I actually had the Eibach springs on order originally. They ended up being delayed a few weeks, and while I was waiting, I decided to switch to the ST coilovers. I've had pretty good luck with lowering springs in the past, but I've also had some cases where I didn't get the ride quality or height I wanted. I decided I'd rather not take that risk and do it once. For me, it was almost more about not wanting to do the install again if I didn't like the springs. With the XA's, you get the height and damping adjustment, so I figured I was pretty much guaranteed to be able to dial them in as I wanted.
Delivery Stories
I actually had the Eibach springs on order originally. They ended up being delayed a few weeks, and while I was waiting, I decided to switch to the ST coilovers. I've had pretty good luck with lowering springs in the past, but I've also had some cases where I didn't get the ride quality or height I wanted. I decided I'd rather not take that risk and do it once. For me, it was almost more about not wanting to do the install again if I didn't like the springs. With the XA's, you get the height and damping adjustment, so I figured I was pretty much guaranteed to be able to dial them in as I wanted.
Tommm
Well-Known Member
you aint getting my third pedal crack pipe.
CoachCookie
Active Member
Fair enough. I know I shouldn't sweat the small stuff like that, just always looking for something to worry about ha. Appreciate the insight.
I had the same thought. Take the gamble with springs (have been looking at H&R), or do go coilovers and know I'd be able to dial it in.
SameGuy
Well-Known Member
Forgive my… ignorance(?), but wasn’t the SE raised a smidge to protect the battery? I agree it throws off the look. It does indeed look like you could stack two sneakers between the top of the tire and the arch. I can’t stand the stanced look (if it’s even a thing anymore), but I went with a Bilstein B14 kit on my fortwo and not only did it turn an already-low car into a go-kart, it totally cleaned up the look. 45 mm drop front, 20 mm rear.
Yes, the SE was raised 18mm to provide more ground clearance for the battery. To compensate visually, the SE's fender flares are wider than those on other MINI Cooper Hardtops.
I've wondered if anyone with an ICE Hardtop has substituted the SE's fender flares to make it appear their car was lowered without having to mess around with the suspension. Substituting the SE's fender flares AND lowering an ICE MINI Cooper could make it look really low!
tesrivmini
Active Member
And of course as the 150 million reviews (rough estimate) I've watched and read all say, even though the SE is raised 18mm, the centre of gravity is still 30mm lower than the S.
CoachCookie
Active Member
Yup, as others have confirmed, that's correct. That said, there's no way I can live with the car at the stock height. Does not look near as clean or sharp as it could/should. Just lowering 3/4-1" would do wonders. My other cars are much lower, so I'm not worried about a 1" drop on a car that will still have more ground clearance than others I am used to...
Puppethead
Well-Known Member
Until your batteries get punctured by road debris and cause an uncontrollable fire...
Actually the shielding has proved quite tough as someone found out the hard way in another thread. (Hard in that road debris damaged the shielding, but not the batteries. And apparently it took forever to get a replacement part.)
Tommm
Well-Known Member
How my butt dyno feels is more important than what my eyes see.
JonR
Well-Known Member
The roofline is much better after it has been lowered too. The car doesn't look so tall and I don't think just changing flares would fix that problem. It looks like a normal car now that it has been lowered.
SameGuy
Well-Known Member
Anybody know the going cost to get an alignment at a shop with corner scales? I’d trust the scales before my eyes any day of the week. When I found a place to do the smart, they told me they wouldn’t do it because the wheelbase and track were both so small, and the car weighed just 780 kg, so it wasn’t worth it. I did end up eyeballing (and the sneaker test).
simplex123
Member
Traded in my Civic Type R and picked up my electric collection last Thursday after a loonnnnng wait.
First the car had no signs of boarding the carrier from Southampton, but arrived at Port of Halifax in Canada in just 4 days of sailing across the Atlantic.
From the port, it was a relatively quick trip by rail from the east to the west coast in Vancouver. However when it arrived at the local railyard on April 11, there was no news of the car being released by the railyard for over a week. It was not until the logistics manager of BMW Canada contacted the releasing company, did I get a confirmation.
Finally I got it delivered last Thursday and the cat went directly to the shop to get a PPF and ceramic coating.
Got the car back this Thursday and am enjoying it a lot!
Sent from my iPhone using Inside EVs
Congrats! What a strange, secret journey your SE made across Canada! Love the Island Blue.
I'm curious about your decision to switch to an SE from the most pumped-up Honda. Many automotive journalists praise the Civic Type R as being the best handling FWD car. How does the SE's handling compare in your opinion? Does the SE's instant torque make up for the fun of the Type R's 306-hp engine taking you to 100 kph in 5 seconds? Do you miss the 3rd pedal?
My transition from 20 years of driving low-powered, stick-shift, gen-1 Honda Insights was nothing short of ecstatic. After 20 months with my SE, the thrill hasn't worn off.
CuriousGeorge
Well-Known Member
Caconym
Member
I have the same question! My other car is a 2018 Civic sport with the 1.5 turbo manual. And I have to say, as much as I love the Mini, the Civic is by far the better handling car. A bit slower. More comfortably sprung than the Mini, but well damped. Feels much lighter and more eager to turn. And the biggest difference is the steering, which is light and very communicative, whereas the Minis is pretty feedback-free. In general, the Civic feels better the harder you push it vs. the Mini, which starts to show its weight and complain a bit at the edge. A big part of the difference is probably down to wheels and tires. The Civic is on fairly aggressive all season Contis- 235 40 18, and the Mini has the Hankooks on 16" revolites. Still, not a bad couple cars to chuck around! (Also had a gen 1 Insight for a while. That was a comfy ride!)
How long was your wait, and how did you get so much information about its arrival? I live near Vancouver and ordered a Mini SE on March 3/22. So far I have not got any info on the car, except to be reminded that there is a war going on!
Lack of steering feel is one of the few things I dislike about the SE. I can confirm that switching wheels and tires has helped provide a little feedback. I went with a 17” summer tire on an 8” wide wheel. I also installed coilovers at the same time, so that may have accounted for some of the improvement as well.
simplex123
Member
I'm loving the Island Blue too! It's my first blue car, and a long time since I've had a bright coloured car - with the last one being red.
I'm really enjoying it so far, been everything I imagined. Still getting in the groove of the charging cycle between Lv 1 at home and quick DC top ups when I get the chance. MINI Canada's been giving out a free Lv 2 charger but they take about a month to arrive so I'm stuck with the Lv 1 for the time being. It's really quite slow, giving me about 15-18 % SOC after an overnight charge of 11 hours.
My sister has an F56 Cooper so I know how these cars drive, but the SE makes it that much more fun with the instant torque. I decided to get into the SE for a few reasons. Main reason being that my commute to work is more or less a straight road in city traffic for 25-30 mins. In that case, the Type-R did not feel that engaging/fun. I'm sure the car is amazing on the track as I've heard form many, but I just don't have the time to track the car, so I felt the Type-R was a little bit of an overkill to be a daily in my situation (I still have an E46 M3 when I feel the need to do some canyon carving). I tried to go out for as many spirited drives as I could under my ownership, but between being busy with work, and the gas price going up, I felt the amount of straight-lined miles I put on car as a daily is not what the car is made for.
Another reason being that although I just got the Honda in April 2021, many people in my Type-R group were getting great offers from dealerships for their cars last Summer/Fall so I looked into what I could get, because these offers would allow me to essentially drive the car for free for the time I owned it. I looked at all the the EV options and with the SE being the cheapest and most fun, it is a no brainer for me to get into one. Along with the government rebates available, the SE makes it a lot easier on the wallet in terms of its monthly payments.
So in December I started to seriously look into getting one. The colour/trim I initially looked at were Moonwalk Grey or Red in the L3 trim, but of all the ones I saw on the MINI website, they were all spoken for with deposits paid. I hoped to get lucky on someone backing out, but after 3-4 weeks I gave up and started talking to dealers about ordering one. Out of all the dealers I spoke to that had a January/February allocation, only one was willing to appraise my Type-R and give me a concrete offer - all the others wanted me to put a deposit down to order, and then they would appraise the car when they have a better idea when my car would come in. I negotiated a bit and got a fair price for the trade-in, given that the car would be in a similar condition as it was at the time, allowing for reasonable miles to be driven. In the end when the car came in April, I was able to drive the Type-R for free for the year and get into the SE which I feel is more fun for my usage.
It's hard to compare the Type-R and the SE because one is designed to be a track machine while the MINI is less serious but still a hoot to drive around town. The MINI's goal was never to be the best handling car, but instead I feel it aims to be a fun car with big personality inside and out, and still be able to keep up with the handling of other hot hatches.
Of course at seven, eight, nine tenths, the Type-R is objectively the better handling car with an LSD pulling you out of a corner when you continue to put the foot on the throttle, but driving around city speeds, you don't notice the handling as much. Moreover, the SE give me more of a thrill around town. It enables me to drive more like an asshole (sorry BMW driver here lol) and make passes in city traffic that I would not have done in the past. I haven't been able to bring the SE on a spirited drive yet, but on the few bigger turns I made, I found it to be plenty fun. The steering is very direct, albeit the feedback is lacking, but that is now the trend in modern cars and specifically BMW's.
I ordered in on January 11 with a 4th week production date, but car only finally came on April 21. Once you have a VIN allocated to your car, you can call MINI Canada every now and then to get status updates on the production/shipping of the car. Still, your Motoring Advisor (MA) will have the most up to date info with small details along the way - but it's easier to get updates from a call centre rather than the salesperson I feel.
Whereabouts are you located and which dealer did you order your's from?
teslarati97
Well-Known Member
@simplex123 was your L3+ Electric Collection affected by the chip shortage?