First winter driving impressions of the MINI Cooper S E

A couple of days ago, we got the chance to try the brand new MINI Cooper S E and drive it in the snow. We got a pleasant first impression, and at the same time, we were able to see how it compares to its gasoline counterpart as we drove the MINI Cooper S 60th during the same week. Nearly the first question people ask when it comes to EV's is how good is its range, let's get this out of the away; the range we experienced while outside temperatures were -10c was 155km, again this is what the trip computer showed us when we picked up the vehicle at MINI Brossard. The actual range we observed was better, and we will soon explain why.

As we drove off, the first thing we enjoyed was the quiet and relaxing experience of zooming away in sport mode. The acceleration doesn't disappoint at all; it will bring you to 100km/h in 7.3 sec, which is almost the same as the result we got for the traditional Cooper S, you can read our review in a couple of weeks. The vehicle has good stability in the snow since it's slightly heavier, even around corners the S E felt planted, and we got a lot less torque steer when going full throttle with it. Another small advantage is the S E:s height is slightly raised compared to the traditional Cooper S, this helped us keep the vehicle cleaner while driving in the snow. Something that was nearly impossible in the S, and was convenient, especially when it came time to take our pictures.

Now going back to the range, while driving in the city, we experienced that the range would lower by nearly 1km every 1.5km driven while in Green+, on the HWY above 110km/h the range would decrease quite rapidly this explains that the Cooper S E's top speed is limited to 150km/h. In a typical commute 155km range is more than sufficient, people tend to forget that as you charge the car overnight, it will have this range available every morning at a fraction of the price it would cost to fuel up. Our daily commute in traffic both ways is 60km and the S E would only consume about 45-50km of its electric range with a mix of HWY and in-traffic driving. This still would leave us with more than 100km for shopping and grocery, and if that's not enough, the MINI Cooper S E can gain back 80% of its range on a DC fast charger in 30min. When charging at home using your level 2 charger, you can expect this to take 3h15.

In the winter, you can reasonably expect a range of around 180km in the city and about 130km on the HWY, in the summer you can expect 230km approximately in the city and 165km HWY. We observed an electric consumption in this mini-test of 18.8 kWh/100km with a 50/50 HWY/City driving.

The MINI S E is a 4-seater, same as the Cooper s; the seating space is similar; only the trunk space is slightly smaller. The seats are made of recycled cloth, and the sides bolstering are leatherette and are comfortable.

If you've got any questions, don't hesitate to ask us on Facebook or Instagram! We will do a full review with car seats and all once we get it for an entire week.