I keep meaning to ask, how’s the MINI SE experience going now Splashalot?
Sorry for the belated response, Exonian. I'm a bit of an infrequent visitor here nowadays.
The Mini? In short, brilliant. Over 1 year now, so the initial new car ownership glow has worn off, but the satisfaction and enjoyment remain unchanged. No issues at all with the car. The only thing I would change would be a smoother transition for the regen braking in normal mode. But that's being really, really picky.
The video Snoopy linked is interesting, and reinforces my current thinking: EV for city runabout, petrol car for longer distance touring. We run the Mini mostly off rooftop solar, so it costs us next to nothing, but as the video shows, if you have to rely on public charging, those savings are in the bin. Not to mention the time and inconvenience factor of having to wait for a charger to become available.
I've toyed with replacing our 2.5 ltr petrol Mazda 3 with a Polestar 2 or Hyundai/Kia for longer distance touring, but our public charging infrastructure is laughable (courtesy of a decade with a climate change denying federal government - now thankfully banished) For example, last time I checked there were two - yes TWO - Tesla superchargers in the whole State. We will need a massive increase in this infrastructure to make touring in an EV acceptable.
In other news, since last checking in I test drove the Polestar 2 and loved it. More refined and better engineered than the Tesla 3. However, it seems Polestar have a significant issue with some of the electronics which can brick the car (Google TCAM Polestar). So beware anyone considering getting one. Lovely thing to drive, though.
Cheers
