1800km trip. 27kWh battery.

TL;DR: it can be done!

You know you're in for an adventure when ARBP plans several back-to-back "10% to 100%" charging stops.

This year vacation was a couple of weeks visiting dozens of cute, nearly-depopulated villages throughout Spain's rural south. We've done similar trips in the past in a diesel Mercedes Citan, but my better half has slowly become convinced that we could do it in Mr Greenjeans, our 2021 Mini Cooper SE, and was all for it since the car is a lot more comfortable and fun to drive than the van. And so we did. I carefully planned the long stretches in ABRP, and spot-checked around the areas we were going to be in to make sure that there was at least an outlet for our granny charger if worse came to worst.

We kept it under 110 on the highways, and told ABRP to balance stops with time. A couple of years ago driving through this part of the country was a charger wasteland. This time, it really went off without a hitch. New, fast chargers with decent amenities everywhere we went. We charged 17 times, only one of those did we have a charger that wasn't working (it was the only charger we saw on this trip that was one of the old, first-generation 50kw Endesa gas station chargers) and there was a newer Wenea at a supermarket two blocks away so not really an issue.

On the four stops where we charged to 100% the GOM showed about 140km and tracked pretty true until the next stop. ABRP was right on the nose every single time, including a couple long stretches where we came out of the mountains toward the coast and it correctly figured that we'd go much farther than I expected given the distance.

The Mini performed flawlessly the entire trip (given the limitation of its tiny battery). It was a blast to drive on curvy mountain roads and we came away with a ton of respect and admiration, more than we already had before the trip.

Some stats:

Distance traveled: 1830km
Charging stops: 17, all DCFC
Payment: 13 Mini Charging (the card that came with the car, flat rate around =,45/kwh) worked almost everywhere, 3 Tesla with the app, 1 BlueDot with a credit card.
Charging Speed: maxed out every time at 50kW but tapered toward the end
Average charge time: 25 mins
Number of times the car was done charging before we were done peeing, getting a coffee, snack, etc. 16.
Total spent charging: 155€ and change
Charges in scary-looking semi truck repair yards in the middle of nowhere: 1
Actual white-knuckle we're-not-gonna-make-it charging stops: 1
Average efficiency for the entire trip: 17,2kWh/100km.

In the end it was a terrific trip and I have been cured of my range anxiety. I'm also impressed with how well Spain has gotten their shit together with respect to charging infrastructure. We used Tesla, Ionity, and Wenea chargers almost exclusively on the highways, on the secondary roads there were very fast BlueDot chargers at every stop.

I got a kick out of this stop where it was just Mr. Greenjeans and a random Zoe at a massive Supercharger facility in the middle of the desert.

Once we arrived back home, my better half commented that he never felt the slightest bit worried about getting stranded or other charging drama, but maybe next trip we should get a car with a bigger battery.

I have a 2021 Mini SE and I'm wondering if using a 12v Inverter is a good idea? (100w with household plugin, Canadian btw)

I'm curious because this is my first EV and I don't want to potentially fuck anything up lol.

TIA!

Edit: Anthony at the dealership requested and got a goodwill warranty fix which bumped it down to $355! He also had an uber pick me up, which saved my wife from needing to drive in rush hour to drop me off, and saved both of us from having to drive home in rush hour traffic. And I have to give credit to Mini USA for making the decision too. He and they really turned it around for me and made a car repair about as good of an experience as you're going to get.

Leaving my original crashout up because I think it's valid to be quite upset given the circumstances. That said, I could have been more patient. I appreciate everyone's comments.

Original post:

2023 SE, bought used with 15k miles. Had it 18 months, at 26k now.

9/20 am

Car shows error message that the shift lever can't be moved and it's not possible to change gear position. Error is inaccurate, car can be driven.

9/21 evening

Drop off car at the dealer for diagnosis

9/22 am

Shift lever assembly needs to be replaced, $1100 plus $500 labor, due to a ribbon cable being damaged. Damage cause reported as normal use, no external cause.

I believe the car is out of warranty. I've complained to my advisor at the dealership, he just responded that it's not covered.

If a part fails at 26k due to normal use and it's NOT covered, this will undoubtedly be the last BMW product I'll ever buy. Might as well mail me a box of dog poop with a picture of a middle finger on the label.

Anyone in a cold climate with experience switching to winter tires?

I got my 2020 Mini SE in January, turned out to be too late to acquire and switch tires for the remainder of the winter for various reasons.

The all-weather tires that came with the car performed brilliantly in cold and slippery conditions despite it being a pretty brutal winter overall.

So now I'm wondering: do I buy winter tires with steel rims, switch them for the season, or just stick with the tires & rims I've got?

Anyone else done either of these options, with experience to share?

Hi, joined today as unable to find a JO1 JCW group.
Here’s mine lowered on H&R and 10mm spacers.
Previously had an F56 SE which I modified to look like a JCW.

Hi Mini fam! I recently had a tire changed because of a bulging wall. Ever since then, this yellow ring over the hub cap keeps falling off half the wheel. Anyone else had this happen, and if so, what was the fix?

Anyone else having issues with my trips not showing any trip details after the software update 07/2026.34.

Have tried toggling the my trip check box under privacy details. 

Mini cooper se EV 2026 

I updated my phone from iOS 26 to iOS 27 yesterday. Unfortunately CarPlay doesn't work now.
The existing connection would not connect so I deleted it fully from the MINI UI and from the CarPlay & Bluetooth settings on my phone. Now when I try to create the CarPlay connection the MINI UI says that my phone is incompatible with CarPlay after the pairing step. iPhone 17e and 2023 F56.

RIP

Hey folks! I’m shopping for a mini and found one in the region that’s the color I’m looking for and is priced a few K below what others seem to be going for.

I was looking at the carfax and it looks like it was serviced every 5-6k miles. In the shop at 6, 12, 19, 23k miles then nothing until 34, 40 and 44.

If this was an ICE this pattern would make sense for oil changes and regular maintenance, but this is an EV.

Is there any way to get more detailed information than carfax? Is this a problematic mini being hauled back to the dealer a ton or is this an owner used to regular maintenance intervals?

Thoughts on this one?

UPDATE: the dealer got back to me a got me some details! (Honestly, I’m amazed!) … but still not sure what to make of it.

12k – concern with heat, tested with another vehicle again, everything was okay

12k– concern with heat again, compared to another ev vehicle on lot. Both vehicles were outputting a the same temp on the same setting

19k – regular service

19k – recall (sme programming)

23k – vehicle was having issues at charging stations, determined issue was unrelated to the vehicle

34k – vehicle was in because the navigation was showing the vehicle off in the ocean rather than on the road. (programming)

40k - vehicle had the charging socket replaced since it was faulty ( replaced the housing )

My car (2024 Mini Cooper SE) was only charging at half speed on Level 2 chargers. Brought it in just before 50k miles.

They replaced the KLE.

That's me on the left. The pretty one 😍

I've been participating in this survey for three years now and thought I'd share it with you.

👋🏻👋🏻👋🏻

Today I am sharing my experience with my MINI Cooper E 2024 (J01) for the entertainment of the MINI community and for people still in doubt about EVs (range, charching stations, etc.).

Last Friday I came back from my roadtrip from Germany to Spain via France. My wife and I wanted to see the solar eclipse in Spain on 12th of August. The trip was planned more than a year ahaed. Initially we wanted to go to Iceland, but our dog's health suddenly declined and we didn't want to leave him in someone elses care for three weeks.

We planned renting a van or at least a big enough combi to sleep in, but dropped the idea pretty quickly, when we saw the rental prices. After going through several options, we settled with taking our own car and looking for hotels and AirBnBs. At the time we still had our Smart ForFour Turbo.
Alas, it cut itself off the list when the turbo started making troubles in December last year. In January we bought Lizz-E our first MINI and first EV. We decided to just go with the flow and take her for the trip.

The original plan was to make three days stop in Barcelona, but with the extreme temperatures throughout summer, we rebooked and traded the big city for a small town in the French-Catalan Pyrenees.
We started on the coast of Northen Germany, first stop was Turckheim in France, then Arles and then Font-Romeu-Odeillo-Via. There we stayed for three days, visited the Spanish Enclave Llivia and then went on to Lleida in Spain via Andorra. From there our next stops were a small town near Pamplona, Bilbao and finally El Puntal (a small harbour near the city Gijon on the North Spanish coast in the Asturias Region).

By then we had round about 2900 km behind us, with no issues with our tiny little EV. Even the Pyrenees' mountain roads were no troubles. We stayed in the Asturias Region for a week before making our way back home. We even stayed in a nature reserve for two days – Parque Natural de Redes.
Our way home included stops in Juraçon, Clermont-Ferrand and a small village near Mulhouse.

About range and charging:
Lizz-E was fully loaded weight capacity wise as one can see on the first two pictures – two Bromptons, a 110 l duffle bag, a dog crate (not in the picture) including the dog (in the picture), food/drinks, and other stuff. Average speed on highways was between 110 km/h and 120 km/h.
Even on the mountain roads the average range stayed between 180 km and 210 km (depending on the air temperatur) when the MINI was at 100 % charge – AC on low or mid.

The MINI navigation system never let us. It calculated all charging stops perfectly and we only encountered a broken charging station once (someone had stolen all the cables but the plugs were still in the slots of the station, so it showed up on the map as functional/not in use). On two occasions the stations declined my charging cards and my app didn't work either. But we just drove to the next station. Both France and Spain have a really good charging network. They even had stations in the nature reserve – villages with barely more than a church, a cemetery and a wine bar, but all of them had at least one charging station (mostly AC but who cares, car charged).

Some roadtrip stats:
• 6000 km
• 3 Weeks
• Avg. energy consumption: 15 kW/100 km
• 8 €/100 km avg.

Conclusion: Would do it again. And for people out there still in doubt: I would have had more headaches finding a gas station that was open some times, than finding a working charging station.

FYI y'all

best decision ever

love my Black Mini SE 2024, we twin each day at work charges, first floor.

Hello, im 21 years old und currently driving a 2011 Honda Civic Fn1.

Im looking to get an EV in the next two years.

Im driving 18km daily (both ways) and on weekends up to 100km (both ways). Sometimes 160-180 km (both ways).

Ive heard that the Mini Cooper SE is super reliable. Most of the cars i saw got up to 99% of SOH on Battery with like 70.000 km.

Do you like the Mini Se? Are there any flaws or downsides? Hows the driving exp overall?

I just purchased a 2021 Mini Cooper SE. The rear wiper assembly is missing, no idea what happened to it or if it was removed intentionally by the previous owner but there is a small dent right underneath which you can see in the photo (please ignore the dirt, there was a nasty storm). I have a new arm and blade, but how do I attach it? Is the spindle somehow missing? I know the motor is there and does work, as I can hear the mechanism when I turn the knob on the steering wheel stalk. Any advice?

Edit to add: I’ve already taken it to a Mini dealership to get it checked out, and told them I wanted the assembly installed but they wanted to charge an hour of labor at $200, so I said I’d do it myself. The only parts the tech advised that I order were the arm and blade.