Illogical stuff in the SE. It's the little things...

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F14Scott

F14Scott

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So as not to further derail the other thread (too late), I thought I'd start one to vent about little details the designers didn't get quite right, in my irrefutable opinion...

My first one:
The "toggle" switches don't really toggle, and they don't follow the convention that UP must =on and DOWN must =off. The former military aviator in me wants the switches to behave logically, that way, like they did in the jet.

All of the MINI "toggle" switches have three positions: Momentary UP, default CENTER, and Momentary DOWN. But, either UP or DOWN just means, toggle the function from "off to on" OR "on to off." I'm sure the designers just wanted to idiot-proof the switch so that if the driver moves it in either direction, it does the same thing.

If they are going to use a single switch for only a single on/off function, the switch should be DOWN=off and UP=on. If it is a function that is nominally set by the car's computer but can be toggled either other way, then default CENTER, DOWN=off and UP=on.

In other words, to start the car, I want to have to lift the START/STOP switch. To power down the car, I want to depress the START/STOP switch. Ideally, since these are the only two functions of that switch, it should be a true up/down toggle.
 
The OAT reading sits above the miles remaining display. Since both of them will read between 0 and 110 (assuming Fahrenheit) most days, they are easily mistaken for each other.

The temp should go near the time.

20210115_101753.webp
 
F14Scott said:
The "toggle" switches don't really toggle, and they don't follow the convention that UP must =on and DOWN must =off.
Click to expand...

it's worse than that! There's a huge inconsistency, some are true toggles and some are as you described. For example, the drive mode is down for changing one way, and up for the other. If you press down you go from MID to GREEN to GREEN+, but you have to press up to go back to MID or SPORT.

F14Scott said:
In other words, to start the car, I want to have to lift the START/STOP switch.
Click to expand...

I just realized a few days ago the START/STOP switch label is wrong, you aren't starting or stopping an engine, it just turns the car on or activates the drive motor (it actually needs to be pressed twice to turn everything off). It's more of an ENGAGE/DISENGAGE switch, or ON/OFF. It bugs me that MINI went through the effort to change the color of the switch for the SE but didn't think it through to change the label.
 
Well the lights toggle right?

I've owned a Mini for almost 5 years and never noticed the toggle switch thing or I never thought of it LOL

I'm sure I'll be back in a few days once all funds are where they need to be to pick up the new one. Ugh, went from 1.5-2 weeks to delivery to less than a week. Oops.
 
F14Scott said:
The gas gauge has 100/50/0% marks, but it has 8 divisions vice the 10 that would align with percentages. So, one bar low means you're at 87.5%. Yuck.
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My Bolt has 20 bars, or 5% each. It also has ticks at 0,25,50,75, and 100%. It is easy to see SoC within 5%.

My old Leaf had 12 bars. At first I thought that was odd until I realized that 12 is divisible by 2, 3, 4, and 6. It actually works very well for round numbers.

The saving grace of the SE is the ease of accessing as SoC to the single percent on the dash.


Sent from my iPhone using Inside EVs
 
F14Scott said:
The former military aviator in me wants the switches to behave logically, that way, like they did in the jet.
Click to expand...

This rant would be better if it had Kenny Loggins as backing music.

Also, please tell me you say "I feel the need, the need for speed!" before you get into your Mini each day.
 
The left hand power gauge is stupid, too.

0 to 100% of what? Maximum Wattage from the battery? Available Wattage from the battery?
I'd like to see a throttle position bug, a Wattage available bug, and a Wattage delivered needle, as well as numeric values being displayed, not just percentages.

Also, as many have pointed out and Insightman actually did something about, I want a brake light indicator for regenerative braking, and it should be user-adjustible for Gs of decel. It should also have a mark on the gauge to allow one to feather one's coasting to avoid or activate the brake light.
 
Tommy Electric said:
This rant would be better if it had Kenny Loggins as backing music.

Also, please tell me you say "I feel the need, the need for speed!" before you get into your Mini each day.
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You asked for it...

The gear shift lever should be a standard fighter stick. The current "override" thumb bar on the left should, instead, be the stick's gun trigger, and "parking" should be the standard bomb "pickle" button under the driver's extended right thumb.

20210118_072740.webp


And, while we're at it, pushing the stick forward should engage forward drive, and pulling aft should engage reverse. I postulate they reversed the two to align with the old PRNDL transmission standard (and, probably the ICE automatic SEs), but it's counterintuitive and unnecessary in an electric car.
 
F14Scott said:
It should also have a mark on the gauge to allow one to feather one's coasting to avoid or activate the brake light.
Click to expand...
When the needle touches the first regen bar, the brake lights come on, so you do have that mark. You just don't have the confirmation I have with my jury-rigged braking LED. However, the confirmation just adds to my frustration that the autonomous brake light threshold isn't smarter. It should allow me to decelerate as quickly as a gas-powered MINI with engine braking without lighting up the brake lights.
 
F14Scott said:
I'd like to see a throttle position bug, a Wattage available bug, and a Wattage delivered needle, as well as numeric values being displayed, not just percentages.
Click to expand...

The yellow LEDs serve as the "available power" bug. I have seen pictures from people complaining about reduced power in very cold conditions, and their pictures show the top 4-5 LEDs are not on, in the same way the second regen LED is off when you select the low regen setting.
reducedpower.webp
 
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MichaelC said:
The yellow LEDs serve as the "available power" bug. I have seen pictures from people complaining about reduced power in very cold conditions, and their pictures show the top 4-5 LEDs are not on, in the same way the second regen LED is off when you select the low regen setting.
View attachment 10479
Click to expand...
Ahh, cool. I've never used the low regen function, so I hadn't seen that part, and I've never seen the power bar lower itself, either.

I'd still like some real numbers attached. I prefer old-style "steam gauges" that give me all available info to idiot lights and gauges that just say, "you're good."
 
F14Scott said:
So as not to further derail the other thread (too late), I thought I'd start one to vent about little details the designers didn't get quite right, in my irrefutable opinion...

My first one:
The "toggle" switches don't really toggle, and they don't follow the convention that UP must =on and DOWN must =off. The former military aviator in me wants the switches to behave logically, that way, like they did in the jet.

All of the MINI "toggle" switches have three positions: Momentary UP, default CENTER, and Momentary DOWN. But, either UP or DOWN just means, toggle the function from "off to on" OR "on to off." I'm sure the designers just wanted to idiot-proof the switch so that if the driver moves it in either direction, it does the same thing.

If they are going to use a single switch for only a single on/off function, the switch should be DOWN=off and UP=on. If it is a function that is nominally set by the car's computer but can be toggled either other way, then default CENTER, DOWN=off and UP=on.

In other words, to start the car, I want to have to lift the START/STOP switch. To power down the car, I want to depress the START/STOP switch. Ideally, since these are the only two functions of that switch, it should be a true up/down toggle.
Click to expand...
But of course the Mini is manufactured in the UK. Our default on position is down and off is up.
I suspect the option they have gone for maybe to streamline the assembly process for multiple markets.
They put the steering wheel on the wrong side for you. How far do you expect them to bend on your behalf?
 
T.C. said:
But of course the Mini is manufactured in the UK. Our default on position is down and off is up.
Click to expand...
But it's the BMW shifter that has been added to the MINI, so it's a German design.

When doing my parking brake testing I did realize it's counterintuitive to push forward for reverse and pull back for forward. As for compatibility with the traditional PRNDL automatic transmission, that's nonsense since PARK was already moved to a separate button and there is no LOW. And if you think of manual transmissions, I don't think I've ever seen one where first gear is not "up and to the left" and reverse has always been "down" and either to the left or the right.

This is another example of halfway redesign if you ask me.
 
Puppethead said:
But it's the BMW shifter that has been added to the MINI, so it's a German design.

When doing my parking brake testing I did realize it's counterintuitive to push forward for reverse and pull back for forward. As for compatibility with the traditional PRNDL automatic transmission, that's nonsense since PARK was already moved to a separate button and there is no LOW. And if you think of manual transmissions, I don't think I've ever seen one where first gear is not "up and to the left" and reverse has always been "down" and either to the left or the right.

This is another example of halfway redesign if you ask me.
Click to expand...
I have always thought the prnd auto selector counterintuitive. Particularly on modern cars where the selector is mearly electronic, with no actual mechanical connection. Mind you, the selector on my BMW i3S is forward for drive, back for reverse and located on the righthand side of the steering column. It's taken quite some months to retrain my ageing brain to seek the selector in its current position rather than the transmission tunnel area, like my 330E.
 
Puppethead said:
But it's the BMW shifter that has been added to the MINI, so it's a German design.

When doing my parking brake testing I did realize it's counterintuitive to push forward for reverse and pull back for forward. As for compatibility with the traditional PRNDL automatic transmission, that's nonsense since PARK was already moved to a separate button and there is no LOW. And if you think of manual transmissions, I don't think I've ever seen one where first gear is not "up and to the left" and reverse has always been "down" and either to the left or the right.

This is another example of halfway redesign if you ask me.
Click to expand...
My Mini was up and to the left. All my Hondas have been to the right and down. When the Carvana person came they asked if they had to push in like some cars require. My Horizon did that.
 
MichaelC said:
I have seen pictures from people complaining about reduced power in very cold conditions, and their pictures show the top 4-5 LEDs are not on
Click to expand...
That's also what journalists saw after pushing an SE hard for a lap or two around a track. The top segments returned after the battery was given time to cool down. I keep saying this car needs a bigger hood scoop! :)
 
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