The new MINI Cooper SE electric car is not only eco-friendly, but it’s also a fun car to drive. Therefore, to highlight its athletic abilities, the folks at MINI decided to take the Cooper SE to one of the most famous driving roads in the world – Transfagarasan.
Eccentric English automobile host Jeremy Clarkson from England calls the Transfăgărăşan “the best road in the world” in the cult automobile series “Top Gear” – and overcomes the difference in altitude of more than 1400 meters with a maximum gradient of 8.6 percent in a powerful super sports car.
Now, it’s MINI’s turn to conquer the Transfăgărăşan mountain road in Romania that winds through the Transylvanian Alps for 90 kilometers.
The new MINI Cooper SE is powered by an electric motor providing 135 kW/184 hp directly to the road through the front wheels thanks to the automatic transmission and model-specific torque of 270 Nm. The Transfăgărăşan road unfolds second by second, becoming wilder and ever more dramatic, but that doesn’t stop the electric car and its driver from having fun.
The car hurtles over viaducts and through tunnels, hurries past waterfalls and jagged scree-covered slopes.
Are the cows along the side of the road likely to be impressed? This is an area where horse-drawn carts are still common and superannuated tractors make fast cornering into a slalom artform.
The final stop is near the barrage wall of the Vidraru Dam, and the scenery presents an invitation to chill out. The backdrop produces some memorable photos capturing the mountain panorama with mist rising up – in fact of course made up of clouds. Not for nothing is the Transfăgărăşan called the “road in the clouds”.
