I drove Mini's CHEAPEST new electric car - but is it worth it?

[@MadeInJoey]

"2014 mini cooper e"💀

[@Chris-ht5ng]

Instantly heard this. That or 2040.

[@masonandmotors]

At that price it better be a good entry level car. They usually mug you off with naff wheels and very little in the way of convenience but they've actually done a good job.

[@recumbentrocks2929]

Nice looking car and seems well kitted. Perfect second car with enough range to get you between cities in the UK. Great review.

[@Clickworker101]

I always try to hypermile and it’s chill and fun and you have something to do if you know the road already and driven it 100 times

[@toyotaprius79]

🎯🎯🎯 Yes! Hypermiling is just pacing in slow motion, as enjoyable as driving a slow car fast. It confuses or even upsets people at first why would they want to slow down, but that's an unhealthy culture habit we're all subjected to which encourages careless driving, traffic bunching, worse consumption, wear and tear or even road rage. When driving dynamically and avoiding being a lane hog hypermiling is literally like driving an older vehicle, plan ahead and you drive with the road and the hills and so what if your average is 5mph slower?

[@daveseemerollin6357]

@@toyotaprius79 Hypermiling is selfish towards road users. 1 hour journey can become 20% longer for those behind you, especially on country roads where there isn't adequate overtaking space.

[@bill_heywood]

Glad to see MINI's British Leyland heritage live on. I had a 1982 Austin Maestro that had red and green lights to show you when you were driving efficiently. I guess there are no new ideas 😃

[@andrewharland7727]

I’d rather have some easy to use buttons for air con. Volume etc.

[@grahamkearnon6682]

30 large for a basic ev, China's laughing at you.

[@domramsey]

For me, the shape of It just doesn't look like a Mini any more. And despite you saying it's small, it looks pretty big to me. It would definitely dwarf a real Mini. Also, what's with this "second car" nonsense?

[@stevenbarrett7648]

Apparently its supposed to be prestigious to own one...a bit like the Kings new clothes !

[@utterlee]

I can’t really get over how expensive new small cars are now. I bought a brand new Fiat Panda for £6999 in 2011 and it wasn’t even the base level.

[@evdakker]

This isn't the base version is it? At least, in the EU in the base GBP 30,000 version you don't get the heads up display, the nice contrasted stitched seats, nice details on the dashboard and steering wheel. Just boring grey or blacks, from the outside (only available in grey or Black, and no contrasting colour roof or mirrors there either) to the grey inside. Alls quite drab. Unless you pay extra (and extra's in Minis are expensive). The car driven here will cost us in the EU at least GBP 6,000 extra.

[@anthonybrown4874]

Unfortunately it's not a mini it's a large modern parody of one and it costs double what a vehicle espousing the mini theme would be. After the used market has decided what it's actually worth it could be a decent buy.

[@jonevansauthor]

100% it's not a Mini, it's nothing like one, it's pathetically massive. A total waste of money.

[@Pipsicle330]

Hope it has a tow hitch option for a bike rack like it’s Honda, KIA, VW rivals this time.

[@toyotaprius79]

Mini needs to make an LE7 heavy quadricyle!

[@Alessandro---]

Interesting you say that, I was thinking that if it's about having a 4-wheel runabout in town, the Citroen Ami/Fiat Topolino do a great job for 1/3 of the price!

[@jonevansauthor]

@@Alessandro--- they're not cars though. Completely different proposition and he Ami isn't a great L6e quadricycle. Even the cup holder is in a stupid place for literally no reason. It's not powerful enough for hilly countries as in, it struggles to get up lots of hills. A max speed of 28mph is fine, not being able to actually get out of my road or to the local city would be problematic. But I'd love to see more quadricycles in general because the AMI is just a bad implementation of a great vehicle category. The Silence 04 is clearly superior and there are L7e ones coming which are more powerful, and go up to greater speeds and therefore are allowed on more roads. The Silence is particularly notable because it has removable batteries so you can charge it in a flat with no parking space charging facilities. Either way, the 'Mini' is far, far, far, far, far too big to qualify as a Mini, and definitely bigger than a quadricycle can be as they've a mass limit.

[@adrianupnorth]

Love a mini - don't like the BMW price. Lets be honest, list prices and dealer prices are always different. It will be around £25/26k. That screen is a nice touch along with that small steering wheel

[@badfairy9554]

That looks fun.

[@toyotaprius79]

"Why is the Fiat 500e so expensive" This, this is partly to blame.

[@karlInSanDiego]

Stellantis refuses to lose money on EVs. That's why the Fiat 500e is so expensive. All EVs are subsidized at some level, and if you lack the subsidies, you must be prepared to pay the extra money it takes to extract the ore for those batteries.

[@ijchua]

For a Mini electric car, you'd think that the acceleration would be so much faster...

[@Alessandro---]

First of all, well done for a great video in purest Electrohead style… (Eilís sporty shoes are difficult to fill, well done for trying with your own style- I hope the camera op survived… if anything you proved that there is enough space on the back seat for a camera operator! Disclosure, I seriously hate what BMW has done with the Mini- I changed cars recently, and I looked at the Countryman, its cheap plastics and unmatching interior … the other thing (and I am an EV supporter) is the cost of ownership. My previous car was a RAV4 and over 3 years of ownership I spent less than 3000£ on fuel. Since no one buys cars outright these days, unless the financing is really clever, one will never recover the difference between the petrol model and the electric. BMW will probably charge the same for yearly maintenance (although on the EV there’s … not much to do) and unless you have an EV tariff or some form of free charging, electricity from public stations is not free! To me, this is another incarnation of the Honda E spirit. Small, cute, expensive, and never a mass vehicle.

[@6ettinold]

30 grand for something thst looks like a Poundland sex toy?!😭😭😭

[@richardajoy79]

The car was so quick it went back in time to 2014...

[@andrewharland7727]

2014 cooper e. Have you got a delorean?

[@PaulTaylor-n6e]

after owning an electric car i would not reckon it was cheaper to run than a small engine petrol. They have little realistic range and prove unreliable on mileage predictions!!

[@MrFatknacker]

It’s £7k more expensive and 200kg heavier than the Cooper C… I actually think the Mini electric to get is the old one pre-owned which was lighter and somebody else has paid the EV depreciation hit, if you can work around the limited range.

[@theunknownunknowns256]

Explanation for not Tish!?

[@simong6855]

You know she has her own channel?

[@Alessandro---]

No one owes an explanation ... she has her own channel, which she runs sponsored by local dealers. It's called Autosocial.

[@Andi_mit_E]

Why don't you put the rear sits down from the trunk side?

[@M-TRON]

13:19 ;D 👍

[@harderos3]

They only offer the basic model in black and grey in my country:(

[@lavatr8322]

My goodness circular display 😂

[@FredFox-m9v]

It looks like a Chinese knock off of what they would think a mini would look like or a cheaper Suzuki Swift and that range and price ?

[@simonjandrell5897]

30,000 squids who on earth has this kind of cash and this is the cheap one.. Yikes

[@grahamcastle8189]

It's a reskined GWM ORA and is made in China. Its not a mini at all and too expensive at £30k unless you want to buy a fashion/ life style motor.

[@jonevansauthor]

Yes, Made in China is a good thing though. Better than made in Germany or the UK, I'd like to have the better engineering. The problem isn't where it's made, it's where it's designed and it's too big to qualify as a Mini.

[@anuneu4722]

is mini worth it (no)

[@Alessandro---]

No

[@mattjack369]

It actually looks great, won't be long before they flood the used market! A product of Germany mishearing you and sending you to God? That sounds uncomfortably familiar 😅.

[@Alessandro---]

My comparison with a 16k Honda E ...

[@mattjack369]

@@Alessandro--- Yeah, there is examples just a couple of years old with less than 10k miles for half RRP. Even less with more miles.

[@karlInSanDiego]

That flapping hummingbird is incredibly distracting. Animations in your periphery are dangerous.

[@stevenbarrett7648]

Sorry but this just doesn't float my boat, for £30k I want a minimum of 300 miles in winter not sub 150. For the money you could buy two Dacher EV's with change, when one runs out, use the other !. Bring it down to sub £20k and it becomes something to consider as a run around 2nd car. I wonder how the used market will treat these when they come off lease in a few years time ?. Going to be up against new Chinese compact EV's high on tech, low on price.

[@Sal3600]

You can't get 300 miles anywhere of by winter you mean -20c With that said 210 miles at this price from this car is insulting!

[@toyotaprius79]

That's why it's poshed up, for the profit

[@philiptaylor7902]

It’s a BMW.

[@tsedge99]

Mini isn't a value brand, you pay for the prestige.

[@stevenbarrett7648]

@@tsedge99 I must be missing something here, what prestige ? its not a real British Mini, Alec Issigonis didn't design it, just a German mid sized car with a 'Mini' badge stuck on it, bit like the MG, Chinese designed and built with the old MG badges glued on

[@Pepegium]

brand new 2014 what

[@jimmykucera8627]

2014 ??? 😅

[@leostockley415]

Would having to say ‘Hey Mini’ become annoying? Especially when it doesn’t understand what you’re asking… And as for the little character… nice review, not an appealing car for the price tag

[@dannydanny9875]

AI no Comprende 😞

[@conradknightsocksknight1590]

Basic £30k 😂

[@RichardNewman]

Spend £30k on a 2nd car, really?

[@toyotaprius79]

As most wealthy families do, the MINI's core consumer base...

[@firstsurname2478]

Expensive rubbish!!

[@simonjandrell5897]

your battery car is impressive but the price is not.. the only problem is ri?? .. how is it in China wen your battery car began the vibe was they were importing these cars (blogs at the time from youtubers say in America) were sayin.. for a grand price of around £1,500 to £2000 squids and this was years ago wen all things began.. so after all this time and its been a while PMSL how are we still at around 30,000 squids.. i bet 10 years from now it will still be 30,000 squids.. or maybe a lot more.. innit, and just sayin as it needs to be said.. also you would imagine a Mini being smaller it would be a lot Cheaper???

[@stephen88hox]

bini

[@mickl6661]

Cheap??? Lol. He must got pay buy bmw for this review

[@ianrichardson569]

Still unaffordable for most buyers. EVs are mostly a rich man's luxury

[@toyotaprius79]

Most new MINIs are a rich man's luxury. Hello?

[@jonevansauthor]

@@toyotaprius79 new cars full stop are. I don't even know moderately well off people who buy brand new.

[@weevilinabox]

Anything which requires or encourages a driver to take their eyes off the road is wrong and potentially dangerous. Gamifying economy (or anything) in a way that temps drivers to repeatedly look at the screen is enough to ensure that I will not buy anything in th Mini E range. Yes, the driver can certainly choose not to look at it, but flickering movements in peripheral vision are still a distraction. And yes, I know that it can probably be switched off, but I wouldn't choose to spend my money with a manufacturer who even considers it appropriate to put such tech in a car.

[@theunknownunknowns256]

Won't watch until explain where lady reviewer. Tish disappeared without explanation. Not cool.

[@simong6855]

She has her own channel👍

[@Gav67]

Overpriced crap

[@toyotaprius79]

Every new car is overpriced crap now. It's called Market Failure

[@lindman399]

Pile of crap, will be scrapped in 10 years time as the battery degrades and is too expensive to replace???

[@toyotaprius79]

Or more often than not, the ABS system with ageing modern cars...

[@rogermartinez78]

Battery shouldn’t be that expensive to replace in 10 years if you choose to replace the battery.

[@jonathantaylor1998]

NMC batteries run to 2,000-2,500 charge cycles (0% to 100% back to 0%) So, even at 160 miles-per-charge that'd be around 320,000-400,000 miles before the battery needed 'replacing'... The average mileage of a car heading to the scrap-yard in the UK is 117,000 miles, so no-one's gonna be replacing any EV batteries due to them wearing out...!!

[@timoffreethought580]

Gizmos and gadgets, NO THANKS . Get rid of all that crap ! It's all that's wrong with cars today .

[@toyotaprius79]

Exactly. The gizmos and gadgets cost very little to the cost of the car but they all justify in the high costs and profits. I rather an analogue option for the sake of it but we will quickly hear car journos complain that it's not good value for money and uncompetitive. Hell bring back wind up windows! It's an arm race for profit, which creates market wide inflation. This is called a Market Failure. A market failure defined by a 15 year old trend towards upmarket crossover-SUVs, business tax company cars (BMW's bread and butter) and an extinction of small entry level cars with 5% profit margins because the rampant inflation has reduced the value of that 5%.

[@Alessandro---]

@@toyotaprius79 Absolutely, hence my note about the Ami/Topolino. One of my friends with serious chops in the automotive industry had patented a "back to basics" design some 15 years ago; it was so cheap to produce, well designed and satisfying to drive, that he was suggesting to propose it as a "free car", a bit like we used to do (at the time) for mobile phones: you pay for usage and that pays for the car. He wasn't able to secure a manufacturer. We used to have the 2CV ... 4 door convertible, hyper flexible ...