Minis SE: Test Drive + Impressions

I realise that with plenty of forum members having already taken delivery of their Mini SE that this topic might be of limited interest. Be that as it may, I'm very excited because tomorrow morning I'm booked in for a test drive of a Mini SE at my local dealership. This will be the first time I've seen a Mini SE in person, let alone driven one. Despite this, following countless hours of research, I put down my non-refundable $2k deposit months ago. With our lockdown restrictions having only recently being eased, it hasn't been possible for me to do a test drive up until now. Tomorrow I get to finally scratch the itch.

The dealership has been kind enough to give me the test model for 24 hours. That means I'm going to have plenty of time to give the car a solid workout and also take many photos. In the next couple of days, I'll upload some of these to this thread and also give a few of my impressions of the driving experience. This will be one way of helping me pass the time until the scheduled delivery of my car in several months time.

 

24 hours is much more than I thought I'd get so I'm pretty happy with that. Seeing that lockdown restrictions have only just eased in the last week or so I suspect they're not getting a lot of customers coming through the dealership and can afford to be without the test car for a day.

I'll be sure to do that. My driving is all going to be city-based but I'm definitely planning to charge at some point just to satisfy my curiosity. By the way, you call it a "trunk" not a "boot", correct?

Already noted above but, yes, I'm in Australia. Note that $2,000 AUD is about $1,400 USD but it's still larger than the $500 deposit US buyers were asked to put down. I'm also extremely envious of the range of customisation available to US buyers. We only had the Iconic/Level 3 option available and in one of four colour options. Such are the problems of being located in a small and distant market...

I'm heading over to pick up the car in about an hour. Very excited.

 

That would be correct.

Putting down the deposit was preceded by extensive research into the car and its capabilities as well as a lot of careful consideration about what my needs were. Despite that, yes, there was still some hesitation in putting down a substantial, non-refundable deposit for a car I'd never seen let alone driven.

Thanks! As tomorrow is a public holiday the dealership has given me two days (ie. 48 hours) to test drive the car! I've already put 110 km on it today and plan on taking it out again this evening. Everything is positive so far so no regrets about the deposit!

 

I've just returned the SE after my two days of test driving. I'll try to organise my notes and photos in the next day or two and post something.

 

A long read and lots of photos for those looking for some non-election related reading material.


I had this car for a full TWO DAYS of test driving; possibly the world’s longest Mini SE test drive? The dealership was initially only going to give me 24 hours but later realised that the next day was a public holiday so told me to bring it back on the following day instead. I’ve already got a Mini SE on order so I guess they were feeling generous.

Over the two days I drove a total of 223 km. All my driving was in the Melbourne metro area. I’d say that 15-20% was highway travel (80-100 km/h) with the remaining travel being stop-start urban driving. Since the recent loosening of Covid-19 restrictions in the city, traffic has been pretty busy and is close to what it was prior to the pandemic. Weather over the last few days has been beautiful; clear and sunny and approx. mid-to-high 20’s centigrade (70-80s Fahrenheit for my American cousins). Perfect driving weather.

The test vehicle was a Midnight Black Metallic variant with energetic yellow mirrors and accents with the 17” Powerspoke Wheels. We don’t get a choice of trim levels in Australia but the Australian version has all the features of the Level 3 / Iconic minus the sunroof.

 

Midnight Black was one of the colours I considered when ordering my car. I ultimately decided against it but I think it goes nicely with the energetic yellow accents. The powerspoke wheels, however, aren’t my thing. When I first saw photos of these wheels I wasn’t impressed but I was willing to keep an open mind until I could see them in person. Now that I have, my initial opinion hasn’t changed. The asymmetrical look just doesn’t do it for me and I’m glad the car I ordered has the 17” Tentacle Spoke wheels.



As owners of black cars can no doubt attest, while stunning when clean, black really shows dirt, even after only a couple of days of driving.



Note that this is my first time driving an EV and, indeed, my first time driving a Mini. I’ve organised my impressions using different sub-headings below:

Driving Feel and Experience:

- The car feels solidly built and has a high-quality, sturdy feel. Steering and suspension are also reassuringly firm. Others have described this as "sporty" and I agree with that.

- The most fun I had driving the SE? Switching to Sport Mode and hitting the pedal on highway on-ramps. Looking in the rearview mirror you see the cars behind you disappearing. Just make sure you use both hands! Torque steer is a thing. So much fun and I’m smiling just thinking about it.

- The SE corners like a demon. Another highlight of the test drive.

- Although I enjoyed using Sports Mode on the highway stretches, most of the time, Green Mode is more than adequate for city driving. Once my car arrives, I might think about using Bimmercode to see if Green Mode can be selected as default as I did most of my driving in that mode.



- It only takes a little while to become accustomed to regenerative braking and, once you do, one pedal driving in the city is a pleasure and reduces the stress of urban driving.

- I also really liked the anti-roll lock that engages when you come to a stop on a hill. Coupled with the regenerative braking, this gives you another reason to not use the regular brakes.

- I can’t really comment on efficiency as it took me a little while to figure out how to access the trip computer and I was more focused on exploring the car rather than providing an accurate test of battery and range. As such, I was frequently using the AC, the HK stereo system and other features without worrying about battery usage. To properly test efficiency and range I would have had to control driving conditions and that wasn’t how I wanted to spend my limited time with the car.

- The indicator lights (turn signal lights) have two modes: slight tap for lane change (set to 3 “clicks” in my car) and the regular indicator lights which continue until you turn or tap the indicator back to its starting position. At the end of two days driving I still hadn’t mastered the two different modes but liked the system.

- Auto LED headlights are great and very convenient. I also really liked the ring indicator lights / signal lights surrounding the headlights which flash when turning. I can't recall seeing this on any other car.