It’s been this way for as long as I can remember. Don’t see much change. Back when it was Bridger.us when I posted as RB, MinjaDude, Ballardini and a few other names we had some nasty dustups between commenters, so much so Gabe had to send us to our rooms to cool off. I can remember some quite heated commenting between someone commenting here and myself, even his blog was quite acidic, if I remember correctly.

I myself made many a nasty comment and was guilty big time of causing many dustups. So not sure why some feel things have gotten worse.. It hasn’t. Maybe us longtime posters have been too long at the bar. I actually feel it’s gotten a little less acidic.

RB

-M

Of course though, I’m just such a Johnny-come-lately to this whole MINI thing, having purchased a S just a scant few months after they were released in the states, and being a reader (and commenter) on MotoringFile back when it was still at the Bridger.US site, but hey, OF COURSE I should have known that the second you take your foot of the gas pedal, the car behaves in such a manner that it causes the brake lights to come on, just like ever other car I’ve driven.

As I suggested the twisty portion of my ride was short and I did suggest I felt it would snowball if pushed through more than the 10 turns I drove thru. But I still feel for that short test is was just “a few clicks” off my S. As far as getting off the regen in corners it was a bit unsettling but my second drive in the car I didn’t really have a problem with it. I just used a shortened de-acceleration and used the regen instead of the brake and found that was a bit like heal and toeing it. Torque steer under hard acceleration in the exit of a corner a bit tough in both tests.

Our test drives were definitely a bit different and the same.

DUDE!- I have to respectfully disagree with your statement that it drives one click below and “S”. In terms of torque and hp output, yes but that is about it. I pushed the car extensively for about a solid mile and there is no way one can compare them. The weight is an issue and like you said if you are transitioning from corner to corner it snowballs. The other issue is that when you get off the gas regen kicks in then when you are back on it the torque steer is there, (no way to feather the torque in as it is instant) lots of weight going in different direction on small tire contact patches. This car was not designed to handle or be performance oriented but it drives better than one would expect (it is better than say a Toyota) but not close to an “S”. I was in the “E” for 15 minutes on very twisty roads, closed roads and highway. I wish I could have had more time but it is not a vehicle one can demo easily. Also worth noting is that each vehicle may have different software and other production variables so they may not all drive the same (part of the research portion of this).

Your comment about the steering is spot on along with the invasiveness of the regen. It is something to get used to and overtime would become a new normal.

It is a pleasant vehicle and is well built, just not a MINI and part of the reason the BMW Group will be creating a new brand for Electric vehicles.

All the best,

-Michael

First off the car seemed quite nicely built. I had read a few reviews here about this or that being rather poor in construction but I didn’t see that.

I did 4 separate reviews, covering 3 separate day, for my blog with 4 different E lessors, 2 of which allowed me to drive the car. I did donuts, freeways and ran a very twisty road that one lessor runs every AM on his way to work. I found an amazing amount of torque steer, amazing acceleration and would agree that the “regen” is something to contend with but by my 2nd drive it was not a problem.

Total time in car driving 30 minutes.

My experiences led me to feel that the car handled quite well. Weight shifting was quite nominal as we drove a short twisty road with the lessor telling me to “run it harder” in one section, I did and felt it was only a few ticks off my “S”. I will say it was a very short twisty section and that if one had to make too many switch backs in a row the weight would probably catch up with you and front plowing would probably be aggressive.

One down side for me was the heavy almost flat tire feel of the steering. The lessor not being a MINI owner nor enthusiast didn’t quite understand that observation as his other car is a suv. Not saying it didn’t respond well just felt heavy when you did a severe lane change as I did a few times to get a feel.

Hard freeway acceleration has you minding the wheel as torque steer was severe. I own a 2004 S and that isn’t a problem unlike the JCW I drove at the Rose Bowl during MTTS which seemed on the same level as the E.

I can’t compare the E to lets say a Tesla or a Prius but since I do own a drive a ‘04 MCS I can compare it to that and my experiences were favorable, I liked what I saw and felt, would I buy one… nope.

RB