Don't buy the Mini EV if you need to drive in snow.

[chrunck]

What stock tires come on the Mini SE? I'm potentially taking delivery in the middle of winter in tne Northeast, trying to find information about the stock tires (16" wheels if that makes a difference).

Non-runflat high performance summer tires. I think most 16" options come with Hankook Ventus Prime 3 195/55R16.

We don't typically get a lot of snow in the city, so I'll see how it goes on summer tires. What we do get usually melts in a day or two, plus I'll need to drive our Clubman occasionally to keep the battery up since my wife works from home.

I unknowingly drove on summer tires through 2 winters in Ohio and never had any issues aside from our driveway, so I suspect I'll be fine. (I was convinced they were all seasons at the time, but oops).

 

[Carsten Haase]

We don't typically get a lot of snow in the city, so I'll see how it goes on summer tires. What we do get usually melts in a day or two, plus I'll need to drive our Clubman occasionally to keep the battery up since my wife works from home.

I unknowingly drove on summer tires through 2 winters in Ohio and never had any issues aside from our driveway, so I suspect I'll be fine. (I was convinced they were all seasons at the time, but oops).

Please don't use summer tires in any weather below 40F... just because you may have gotten lucky and gotten away with it doesn't mean it's fine, you are putting yourself and everyone around you at risk.

The stopping distance for summer rubber increases a huge amount when cold. Even going from 60F to 40F the wet stopping distance from 50mph increases by 30 feet. Below 40F it gets significantly worse.

Add in snow and you're basically driving around without brakes (if you can even get moving). That's half a block to stop from just 25mph

https://www.tire-reviews.com/Article/2021-Tire-Reviews-All-Season-Tire-Test.htm

 

[chrunck]

Please don't use summer tires in any weather below 40F... just because you may have gotten lucky and gotten away with it doesn't mean it's fine, you are putting yourself and everyone around you at risk.

But I was young and stupid once, so surely if I keep doing stupid things it means I'm still young, right? Right?

I really didn't want a second set of wheels/tires, but I'll see what they have at the dealer when I go. I looked at the Discount Tire website the other day, but I've never been able to wrap my head around wheel sizes.

Thanks for the ego check

 

[notvichyssoise]

Interesting - what do folks in snowy climates do, buy the car and immediately swap tires? I’d be picking up ~100 mi away from home in upstate NY in January…

 

[Puppethead]

I’d be picking up ~100 mi away from home in upstate NY in January…

Eek that sounds risky. Unless the roads are completely dry, in which case you could carefully drive on the summer tires. I drove my SE on the summer tires well into winter temperatures last season without issue, but if there was any hint of anything on the roads I kept it in the garage. I didn't get my winter wheels until just before Christmas.

 

[Carsten Haase]

But I was young and stupid once, so surely if I keep doing stupid things it means I'm still young, right? Right?

I really didn't want a second set of wheels/tires, but I'll see what they have at the dealer when I go. I looked at the Discount Tire website the other day, but I've never been able to wrap my head around wheel sizes.

Thanks for the ego check

I learned my lesson after a close call with some bad all seasons on ice, I don't gamble with tires anymore!

I'm not sure exactly what winter in Ohio is like but if you don't plan on driving on snow or ice, performance all seasons could be a good one tire option.

If you haven't read the tire threads though, just be aware that the stock summer tires are about as efficient as you'll get. Other tires will be about the same or more likely worse

 

[Carsten Haase]

Interesting - what do folks in snowy climates do, buy the car and immediately swap tires? I’d be picking up ~100 mi away from home in upstate NY in January…

Either that or get the car towed home? I bet you could ship the dealer some tires of your choice (if you don't like the MINI option) and have them installed before you pick up the car.

I literally wouldn't be able to get home from the dealer in winter so I had to make sure to get the car during summer haha

 

[chrunck]

I'm not sure exactly what winter in Ohio is like but if you don't plan on driving on snow or ice, performance all seasons could be a good one tire option.

Oh I live in New Mexico now thankfully. Ohio was the pits.

All seasons are generally fine here in Albuquerque. We get some snow in the winter, but it doesn't last more than a day or two. I wish the car could be configured with all seasons from the get go, but what can you do?

It was the same scenario with our JCW, which we took delivery of the day after Christmas I think. Had to buy new wheels and tires immediately.

 

[ColdCase]

Interesting - what do folks in snowy climates do, buy the car and immediately swap tires? I’d be picking up ~100 mi away from home in upstate NY in January…

Renting a Uhaul pickup truck and car carrier would be a backup plan. Some dealers have delivery service. I'm sure a local tow operator would be happy to drive his flatbed out to pick up the SE.

Otherwise how are you getting to the dealer? Is there room for a set of wheels and tires? If you didn't want to deal with a winter set of wheels and tires, I'm pretty sure the dealer would sell you a set of winter or all season tires and install them for you.

I like driving an old beat up Jeep in nasty weather, and limit the use of the SE to good weather. I hate denting new car sheet metal with snow drifts, and the SE has little ground clearance for snow. A neighbor just doesn't go out in snow/ice. That doesn't help with the pickup, however.

Its best to use a proper tool for the task.

 

[LJKelley]

Interesting - what do folks in snowy climates do, buy the car and immediately swap tires? I’d be picking up ~100 mi away from home in upstate NY in January…

Yep, that's exactly what you do. When I bought my Mercedes SLK in the fall I had winter wheels and tires shipped and delivered to the dealership before the car arrived from Germany.

With the MINI, I just bought the a winter wheel package for about $1400 from the dealership. Looks officials and has Dunlop SP Winter Sport 3D tires. Worked well on 1.5 inches of snow this morning. Regen is a little aggressive and caused me to slide 6 in or so to a stop, but if I was more careful with the throttle or had reduced the regen mode that wouldn't have happened.

I'll be very interested to see how it does when we get a big snow storm with 6 inches or more of snow.

 

[FrankinCarp]

This is my second Mini with DSC. My first was a 2002 Cooper S.
I always used winter tyres on all 4 corners. Blizzaks, Pirelli Winter Carving and others in the 7 years I owned that Mini. I live in Ottawa and as a sales and technical support guy for over 30 years, I drove 30,000 km per year travelling all over northern and eastern Ontario and typically saw 8 feet of snow per year and more than a couple days of freezing rain. (Not banana belt Toronto.)
I never turned off DSC. I loved going out in the slipperiest of freezing rain and just kept my foot in it, steered where I wanted to go and let the DSC brake each wheel independently as necessary. There is NO way in the world that I could pump the brakes as precisely as the Mini’s DSC could work.
Anyone who installs just 2 winter tyres on ANY car is an idiot.
When road temperatures fall below 5° C, summer tires become too hard to work properly. All season tires are “jack of all trades” and master of none.
I just installed a set of Continental Viking 7 tires on my brand new 2022 SE and have had one early, heavy wet snow day so far and I think the SE is performing as well as the 2002 Cooper S.
No apologies for my strong opinions.


Sent from my iPad using Inside EVs

 

[Tommm]

The bolt pattern is the same as VW. Go on tire rack's site and check the width and offset of what fits a Mini and what fits a VW. There are plenty of nice used VW and Mini wheels on Craigslist.
Here are the Mini wheels on Craigslist by me. A set of 16" for $300 https://denver.craigslist.org/search/wta?query=mini&purveyor-input=all&srchType=T
Here are the VW wheels on Craigslist by me. https://denver.craigslist.org/search/wta?query=vw&purveyor-input=all&srchType=T
Here are the Volkswagen Wheels on Craigslist by me. https://denver.craigslist.org/search/wta?query=volkswagen&purveyor-input=all&srchType=T
Then try Audi. Find out the year and model the wheels came off of, plug it into tire rack's site and the find an offset calculator on line to see the difference. Usually not enough to make a difference. This system has worked for me for a few of my cars. I have sets of winter and summer wheels/tires for the three dailies, and a few sets of track wheels tires for the daily/toy and toy.

 

[Carsten Haase]

The bolt pattern is the same as VW. Go on tire rack's site and check the width and offset of what fits a Mini and what fits a VW. There are plenty of nice used VW and Mini wheels on Craigslist.
Here are the Mini wheels on Craigslist by me. A set of 16" for $300 https://denver.craigslist.org/search/wta?query=mini&purveyor-input=all&srchType=T
Here are the VW wheels on Craigslist by me. https://denver.craigslist.org/search/wta?query=vw&purveyor-input=all&srchType=T
Here are the Volkswagen Wheels on Craigslist by me. https://denver.craigslist.org/search/wta?query=volkswagen&purveyor-input=all&srchType=T
Then try Audi. Find out the year and model the wheels came off of, plug it into tire rack's site and the find an offset calculator on line to see the difference. Usually not enough to make a difference. This system has worked for me for a few of my cars. I have sets of winter and summer wheels/tires for the three dailies, and a few sets of track wheels tires for the daily/toy and toy.

The bolt pattern is the same but don't VW/Audi both use ball seat lugs instead of the conical seat used by MINI?

Because MINI uses a different thread pitch, it was a huge pain finding ball seat lug bolts for my OZ wheels. Black ones do not exist as far as I can tell so I had to use the silver that came from Tire Rack

 

[Tommm]

The bolt pattern is the same but don't VW/Audi both use ball seat lugs instead of the conical seat used by MINI?

Because MINI uses a different thread pitch, it was a huge pain finding ball seat lug bolts for my OZ wheels. Black ones do not exist as far as I can tell so I had to use the silver that came from Tire Rack

Thanks. Didn't realize that was different. I have OZs for the Cayman and they have their own set of bolts that wont fit the stock wheels or the BMW.

Scrap the factory VW wheels idea.

 

[Carsten Haase]

Finally got enough snow on the ground to test the car at it's limits with my X-ICE Snow tires... My experience was the exact opposite of @Smart Wannabe. The traction control is amazing! Super smooth with none of the engine surging or brake grabbing that ICE cars have.

Last night the roads were mostly black ice and were incredibly slippery. The tires would barely slip at full throttle and even with full strength regen I couldn't get the front tires to lock up.

This morning was about 2" of snow on top of ice and was just as impressive.

Full DSC (normal mode) limits slip to almost zero and keeps the car very stable with all understeer if you quickly swerve about (like you would to dodge something in the road).

DTC (one press of traction control switch) mode allows more slip when accelerating but still understeers when swerving. Really only useful in deep snow where the normal DSC wouldn't allow you to maintain speed.

DSC off (hold traction control switch) is definitely the most fun! It allows some rotation of the rear when swerving or off throttle sharp turns but the car still seems very stable and controlled. Even some regen through a turn wouldn't get the rear around that much... Coming from a RWD sports car with zero driver assists (not even abs) it feels like some part of the system is still on since it doesn't quite slide like I'd expect and still limits wheel slip. This could just be how FWD is but I have nothing to compare to so I don't really know.

Anyway, on ice and snow I tried to intentionally upset the car and spin a bit and it wouldn't let me. Driving around normally feels fantastic even with regen left on full strength. The MINI seems to be as good or better than my wife's Subaru, at least until ground clearance becomes an issue.

 

[Lainey]

Interesting - what do folks in snowy climates do, buy the car and immediately swap tires? I’d be picking up ~100 mi away from home in upstate NY in January…

I had no idea exactly when mine was coming in. Dealer was convinced they'd be all seasons. Nope. I was lucky to have dry pavement most of the time I drove below freezing since they had no good stock of winter tires.

Again, this isn't about you.

Would you claim that the current Electric version performs the same as the large BMW SUV shown in your linked video?

Not about me but asking me directly? Was too busy with my family to reply earlier. Clearly you didn't understand the point of the video. The idea of all the levels of traction and how the car responds are the same. Me thinks you are being contrary on purpose. My EV is just dandy in snow. Thanks.

 

[Smart Wannabe]

Is it just me?
Or everyone feels the same that the steer by wire and drive by wire pedals make this car extremely removed from the road in snow.
Like you step on the gas and Traction Control take care of everything and you just wait till it sort out anything and it will just go forward as the car pleases. Like doesn’t matter how much you press the pedal, nothing changes. And forget abut steering feel. There is none in snow.

 

[Lainey]

Is it just me?
Or everyone feels the same that the steer by wire and drive by wire pedals make this car extremely removed from the road in snow.
Like you step on the gas and Traction Control take care of everything and you just wait till it sort out anything and it will just go forward as the car pleases. Like doesn’t matter how much you press the pedal, nothing changes. And forget abut steering feel. There is none in snow.

Not really. I felt my car wouldn't jump around and fishtail but I felt like I had complete control in the snow whether making a turn or going straight. I felt the opposite - I felt very connected to the road and very secure. I did lots of testing the last snowfall too. Never drove a better car in the snow. I do have snow tires though.

 

[chrunck]

Is it just me?
Or everyone feels the same that the steer by wire and drive by wire pedals make this car extremely removed from the road in snow.
Like you step on the gas and Traction Control take care of everything and you just wait till it sort out anything and it will just go forward as the car pleases. Like doesn’t matter how much you press the pedal, nothing changes. And forget abut steering feel. There is none in snow.

Have you tried DTC or turning off the traction control altogether?

 

[Carsten Haase]

Is it just me?
Or everyone feels the same that the steer by wire and drive by wire pedals make this car extremely removed from the road in snow.
Like you step on the gas and Traction Control take care of everything and you just wait till it sort out anything and it will just go forward as the car pleases. Like doesn’t matter how much you press the pedal, nothing changes. And forget abut steering feel. There is none in snow.

What mode are you driving on? Green, Mid, Sport? Do you have traction control on, partially off, or full off?

My previous car was a first gen Miata which arguably has some of the best feedback available and absolutely zero nannies to interfere. I could feel the available traction through the wheel and could tell the instant the front wheels started to slip. I got the same level of feedback from the brake pedal. The car would do exactly what I asked (even if what I asked was stupid, it was still more than willing to do it!)

The SE doesn't come close to the same feedback as the Miata but in sport mode and traction control fully off it isn't too bad. I can still feel the amount of traction the tires have, it's just a bit muted.

With traction control on and in green/mid with the lighter steering it's more how you describe but still not as "dead" as my wife's Subaru Outback. Having the car handle everything is nice for general driving where your reaction can't beat the car's, but you can still have some fun if you want.