You can now buy one of the cheapest electric cars on the US market and it’s a premium choice too. The MINI Cooper SE is now on sale and the compact hatch is bound to stir up some heated conversations. Most will focus on its range but there’s so much more to this car than that. The guys from What Car? in the UK were invited to Miami to test the new electric MINI even though they are headquartered not far from where this car is actually made.
Miami was chosen by MINI representatives as the perfect location for the first test drives and it’s easy to see why: it has the perfect weather for it, during winter time. While the temperatures in Miami during the test drive were closer to 25 degrees Celsius, in the UK, the home of the MINI brand, that temperature was closer to zero. Why is this relevant? Because, as you might have heard, outside temperature influences battery range quite a lot.
The review also goes over some of the exterior details. While overall the new MINI Cooper SE might look a lot like the ‘regular’ hatch MINI, it does have a couple interesting quirks. For example, due to the added weight of the batteries, its suspension was raised but that increased the wheel gap inside the wheel well, making the car look weird.
The solution was to add some more plastic on the fenders, to minimize the visible gap. Oh, and the wheels look like that because they are meant to resemble a UK power socket.
The review also covers the driving dynamics a bit but doesn’t go into too much detail. The car is brisk off the line, as you would expect an EV to be. It is also fun to drive as its compact size and decently powerful engine provide a good combo.
Overall, the MINI doesn’t appeal to everyone but it will aim at the fans of the British brand who wanted a cleaner, equally fun car for city driving as their old Cooper S models. For that, the MINI Cooper SE will be perfect.
