Sport Mode

J

Jim In Tucson

Well-Known Member
Has anyone found a good description of Sport Mode? The manual describes it as “sporty tuning of the drivetrain”.

Well, for inquiring minds and all that is vague.

After switching between Sport and Mid quite often, they best way I can describe it is that in Sport the SE feels more ‘planted’ to me. Is this all in my head?

Someone on this forum stated that the 0-60 time was about 1 sec. quicker in Sport. So we know that much.

If do believe the SE does feel quicker in Sport, but that should not affect the driving feel that I’m sure is also improved.

Anyone have any insights?


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The only difference that I notice is the power mapping curves for acceleration and the liftoff regen. The regen curve in Sport is very steep, which in my hands results in jerkiness. I prefer mid mode because I can easily drive smoothly for cruising or more spiritedly in the same mode.

It would be interesting to know what else is happening in the software.
 
The SE does not have any fancy adaptive dampers so there is definitely no change in suspension.

All sport mode does is change the accelerator pedal mapping (more linear, smaller dead zone between power and regen) and changes the weight of the steering to be heavier (less power assistance). I'm almost positive you still have full power in mid/green, it just takes more pedal to get there (so no change in 0-60 time if you floor it)

It may possibly change the car's cooling as well but that's just my guess (I have never seen my lower active grill shutters closed except for the one time I drove in green mode...)
 
Carsten Haase said:
It may possibly change the car's cooling as well but that's just my guess (I have never seen my lower active grill shutters closed except for the one time I drove in green mode...)
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How can I see my SE's grille shutters operate? Did you ride on your hood or did you follow one of those semi trucks with mirror-finish doors on its trailer?
 
Puppethead said:
Do our pre-2022 SE's have shutters? I thought that was one of the new LCI things.
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Oh, so I can stop bugging my wife to drive me around after I tie my feet to the windshield wipers to prevent me from sliding off my SE's hood (which, of course, is missing the fake hood scoop that would serve as a convenient hand-hold). Perhaps the LCI grille with its shutters is just as aerodynamic as the shutterless 2020/21 grille (at least until the shutters open).
 
Being more of a car driver and less of a car enthusiast, this is the first time I'm hearing about "active grill shutters". What do these creatures do?
 
Carsten Haase said:
All sport mode does is change the accelerator pedal mapping (more linear, smaller dead zone between power and regen) and changes the weight of the steering to be heavier (less power assistance). I'm almost positive you still have full power in mid/green, it just takes more pedal to get there (so no change in 0-60 time if you floor it)
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I'm not sure I agree with this conclusion. The SE gives you full power, but takes some time to "ramp up" when you floor it in Mid mode. In Sport mode, the power is instant. This almost certainly improves your 0-60 time. How much, I'm not certain, but from my experience I'd expect less than 1s different.
 
GetOffYourGas said:
I'm not sure I agree with this conclusion. The SE gives you full power, but takes some time to "ramp up" when you floor it in Mid mode. In Sport mode, the power is instant. This almost certainly improves your 0-60 time. How much, I'm not certain, but from my experience I'd expect less than 1s different.
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That definitely seems plausible, a subtle difference would be hard to notice and I sure haven't driven around in Mid enough to tell.

It would definitely need some controlled experiments to confirm because traction control can also change how hard the car launches in any mode.
 
Puppethead said:
Do our pre-2022 SE's have shutters? I thought that was one of the new LCI things.
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I believe they actually do. They're a couple of horizontal pieces of plastic right behind the lower grill that can flip 90deg to close it off

download.webp


GvilleGuy said:
Being more of a car driver and less of a car enthusiast, this is the first time I'm hearing about "active grill shutters". What do these creatures do?
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They close off the lowest grill opening to reduce airflow and improve aerodynamics a bit

insightman said:
How can I see my SE's grille shutters operate? Did you ride on your hood or did you follow one of those semi trucks with mirror-finish doors on its trailer?
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I didn't see them activate but one time when I parked in green mode, I noticed they were closed. Typically (for me) they are open when the car is parked. I'm curious to see if I find them closed more often now that it's getting colder outside or if sport mode intentionally keeps them open for better cooling.
 
I think someone (GvilleGuy?) should make a video with a camera mounted so you can see when these grille shutters might close or open. I'm surprised to hear they can be closed when parked. I noticed them a while ago and thought they probably open and close depending on cooling needs and speed.
 
GetOffYourGas said:
I'm not sure I agree with this conclusion. The SE gives you full power, but takes some time to "ramp up" when you floor it in Mid mode. In Sport mode, the power is instant. This almost certainly improves your 0-60 time. How much, I'm not certain, but from my experience I'd expect less than 1s different.
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This YouTube video purports to test all MINI Cooper SE acceleration modes. However, the tester doesn't fully charge the SE between tests so the test could be better. I wish the tester had revealed what device was producing these numbers.

The 0-100 kph times are pretty consistent between Sport and Green+ modes. The slowest time is in what the tester labels as "Normal" mode: 8 seconds. However, later in the test, with a lesser charge in the battery, Green+ mode gets the car to 100 kph in 7.5 seconds, just a tenth slower than the 7.4 seconds recorded in Sport mode with a greater charge in the battery.
 
insightman said:
However, the tester doesn't fully charge the SE between tests so the test could be better.
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The different traction control settings should also be taken into account, since they can limit power to reduce wheel spin. So really, 4 modes * 3 traction settings = 12 different scenarios for acceleration.
 
Puppethead said:
The different traction control settings should also be taken into account, since they can limit power to reduce wheel spin. So really, 4 modes * 3 traction settings = 12 different scenarios for acceleration.
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The video tests with DSC on and off and the traction control on and off, too.
 
insightman said:
The video tests with DSC on and off and the traction control on and off, too.
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Exactly what I was looking for. Can't believe this one time I failed to watch a linked video. If I understand the video correctly (now that I've watched it), GPS was used instead of a timer. That's too bad, I'm not sure GPS is accurate enough for split-second timing.
 
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Newkirk said:
I think someone (GvilleGuy?) should make a video with a camera mounted so you can see when these grille shutters might close or open. I'm surprised to hear they can be closed when parked. I noticed them a while ago and thought they probably open and close depending on cooling needs and speed.
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Well, now I'm curious. That's a tricky spot to mount a camera. I'll see what I can do. The weather is cooling off where I live, so I would guess the shutters would close more often now than in the summer.
 
Do we know for certain if the shutters are for the cooling/warming of the electrical system, or, are the shutters an aerodynamic item designed to make the SE more streamlined at speed?


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Jim In Tucson said:
Do we know for certain if the shutters are for the cooling/warming of the electrical system, or, are the shutters an aerodynamic item designed to make the SE more streamlined at speed?


Sent from my iPhone using Inside EVs
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Well, the entire point of a grill opening is cooling right? so anytime cooling is not needed it makes sense to close off that opening for better aerodynamics

A smaller opening can accomplish the same cooling at higher speed so it's more likely that the shutters would be closed at speed but could also be closed at slow speed in cold weather (higher temperature differential means more heat transfer)
 
I'm not sure how cooling applies to the SE. Compared to ICE everything is already significantly cooler (no internal explosions or radiator). Keeping the batteries cool is probably most important, but I'd think they're too far back plus enclosed for air shutters in the front to make a difference. Plus the 2022 LCI has the air curtain slits, that should provide some air flow. Maybe the shutters are an ICE holdover, like the scoop back when it used to actually be functional?
 
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