Why not a COOPER S?

P

Pierre Racine

New Member
I’m curious to know why people choose a Cooper SE over a COOPER S. is it mainly because of the price difference, climate change contribution or any other reason? Also, have you ever considered the convertible?

Thank you!
 
Things I love about electric cars, and they all apply to my SE (and my wife's TM3):

Instant torque
One pedal driving
Quiet
Zero time spent at gas stations
Almost zero maintenance, so no time at the dealership, either
No engine warm up (I live 30 seconds from my short on-ramp, so gunning my cars in the winter used to bother me).
1/4 to 1/3 the fuel cost, about a $1000 savings, per year.
 
Pierre Racine said:
I’m curious to know why people choose a Cooper SE over a COOPER S. is it mainly because of the price difference, climate change contribution or any other reason? Also, have you ever considered the convertible?

Thank you!
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Some reviewers who have driven both the MINI JCW (better than an S) and the MINI Cooper SE have reported the SE is more fun to drive. If you could get a test drive, you'd understand. Of course, the elephant in the room is EV range. The SE is probably not the best car for a one-car family.

An electric convertible from any manufacturer would be a big hit (it looks like Porsche might be first to make one--unless you count the original Tesla Roadster). However, a convertible EV will probably require a full roll bar to protect the occupants from the heavy battery in a rollover crash. The lure of the MINI Electric's driving dyamics outweighed the open-air delights of the MINI Convertible for me. A year in, I've never had more fun driving.
 
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I traded in a 2015 Cooper S Hardtop for the SE, so I actually have a lot of experience with the same exact car with two different propulsion systems. I loved my ICE Hardtop, but the SE is so much better in every way. It accelerates quicker, has less body roll, is silent, has no vibration, and essentially costs nothing to drive. I spend about $40 per month in electricity charging it, as opposed to over $300 per month for gasoline on my 2015 Hardtop (I drive about 500 miles per week). I also just went past 20,000 miles in my SE and have had ZERO oil changes. In an ICE Cooper it'd have been 2-3 oil changes by now.

I will never, ever buy another ICE vehicle.
 
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Puppethead said:
I traded in a 2015 Cooper S Hardtop for the SE, so I actually have a lot of experience with the same exact car with two different propulsion systems. I loved my ICE Hardtop, but the SE is so much better in every way. It accelerates quicker, has less body roll, is silent, has no vibration, and essentially costs nothing to drive. I spend about $40 per month in electricity charging it, as opposed to over $300 per month for gasoline on my 2015 Hardtop (I drive about 500 miles per week). I also just went past 20,000 miles in my SE and have had ZERO oil changes. In an ICE Cooper it'd have been 2-3 oil changes by now.

I will never, ever buy another ICE vehicle.
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$40 must be nice! I am spending $150 a week on gas in my Jeep. That’s just my commute to work and back 4 days a week for 320 miles a week.

How is 500 miles a week in a mini?

Do you do much freeway driving?
 
Sully151 said:
How is 500 miles a week in a mini?

Do you do much freeway driving?
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Almost all of my driving is freeway in the SE. It works great. A typical commute trip for me is 85 miles round-trip. In the summer I usually do the whole trip with over 40% SoC left, and in the winter I usually end up with about 25% SoC left.

I rarely charge anywhere but home (no charging at work), although if I stop for shopping I always try to patronize business locations where there's free charging.
 
Puppethead said:
Almost all of my driving is freeway in the SE. It works great. A typical commute trip for me is 85 miles round-trip. In the summer I usually do the whole trip with over 40% SoC left, and in the winter I usually end up with about 25% SoC left.

I rarely charge anywhere but home (no charging at work), although if I stop for shopping I always try to patronize business locations where there's free charging.
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Almost the exact same story, for me, except my commute is 64 miles, round trip. So, 320 miles per week.

Total cost for the 20 kWh per day x 5 days x $0.10/kWh means $10 per week for 320 miles (and that's rounding everything up).
 
I never cross-shopped with a Cooper S; I started from the other side. I got the "EV" bug years ago. I vowed that I would work towards ridding my life of gasoline. When the SE showed up on the scene, it was a dream come true. By that time, my Bolt had already become my long-range travel vehicle. I just needed a second car because my wife and I commute in opposite directions.

Our second car (a CMax Energi PHEV) was never driven more than 20 miles in a day (its all-electric range), except when we had to occasionally warm up the engine to keep in from seizing. It became annoying, so we looked for an EV to replace it with. I was looking for something small, inexpensive, and fun. A used eGolf was high on my list. But I wanted the 2018+ version with 125 mile range and DCFC. Used eGolfs were $21k or more at the time, and I could get a brand new SE for $20k after incentives. It was a no-brainer!
 
The SE is my fifth Mini, and the first four were all S's. I totally agree, the SE is the most fun to drive (which is saying something, since they've all been a hoot). I'm still getting used to one-pedal driving, and I'm finding it gives more control. Still working on range anxiety, it will take a bit more time.
 
Torrey said:
The TFL guys just did a video on this and recommended the SE over the JCW
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There was a small hint when Tommy mentioned taking the SE home and plugging it in, but he didn't come right out and disclose he and his dad, Roman, bought that Electric Collection SE. However, I trust their reviews, so if Tommy actually liked the JCW better than the family's SE, he would have said so.

I liked when Tommy said, "they completely got rid of the exhaust pipes." Back when almost every one of my forum posts was me complaining that the electric SE should not have a hood scoop, I asked why MINI didn't include fake exhaust pipes to go with the fake hood scoop. This week marks a year since my hood scoop went away and I'm calmer now.

upload_2021-8-31_20-34-14.webp
 
Carsten Haase said:
I think that's the first picture I've seen of your scoop-less hood... It looks so much cleaner! I wish I could do the same but can't justify that cost for a cosmetic mod.
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Thank you! The hood paint+swap cost me about $1,700--less than some pay for paint protection film, which is almost invisible! Every new car I've ever purchased since 1973 has remained absolutely stock as long as I owned it--until now.
 
GetOffYourGas said:
Every time the hood scoop discussion comes up, I try to remember this word, I finally did some digging and found it. The hood scoop on the SE is a perfect example of a "Skeuomorph".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skeuomorph
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Thank you for expanding my vocabulary with a word that expresses my thoughts so perfectly! There are no other ornaments that MINI adds to the base MINI Cooper only to mimic a functional element from an ICE-powered predecessor. Emphasizing that skeuomorphity is the fact that the hood scoop on the ICE-powered S is also fake.
 
I sold my 2016 S for the 2021 SE. I wanted electric and gave up my 6spd for it. Love one pedal driving and savings of electricity vs gas. Pretty simple reason why I switched
 
insightman said:
There are no other ornaments that MINI adds to the base MINI Cooper only to mimic a functional element from an ICE-powered predecessor.
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Maybe the new grille design on the 2022 LCI, which is more "open" than the original 2020/2021 SE nose. At least it's not as bad as BMW and the insistence on the (new, bigger!) kidney grille on their EVs.

I happened the other day to see a 1980s-era station wagon with fake wood siding, talk about horrible skeuomorphism.
 
Puppethead said:
Maybe the new grille design on the 2022 LCI, which is more "open" than the original 2020/2021 SE nose.
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A very interesting observation on the "retro" SE grille. If the 2022 grille was blocked off, I'd add it to the skeuomorphic list. Although I love my 2021 SE's grille, I assume BMW/MINI experienced some kind of backlash that prompted them to back-off on the SE's electric cues.

Puppethead said:
At least it's not as bad as BMW and the insistence on the (new, bigger!) kidney grille on their EVs.
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When I saw that enormous grille BMW was adding to their EVs, I realized how futile it was for me to send many letters, begging to pay $1,500 extra for one of the less-expensive scoopless hoods from the base MINI Cooper that could have been so easily substituted.
 
Pierre,
In 2007 when my daughter was 4 I shopped for a Mini convertible to replace my Miata. The fact that there is no room behind the rear seats nixed the car. I was worried that someone in a pickup would rear end the car, and decapitate my daughter. I instead bought an E46 convertible. Now my hair is thinner, and my toys have fixed roofs.

Why not the S? I have other cars. I usually buy used. I have sporty and sports (all with proper 3 pedals) cars that when purchased, I believed offered a better value than a new or used Cooper S. I want to dip my toe into the electric car world, and with 10 grand coming from the feds and state, and no decent new gas or electric car for the 21/22k net this will cost I am giving it a shot.

Now every time I see a fourth generation Firebird with the hideous side skirts and nostrils in the bumper, I will think skeuomorph.
 
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