Driving Review of SE Says More EVs Like It Needed

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Puppethead

Puppethead

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Jalopnik has an SE review of the actual driving experience, and how really good it is.

The Mini Cooper SE Isn't Perfect, But We Need More EVs Like It

The review focuses on the MINI-ness of the car, and how it handles instead of the typical complaints about range. I love this quote:

I fear that cheap, joyful, shoe-shaped grocery-getters are exactly the kind of vehicles being left behind as electrification takes root. This Mini has my best interests in mind, when every other EV has told me my interests are wrong. For that, it deserves my attention.​
 
Puppethead said:
Jalopnik has an SE review of the actual driving experience, and how really good it is.

The Mini Cooper SE Isn't Perfect, But We Need More EVs Like It

The review focuses on the MINI-ness of the car, and how it handles instead of the typical complaints about range. I love this quote:

I fear that cheap, joyful, shoe-shaped grocery-getters are exactly the kind of vehicles being left behind as electrification takes root. This Mini has my best interests in mind, when every other EV has told me my interests are wrong. For that, it deserves my attention.​
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Totally love the article and the 1st read I had about how the SE handles itself as a great ride. The quote that I love and totally relate to -> “I unsurprisingly lamented having no excuse to move my left foot or right hand with regularity. “ [emoji2]


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Who would have expected Jalopnik to come up with one of the more insightful reviews??

Skip the comments though. I couldn’t find evidence that any of them actually read the article.
 
azausa said:
Totally love the article and the 1st read I had about how the SE handles itself as a great ride. The quote that I love and totally relate to -> “I unsurprisingly lamented having no excuse to move my left foot or right hand with regularity. “ [emoji2]


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My SE is the first car without a third pedal I've purchased (for my use--my wife doesn't do third pedals). I didn't like that the multi-gear automatic transmissions I had driven didn't shift when I would have shifted and the CVT transmissions held engine revs in a limited range that I could never get used to. Going from 0 to 93 mph without experiencing the effect of a transmission compensating for an ICE's limited power-band was a big revelation for me and I love it. "Heel-and-toe"--I'm laughing at how hard I worked at learning to perform that awkward skill!

Better still, it's great that my wife gets to have fun driving the fun car now. Our Clarity PHEV feels very neglected.
 
insightman said:
My SE is the first car without a third pedal I've purchased (for my use--my wife doesn't do third pedals). I didn't like that the multi-gear automatic transmissions I had driven didn't shift when I would have shifted and the CVT transmissions held engine revs in a limited range that I could never get used to. Going from 0 to 93 mph without experiencing the effect of a transmission compensating for an ICE's limited power-band was a big revelation for me and I love it. "Heel-and-toe"--I'm laughing at how hard I worked at learning to perform that awkward skill!

Better still, it's great that my wife gets to have fun driving the fun car now. Our Clarity PHEV feels very neglected.
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Same here, the only reason I even preferred manual transmissions in the first place was because automatics didn't do what I wanted. They were reactive rather than proactive so could never be as good.

Rev matching and shifting was kind of fun but the thrill of instant torque is way better!
 
I had an eGolf, and it was eye opening to accelerate w/o the shifting lag. I once took it into the dealer to fix a window switch (typical VW), and they loaned me an ICE Golf (non GTI). It was such a dog. Waiting for it to shift to the next gear seemed like an eternity.
 
Agreed. No shifting raises the driving ‘bar’ to new heights. The SE is so smooth and addicting it ought to be considered a controlled substance. OK, maybe I’m exaggerating.

But, maybe not!


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Jim In Tucson said:
Agreed. No shifting raises the driving ‘bar’ to new heights. The SE is so smooth and addicting it ought to be considered a controlled substance. OK, maybe I’m exaggerating.

But, maybe not!


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The MINI Cooper SE IS a controlled substance. It's controlled by delayed availability. Just ask the forum members gazing day after day at an unreliable line graph, hoping it will give them a clue to when their fix will come in.
 
insightman said:
The MINI Cooper SE IS a controlled substance. It's controlled by delayed availability. Just ask the forum members gazing day after day at an unreliable line graph, hoping it will give them a clue to when their fix will come in.
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I have an unhealthy relation to this comment… literally checking every couple hours.
 
Same experience transitioning from a Manual Subaru STI with a rod based shifter and a heavy clutch as my daily driver to the SE, the efficiency of the SE's powertrain never had me looking back. We still have one manual vehicle that I can heel and toe that adds a sense of purpose to driving but is only fun in small doses.
 
Do we think that MINI is actually limiting the production of SE’s? Or is it simply that with MINI buyers are fully exposed to the ordering, manufacturing, and transportation processes that we never see when buying a typical American car ‘off the lot’?


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Jim In Tucson said:
Do we think that MINI is actually limiting the production of SE’s?
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I say no. All MINI models are currently constrained. My dealer had only four new vehicles on their lot last week, of any kind. Their showroom floor is empty. And they're one of the bigger dealers, once having four GPs on hand.
 
Carsten Haase said:
Rev matching and shifting was kind of fun but the thrill of instant torque is way better!
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Best quote!!

But, but, but, the buttheads on other forums say an electric car has no soul. My response (as a Porsche owner) has been tell me how the electric steering on your Porsche feels so much better than the BMW electric steering of my Mini, and how the shifts of your PDK offer more soul than my instant torque. The manual Cayman is not going anywhere for many years, and the manual 1er will probably be there for my daughter when she gets her diploma.
 
Tommm said:
Best quote!!

But, but, but, the buttheads on other forums say an electric car has no soul. My response (as a Porsche owner) has been tell me how the electric steering on your Porsche feels so much better than the BMW electric steering of my Mini, and how the shifts of your PDK offer more soul than my instant torque. The manual Cayman is not going anywhere for many years, and the manual 1er will probably be there for my daughter when she gets her diploma.
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Well. Having owned a S2000 and having to sell it cause it was just going to lead to a second disaster. I can say that nothing beats the satisfaction of each subsequent perfect shift that helps you to beat out other cars at the red light. But not worrying that you need to do a perfect down shift to pass someone in a SE is another kind of satisfaction. But i can see myself trying to work hard and maybe get a Porsche EV next.
 
Smart Wannabe said:
But i can see myself trying to work hard and maybe get a Porsche EV next.
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Will Porsche beat MINI to offer the 1st drop-top EV since the original Tesla Roadster? MINI understands the market for convertibles so I assume they just couldn't find a way to make an EV version of the current generation that was safe.
 
Jim In Tucson said:
Do we think that MINI is actually limiting the production of SE’s? Or is it simply that with MINI buyers are fully exposed to the ordering, manufacturing, and transportation processes that we never see when buying a typical American car ‘off the lot’?


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Don’t think so, here in NZ, the queue is now 6 months to get an SE, and due to chip shortages, HK is not part of the specs anymore.


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