Saw a MINI Cooper SE at...

insightman

insightman

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It was so much fun! My wife was driving our MINI Cooper SE and we were first in line at the stoplight at Stadium Boulevard and Jackson Road. I noticed that the first car in line facing us was a MINI Cooper. Then I noticed the color was British Racing Green. Then I noticed the Energetic Yellow emblem on the Vigorous Grey aerodynamic grille.

"Wife! It's another electric MINI! Flash your headlights! (I was all about exclamations.) She did it and the BRG MINI flashed back twice! This is a new, higher level of kinship than simply waving at every MINI Cooper that you see. We were shooting electronic beams of light between our electric MINI Cooper SEs!
 
insightman said:
It was so much fun! My wife was driving our MINI Cooper SE and we were first in line at the stoplight at Stadium Boulevard and Jackson Road. I noticed that the first car in line facing us was a MINI Cooper. Then I noticed the color was British Racing Green. Then I noticed the Energetic Yellow emblem on the Vigorous Grey aerodynamic grille.

"Wife! It's another electric MINI! Flash your headlights! (I was all about exclamations.) She did it and the BRG MINI flashed back twice! This is a new, higher level of kinship than simply waving at every MINI Cooper that you see. We were shooting electronic beams of light between our electric MINI Cooper SEs!
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That was me! I was wondering if that might be you. So fun to see you on the road!
 
insightman said:
It was so much fun! My wife was driving our MINI Cooper SE and we were first in line at the stoplight at Stadium Boulevard and Jackson Road. I noticed that the first car in line facing us was a MINI Cooper. Then I noticed the color was British Racing Green. Then I noticed the Energetic Yellow emblem on the Vigorous Grey aerodynamic grille.

"Wife! It's another electric MINI! Flash your headlights! (I was all about exclamations.) She did it and the BRG MINI flashed back twice! This is a new, higher level of kinship than simply waving at every MINI Cooper that you see. We were shooting electronic beams of light between our electric MINI Cooper SEs!
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Oh how I love this! Thanks for sharing, your exuberance shines through brightly!
 
Puppethead said:
I finally saw another SE in the wild! I believe it was Moonwalk Grey, with electric power spoke wheels, so it must be Iconic trim. I'm going to guess it's one of the 2020 models.
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The number of 2020 SEs produced is small compared to the 2021s because the factory shut down the same month the company began delivering SEs. When the factory re-opened they switched to making 2021 models. So the odds are stronger that you saw a 2021 SE. Not that there's any real difference--it's a big thrill to spot an SE from any year.
 
Haha, cool that you two randos spotted each other! I've still yet to see an SE in the wild, but I try to keep an eye out.
 
insightman said:
So the odds are stronger that you saw a 2021 SE.
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It's possible, but because of the color I think odds were high it was a 2020. My dealer is big enough that I had my pick of the 2020 models, but I passed because I wanted Chili Red. I know my dealer sold two 2020 models, although maybe not all they had to offer were Iconic trim.
 
I was very surprised to see another SE in the same parking garage this morning. The local MINI dealer does not believe in electric MINI’s so I expected I might go a long time w/o seeing another. The one I saw was white over BRG and recently purchased in Scottsdale. I must say it looks terrific. I do think that color combo deserves white wheels, however!

I’ve got about 1,200 miles on my black over white-silver purchased last month in Tempe. My office is about 3 miles from home, so I will likely never catch up to the rest of you.


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On most cars, brake pad dust makes it difficult to keep white wheels clean, but when you can drive all day without using the brakes...
 
hanyoung99 said:
What a small world! You must work at NW hospital :)
That is my wife's car that we just picked up last night thanks to all of the advice received on this forum!
And what do you know - looking at white wheels now.
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Yes, indeed. Just hit the 20 year mark at NW last month. <singing>”It’s a small world…” <>

You will love the MINI. It puts a smile on my face every time I look at it. And, two smiles when I’m driving it.

Were you able to drive home from North Scottsdale w/o charging?



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Puppethead said:
Except there's a lot of brake dust created from the actions of the traction control.
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I thought I read somewhere that the SE does not use the brakes as part of the traction management. But, instead uses the drive motor controller to modulate torque delivery. This makes the SE traction control exceptionally smooth w/o the herky jerky feel of some cars. I’ll try to find the reference.


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From an article on Topgear.com

https://www.topgear.com/car-news/electric/8-things-we-learned-driving-new-electric-mini-cooper-s-e

“Mini, which has a special traction control system called ‘Active Slip Regulation’ that effectively kills all wheelspin. We tried it on one of those low-grip wet surfaces, and can report it seems to work very well indeed. Mini says it’s quicker reacting because the system is actually integrated into the ECU, basically just a few lines of code, so doesn’t have its own dedicated control unit. Oh, and you can’t turn it off. The Mini people couldn’t understand why you’d want to, either, which is only mildly concerning.”


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The dust is coming from somewhere. And it's not clear to me that the active slip regulation is the same as the dynamic traction control, which is standard in ICE models as well.
 
Puppethead said:
Except there's a lot of brake dust created from the actions of the traction control.
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I remember reading how proud MINI was to have incorporated the traction control system into the motor control system so it can act sooner to ensure traction than less-integrated systems, so I'm surprised to learn it activates the brakes, too. I'd be less surprised to learn the stability control system uses the brakes.
 
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