Is the 2023 Mini Cooper Electric SE Your Next EV? Review and Test!

Hello to the 2023 MINI Cooper S Electric. That's right, the Cooper has now become electric, also known as the Cooper SE or the Cooper Electric. Now MINI has taken their gas engine and replaced it with a 32 kilowatt battery-powered engine to get you about 181 kilometer range here in Canada. It's going to have an MSRP of about $56,556. There's about four different drive modes. There's the sport, there's a mid, there's a green, and then there's a green plus, which basically maximizes all your battery output. So it turns off things like the heated seats. It turns off the climate control. It basically puts all the power to the motor and uses the battery to just get the maximum range. This is obviously the perfect little grocery getter. And let's look at the exterior styling here. A few subtle changes that we've seen from the regular MINI Cooper models. This one, you're going to get full LED headlights right on the front. And then you have this chrome circular front grill here. You kind of have a full vent right in the dash, but that just adds to that sport and athletic styling that the Coopers are known for. This one, you obviously have the red exterior styling and you get the white mirrors and the white roof. You can customize your colors and get different color combinations if you like the different colored roofs compared to it, or you can just get it matching and have it all as one. So let's try a little throttle response here. 181 horsepower. Not bad. It does have a little bit of zip to it. It boasts a 0-60 in about 3.9 seconds. That's not too bad. What I love is I love using the e-pedal. We were just talking about that. You can really drive the car kind of like with one foot. It really helps use that regenerative braking. And when you step on it, this car will go. The different drive modes are going to help change the throttle response and the sensitivity just to help maximize your efficiency. So if you're looking for just like a quality little grocery getter, you know, farting around town, you don't have very far to go. This is certainly a great option. Like electric option would be the way to go for that. If you only have a couple errands to run each day, or you're just going to and from your work at your local, and like you live very locally, certainly this would be the way to go. 17 inch rims on these Mini Cooper S electrics. This one is the premium 2.0 plus. So you get the upgraded rims and a few other features, things like sunroof, leather seats, that we're going to get into when we open it all up. A lot of people ask me right away like what, how long does the battery, the batteries last in electric cars? Or is buying a used car, a used electric car problem with the batteries? And I don't think so. Like this one comes with an eight year, 160,000 kilometer warranty for the battery. So they've extended the battery, which is great. You would notice that there's a little gas cap here, but that's for your charging inputs here. In terms of charging this one, you can plug into the flow or the fast charging stations, the DC charging stations, and it will charge from zero to 80% in about 35 minutes. Now that's about 10 minutes quicker than our Nissan Leaf that we know, we're aware of. If you plug it into your house, the most convenient thing about this is that it comes with a charging station that you can set up in your house, and it plugs into a similar outlet, like a dryer outlet, and that will charge from zero to dead in about four hours. One of my favorite things about it is the seats. Like the seats are very, very comfortable, especially in these small hatchbacks. You don't really get comfortable seats, but the seats are very comfortable. With this 2.0 plus, you get the Nappa leather seats, and I love this kind of beige seating that they've gone with. Let's open up the hatch and check out the trunk here. Now there is no power liftgate, but it is a pretty small hatch, so you'll never have issues reaching up nice and high to open it. It's pretty accessible and easy, and they put these little handles here to help you pull it down and closed. Now let's look at the cargo space. It is a nice little grocery getter. Our tunnel cover takes away a little bit of space, but that's okay, and you have quite a bit of hidden storage underneath, and these are just our charging packages. There's a cover for your charger, and then you can fold the seats down as well, so not a bad option here in terms of cargo space. Let's jump into the back and see how that feels. I'm really not looking forward to this, but I will do it for you guys. It is a two-door car, so obviously it's going to be pretty tight, and let's back this up how I would be driving. Not too bad. I wouldn't want to sit back here for a few hours, but 10 minutes to 45 minutes, and I'd be fine. There is quite a bit of room, and if the people in front of you are nice, they could even move the seats up a little more, so not a bad little four-seater. Jumping in here, and let's start it up. Now right when you get in, there's a lot of mini styling cues that I see here. I love these toggle switches right down below here for our start and stop, our different drive modes. You also get two sunroofs in this, which is pretty neat. You have one here that's going to open up to the environment. The other one will just let a little more light into the vehicle and make it feel a lot bigger, so I love the two sunroofs, and that's another feature that you get by paying that extra $6,000 to go up to this Premium Plus package. Digital temperature control, so you have dual climate control, so you can be hot, your girl can be cold on the other side. Right away, one of my favorite things about some of the Cooper S's is that huge speedometer that they would have here. Now it's replaced with your infotainment system in this electric model here, so you get a nice, decently large touchscreen here, and you can do things like your satellite radio, obviously your Bluetooth for your phone, Apple CarPlay. There is a navigation as well on this Premium One 2.0 Plus, so you have things like pinch to zoom right on it. You can also adjust all your settings, so in terms of safety settings, it's going to come with your frontal collision warning, your pedestrian warning, lane departure warning. You can adjust all those on this screen, and then you have a little digital screen right here. This is for your speedometer. It will also tell you your e-power mode right on the screen here as well, and how much charge you have left, so I feel as though this screen could be a little better. I kind of have to make sure my wheel is adjusted correctly, but you can see how the whole thing adjusts with the wheel, so if you don't have it perfectly set up, the wheel does block a little bit of the screen. Harman Kardon sound system, so it does sound phenomenal here, especially in this small, little car. Not too shabby. So my friends, comment below what you guys think about the electric vehicles. I know these EVs are starting to really get more popular, especially as gas prices go up, so we're going to try to film more EVs, as many as we can here on Cars Unlocked. I love driving them. I love talking about them, but I want to hear what you guys have to say, so comment on the video. Follow me on Instagram and throw your comments in. Send me a DM if you have questions about the Mini Cooper. I'd be more than happy to answer any of your questions, but this car, my overall conclusion on the Cooper SE or the Cooper Electric, I think it would be a great electric car to buy, especially if there's incentives in your region to buy electric cars. I know here in Ontario there's incentives to buy the electric cars. It all depends on the timing and where you're at. If the infrastructure is big enough and there's enough charging stations for you to drive around town and charge your vehicle, I think you couldn't go wrong with this. Even someone like me, I don't do too many long trips, so this would be a great maybe second car or even a car for a single owner. You guys tell me what you think in the comments below.