[Feste]

Here in US. Got the car about a month ago. Here are a few thoughts for new owners:


1. The car comes with a default setting to accept a lower charge than a level 1 or level 2 can produce. It would be helpful if this was set to maximum in both cases out of the gate
2. If you want to use the wireless phone charger you need to contact your cell carrier to register the signal booster. Otherwise the phone does not get a signal and gets very hot trying to find a signal
3. Cold weather reduces battery capacity and increases charging time. You get some of the range back as the car warms up, but seeing a range of 75m on a full charge is a bit of a shock
4. The 240v charger plug is backwards. Just strange. The plug faces the front of the charger so it cannot be mounted without twisting the cable.
5. Using the L/R mirror switch to point the passenger mirror at the curb when reversing and adding the guide lines to the backup camera

All of this (except 3) is in the manual. I would also add the benefits of preconditioning when charging at home, the warning to never give or receive a jump, and the use of the advanced features in the online manual.

 

[Jon R]

1. The car comes with a default setting to accept a lower charge than a level 1 or level 2 can produce. It would be helpful if this was set to maximum in both cases out of the gate

Mine was set at the maximum right out of the gate.

2. If you want to use the wireless phone charger you need to contact your cell carrier to register the signal booster. Otherwise the phone does not get a signal and gets very hot trying to find a signal

I've never heard this one before. My wife's car has wireless charging and it isn't great. It sometimes works and charges very slowly. My car doesn't have this feature but wireless chargers are generally very inefficient.

You should probably just wait until you get home to charge your phone or at least use a cable instead.

3. Cold weather reduces battery capacity and increases charging time. You get some of the range back as the car warms up, but seeing a range of 75m on a full charge is a bit of a shock

All EVs have this but I still see at least 100 miles of range on my car in the winter.

4. The 240v charger plug is backwards. Just strange. The plug faces the front of the charger so it cannot be mounted without twisting the cable.

My car came with the 120v charger. 🤷‍♂️

 

[Feste]

Yeah, the first few days I had the car it was very cold. Since the estimate for range is based on some kind of cumulative logic (as best I understand it) and because I wasn’t really driving a peak efficiency, the car decided that my range was terrible (~3mi/kwh).

As for the charger it really seems to work well now, but it is very easy to forget your phone in there.

The 240v charger is the BMW fast flexible charger. It is very basic (no wifi, just a box that blinks when charging). But it is fine. Except for the cord which is just baffling.

 

[Red Mini]

However when you've got some more miles under your belt none of this will really matter.
The car is just a joy to drive and you'll forgive it all it's little foibles and forget all about them.
I've had some nice cars over the years, BMWs and Alpinas etc but none have made me smile as much as the SE.
Enjoy, if you love driving I know you will!

 

[Feste]

However when you've got some more miles under your belt none of this will really matter.
The car is just a joy to drive and you'll forgive it all it's little foibles and forget all about them.
I've had some nice cars over the years, BMWs and Alpinas etc but none have made me smile as much as the SE.
Enjoy, if you love driving I know you will!

I love my car! I was just listing things that confused me, or gave me pause, when I first got it. Things that I muddled through myself (in cases with the help of this site), which could have been mentioned at delivery.

Big one is that the charging power was not set to max on my car at delivery and I was going nuts because it was taking forever to charge. You don’t know what you don’t know - I figured it out in the end, but it did cause a little grief.

But YES, this car is just more…joyful than any car I have owned. I really dig how the nonaggressive exterior contains this really sporty sensibility. I now find excuses to drive just for the sake of driving. I rarely did that before, and certainly never with our more “practical” cars (Subaru, Honda). I drove the old minis when I lived in the UK back in the 90s - they were fun, but it was like 0 to 60mph in 7 to 10 working days.

 

[Jon R]

I bought my car from a dealership over 800 miles away from me. I only saw pictures online before I bought it. Delivery was a guy unloading from a car carrier and giving me the keys. LOL

 

[MarcPDX]

I love my car! I was just listing things that confused me, or gave me pause, when I first got it. Things that I muddled through myself (in cases with the help of this site), which could have been mentioned at delivery.

Big one is that the charging power was not set to max on my car at delivery and I was going nuts because it was taking forever to charge. You don’t know what you don’t know - I figured it out in the end, but it did cause a little grief.

But YES, this car is just more…joyful than any car I have owned. I really dig how the nonaggressive exterior contains this really sporty sensibility. I now find excuses to drive just for the sake of driving. I rarely did that before, and certainly never with our more “practical” cars (Subaru, Honda). I drove the old minis when I lived in the UK back in the 90s - they were fun, but it was like 0 to 60mph in 7 to 10 working days.

The car puts the word FUN back into driving. The acceleration is ridiculously fast, and the handling is very tight. Love it. I bought a Grizle E Avalanche charger, no problems charging. My phone won't fit in the charger compartment. I will probably see if our Mini dealer can take it out. I have also had the 75 miles of distance available when charged 100% and temps under 45F, but who cares, at 4.12 cents per Kwh it costs so little to drive.

 

[Red Mini]

The car puts the word FUN back into driving. The acceleration is ridiculously fast, and the handling is very tight. Love it. I bought a Grizle E Avalanche charger, no problems charging. My phone won't fit in the charger compartment. I will probably see if our Mini dealer can take it out. I have also had the 75 miles of distance available when charged 100% and temps under 45F, but who cares, at 4.12 cents per Kwh it costs so little to drive.

Get a smaller phone, I did!

 

[Brew Fan 22]

Got the car about a month ago. Here are a few thoughts for new owners:


1. The car comes with a default setting to accept a lower charge than a level 1 or level 2 can produce. It would be helpful if this was set to maximum in both cases out of the gate
2. If you want to use the wireless phone charger you need to contact your cell carrier to register the signal booster. Otherwise the phone does not get a signal and gets very hot trying to find a signal
3. Cold weather reduces battery capacity and increases charging time. You get some of the range back as the car warms up, but seeing a range of 75m on a full charge is a bit of a shock
4. The 240v charger plug is backwards. Just strange. The plug faces the front of the charger so it cannot be mounted without twisting the cable.
5. Using the L/R mirror switch to point the passenger mirror at the curb when reversing and adding the guide lines to the backup camera

All of this (except 3) is in the manual. I would also add the benefits of preconditioning when charging at home, the warning to never give or receive a jump, and the use of the advanced features in the online manual.

Here in US. Got the car about a month ago. Here are a few thoughts for new owners:


1. The car comes with a default setting to accept a lower charge than a level 1 or level 2 can produce. It would be helpful if this was set to maximum in both cases out of the gate
2. If you want to use the wireless phone charger you need to contact your cell carrier to register the signal booster. Otherwise the phone does not get a signal and gets very hot trying to find a signal
3. Cold weather reduces battery capacity and increases charging time. You get some of the range back as the car warms up, but seeing a range of 75m on a full charge is a bit of a shock
4. The 240v charger plug is backwards. Just strange. The plug faces the front of the charger so it cannot be mounted without twisting the cable.
5. Using the L/R mirror switch to point the passenger mirror at the curb when reversing and adding the guide lines to the backup camera

All of this (except 3) is in the manual. I would also add the benefits of preconditioning when charging at home, the warning to never give or receive a jump, and the use of the advanced features in the online manual.

When I had the 240v installed I also thought it was strange that you had to twist the cord to plug it in. However I’ve asked several electricians and there isn’t any reason and it doesn’t harm the cord to twist it in order to plug it in.