2009 Mini E: Parting Shots

It quit on me a few times, was never very practical and hugely expensive from a lease standpoint. Still, a kind of liked driving the thing. Get rid of the problems and the electric cars might not be so bad. Maybe.
-Ed Hellwig, Editor Inside Line

If every electric car made battery power as cool as this one does, we'd all be past the range anxiety thing by now and there would be more electric cars on the road.
-Michael Jordan, Executive Editor

I live too far from work to consider buying/leasing a Mini E for myself, and it doesn't work for my wife because it seats but two people. Beyond that, I found the Mini E to be a great deal of fun to drive. I think the reasons are these: 1) It's a Mini, and; 2) The regenerative braking is linked to the throttle pedal. What that adds up to is a "go-cart" that also drives like a slot car. You can honk into a freeway cloverleaf or your favorite mountain bend at speed and brake for the corner by releasing the throttle just so. OK, it takes a little getting used to (emphasis on little) but once you get dialed in, it's a real hoot.

This Mini E isn't trying to hide from its electric car-ness; it's embracing and exploiting it, and that's cool. Other E-cars I've sampled are boring and appliance-like because they try too hard to be a "normal" car. That approach zaps the life from them. Beyond the price, which is atrocious, the Mini E shows that there is hope for the electric car. It is possible for  a plug-in to connect to the driver, too. 
-Dan Edmunds, Director of Vehicle Testing

For those fleeting moments when I wasn't staring at the battery meter while recalculating my destination's distance, I really enjoyed driving the Mini E.
-Karl Brauer, Senior Analyst and Editor at Large

I'm a convert. The Mini E really changed my mind about electric cars. I thought they would be slow, whiny little robots. But the Mini E was a real Mini in all of its go-cart glory. It was fun to drive with all of that upfront torque and it had personality. I was rarely bothered by its 100-mile range. Storage was an issue but really, how much do you carry around with you on a daily basis? It couldn't be my only car. But for most days of the year, it was really nice to be able to recharge at home and not bother with a gas station.
-Donna DeRosa, Managing Editor

The Mini E was one of the greatest cars to get stuck in gridlock with. With its severe regenerative braking, there was rarely any need to invest precious energy moving your ankle and foot over to the brake pedal. Of course, at highway speeds it could feel like you were riding shotgun on a crew team.
-James Riswick, Automotive Editor

"Had I ever driven it, which I didn't, I would have thought it was an even worse car to drive in the Woodward Dream Cruise than a 1992 Lancia Delta Integrale."
-Dan Pund, Senior Editor

Even though it's slow starting out, it confirmed my love for the Mini and reaffirmed my desire to buy an S. Still fun to drive and I especially love that Jetson sound it makes.
-Caroline Pardilla, Deputy Managing Editor

My commute is less than 20 miles round trip, there's no reason a Mini-sized, reasonably priced electric car wouldn't work for me. Drop the price by $30,000 and I'm in.

-Mike Magrath, Associate Editor, Inside Line