2020 MINI Cooper SE launched in Malaysia – RM218k

After dropping hints and teasers throughout the year, BMW Group Malaysia has finally launched the fully electric MINI Cooper SE. It broke cover just a little over a year ago, and there’s just one configuration on offer here. The price? A cool RM218,380.78 (after SST exemption; otherwise it’s RM225,888), and the equipment list is actually pretty impressive considering the price.

Included in the price is a four-year unlimited mileage warranty with free scheduled service, as well as an eight-year or 100,000 km warranty for the high voltage battery.

The Cooper SE shares the same UKL platform as the regular 3 Door and 5 Door hatches, so dimensions, weight, design proportions, and interior space are more or less identical. Its electric propulsion unit is rather familiar, actually, one derived from the BMW i3s.

The compact electric motor (which weighs less than a conventional engine) provides 184 hp (135 kW) at 7,000 rpm and 270 Nm of torque from 100 to 1,000 rpm. Comparatively, the regular Cooper S’ offers 192 hp and 280 Nm of torque from its B48 2.0 litre engine.

Being a city car, the Cooper SE is tuned specifically to provide peak acceleration at up to 60 km/h. As such, the 0-60 km/h sprint is done in 3.9 seconds, but the century sprint is achieved in 7.3 seconds. A single-stage transmission is standard, and note that the top speed is electronically limited to 150 km/h.

Under the floor rests a new, specially-developed T-shaped 32.6 kWh lithium-ion battery pack with a net content of 28.9 kWh and operates at 350.4 volts. MINI says this is good for a driving range of up to 234 km (WLTP cycle; 270 km on NEDC cycle).

For charging, it takes 3.5 hours to fully juice up the battery via an 11 kW three-phase wallbox, or 4.2 hours through a 7.4 kW single-phase wallbox. It also supports up to 50 kW DC fast-charging, taking just 1.4 hours for a full charge. For frequent users, a 22 kW MINI Wallbox Plus can be purchased for a special price of RM6,500, whereas a five-metre three-phase charging cable goes for RM1,388.20.

To provide protection for the battery, the car’s height is raised by 18 mm, and a solid base plate protects it from road debris. In the event of an accident, an automatic failsafe function immediately switches off all drive components.

Other unique features include two levels of brake regeneration (-0.19 m/s/s and -0.11 m/s/s), single-joint McPherson strut with aluminium swivel bearing up front, rear multi-link setup, with weight-optimised trailing arms. No adaptive dampers or sports suspension here.

Design-wise, the EV is pretty distinctive, featuring psychedelic yellow highlights on the closed radiator grille, side mirror caps, scuttle plates, alloy wheels, and tailgate decors. We get the larger 17-inch Power Spoke wheels (previously called Corona Spoke) that’s unique only to the Cooper SE. Matrix LED headlights and tail lights with the Union Jack motif are standard. Three colours are available – Chili Red, British Racing Green, and White Silver, which you see here.

Inside, you get the familiar MINI Hatch cabin, except the driver gets a brand new 5.5-inch digital instrument display with the same yellow theme. There’s also a yellow start-stop ignition toggle instead of red, eDrive mode (Sport, Mid, Green, and Green+), dual-zone climate control, 12-colour ambient lighting system, and the range-topping 8.8-inch touchscreen MINI Visual Boost with MINI Connected.

Also on are head-up display, 12-speaker Harman Kardon Sound System, a wireless charging tray in the centre armrest, Carbon Black interior appointments, anthracite headliner, and leather seats with cross punch upholstery. Boot space remains unimpeded with 211 litres (same as the regular 3 Door), and can be expanded to 731 litres.

Lastly, for safety, the Cooper SE gets the Driving Assistant and Parking Assistant packs as standard, which includes functions such as autonomous emergency braking (Light City Braking Function; between 6 km/h to 60 km/h), Traffic Sign Recognition, as well as Approach Control Warning and Person Warning.

GALLERY: 2020 F56 Mini Cooper SE in Miami, Florida

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