Next generation (J01) MINI Cooper revealed

Aero and overdrive might have an effect on highway numbers, but around town? But 20% more efficient overall? Unlikely.

 

Electric motors are most efficient at higher rpm, so "underdrive" (a lower starting/low speed gear) is what you would really want. That would keep the motor operating at closer to maximum efficiency while still allowing the same (or higher) top speed (by shifting up).

In any case, given the high efficiency of electric motors in general, minimizing rolling and aerodynamic drag would seem to be where gains are most readily achieved.

 

The prices on website showing the various trims come as quite a shock considering the car is made in China and could probably sell in the mid twenties when you compare it to other cars coming out of China.bmw really dropped the ball if that’s going to be the price worldwide. Mid forties for upper spec cars is crazy.

 

Top-spec F56 SE in Canada is $48k, or around €32k. Wtf. Even advertised with 19% German VAT included, that's still just €38k.

 

For the UK website, the new Cooper appears to be less than the current SE. (though you were talking about upper specced versions)

 

That's before the 20% VAT so that's 36,000 GBP or ~$45,000 USD for the base trim. Don't forget to add the US 27.5% tariff on Chinese products (generally 10% in UK). Even adjusting for the VAT and import tariffs, that would still bring it to about 34,773GBP or ~$43,465 USD before sales taxes.

There are MINI Canada dealers with $5-6k markups for the SE. It's closer to $58k-$60k with freight.

 

No markups here in Quebec. But we're talking MSRPs anyway.

 

Of course! MSRP is $53,015, Freight is $3,995, and a dealer markup/fees of probably $3,000. At least freight is free in Kelowna.

 

$895 freight & PDI!

 

Ok so $49,600 Canadian, not $48k. Still barely more for an Iconic/Premier+/L3 F56 here than an entry-level J01 there.

So €40k.

 

I think I posted this before. My 23 was ordered before the package changes, but the financing proposal shows there are no real markups in Quebec – some small, perhaps questionable line-item charges, but not $24,000 of "dealer fees."

 

I'm happy with our 2023 SE. The J01 may have more range and faster acceleration, but I can't get past the interior. I could never get used to the center only display on the Model 3 Performance we had. At least it looks like the J01 has a HUD option. Maybe I'll change my mind when I see it in person.....

 

There's no surprise that QC has the highest EV adoption in the country. Elsewhere across the country, dealerships are full of shenanigans with their pricing...

 

Only two things I would change about my current SE if I could (both based on experiencing my wife's new-to-us CX-5):

1) have the HUD display higher, so that it is actually a HUD instead of a HDD;

2) better adaptive cruise control.

Notably, range is not one of them. In fact, I can't seem to get less than 150 miles per charge driving locally no matter how hot the weather or how hard I hammer the accelerator. (At ~10k miles, my P7s seem to be worn enough that I can now make them squeal all the way up to 60 mph.)

 

My F1s squeal all the time now, too, at just past 7000 miles (around 5000 on them). The ACC is simply not good, and I hate the money I paid for it, but at least it let me play with "Traffic Jam Assist" (very very primitive – and wonky – autopilot).

 

Jury is still out on acceleration. The standard version should be quite a bit slower - same power, quite a bit heavier theS will be there or there abouts. More power, but a chunk more weight. I truly doubt 20% more efficient. Edmunds rates the MINI as the second most efficient EV they have tested, after only the original Kona. A 20% increase in efficiency would make the J01 one of the most efficient cars ever built.

 

I look forward to the first F56 SE-to-J01 SE drag race. Major fail if the J01 SE is actually slower! "You had just one job..."

 

I'd trade a bit of straight-line speed for even more exciting handling. (Although for the first time yesterday, I actually got my car a bit sideways, attacking a tight round-a-bout at 35-40 mph. Usually I am either surprised by the no-muss, no-fuss cornering, or the car just understeers, but this time the rear wanted to break loose. For a brief moment, I thought that I might hit the curb.)

ETA: Later in the same drive, I was in the right hand lane at a light, in anticipation of turning right into a shopping center a couple of hundreds yards ahead. A pickup truck - or just a truck, if you're "true country" - pulls up on my left, then proceeds to start rolling even before the light changes, to the point that he's fully into the intersection. The light turns green and he floors it. As it turns out, he was headed to the same place, and wanted/needed to get ahead of me. I let him, then mostly caught up because, well, I could. We both turn in, he goes one way, I go another. Walking into the store, the driver (whom I didn't recognize) good-naturedly asked "Just how fast is that MINI, anyway?". I replied, "How fast do they claim, or how fast is it really?". The kicker, though, was when he lamented that he was getting only 16 mph...I then shared that it was an EV, and it was costing me only $0.03/mi to drive like that. (Well, that, and new tires probably twice as often as usual.)