Talk Morgan Forums Community Vehicle Talk (non-Morgan) Any MINI EV owners?

Ours has been the opposite.

1st R56 CooperS bought Ex-Demo warranty items refused after service moved at dealers request from a week before warranty expiry to a week after, even though faults were logged prior to expiry

2nd R56 or was it R57 as it was a Clubman cooper S - bought main dealer, on test drive the timing chain was rattling & brake wear warning light was on. On delivery timing chain sorted but brake warning light still showing. I got a copy of the pre purchase inspection report & the workshop found the discs were 0.01mm within tolerance & the wear indicator showed more than 3000 miles to go therefore nothing replaced.

When you read the small print of the 2nd hand scheme it says they will do about 200 checks & inspections, nowhere does it say they will fix or replace anything they find.
It took legal action before they replaced the pads & discs free of charge.

About a year later the timing chain snapped on the drive home from a major service & having recall work involving the timing chain, the dealer then (a different one) was very good & we came out of it happy!

So not good but compared with my 20 years of landrover experiences not too bad at all.

I drove one for 2 hours as part of my EV evaluation concept.
It is a hoot, like a proper "old school" Mini.
The only issue is range, 100 miles in the real world.
But if that doesn't matter, I'd have one.

I did a few test drives with E cars including the I3. Drive just as well as my daily ride X4, but a lot quieter.
I'm thinking about going electric for our second (wife's) car.
If they make the Mini E as a convertible, I will sign the order tomorrow and let go the Z4.
Love it.

Yes Hamwich, Peter J is right about range, Unless you drive like a pussy cat forget the claimed 140 mile range. I meant to mention in my earlier post that after my first week I queried why, when 100% charged, only 116 miles range was indicated. "Ah" was the reply, "that's because it's learning how you drive!". True, I had been experimenting and demonstrating the performance to family members, but it was a salutary lesson. I still love it!

Have you looked at the MG range? Improving every day and use VW batteries amongst other bits.....

Yes, I was reckoning on around 90. Looking back over the last 5 years or so, and excluding the long distance tours I do in the Morgan, this would mean we would have had to find a recharging point for 2 of the trips we have made. Every other journey as far as we can remember has been within the 90 mile range. We are expecting to do a few more longer day trips in the future, but as they are going to be paddle boarding/wild swimming expeditions, we'll be using the Land Rover anyway.

Yes, we have an MG dealer just down the road from us. They were an early reject from the possibles list on the grounds that they (1) are a bit big, (2) are plug ugly, and (3) not made in the UK or the EU.

"MINI would appear to need a 20-30 minute charge every 90 miles or so, so not disastrous anyway."

Bear in mind Mini would need a 50KW charger for the 20%-80% charge in 30 minutes. 50KW is the maximum it can use. To charge at home would take considerably longer. you would get roughly 30 mph charge on a 7kw charger and 10 mph charge on a 3 pin plug.

I'm planning on charging from home as a matter of default. Being retired, we're at home pretty much all the time anyway. The plan is to install a Zappi charge point, which can balance grid import and solar production to charge. We have a 4.8Kw solar array and on a sunny day there's loads of spare power available. If I want a faster charge by using grid power I can as you say do it at 7kW. I plan to leave the car plugged in all the time I'm at home so the time taken to charge is never going to be an issue, even at 3kW there's more than enough time overnight for a full charge.

I reckon for at least half the year I will have free motoring. So far this year I've exported 870KWh to the grid, for which I've earned nothing, FiT no longer being available. That's enough for 30 full charges or 3,000 miles of driving.

I posted info from Which in the EV thread. They did a cost of ownership comparison of the EV version of a car versus the petrol. Mini1 was one of the cars they tested. Basically the higher purchase price of the EV meant the breakeven cost versus petrol was several years. I don’t know the detailed methodology used but the differences were several £thousand pounds over about 3 years with extended breakeven time. This initial higher outlay seriously impacts the cost of ownership unless keeping the car long term.
I do like driving EV’s but my head beats the heart due to the ££££.
Strip an EV back to basics without all the tech gadgets, electric windows, electric seats, bling etc and cut this outlay cost and I’d be more tempted. Why fill the car with power guzzling trinkets that reduce range at added cost? OK it is to attract customers but is daft.
Ordering a new Morgan? Go basic and avoid the grossly overpriced bling! How much for different colour thread stitching? Really?