I woke up too early this morning and decided to take Sunset Boulevard into work. As noted in my last Challenger post, Sunset goes from cruiser-friendly Hollywood to a winding ribbon of pavement past Beverly Hills. It was the latter section of Sunset that I was interested in - a wakeup cup of yankin' and bankin', if you will.
The Mini E is much like any Mini in terms of handling. Nimble. But there's a zen-like silence that I've only experienced in a Tesla Roadster. Windows down, all I hear is wind, a high pitched whine from the motor and, if you listen closely enough, the sound of the rubber as it meets the road. With gas-powered cars, you rely on the seat of the pants to tell you what the tires are doing. Same thing with the Mini, but the sound of the tires add a whole new dimension. The perception of knowing exactly what each contact patch is experiencing gives me an added sense of confidence and connectedness with one of my favorite roads.
The power curve is a different matter though. I was hoping the Mini E's power delivery would be linear, like a dimmer switch. Instead, it feels as serpentine as Sunset Boulevard. Off "idle" there's a substantial amount of tip-in, followed by a smooth delivery of moderate power. Right around what I would consider 40% throttle, it flattens-out, almost as if it's in cruise mode. Feed-in more pedal and there's a rush of acceleration that feels like turbo boost. This curve was easy to predict and replicate and I was never taken by surprise mid-corner. I think this uneven power application works well for the Mini E. The moderate throttle makes it very easy to maintain your speed and you have the ability to sprint towards the horizon with a quick stab of the right foot.
Yup, this is the future, and I'm glad it's finally here.
Mark Takahashi, Associate Editor
throwback says:
10:38 AM, 10/23/09
"Right around what I would consider 40% throttle, it flattens-out, almost as if it's in cruise mode."
Could BMW have purposely set-up the car this way? I can see future EVs with several driving modes, similiar to the econ button in the Insight.
coletrickle says:
10:50 AM, 10/23/09
God, I really miss the days of waking up and "yanking and banking" - it's a shame college had to end.
cneff says:
11:06 AM, 10/23/09
@throwback you are right - the MINI E is 'dialed back' a bit, especially below 20mph. Makes for smoother launches and smoother driving. It is spec'd at just over 200hp and 162ft lbs of torque - de-tuned to that torque number as that electric motor can do more. Still makes for an exciting time in a small front wheel drive car. Electric motors have all torque at 0 rpm...so BMW dialing back the power a bit in a front driver makes sense for an average driver.
But over 20mph and pedal to the floor it is a real rush.
MINI E #402 - NJ
altimadude00 says:
01:45 PM, 10/23/09
That retardation of the throttle seems dangerous to me. Is it like a Corolla pulling out of a driveway so you have to leave plenty of merging space, or can you just gun it and be confident you can beat the guy in the Dodge Ram bearing down on you?
Is it just me, or has the Mini-E gotten a lot of entries recently? And can we update the fleet list because I know some of those cars have left quite a bit ago.
clarkma5 says:
05:42 PM, 10/23/09
I imagine that a throttle pedal with a truly linear response would feel rather weird, I think pretty much every car has some sort of curvy or otherwise non-linear graph between throttle position and power.