2009 Mini E: Silent Movie

Does the MINI E make any sort of a whirring noise while accelerating, like say, a golf cart? Or is it truly silent and all you hear is the wind?

It is strange to start a vehicle and hear nothing. I work in an auto shop, often around diesels, and am used to clearly knowing when the truck is running. Whenever i work on regular gasoline cars, I am sometimes unsure whether it is running or not. I'd be totally lost driving this car because I'd go to put it in drive then ask myself if it's running or not.

It's weird but I'm sure familiarity fixes any such concerns posted above.

Lets put a stealth paint job on it and see if you can avoid a speed trap! LOL

But seriously I unless the engine made some sound that at you can hear in the cabin it would make driving a little less enjoyable I would think.

I remember driving one of the original EV-1s that GM made a long time ago, we were doing an Earth Day event at my school and the local dealership brought one over.

It was weird driving it, the salesman said that they had to add sounds to the car because owners kept trying to restart the car! The torque was pretty good and just hearing the whirring of the electric motor was definitely unique.

Regarding pedestrians hearing you...if you are on the street, is the pedestrian not looking? IF they are in a crosswalk, they have the right of way...if you are driving on the sidewalk, I see your point about them not hearing you.

Maybe it's just me, but when I cross the street, crosswalk or not, I LOOK FOR CARS FIRST.

ptcdawg, you're following your self preservation instinct like most people do. Just a couple days ago I saw a group of maybe five teenagers (a couple on bikes, the rest walking) cross the street of a major county highway during rush hour. Not one of them looked for oncoming traffic; they just went out into the road and stopped both directions of traffic. They moved slowly enough, and the speed limit was low enough (35), that cars were able to stop in time, but it got me reflecting on how stupid some people are. Shame on them, but also shame on their parents for not teaching them how to cross a street.

To comment in general on the relative silence of electric cars, pedestrians have a responsibility to keep their eyes open as well. A moving car does make sound, just listen for the tires.

This is the single reason why I KNOW I will dislike electric cars. Sounds too me speak loads about a car's character. Engine sounds are one of the things that excites me the most about cars. To have virtually no engine sound then, is like having no character. It will take the fun out of driving for me.

Well, the chime was very nice sounding. And just for f*#k's sake, you guys should add a really loud sounding horn to this car; you creep up to someone using all the car's stealth then wham! They won't know what hit em!

..yes I'm feeling very immature :)

And +1 on greenpony's comment; there are some people out there who, it seems, almost WANT to get run over.

Pedestrians should be able to hear you. Tires make noise too. In fact, with the very limited acceleration we saw in the video, a well muffled ICE wouldn't make much for noise either. While cruising, the tires and/or wind noise exceeds the motor noise.

Yes, EVs are quieter than ICE. That doesn't mean the other things that make noise on the car suddenly stop making noise too. Though I do wonder if low resistance tires are quieter than regular tires.

The reason Donna stopped taping right then is because she ran over a blind couple!!!

electrifying... ;-)

Do not want.......EVER!!