Our good friends at Jalopnik.com got their hands on the MINI E in New York City last week.
>As long as you can get a clean start, the engineers claim you’ll be able to drop a 0-to-60 time of 8.5 seconds. Not too shabby for a vehicle with a top speed of only 95 MPH and a 156 mile capacity on the batteries. This ain’t no Tesla Roadster, but it’ll certainly give you more get up and go than you’d expect considering the heft of this ‘lectric Cooper — 3,230 lbs.
How many of you have put your name in the proverbial hat for this MINI? Let us know in the comments!
Odd.. left a comment and wham it was gone along with my “Leave A Reply” info? I’ll try it again.
The cost of the least is to extreme… so, I don’t think so Tim.
Heck, I could even use an electric car with all the short trips I make. But at that cost, it’s still cheaper to buy a car (for when I need it) and a scooter (for when I don’t).
0-60 in 8.5 seconds? Wow! I guess I jumped the gun on my opinion of this car. That could easily smoke a tractor or even a school bus. Performance like that outweighs it’s looks and stripped down lack of options.
The $60k price tag or $11k+ year long lease looks like a bargain now. And I thought being green was just a silly fad. I’m jumping on the “we care alot” bandwagon.
Insert standard reply about this not being for everyone and references to closed minded nature of most of the naysayers here…..
Matt
Matt.. Not sure that included me?
I’m not a naysayer I just can’t afford that amount on the lease. I think any development towards a less fossil fuel dependent USA/World is good but I also know most suggested paths are as full of problems as fossil fuel has been. Had this nation had better forward thinking management in this area we could be closer to better solutions today.
Naysayer. I think not but a world with cars running with the battery technology of today is still a slippery slope. Do I applaud the companies improving the technology, hell yes.
Why such a heavy cost to lease? Also, since you are testing this MINI for MINI maybe they should pay you? All of a sudden car companies are using us for their R&D, for free, wow that’s ballsy of them.
But I’m sure, Matt, you will see it differently, negatively. Here’s the difference, I won’t suggest you are an idiot because we differ in opinion.
It is by definition closed minded to think that because someone disagrees with you that they are closed minded. The closed minded do not participate and remove themselves from engaging the debate, thus closing themselves off. Tactfulness of response is not a prerequisite of engagement.
I simply find the idea that consumers foot the bill for this R&D/PR program is a bit ridiculous. Though not offered in my area, I see absolutely no incentive to participate, and would not due mainly to the cost.
Yes it is zero emission, but what about the cost of building the batteries that run it? What environmental impact do they have during the manufacturing process? How about disposal? what are the consequences of this technology in the future. I applaude MINI/BMW for trying and testing ready available technologies, but it would be much more reasonable to BRING THE DAMN DIESEL!!!
Why is it that folks who dwell in the land of unicorns and mermaids call rational thinkers “closed minded”?
It takes giant bollocks on Mini’s part to charge that kind of cash for an ugly, spartan, poorly performing car. And even BIGGER bollocks for the koolaid drinkers to say it’s noble and pioneering to participate in throwing their money at this when THEY have no intention of doing so.
Have we seen one post from someone who’s planning on getting one of these? Nope. Just a bunch of obsequious “oh if I had the money, I’d do it”. Typical from the “intentions are more important than results” crowd.
And for the tenth time, I’ll be the first in line to buy one if it performs as well as a gas powered Mini and costs the same. But don’t look to me to subsidize a rolling PC/PR billboard. Pay for your own R&D Mini.
But here’s a prediction. Dream on about windmill and solar powered cars all you want. Gas is here to stay for a LONG time.
Bring on the Camaros and the Challengers. Chevelles, Barracudas, and Firebirds are around the corner.
Drill baby drill. 😉
That’s funny. Every car buyer is paying for the R&D that that particular car company does. At least now those that want to can participate in it more than just having some of the gross margin shaved off the top of current product price and sent off to the development staff.
Different strokes for different folks…
Matt
btw, I don’t think that closed minded is defined by disagrement. I think it’s defined by not appreciating different points of view, or an unwillingness to learn new information that can change ones perspective. I don’t say that this is the right car for everyone, but I’m at least willing to say kudos to those companies that push the envelope, and those early adopters that see a different personal value proposition than me or others do without posting condenscending diatrabes about how only someone who lives in the land of unicorn or whatever could ever see that this works for them.
It’ll be interesting to see how MINI prices this vehicle in the real marketplace in 2010, assuming their analysis of performance and reliability OK’s it for sale to folks living outside NYC and LA.
The $850/month lease is steep for an experimental car with limitations. There also may be added costs for upgrading the electrical box that the car charges from (may be in excess of $2,000). These costs in such an economy are prohibitive for most. I am not sure what BMW Group is thinking. They do want the reduction in CO2 to be applied to BMW group as a whole, I suppose. Their assumption that the user must subsidize this is simply ridiculous and places in question BMW Group’s true commitment to an electric car. Disruptive technologies have changed the consumer electronics world in major shifts. The same is coming for the car. BMW Groups risks their core business if they do not innovate through this economic crisis. They have 2 reasons (at least) to be worried: 1) Global economic crisis leading to slow car sales and potentially defaulting leases, 2) the risk of not innovating fast enough and being beaten by a smaller more nimble company. It’s too bad. I love MINI and BMW. We own several of each in my family. I hope they survive. . .
All the experimental cars have large lease prices…. The Honda Clarity (hydrogen) does, as did the EV1. But they’re just trying to move 500 of the suckers, plus another program that’s being contemplated for Berlin (fleet of citicars) in partnership with the city government and a company that wants to develop public charging infrastructure.
FWIW, BMW has done research in adding an extra cylinder and running a closed loop “steam engine” in parrallel to capture lost heat energy from the exhaust, and that (what I think of as a) disaster of a dual fuel hydrogen or gasoline 7 series. But at least they’re pushing the envelope…..
Matt
“want to participate in R&D costs”? What freeking planet are you from Doc? Perhaps that is the most asinine concept ever. Congratulations on outdoing yourself and being so darn smart you can’t admit that this car is a joke value wise.
No one is critical of the technology, just the nerve of Mini to offer a shell of the car we love for such an outrageous cost to prey upon the wealthy fools who make a show of being pretentious.
And did you travel from said planet on a unicorn? Do they have ligers there? 😉
Greg, why is your metric for value universal? I couldn’t afford one even if it were offered where I live so I wouldn’t get one. Fine. But for those that don’t have the same chash flow issues that I do, why is it wrong for them to get one if they want to? Instead of us having pissing contests, can you please just give a reasoned answer to that simple question?
If you met my mom, you would know that the last thing she wants is to be pretentious. She wants and electric car. She can afford an electric car. She drives about 20 miles on the days that she does drive one. When she had her EV1, she paid about a $500 a month lease costs. It was more than she could have paid for other cars. She paid less than 2 cents a mile to drive it. Was she a fool?
Look, all of us could get cheaper transportation than we have currently. Yet there is something other than basic operating or purchase costs that motivated us to buy what we drive. Why are you so certain that this exact same process can’t be used to choose a car you wouldn’t buy?
Matt
Yawn. You’re getting boring Doc.
If some celebrity jack ass want to pay overpay for a substandard car that’s fine. It’s a free country (at least for another month), however, don’t even try to tell me that those who are that stupid are doing it for any other reason than to show off their “greeness”. In other words more symbolism over substance. Or, overpaying for a crappy car thinking that they’re helping a cause. Please! Do I really have to define this further or are you that bereft of common sense?
You’re a intelligent guy, but have the cojones to call a spade a spade. Quit wallowing in relativism. That takes no spine whatsoever.
And leave your poor Mama out of it. A Prius(gak) is a far cry from this travesty.
By your
<blockquote>I simply find the idea that consumers foot the bill for this R&D/PR program is a bit ridiculous. </blockquote>
Since when has a consumer NOT paid for the R&D through the sales cost? Medicine would be a whole lot cheaper if you weren’t paying the inventors.
Rumor has it that the battery setup in the car runs almost $25k. So if that plus the MINI itself totals somewhere around or probably north of $50k (considering small batch production), the lease isn’t actually as bad as it sounds. In the scheme of residuals/time 1 year is the worst depreciation/month.
Not to make any judgment about whether people should go for it or not. if you can afford it and you want to give it a shot, go for it.
There is a question of greenness as to what happens to the cars afterward in addition to the battery questions raised above. The EV1’s all got destroyed. Hopefully MINI has a better plan for the lease returned versions. Recycle/reuse perhaps
That comparison is insipid. What medicine has ever been on the shelves for years and suddenly the same drug is offered that does the same thing with only a minor tweek difference at nearly 400x the cost? Would you buy it over the original in the name of medical advancement? Hell no. Unless you were wealthy enough to afford it and had a way for the world to be aware of your selfless altruism.
A stripped Cooper is around $16k. This (less than stripped, no back seat, and fugly) is $60k. This is strickly for wealthy phonies who yes have the right to exercise their self promoting ignorance. And I wouldn’t lift a finger to stop them.
But I’ll make fun of them. 😉