2023 Mini Cooper SE Live Journal & Review

My SE:

2023 BRG Signature (base)


Current milage as of 6/19: 621


Order/deposit/signed 3/11/22
Build date 5/06
At port/shipped 5/17
At Baltimore port 5/28
On transport 5/31
At Illinois dealership 6/07
Delivered 6/11


Mods completed:

•Xpel ceramic window tint: 45% windshield, 20% sides, 5% rear hatch
•OEM black front and rear badges
•OEM black door handles
•Vinyl wrapped headlight and taillight trim
•Vinyl tinted side markers
•FitcamX Dashcam F&R
•hardwired Uniden R1 radar detector
•Seat belt extender hack
•Removed big yellow badge and Cooper letters (left the "S")

Mods to be done:

•light tint taillight film
•photochromic headlight film
•Vinyl wrap chrome grill ring
•Vinyl wrap beltline
•Lowering springs TBD
•Wheel spacers TBD
•trunk pop TBD
•coding changes




TLDR:

Wanted to have somewhere to put my thoughts and mods down for those that are interested. It's a long read, but basically besides it's quirks and some shortcomings, it's a great car that does exactly what I need it to do, and should save me a ton of money. Since I will be racking up milage like crazy (30-40k miles/year), I will keep this thread updated to any maintenance and/or problems down the road.



Background:

Coming directly from a tuned 2019 Golf R which was used as a trade in, hard to argue with the crazy strong trade in value, and will be using it as a comparison since it was the vehicle that the SE replaced for the most part, even tho I have own(ed) and driven a slew of different vehicles. The SE is its own vehicle, with its own use case, vs the R that was mainly for leisure and is also in a different class with a $12k+ price difference. I needed/wanted a vehicle for doing part/full-time food & grocery delivery (i.e. Doordash) and an EV really seemed to fit the bill. I've had some investment allow me to partially retire at 33 and pretty much do this as a way to pay for weekly expenses like food and stay busy. Numbers don't lie and the base Signature SE really is a good value, although the range seems to be the only catch.

The Golf R was still being payed on, so was able to achieve a nice healthy drop in monthly payments despite only putting the initial $250 deposit down, but with $0 sales tax, and a decent amount of equity from the trade in. Already a monthly budget win. My typical milage per day is averaging around 120-140 miles, equaling about $700-800 in premium fuel cost per month with current prices. Real world electricity cost for the SE is yet to be seen on my home bill, but I estimate it to be $100-150 per month for my usage with a roughly .12¢/kwh rate. I will be using the new lvl 2 flex charger that Mini supplies with the 2023 SE. And let's not forget the $7500 tax credit!

EDIT: just found out I have a lvl 3 fast charger that is free to use nearby, so my monthly costs could be even lower depending on how much I can incorporate it's use!

I have never owned, driven or have even rode in an EV before now. This is/was a complete jump of blind faith based on all the info and videos available on the interwebs.




First impressions on delivery day:

Sitting in dealer showroom, wow! Love the BRG color, hits different in various lighting, but dislike the chrome bits, which I already knew and I have plans for that. Immediately needs to be lowered an inch and at minimum some wheel spacers to flush out the look (wheels are not in the budget). Interior is nice, modern lines but fun and quirky, so definitely won't get bored sitting in it all day. The toggle switches are cool. Overall, it's not as driver centric as I would like, the steering wheel is set at a slight angle which annoys me but is something that can be overlooked, and wish the main infotainment display and center stack were angled 10-15° towards the driver instead of being flat, again can be overlooked. Base leatherette seating is pretty comfortable, seats have good side bolstering which I like. Not a huge fan of the center armrest, could be softer and/or leatherette covered and adjustability forwards would be great as I have long arms, and pretty much seems like only my elbow is supported, so it's an elbow rest, and the rest of my arm is constantly trying to find somewhere comfortable.

The biggest difference for me was the seating position compared to the R. The R was fairly driver centric and with the cockpit layout you felt like you were "in" the car and one with it, everything within easy reach. The SE does not have that same feeling, you feel like your "on" top of the car. There's a feeling of openness, which isn't necessarily a bad thing as it makes it feel larger than it is. But you don't get that "I'm one with the car" feeling either, which surprised me being that this is a much smaller car, but will probably get used to the feeling soon enough, but there is a bit of a disconnect. Infotainment screen is crisp and clear, but could have been a bit bigger despite the round bezel. Will have to get used to the menus and navigating through them, seems a bit clunky as you do have to go through many "pages" deep to get what your looking for, so not laid out as simply as I'd like, but the main home screen is nice and like that it can rearranged a bit to always show 3 different things.



First drive on delivery day:

The absolute lack of any starting noise or vibration of any sort to give a sensory feedback that your ready to drive off is super weird at first, even while sitting in the dealer showroom. Literally asked the MA if it's actually on lol. Ok so off we go, and again, it's crazy driving out the showroom, windows down, in near silence besides the pedestrian warning sound. And then in the parking lot the Regen braking hit me hard, wow, was not expecting the adruptness of coming off the pedal completely. MA turned it to low for me as we head into the street for a lap, which helped me get used to the Regen braking and find some subtleness with my right foot, which did not take long. On low, the Regen feels like the drag an ICE manual transmission has coasting down in gear.

Once I stopped focusing on the pedal so much, I could start to tune in to how the car actually drives, and it drives pretty well. The smoothness of the acceleration is very deceptive, you really end up at a higher speed than you expect to be at. Plenty nimble in handling, but quite a bit more body roll than I expected for being in the "S" family. I'm hoping lowering springs can help tighten that up a bit since it seems a sway bar cannot be fitted. Handles bumps pretty smoothly and overall quality of ride is actually better than the R, which I'm sure the 16" wheels helps vs the R's 19" as well. Then the quietness hit me, even at 70mph, it's just wind and tire noise which was not bad at all. Conversation levels did not have to increase much to talk over the noise. Combined with the buttery smoothness of the acceleration, it's a very comfortable and relaxing ride, maybe I won't mess with the ride height after all, hmmm....

 

Drive home from dealership:

So a 1 hour drive home awaited me, with a good 50/50 mix of city/highway driving, so a good opportunity to truly get a feel for the car. I always opt to use absolutely no radio on a maiden voyage on any car to get a fully immersive experience and to listen for any odd sounds that may need addressed immediately. Happy to say nothing to report that set my radar off, and I'm extremely ticky, and maybe a bit paranoid lol. Chose to leave Regen in high from the dealer, and glad I did, as after a few stop lights my right foot was pretty much already accustomed to where the "deadzone" was, and found that the max braking forces developed by Regen was similar to how much I usually brake in a normal ICE, so the timing and feathering of the accelerator came naturally pretty quickly. How rewarding that turned out to be, as not having to move your foot to brake has really made the drive so effortless, which may make me lazy.

Power delivery immediately from a stop is a tad underwhelming to say the least, but I believe that has more to do with how the car is tuned to deliver power from that stage as actual full power would probably just destroy tires, but cruising in the 10-30mph range and then going 100% give quite a instant initial hit of torque that ends up fading around 50-60. It's not gonna win any armchair races, but it's really not bad at all for in town, it's pretty zippy. On the highway, a 70 roll and acceleration hit leaves alot to be desired, but you still get moving along decent enough to make a pass, definitely have driven worse. On the highway the R would absolutely have it's way against the SE, would probably be hitting 150 before the SE hits it's sub-100 limiter.

Finally get home, and after the 60 miles or so trip home, the battery was at about 55%, not bad IMO for an initial drive home. After driving around town with the wife to enjoy the new car, finished the day at 49%. Already had a outlet installed in the garage for the included mini flex charger, so was able to easily unbox and get the car plugged in, remembering to change the cars actual charging setting to max before as well. Total time to charge to full from 49%: 2 hours, 32 minutes. Not bad at all.



First day/week at "work":

I enjoy driving so calling delivery "work" is a bit of a stretch, but regardless, I've found that the SE is absolutely wonderful to drive for this purpose, and may be the perfect car for anyone doing this job unless they require even higher milage capacity. I flip the back seats down and there is more than enough room for even catering orders (within reason of course, but the typical catering orders I do take is fine). The car itself, while smaller than the R, does not leave me for wanting more room. The turning radius allows quick u turns and the ride is smooth and compliant. It's a quick lil bugger and the lack of any external noise allows you to get away with more "zip" than what you could with an ICE do to the lack of attention it brings, not saying I speed through neighborhoods of course, but you can get the idea.

So the automatic shutoff everytime you exit the car is absolutely terrible. I mean this is an electric car, there's nothing running besides the HVAC if that's even running. If I want the car off, I'll turn it off, otherwise leave it on! The extra steps required everytime I get in and out is super annoying, not mention if my wife is riding along the head unit would shutoff so no music as well, so just annoying all around. Would love to know if that could be coded out. But in the mean time, I ordered a simple seat belt extender, the smallest one I could find, that literally adds 3" and you just click it in and your done. Literally normal seatbelt use and absolutely no extra steps involved. I've seen some use a simple click in defeat, like a bottle opener thing, and IMO is silly as again it's an additional step you have to take before exiting and re-buckling everytime, might be fine for some, but absolutely not for me. This was $20, and problem solved.

Ended up driving about 120 miles my first day, and with my normal hour or so break at home, which allowed me to charge while chilling, allowed me to end the day with about 35% battery left. Fantastic, looks like I could probably squeeze 150+ miles a day if needed just by charging while I take my breaks at home.

I did find out that I have a level 3 DC quick charger (62 kw/h) 5 minutes away from my home, and it's free to use! So far I've used it once and charged from 44% to 80% in 14 minutes, adding 11kw while eating some lunch! Definitely will be using this if in a pinch or just to save more on my own electric bill.

 

Mods:

Everything so far besides window tint was DIY.

Like I said previously, I do not like the chrome bits on the car, and I knew this while ordering the car. The dealer wanted over $2k to install the replacement pieces with black OEM parts. I said no thanks. Budget car is getting budget build. Only OEM parts I've used so far is the badges and the door handles. Badges can make or break the quality look and they aren't that expensive. Door handles get used all the time, so going cheap isn't a good idea either. Both are easy to install.

The rest is getting vinyl wrapped or removed. The headlight and taillight trim rings can be a little tricky to remove without breaking, but allowed a complete wrap around the edges and is nearly an OEM look, maybe not as glossy smooth with a little bit of orange peel effect, but 90% there. Also wrapped the side fender sconce chrome bit as well. Completely removed the huge ugly yellow badge and the chrome cooper letters, leaving just the subtle yellow "S" on the hatch. So clean. I can live with the tiny bit of chrome on all the S badges.

Still have to wrap the front grill ring and the beltline. Not using a precut beltline kit will make the vinyl fit and look better without shrinking over time, as it will preshrink during install with a touch of heat gun before cutting off the excess. Also will be lightly tinting the rear tail lights with film, just to tone down the red just a bit, and the headlights will be getting a sick photochromic PPF. Yep, the headlights will turn dark during the day, and will be clear at night, so no decrease in light projection at night. Can't wait to get that done.



Maintenance/issues:

None so far!




Currently how it sits:

 

Thank you! I've been very fortunate to have driven tons of vehicles with only 2 wheels and all 4, from highly tuned imports and muscle cars on the street, to exotics like Lamborghinis and GTRs on the track, and even 1000hp off road buggys with 2' of suspension travel going over terrain at 100+mph that could swallow the SE haha.

Consider yourself lucky, once you've had a taste, it's hard to get it out of your system! I've seen the radio stay on too, was not sure why that was, but didn't seem consistent, but just could be me!

Thank you!

Yea I've considered the tires as well so may be to blame as well. I thought I had read somewhere that the SE did not have a rear sway bar due to the battery, but I have not had a chance to get underneath to confirm for myself yet. Will report my findings when I get a chance.

 

So far so good, haven't been able to play too long with it yet, but picture quality is pretty good considering it's like $260 for front and rear. Made the purchase based on the thread below and love that it's pretty stealth.

https://www.insideevsforum.com/community/index.php?threads/integrated-dashcam-update.13479/

 

I respectfully disagree, while the SE handles pretty well and has good road manners in stock form, it suffers from a rather soft suspension and heavier weight due to the battery. Pushing the car reveals pretty dramatic nose dive under heavy braking and quite a bit of squat, combined with the body roll and the rather skinny eco tires (the taller sidewall of the 16" wheels doesn't help) it's just not tuned to perform at the limits in stock form, and absolutely would not hold a candle to a 6-fiqure car, or even the 40k golf R I just traded-in. Because of the size, the only area I could see the SE outperforming, is in a very tight hairpin switchback and even that could be a tossup vs the R.

Not saying the SE is not fun, it absolutely is a hoot, but I didn't buy the SE for absolute performance or going to track days, I have other cars available to me for when I want to do that.

 

Had some time to kill so got the chrome grill ring wrapped. Wasn't sure if I was going to be able to do it without taking the bumper off, but it came out perfect, can't see a speck of chrome peeking out. Talk about nip and tuck haha

 

Haha thanks, I wouldn't say I'm a master, but Avery vinyl with air release channels is a huge help! A couple beers, a heat gun and patience goes a long way!

Yea already am! I'm pretty tall, so was kind of forced to any ways lol.