[FireGoose]

Hi,

I’m taking deliver of a Mini Countryman SE next month.

Have a few questions, will start with something easy.

My journeys should be no more than 50 miles per day, usually no more than 22 miles.

To get the best MPG with the electric motor, can I input a return trip in to the sat nav and have it drive at the most economical way for that journey?

I’ve heard it can only do it one way, is there a work around for this, if it’s true?

Thanks

Edit. Is this even an option? How would it even work?

 

[Shiki2000]

The main issue is that the battery only really holds about 15 to 20 odd miles, depending on various conditions.

I've yet to get a full feel for my Countryman, think just over 500 miles on the clock. I wish there was a way to configure the Countryman for a lower threshold before ICE kicked in. So that there would be plenty of juice for when the car is moving off. Eg. 0-15 miles under electric then switch over to the ICE.

The SatNAV tries to prepare the car for what is ahead. For example, if it knows there is going to be a downhill stretch, the car prepares to charge itself while on that downhill gradient. I've seen a notification that the system preparing itself, but hard to gauge how much I really benefited from it.

My other issue is that I don't really want to be micro managing the car all the time. In theory you might be able to eek a little more out of the car switching beteen Max Edrive, Auto Edrive and Save modes....Will let some of the others chime in...

 

[Tim in Scotland]

Round trip routes - if you download the (nearly) useless app then you can pre-plan routes and send them to the car, you could set a route that has the “there” position as a waypoint and the “back” position as you starting point. However you may find that storing a route to work and a second (reverse) route as the trip home again as the car’s systems may find that the two routes can be different to avoid steep hil climbs but to include steep downhills on the way home to help regenerate charge from the brakes. I am fortunate that I don’tbhave To commute to work by car however having said that yesterday I had to get to Glasgow Airport from my home in the Trossachs area of Central Scotland at rush hour and having the Mini PHEV was hugely more pleasant to drive in stop start commuting than any of my previous luxury 4x4 vehicles and you know that when you stop you are only consuming energy to listen to the radio or for heating the cabin. I tend to drive those runs into the big smoke using petrol / Save mode and the Mid setting not the green setting. It is odd that you get less regen in Green mode than in Mid, I would have thought that Green would max the regeneration opportunities but it doesn’t. I didn’r Use the satnav routing but will when I travel home after my trip and see if it takes me a different route to the way I am programmed to travel in an ICE vehicle. The satnav is allegedly programmed with a database that has gradients programmed into it but as most of my journies are 16 miles each way on flat land I rely more on the AutoE or Save Modes when on country roads into the local town as regen opportunities are few.

 

[FireGoose]

Round trip routes - if you download the (nearly) useless app then you can pre-plan routes and send them to the car, you could set a route that has the “there” position as a waypoint and the “back” position as you starting point. However you may find that storing a route to work and a second (reverse) route as the trip home again as the car’s systems may find that the two routes can be different to avoid steep hil climbs but to include steep downhills on the way home to help regenerate charge from the brakes. I am fortunate that I don’tbhave To commute to work by car however having said that yesterday I had to get to Glasgow Airport from my home in the Trossachs area of Central Scotland at rush hour and having the Mini PHEV was hugely more pleasant to drive in stop start commuting than any of my previous luxury 4x4 vehicles and you know that when you stop you are only consuming energy to listen to the radio or for heating the cabin. I tend to drive those runs into the big smoke using petrol / Save mode and the Mid setting not the green setting. It is odd that you get less regen in Green mode than in Mid, I would have thought that Green would max the regeneration opportunities but it doesn’t. I didn’r Use the satnav routing but will when I travel home after my trip and see if it takes me a different route to the way I am programmed to travel in an ICE vehicle. The satnav is allegedly programmed with a database that has gradients programmed into it but as most of my journies are 16 miles each way on flat land I rely more on the AutoE or Save Modes when on country roads into the local town as regen opportunities are few.

Thanks Tim,

I now have the mini and the app.

How do I set a ‘waypoint’ on the app? Doesn’t seem to be an option after I’ve I putted an address.

 

[Tim in Scotland]

Errrrrrrr........ unlike the other car maker smartphone apps I have been using it seems that with Mini Connected you cannot add intermediate waypoints. I have used the in-app suggestions to ask how to do it......... It looks like for the time being you have to go there on one route and return by a 2nd one....... apologies for misleading you. One thing I have found though is that there is now an option to see charging points on the map as well as petrol stations! AND it us more up to date for my area than either Zap-Map or the Plug-Share apps!