Edmunds CarSpace AutoObserver GreenCarAdvisor | Help Contact Editor Sign In | Follow Inside Line
I noticed the Mini E group on Facebook talking about a package they received from Mini thanking the "pioneers."
We got one, too, so I thought I'd show you my favorite part. Besides a certificate, a nice letter, a canvas bag and a very heavy Mini E puck, the best part is the Mini-shaped paper clip.
Just thought I'd share.
Donna DeRosa, Managing Editor
Our 2009 Mini E is gone. We managed 7,683 miles over 12 months and spent...well, you know, go read the Long Term Wrap Up to find out the specifics. All we're saying here is that it's gone, and these are our Parting Shots!
Thanks to anonimo for this week's favorite caption.
Here are the others that had us ROTFLing:
Trust me, it works better than "The Club"! (ergsum)
Mini E shown with the new range-extending option and potential future fuel supply (9krpm)
Here you go Rex, you'll get a charge out of this bite sized snack (technetium99)
T-Rex arms and the Mini-E; both have limited range of reach (ergsum)
Objects that appear in mirror are ABOUT TO EAT YOU OM NOM NOM (sherief)
Every picture tells a story, this one is Al-E-Gorical (ergsum)
Road Ptrip (sherief)
Honey, I meant for you to pick up Trex, not T-Rex! (miraa)
I hear this will offset my carbon footprint (punkr0cksux)
Dyno tested. Dino approved. (benya_p)
Dan creates a Mini Dino RAMa (ergsum)
Towannisaurus Rex (thegraduate)
And, in the musical category, to the theme of Ghostbusters:
When your Mini-E
Runs out of Juice
Who you gonna call!
Tow-Truckers (punkr0cksux)
What was your favorite?
Dan Edmunds, Director of Vehicle Testing, with font assistance by James Riswick
You asked for it, you got it. Caption-meister Donna is away from the office this week, so I'm stepping in and recycling this photo I took a couple of days ago in Cabazon.
Both of these vehicles will soon depart our long-term fleet, so this is your last shot to take a shot at either one of them.
You may fire when ready, Gridley.
We'll post our favorite this afternoon.
Dan Edmunds, Director of Vehicle Testing
Yesterday, you saw our 2009 Mini E on a trailer in my driveway with a full charge. Here you see the Mini E on the very same trailer, but this time with a fully depleted battery pack.
That's right, it's got zero, zilch, zippo in the electron department. We ran our Mini E until it stopped deader than Floyd Landis' cycling career.
How far did we get? We'll keep you guessing on that point while we cut some video. But I will let you in on the ground rules and the goal.
For the first time, I had two at once last night. My initials appeared next to two vehicles on the sign out sheet, and now my driveway is filled with 2009 Dodge Ram 1500, towing a rented U-haul trailer, which is carrying the 2009 Mini E.
The idea was to get the Mini E to the test track with a full charge, because the time has come to conduct its wrap-up test. The Dodge's days are numbered, too. Using one to tow the other is a classic case of killing two birds with one stone.
If we have enough time, we may use this pair for another special test we've wanted to do for a long time. Stay tuned.
Dan Edmunds, Director of Vehicle Testing @ 31,520 miles and 7,455 miles
I've carried the keys to our 2009 Mini E around dozens of times. The plug logo is pretty cute, even if there is a three-foot version on the roof. You can also find this logo on the "fuel" door, the fenders, and on various badges inside and outside the car
But this weekend I noticed something different about it for the very first time.
It's always a tricky endeavor when I take our long-term 2009 Mini E home. My commute is 100 miles, round trip, which is just past the Mini E's range on a full charge. When I leave work at 100% on the battery I usually get home with about 47% left. Ditto when I leave home fully charged. That means I need to juice up, at least a little, using the portable home charger.
That was my plan when I drove the Mini E home Monday night and plugged in to the same outlet that our clothes dryer is hooked up to in the garage. Again, that was the plan...
Our Mini E is going away soon. There's not much left to say about it that we haven't already reported. But I did discover something new this weekend.
As I was driving the Mini E, my passenger had the window down and mine was up. so I heard the whirring in a different way. I never noticed before, but the Mini E sounds just like Luke Skywalker's X-34 landspeeder.
I tried to find a video clip of the landspeeder, but I couldn't.
I have a challenge for you. Can you find one?
Donna DeRosa, Managing Editor
Thanks to oldchap for this week's favorite caption.
Here are the others that gave us a jolt:
"I wish I had a place to park." -unidentified handicap person (seth111976)
The Mini E was charged with a parking violation. (ergsum)
Scott was charged with insult and battery against the handicapped! (ergsum)
Range anxiety gives birth to a new term: Gasoline Envy (mcgs999)
The last time the Mini E had "racing gas" was after the Mechanic went through the Taco Bell drive through. (technetium99)
Gasoline Anonymous (rayray633)
Think of it as one giant electric wheelchair, officer. (actualsize)
EV > BP (actualsize)
Shocktane (sherief)
How do they race gasoline? (rayray633)
2011 Summer Blockbuster: Back to the Present (rayray633)
Hi my name is MINI-E, I stopped drinking a year ago... (minie183)
What was your favorite?
Donna DeRosa, Managing Editor
It was a particularly nasty rush hour, and my 28-mile one-way commute was well over the one-hour mark. It was red tail lights from here to infinity -- and I couldn't have been happier.
I'm a new editor at Edmunds.com, and my first drive in a car from the fleet was the 2009 Mini E. I've never driven any Mini (though I love the way they look). And this was the first time I'd driven an electric car.
As other drivers have noted, the feel of the car's regenerative braking system took some getting used to, but I thought it was fun to use the electronic brake to negotiate stop-and-go freeway traffic. I used the actual brake pedal maybe three times during my drive home.
I also liked watching the effect that stop-and-go driving had on the Mini E's battery recharge. One minute, the display showed that I had 73 percent of battery remaining, but then it popped up to 74 -- no, 75. By time I got home, I'd only used 27 percent of the battery's power. I felt positively thrifty.
That play-the-brake recharging turned out to be handy for the traffic-free return trip the following morning. I had just 31 percent of battery left by the time I parked the wee E beastie in Edmunds' garage and reconnected it to its power source.
Carroll Lachnit, Features Editor @ 6,930 miles
Our Mini E will be going back to its parents soon. So, let's give it one last shot at a caption contest. Scott snapped this picture when feeling a little racy.
What is your caption?
We'll post our favorite this afternoon.
Donna DeRosa, Managing Editor
P.S. Don't forget to check out the caption contest on Straightline.
At this point in their gestation, the electric car needs to have at least one redeeming quality and since range (I'm talking about the kind of real world, no compromises range that rivals a gasoline powered car) isn't yet anything to brag about, you gotta be good at something else. For the MINI E, that something else is fun. If the MINI was simply an electric conveyance - imagine driving a Prius with an 80 mile range - it would be a total failure. But since the driving dynamics are as addictive as a regular MINI's, you actually enjoy driving it.
One compromise down, quite a few to go.
Kurt Niebuhr, Photo Editor @ 6,308 miles
Have you ever encountered another driver piloting the same car as yours and then felt compelled to show them that you can drive it better? I'm not saying that you race them, but you just demonstrate that you know how to dance better.
This morning on my drive to work, I was, ahem, testing the stickiness of our 2009 Mini E's tires on the curving on-ramp of the 405 N-to-90 W freeway when I saw another Mini coming up behind me, or really, trying to catch me. Heh. Suddenly I felt like I had to prove myself worthy of driving our Mini E. After all, for all this other person knew, she belonged to me. The other Mini driver and I didn't do anything crazy, mind you. I switched lanes and he followed. I squirted around slower cars and he followed. And then another Mini, this one a convertible, joined us. Good times.
Fortunately, most Mini drivers I've encountered so far seem like they know how to drive their car. Can't really say that with other cars like those speeding in Priuses and those driving their 911s 5 mph below the speed limit.
By the way, the above picture was just where our 2009 Mini E spent a majority of this past weekend. Editor Ed Hellwig didn't want to take it because he had to drive to San Bernardino (about 150 miles roundtrip) on Saturday and I didn't want to take it because I had an 80-mile roundtrip to make. But you already heard us complain about its limited range before.
Caroline Pardilla, Deputy Managing Editor @ 6,790 miles
While I was at an alternative fuels conference last week, I stopped by the Honda booth to check out their electric vehicle (EV) and plug-in hybrid (PHEV) offerings. No joy.
You see, according to the handouts at their booth, hybrids are as close as Honda will get to EVs (at least publicly, for now). Honda is banking on natural gas vehicles (NGVs) and hydrogen fuel cells for their future plan.
I like the idea of more natural gas vehicles. The long-term Civic we had drove like a normal underpowered compact, and the fuel is somewhat plentiful and domestically produced (no nation-building required). I also drove the FCX Clarity and was amazed by the fuel cell stack technology and driveability, but using electricity to turn hydrogen into electricity is a bit of circular logic to me.
And I like hybrids a lot: with these you can have a larger vehicle that still gets decent fuel economy, with no disruption to infrastructure. However, a lot of petro fuel comes from countries that hate us. And though evolving, producing a long-life energy-rich battery that is well-adapted to the harsh vehicle environment still challenges.
So I like NGVs the best of the alternative fuel options, but they're dead: most people want hybrids, including plug-ins.
How about you? Any of these technologies appeal to you, or do you prefer good-ol' dino juice?
Albert Austria, Senior Engineer @ ~18,400 miles
Advertisement
Latest Poll
My next car will be:
Recent Posts
1997 Mazda MX-5 Miata: Role Reversal
May 25, 2012 2:29 PM
1997 Mazda MX-5 Miata: Shut The Buzz Up
May 25, 2012 11:00 AM
1997 Mazda MX-5 Miata: The Steering
May 24, 2012 8:00 AM
1997 Mazda MX-5 Miata: The Door Bars
May 23, 2012 6:00 AM
1997 Mazda MX-5 Miata: Keegan Engineering Head And Porting Tech
May 22, 2012 4:00 AM
Advertisement
Tip the Editors
Got a breaking news tip for the Inside Line editors?
Send it to tips@edmunds.com
Awards
Vehicles
Past Vehicles
Browse Archives