT needed to add a spoiler to prevent handling problems at sane speeds, but lots of cars have unnecessary spoilers. I don't like over-sized exhaust-pipe extensions, either. However, I can understand those who appreciate the non-functional MINI Cooper S/SE hood scoop as a link to the MINI Cooper's performance heritage.

My feelings about the hood scoop on the MINI Electric are shared by some highly credentialed allies: MINI's design team. I created a historical slide show that traces the history of the electric versions of this great car. No electric MINI test car, concept car, concept drawing, or production prototype included a hood scoop. A highly placed member of MINI's design team (not Thomas Sycha) told me I'd have to talk to Marketing about the hood scoop that first appeared July 9th, 2019, the day MINI unveiled the MINI Cooper SE that would finally be sold to the public.

MINI allows people buying a Signature Plus or Iconic MINI Cooper SE to delete the sunroof at no additional cost. Why shouldn't I be allowed to pay extra to choose the less-expensive scoopless hood from the base MINI?

Today I contacted my favorite body shop and asked them to come up with an estimate for replacing the hood when my MINI arrives sometime in July. I hope there will be many ebay members who want to bid on a brand-new Moonwalk Grey MINI Cooper S/SE hood, but I have nowhere to store the original hood so I'll probably start the bidding at $1 (plus shipping) to make sure it sells quickly.

My wife thinks I'm crazy, but I've convinced her over the past year that fixing the hood is the only way I'll be completely happy with the car. It would be terrible to always be envying the base MINI that lives down the block. After the scoop is gone I will be very happy that the great MINI logo on that beautifully sculpted hood will not be forced to compete with a looming opening to nowhere.

I guess I should be grateful MINI didn't also include fake exhaust pipes that emit the recorded sound of a supercharged MINI Cooper S.</soapbox>

 

[Pushmi-Pullyu]

After bombarding 5 MINI executives with my plea, I should be receiving my cease-and-desist letter soon.

Thanks for the belly laugh, "insightman"!

​

 

[insightman]

I wrote a long, long, whiny post about my year-long struggle with hood-scoop phobia. Then I deleted it. Then, because I spent more than an hour writing the interminably long version, I decided to hide it and post only the most recent part of my saga here.

My MINI Cooper SE is due to arrive at the Port of Baltimore on August 13th. Sadly, MINI of Ann Arbor is going out of business on Monday, August 24th. Can MINI get my car to Ann Arbor in time? What can I do in these last hours to get rid of the fake, blocked-off hood scoop I hate so much?

Today, I hand-delivered a letter to MINI of Ann Arbor, addressed to their General Manager. I proposed that he set a price for swapping hoods with one of two Moonwalk Grey base MINI Coopers still on his lot. Is he worried about MINI back-charging him after he returns an unsold car that mysteriously grew a hood scoop? If so, he can include that expected penalty in my cost for the hood-swap. I hope I get more than crickets, but I'm not holding my breath.

On August 25th, I expect I'll be calling my local body shop to accept their $2,040 estimate. Sadly, the price of obsession won't get me a factory paint job.

 

[MichaelC]

I have to wonder if you were the first to order and the last to take delivery of a 2020 SE. Surely, that must count for something?

 

[insightman]

I have to wonder if you were the first to order and the last to take delivery of a 2020 SE. Surely, that must count for something?

No, I was denied a 2020 MINI Cooper SE. All SEs manufactured after the coronavirus shut-down are 2021 models.

 

[MichaelC]

Oh, dang. I thought for sure you ordered early enough to get in before the change-over.

 

[insightman]

Oh, dang. I thought for sure you ordered early enough to get in before the change-over.

I did order early enough to get a MINI Cooper SE built before the March coronavirus shutdown, but I believe MINI put my order at the bottom of the pile and favored orders going to ZEV states over orders from Michigan and other non-ZEV states. I was still grateful that MINI decided to make the SE available in non-ZEV states at all.

My car was one of the first post-shutdown cars built in June, so I didn't miss the 2020 model year by much. The model year isn't important to me. I've already decided to trash my car's resale value by changing the hood to exorcise the hood scoop. Or can I weave a story that makes my MINI Cooper SE into the only one built according to the original specifications of the MINI Design team?

 

[MichaelC]

I was still grateful that MINI decided to make the SE available in non-ZEV states at all.

Same! When I started researching EVs, I found my first choice isn't sold here (and cannot be serviced here), so availability was ultimately the deciding factor. The "usual suspects" are available here, but I wasn't interested in them--I think the MINI will be a much better fit for me.

I've already decided to trash my car's resale value by changing the hood to exorcise the hood scoop. Or can I weave a story that makes my MINI Cooper SE into the only one built according to the original specifications of the MINI Design team?

Now you're talking! You're increasing value by uniquely equipping your SE to better reflect the original concept.

 

[F14Scott]

I think you should just go with a couple of these:

 

[insightman]

I think you should just go with a couple of these:
View attachment 8931

They could make things dicey in a traffic stop. Also, it's too hard to clean the bugs out of the holes.

My term-limited dealer is trying to make me happy. They've offered me an OEM replacement hood at their cost and are trying to work a deal with their preferred body shop. Now, if I could get them to also discount my car $5K the way they are for their MINI Liquidation Event (only for cars already on the lot), everything would work out great for both my pocketbook and my obsession.

 

[MichaelC]

That's great news, @insightman! Good luck on the additional discount, too!

 

[insightman]

It rained last night. This morning I opened the hood of my new MINI Cooper SE. The stupid, fake, blocked-off hood-scoop ornament had acquired a pocketful of water, which it unceremoniously dumped onto the motor/inverter cover as the hood raised up. So the bogus hood scoop may not admit any air to the motor compartment, but it certainly isn't waterproof when the car is parked.

Now I have one more reason, in addition to appropriateness, aesthetics and aerodynamics, to complain about the unnecessary hood scoop. My SE's 4-day hood-scoopectomy procedure begins Monday so if this waterfall hadn't occurred today, I might never have known about the scoop's water-retention problem.

Edit made a few minutes after initial outburst: For those not as dramatic as me, you can prevent most of the waterfall by wiping the water off the hood scoop before opening the hood, but there will still be drips.

 

[Puppethead]

I was under the impression the scoop is now a speaker for the pedestrian alert sound when traveling under 20mph.

 

[F14Scott]

It rained last night. This morning I opened the hood of my new MINI Cooper SE. The stupid, fake, blocked-off hood-scoop ornament had acquired a pocketful of water, which it unceremoniously dumped onto the motor/inverter cover as the hood raised up. So the bogus hood scoop may not admit any air to the motor compartment, but it certainly isn't waterproof when the car is parked.

Now I have one more reason, in addition to appropriateness, aesthetics and aerodynamics, to complain about the unnecessary hood scoop. My SE's 4-day hood-scoopectomy procedure begins Monday so if this waterfall hadn't occurred today, I might never have known about the scoop's water-retention problem.

Edit made a few minutes after initial outburst: For those not as dramatic as me, you can prevent most of the waterfall by wiping the water off the hood scoop before opening the hood, but there will still be drips.

I assume the wiper fluid reservoir is under the hood. Any other reason to open it? Is there power steering (that uses fluid)? I assume there's a brake fluid reservoir?

 

[insightman]

I assume the wiper fluid reservoir is under the hood. Any other reason to open it? Is there power steering (that uses fluid)? I assume there's a brake fluid reservoir?

Now you have to go all practical on me. There is no power steering fluid because the power steering is electric. There is power brake fluid, windshield washer fluid, and a tank for the coolant (antifreeze) that maintains the temperature of the battery, inverter, and motor. I wanted to look into the coolant tank to see the level at the time of delivery.