Wreckless117
Well-Known Member
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....
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....
