Is an electric Mini your next autocrosser?

I didn't know this existed!

The Mini used to be a cute and very useful and economical small car. They had an 80" wheelbase, and weighed approx. 1400-1500 lbs.  It got great fuel mileage.

The new Cooper Clubman has a 105" wheelbase, and is the size of a small SUV, weighing 3600 lbs. (but you are right, getting the battery powered version down to c. 3100 lbs is indeed a laudable accomplishment).

I don't think that the new ones really merit the use of the 'Mini' description any more.....they should probably just label it a BMW X1.

In reply to wspohn :

I don't care what they call it or what it weighs. I like driving mine. 

Is an electric Mini your next autocrosser?

Were you going to provide any information about its autocross performance? 

In reply to ProDarwin :

This was a first drive at the press intro. Hopefully soon we can run numbers. Initial indications, though, show that it’s fun and in the ballpark. 

I'm not sure what to think about the non-symmetrical wheels.  

Max charging rate is 50 kW, so it's not a great road tripper. The Mini site says 80% in 36 minutes (sounds about right for that battery size), and 80% is 88 miles. This is the sort of thing people are worried about when thinking of taking an EV on vacation, and it's real in some cases.

If you are looking at an EV, take a look at that charge rate. Of the other cars mentioned in the article, the Kona can charge at 75 kW and the Leaf can hit 100 but requires the CHAdeMO format which is rapidly becoming obsolete. The Bolt, which should probably have been mentioned, is at 55 kW. These charging rates only matter if you use more than your rated range before a long stop (such as an overnight).

Good price point, and the MINI has some style on its side with minimum dorkiness. That'll help bring some people over.

One question that always has to be asked about short range (and thus likely compliance) EVs: are they available everywhere? The Kona Electric mentioned in the article is only available in 12 states. Is the Mini available everywhere?

Mileage sounds comparable to the i3

In reply to John Welsh :

Nothing a set of RFP1's won't fix.  But yeah, those are pretty awful looking wheels.

Keith Tanner said:

One question that always has to be asked about short range (and thus likely compliance) EVs: are they available everywhere? The Kona Electric mentioned in the article is only available in 12 states. Is the Mini available everywhere?

Valid question. MINI sold an electric version of the R56 about a decade ago, but it was lease-only (with no buy option) and was only offered in CA and NYC-metro areas.  

In reply to wspohn :

My daughter has a 3 door, it is nothing like an X1.

Keith Tanner said:

One question that always has to be asked about short range (and thus likely compliance) EVs: are they available everywhere? The Kona Electric mentioned in the article is only available in 12 states. Is the Mini available everywhere?

Let me follow up with another question: Can it be served at any Mini dealership?

I remember when the Fiat 500e came out, you could only take it to be serviced at certain dealerships. Granted, there was plenty to pick from (even ones outside of the states it was originally sold in), but it's something worth looking into before you buy.

With gas prices, this is definitely appealing. Also since I already trailer the R55 MINI to most events. 

 However - ignoring the 30% dealer market exploitments here on the west coast, the 22' Civic Si is the same MSRP, and also in GS. edit: looking at MINIs website - the standard justa Cooper is $27.4k, the SE shows $33.9k starting for me. I'd say that's a price increase.

Found this in a quick search. Looks like only used 14% over 5 runs. 

edit:  he got 14th in PAX also. 

Colin Wood said:

Keith Tanner said:

One question that always has to be asked about short range (and thus likely compliance) EVs: are they available everywhere? The Kona Electric mentioned in the article is only available in 12 states. Is the Mini available everywhere?

Let me follow up with another question: Can it be served at any Mini dealership?

I remember when the Fiat 500e came out, you could only take it to be serviced at certain dealerships. Granted, there was plenty to pick from (even ones outside of the states it was originally sold in), but it's something worth looking into before you buy.

Possibly. I would think the MINI would use similar EV architecture as their BMW cousins and therefore could be serviced at authorized BMW dealers. That said, BMW used to have a thing about not allowing BMW dealers to do authorized service on MINIs - something that has caused MINI some problems over the years due to the rather sparse dealer network.  So who knows. 

In reply to thashane :

Some manufacturers are sneaky about figuring fed/state EV incentives into MSRP in advertising. That being said the article MSRP matches what I am seeing, so unsure why you are seeing something different.

In my area of California, the Cooper SE qualifies for just over $10k in rebates thanks to federal and state EV incentives. At about $19k it's a lot more appealing than it is at $30k.

In reply to pointofdeparture :

At $19K, it's a steal. 

In reply to thashane :

The article doesn't say the SE is equal price to the base model. It says the SE hasn't had a price increase since 2020, and that it is comparably priced to the base model AFTER INCENTIVES. 

In reply to SV reX :

You are correct, I misread the Leaf MSRP @27.4k

In reply to pointofdeparture :

In Northern California the MINI website starts at 33.9 for me, and jumps up to 34 something (guessing 850 shipping) at the end of the build. 

If you look into the CA rebates, to get the full amount you have to "retire" (scrap) a car that has been registered for the last 2 years. The Fed rebate is very appealing though.

Such a small battery pack has me wondering if you'd be recharging between run groups... I'd love to stick one of those Koenigsegg electric motors in the Exocet, but it would have to be enough for a good 20 runs or so, without needing a battery pack that would take weight above the stock Miata drivetrain it would replace. Not sure we are there just yet on the battery side of things.

If you are waiting for the magic battery, i wouldn't hold your breath. It's like the 100 mpg carburetor. Incremental changes will continue, but don't expect a step change.

Even if you gained some weight to hit your goal of 20 runs, it might be worthwhile. We had two Model 3 Performance cars at our autox today. One of them set FTD (by a long shot) and beat a turbo Exocet on Hoosiers by 4 or 5 seconds. 9 runs. He then stopped by a Supercharger. I'll find out what he used. 

Keith, was the guy's name Bruce, by any chance? Turbo Exocet seems like a handful, considering how tail happy mine is with just a base NB2 drivetrain.

That would be Bruce. Turbo Exocet is an awesome tool when set up well and this one's pretty sorted.
 

Bruce didn't tell me how many kWh he used, only "$5" and I don't know the cost for Supercharging around here. 

Haha, I know Bruce... sounds like I've got my work cut out to edge him out. Friendly rival, of sorts, he's a good dude. Always a pleasure to outdo him, but I suspect we're on a shorter course than you guys are down there.

That said my Exocet is far from sorted. Still on stock suspension and bushings from an 02 donor, and pretty sure the rear shocks are blown. Still stupidly quick though.

The course yesterday was in the 50-52 second range. Slow. First time we've used that venue in several years, gotta learn how to lay it out. 

If you want to beat Bruce, you're going to need functioning suspension. :) Don't judge Exocet handling until you've got a chassis under you. They work pretty well. Like a Miata that's lost 900 lbs.  

Most of our courses seem to end up in the 30-40 second range since the lots are fairly small around here. I intend to refresh the chassis fully once the budget is there, no worries there apart from the time it takes to save up. =)

In reply to David S. Wallens : I'm 100% on board with seeing how much autocross fun you can coax out of it. How much battery would three .6 mile autocross runs take? I don't trailer cars to events, so getting there and home is another factor

I took my 2023 SE to my first ever autocross a few weeks back.

Owing absolutely entirely to the stock Hankooks not sticking, my timed runs were dreadful. Nothing whatsoever to do with the fact that it was my first time autocrossing and my aggression level was a touch higher than my experience...

It felt surprisingly neutral for an FWD. At the end of my faster slaloms, I may have been opposite lock. The 180s, I mostly ploughed. That was probably a little too much entry speed. I'm really not sure that I want to stick a 25mm RARB on this thing, it's my daily... A bit more maybe, but not a lot more.

Seriously, the tyres did seem rather slick to start with, but I also sucked. After the timed runs, we had some time left so we did funruns. -5s on my first of those, after the car had cooled for over an hour...

2nd funrun was done by an R53 competitor. In her first time in an EV, she ran 0.6s faster than her best recorded R53 time of the day...

Hmmm. I thought it would be quicker than an R53, which is my other car.

My last funrun sounded dirty, but it was also only 2s off the GS class winner. I was very pleased with that.

Methinks that some sticky tyres and a non-showroom alignment, it should easily hold its own in GS.

Brakes are heavily front biased. 280/54mm JustaF56on the front, 280/34mm F54 on the back. I now have some EBC red front, yellow rear to help there. Sadly, the F54 rear calipers make it unlikely that any non-custom  15" wheels can be used.

Suspension is a mongrel. Ride height is a tad higher than F56. Shocks are unique to the SE. I don't have spring part numbers, but the rear springs measure up like an F54 AWD. Fronts may be F55. I strongly suspect the shocks are slightly longer than F56, but shorter than F54. Front spring seat to knuckle distance is the same as F56, so longer spring there. Others have bolted F56 shocks on... My rear camber adjustment is almost maxed out from the factory.

10 runs used 28% of the battery.

Now, you just need someone who knows how to drive autocross to review one.

There's one of these in an autocross series I compete in, the series course designers like to squeeze drag strips into the courses and as such the Mini SE sometimes beats me in my 86 in raw time. It reaches startling speeds at the ends of the straights.

There's a guy who runs his 2022 Mini SE in our autocrosses too. Looking at the results from the last event, it seems he ran about a half-second behind my dad's stock NC Miata on summer tires. It appears to be a pretty quick little car and the guy seems to have fun with it.

In reply to wspohn :

Maybe 1X? They already have an X1. Just like they had to call another of the brand 1M.

Charging infrastructure and battery life are still not there for me.  Maybe in 6-8 years when I'm ready to move on from my nearly new daily driver.  An EV track car is a long way off.
 

Sadly I think EV track cars may even be getting further away due to more and more tracks banning them for safety reasons (because they don't have the firefighting equipment to handle a battery fire).