Carvisor - Car Valuation and Analytics

18/05/2023

🚗 Calling All Carvisor Fans! Share the News with Your Aussie Friends! 🇦🇺

If you've experienced the convenience and efficiency of Carvisor, along with all the benefits that came with our recent major update, now is the perfect opportunity to share the love with your friends. With its cutting-edge AI technology, Carvisor 2.0 offers reliable market-based valuations, price predictions, and in-depth analytics. 📈📊

Head over to https://www.carvisor.com.au to explore Carvisor 2.0 and start sharing the exciting news with your Aussie mates!

10/04/2023

🚗📈 Carvisor 2.0 is here! Our AI-driven valuation has 95% overall average accuracy, and now we have new features like price predictions and model attractiveness. Know the future value of your car and how factors like price, mileage, and age affect its attractiveness score. Simplify your car buying/selling decisions with Carvisor 2.0.

Sample report: https://www.carvisor.co.nz/sample-report

Hello, we are Carvisor and we are here to help you find the best price for the vehicle you’re interested in. We use proprietary AI/machine learning technology to analyse the car market in New Zealand, and provide users with fast and reliable car valuations and in-depth analytics.

06/04/2023

🚗📈 Kia ora! Introducing Carvisor 2.0 - the ultimate car valuation tool for car buyers and sellers!

At Carvisor, we believe in making informed decisions when it comes to buying or selling a car. That's why we've created an AI-powered market-based valuation report. And now, with the launch of Carvisor 2.0, we're adding even more features to help you make smarter decisions.

So what's new?

Our new price prediction feature lets you see how the value of a car will change over the next 5 years or the next 100,000 kilometers traveled which can help you make better decisions when buying or selling. Plus, our model attractiveness score gives you insights into how attractive a car model is in the market, and how that score is impacted by various factors.

To see how Carvisor 2.0 can benefit you, check out our product overview video: https://youtu.be/K-Vr_np-UEA

It shows you how easy it is to get a valuation report and how our platform can help you find the right car at the right price. With Carvisor 2.0, you can take control of your car buying or selling experience and make informed decisions with confidence.

👉 Visit our website to learn more and have a look at our sample report: https://www.carvisor.co.nz/sample-report

https://www.carvisor.co.nz Carvisor is applying cutting edge AI/Machine learning technology to make the complex car buying process simpler and more efficient...

17/06/2022

𝗠𝗼𝘃𝗶𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝗮𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗟𝗲𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗱𝘀: 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝘃𝗲 𝗠𝗰𝗤𝘂𝗲𝗲𝗻

It’s not really often you see major Hollywood actors having full-fledged careers parallel to acting, especially ones completely unrelated to the arts. But it is certainly not unheard of, and as you may guess, it is a very exclusive club.

If you just google “the coolest Hollywood actors of all time”, almost every list you encounter will feature at least one, if not all three of the following legends, Steve McQueen, James Dean, and Paul Newman. In addition to being major Hollywood icons and bona fide ladykillers, these three had one more thing in common, they were all professional racing drivers. It wasn’t just their hobby or something they’d do at weekends to escape their celebrity lifestyles and the hullabaloo that comes with that. No. They were the real deal.

Steve McQueen, literally nicknamed the “King of Cool,” became legendary for his on-screen car and bike stunts. Who could forget his nail-biting motorcycle chase from The Great Escape? Or, his 1968 role as Lt. Frank Bullitt, chasing a Dodge Charger around the streets of San Francisco in his Ford Mustang Fastback? The latter is to this day considered one of the greatest car chases ever put on film. And then, in 1971 he made Le Mans, the film which has inspired the most successful Le Mans driver of all time, the nine-time winner, Tom Kristensen, and Allan McNish, a three-time winner of 24 Hours of Le Mans, to become racing drivers. That’s some serious racing legacy right there, but McQueen wasn’t only burning rubber on the silver screen, he was doing it in real life too. Once, he famously declared, “I'm not sure whether I'm an actor who races or a racer who acts.”

McQueen’s life is really one for the book pages. He used to be a gang member, worked on an oil rig, as a janitor in a brothel, etc., before deciding to enlist in the Marine Corps at the gentle age of 17. There, he learned a lot of skills that would prove very useful for his later acting and racing careers. During a training exercise in the Arctic, his ship hit a sandbank and a number of people fell into the ice-cold water and drowned. Without hesitation, McQueen jumped in and rescued five Marines. After the incident, McQueen was honourably discharged in 1950.

This was when things briefly got a little weird. Before finally deciding to move to New York and take up acting, he worked as a getaway driver for robbers, sold illegal handguns, and, according to some reports, even worked as a pimp… Luckily, he managed to drag himself away from that lifestyle, and started taking acting lessons.

His brief and rather unsuccessful stint as a small-time criminal didn’t leave him with much money, so he had to find alternative ways of earning cash while training to be an actor. McQueen started racing a used Harley Davidson, and apparently, he was quite good at it, earning enough to be able to buy his first motorcycle, a beautiful 1946 Indian Chief. Eventually, as he got the first taste of stardom with The Blob, he got bored with just regular bike racing so he jumped into off-road racing as well. With the money made from acting, he was able to take his racing obsession to the next level. He bought a Triumph 500cc with the intent of racing it professionally, later graduating to Triumph Bonneville.

His pal and fellow racer Bud Ekins modified his Triumph bikes for dessert racing in his Sherman Oaks, California shop. In 1964, the pair represented the United States in the International Six Days Trial, which is like the Olympics for off-road motorcycling. When filming his famous motorcycle chase in The Great Escape he insisted on riding a Triumph TR6 650 even though the producers insisted on a German bike as the film was set in Germany. Steve flat out refused to ride a German BMW, as he loved British bikes so much that he felt riding a German one would be akin to betrayal. The producers of the film had to hire an artist to disguise the Triumph to resemble a German WWII BMW R75.

In 1969, McQueen decided to enter Baja 1000, the longest off-road race in the world, which takes place on Mexico's Baja California Peninsula aka 'The Devil's Playground’. For this occasion, he hired one of the best off-road vehicle designers, Vic Hickey, to design the car, and George Hurst to build it. The result was the now-legendary Baja Boot. Accompanied by co-driver Harold Daigh, he set off on another dangerous adventure “without showing the slightest fear”, according to motoring journalist Tom Madigan. Unfortunately for the entire team, broken transmission put them out of the race after just 237 miles. This wasn’t McQueen’s only major off-road outing. He also took part in the Mint 400 and the Elsinore Grand Prix.

As he became a big asset for the Hollywood studios, they grew tired of his dangerous side career and gave him an ultimatum, he had to choose between racing and acting. He chose the latter, but found an ingenious way to circumvent the racing ban imposed by the studio. He accepted roles that enabled him to include elaborate chase sequences where he could flaunt his racing prowess. A notable example is Bullitt, arguably the best role of his career.

In 1971, he came up with the idea of making a film that takes place at the fabled 24 Hours of Le Mans race, which would be made through his own production company. It goes without saying that he gave himself the role of the racing driver. This all felt like a very elaborate excuse for him to keep racing cars in spite of the ban, and before the studios had a chance to act, he entered the 12 Hours of Sebring race in Florida, stating that it’s all part of his elaborate preparation process for playing this role. He raced the same Porsche 908/02 that he would later drive in the film.

As most of our readers probably know, 12 Hours of Sebring, is considered one of three major endurance sports car races along with Le Mans and the Daytona 24 Hours. It is a very prestigious motorsport event that gathers many of the best racing drivers and car manufacturers from all over the world. McQueen was joined by Peter Revson, a future F1 driver.

The race itself was so exciting that it literally deserves to be made into a movie. But to make a long story short. Revson and McQueen were in the Porsche 908/02, which wasn’t even Porsche’s flagship at the event. That honour belonged to the 917K. So they were in a lower category, and were never expected to compete for the overall win. It was basically a two-way race between Porsche 917Ks and Ferrari 512Ss. However, McQueen and Revson both had the race of their lives and finished second overall, only 28 seconds behind former F1 World Championship winner, Mario Andretti in the Ferrari.

Now, Andretti’s first car had already been taken out of the race, but as he was sitting in the pit listening to the radio host raving about McQueen, he got irritated, and asked to be put in the one remaining Ferrari car, spurred on by the desire to prevent McQueen from winning, a mission he successfully accomplished.

However, one has to take into account that the car McQueen and Revson were driving was significantly inferior to Andretti’s, and amazingly, McQueen raced with his foot in plaster after busting it in six places in a motorbike race a week before. They even had to cut the car’s footrest so he could fit his cast on the clutch. Imagine an actor being allowed to do this today?!

His plan was to race at Le Mans next, but this time, the studio attorneys said no. Instead, they sent a professional driver with a camera to capture footage for the film, but McQueen was not allowed to race. The film itself wasn’t a huge box office success but it became a cult classic inspiring generations of race car drivers.

In our next blog, we will be exploring the racing exploits of that other classic Hollywood heartthrob, Paul Newman, who, unlike McQueen, did compete at Le Mans. Perhaps that’s why McQueen considered him a rival, requesting to receive top billing over Paul Newman in “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” which ultimately lead to him being replaced by Robert Redford. But more on that next time.

https://carvisor.co.nz

15/05/2022

𝗜𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗠𝗲𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗼𝗹𝗶𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝘂𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗚𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗕𝗲 𝗖𝗮𝗿 𝗙𝗿𝗲𝗲?

Can you imagine a modern city without traffic? It’s hard, isn’t it? Just thinking of the word urban evokes the sounds of car engines and horns. However, this association may soon become a thing of the past as city governments across the globe are looking at banning cars from city centres.

Many major cities already have measures in place that aim to ease congestion and reduce car traffic as much as possible, but none have gone so far as to ban cars altogether. And that seems about to change, with Anne Hidalgo, the mayor of Paris, announcing her plan to ban private cars from the historical centre of the French capital before the 2024 Olympics. Originally, the idea was to begin with the implementation of the plan in 2022, but it has since been pushed to 2024.

This is by no means a new idea. Many major European cities have already introduced measures that limit car traffic in heavily congested areas, whether through congestion charges or actual bans. Oslo’s city centre is virtually car-free now, with parking spots being transformed into bike lanes, plant-covered areas, and parks. Milan, Rome and Madrid have been playing with the idea by implementing temporary bans on private car use. However, as you might imagine, this didn’t actually work according to plan in Italy. Who can possibly take away cars from the Italians?!

Amsterdam does not plan to ban cars entirely, but they are working hard to find a way to reduce traffic, with the idea of removing up to 11,200 parking spots by 2025 and using that space for sidewalks, bike lanes, trees, etc. By 2030, however, Amsterdam will ban all petrol and diesel vehicles, private or otherwise, allowing only electric vehicles into the city. Cities like Brussels, Helsinki, and Birmingham, among others, are also actively working on reducing car traffic on their streets.

There is no doubt that the main driving force behind these initiatives is pollution. Freeing up urban space and reducing congestion is extremely important, but certainly not as high on the priority list and not as urgent as reducing pollution. The climate emergency is such that drastic measures have to be taken, and switching from fossil fuel cars to electric cars on its own is not going to be enough to effectively address the issue. The Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, is looking to make history with one such radical plan.

In 2018, a report by Greenpeace ranked Paris as the second-worst polluting city of all the major European cities, better only than Moscow. Paris systematically fails to meet the EU air quality targets of particle emissions, and the European Justice Court has even condemned France in 2019 for “systematically and persistently exceeding the annual limit value for nitrogen dioxide”. One might think that it couldn’t possibly be just the cars, but, one would be wrong. During the COVID lockdown, the air pollution in Paris dropped drastically, proving that cars are indeed a major factor contributing to pollution. According to CREA, Paris is the European city with the strongest pollution rebound upon reopening.

This was all the evidence needed to show that in order to successfully combat pollution in the cities, urban traffic as we know it will have to go through a major transformation, and Paris is looking to lead the way. The city has announced plans to ban cars in the first four arrondissements, what they are calling the “tranquil zone”. The area in question represents a massive chunk of the historical city centre, 5.59 square kilometres to be precise. The ban, however, will not apply to every vehicle, as delivery vehicles, public transport vehicles, and even vehicles owned by local residents will be allowed to access the area. It is estimated that the ban will reduce the number of cars on the streets by more than 100,000 cars daily.

Some of these measures are already in place in the City of Lights, as the historical Rivoli street is now closed to public vehicles. Moreover, on the first Sunday of each month, the 4 central arrondissements are shutting down most traffic and turning streets over to pedestrians and cyclists, in an attempt to beta test the plan before making the situation permanent.

The plan has found many critics, who claim that adopting such drastic measures so quickly would create more problems than it would solve. For example, people who live outside the city and travel to work by car would have to relocate closer to the centre meaning more housing would have to be built, additionally densifying an already congested city.

The Paris city government is trying to alleviate some of the worries by introducing a concept they’ve dubbed the “15 minute city”, which would entail transforming the city in such a way as to make it possible for every Parisian to easily walk or bike to work and perform daily errands in 15 minutes or less. In the words of Carlos Moreno, the mastermind behind the idea, instead of building new infrastructure to help people move around faster, it is better to bring the most essential urban functions closer to the people, so that all their essential, everyday needs can be satisfied within a 15-minute radius. The city’s network of bike paths would be expanded, parking spaces would be converted into parks, public squares, gardens, and playgrounds.

If the plan proves successful, it is bound to have a huge knock-on effect on many other big cities around the world, with London already sticking a toe in the water with a plan to ban private cars from the Square Mile, home to London’s financial district, encouraging people to walk, cycle or simply use London’s extremely efficient public transportation system.

In theory, we can’t imagine anyone would oppose the idea of a car-free city where the smell of exhaust fumes is replaced by the smell of trees and grass, and the sounds of traffic replaced by people’s voices, and bird songs. After all, some of the world's most beautiful cities like Sienna and Venice are entirely car-free and have been so forever. But in reality, one has to wonder if the idea is just an idealistic pipe dream. I guess we’ll find out soon enough.

https://carvisor.co.nz

22/03/2022

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝗶𝘀𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗙𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗼𝗳 𝗣𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗮𝗿𝗱, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗛𝗼𝗹𝗹𝘆𝘄𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗜𝗰𝗼𝗻

Most motoring enthusiasts from around the globe, and especially those who enjoy watching the good old Hollywood films, have certainly heard about at least some of the iconic American car brands such as Pontiac, Mercury, Plymouth, Oldsmobile, and even DeSoto. Pontiac being especially popular among the Breaking Bad aficionados. All of these iconic brands have one thing in common, in addition to the fact that they were all made in Detroit. None of them exist anymore. Sure, one can still see some of their models running around the streets today, but these brands have all been discontinued entirely. It is a sad thing to see, and we’re afraid that with the advent of EV technology, many more iconic brands will also fade into oblivion. But, what can we do, such is the nature of progress. New icons rise, as the old pass into the history books, hopefully never to be forgotten.

There is, however, one iconic American brand that is so rarely spoken about, it might be in danger of being forgotten entirely. And as car lovers ourselves, we simply can’t let that happen. A couple of days ago was the 50th anniversary of the release of The Godfather, a good excuse to watch it a 1000th time. We believe it’s fair to say that most people are familiar with the actors who played those iconic roles - Al Pacino, Marlon Brando, James Caan, Diane Keaton, etc. Yet, what struck us while watching the movie again was just how beautiful the cars in the movie are, and nobody seems to remember those, they fade away into the background like mere props. They don’t draw attention to themselves, yet they are essential for the overall look and style of the film. Two of the most beautiful among them came from the brand that is today all but forgotten, Packard.

In the film, Michael Corleone, the protagonist, for lack of a better term, drives a beautiful Packard Executive Sedan, but the star of the show is the 1941 Packard Custom Super Eight One-Eighty. It is the car in which Rocco Lampone takes out Paulie Gatto, and forgets to take the cannoli afterwards, much to the annoyance of his superior Peter Clemenza, who has to instruct him to, “Leave the gun. Take the cannoli.” But Packards weren’t only in The Godfather, just a quick Google search will show you that they were genuine movie stars in their heyday. Those who love film noir would recognise the shapes, even if they didn’t know the names of the models. Fans of LA Noire, one of the best video games in recent history (it’s true, nobody can deny it), will also be familiar with the brand, as the game takes place in LA of the 40s when Packards were the talk of the town. But so will true crime buffs and readers of Neo-Noir crime literature by James Ellroy.

We've heard some automotive historians refer to Packard as the Cary Grant of cars, and incidentally, he did own a beautiful 1941 Packard 120 Convertible, but we believe that nothing could be further from the truth. Yes, Cary Grant was a huge star of the Hollywood Golden Age, yes he was the ideal target customer for Packard, however, Grant was a very modern kind of movie star, in the sense that one could imagine him playing James Bond today and his face and his style would hold up perfectly. Nothing about him would look out of date. Packard for us is more like the Humphrey Bogart of cars. Handsome, iconic, inimitable, nostalgia evoking, romantic and hopelessly old fashioned. A symbol of a time and place in history.

Interestingly, unlike any of the above mentioned discontinued brands, Packard wasn’t made by the Detroit big three - General Motors, Ford Motor Company, or Chrysler. It was its own company, with its own plant which today stands in ruins, a poignant symbol of the decline of the city's once vibrant auto industry. And yet in the 1920s Packard exported more cars than any of its competitors, and was the de facto official car brand of the Imperial House of Japan. Between 1924 and 1930, Packard was the top-selling luxury brand, and the only American luxury car company that could compete with European high-class giants like Rolls-Royce, Mercedes Benz, and the now-defunct Isotta Fraschini. While many Americans believe that Cadillac was THE luxury car, it never truly was, at least not on the level of Packard. Cadillac, while great and iconic in its own right, wasn’t really ever part of the highbrow niche that included Rolls-Royce, and others from the European automotive royalty.

Even though Packard became a synonym for luxury, its story is a true American, Horatio Alger type of rags-to-riches fable. The brand had a very humble birth in Warren, Ohio in 1899 when James Ward Packard and his brother, William Dowd Packard, built their first automobile. It was a simple buggy-type vehicle with a single-cylinder engine. Packard rose to fame with the fabled “Gray Wolf”, a race car built in 1903, by a French engineer Charles Schmidt. It featured a 24 horsepower, four-cylinder engine, two-speed transmission, and unusually for its age, an aluminium body. Choosing to focus on luxury instead of racing, Packard abandoned the lightweight concepts, and built the famous Twin Six V12, soon establishing themselves as the US’s leading luxury-car manufacturer. Not to be undone, Cadillac introduced their V-16 engine which lead to it overtaking Packard as the premier luxury car in America.

Not having the resources and power of GM behind it, Packard were forced to reposition themselves. They went from building ultra-expensive vehicles like the legendary Packard Twelve to building smaller cars which were probably the most beautiful cars the company had ever produced, and feature some of our favourites, like the stunningly gorgeous Packard One-Twenty, the above mentioned “leave the gun, take the cannoli” One-Eighty, and the Packard Super Clipper, among others.

After WWII, even though they did build some great cars like the 250, the Pacific, the Patrician, and the Caribbean, the company never fully managed to regain momentum. Not even a merger with the Studebaker Corporation could save it, leading to its ultimate demise in 1956. Unlike some other brands, Packard was never reborn. This, once mighty, carmaker, the D'Artagnan to the Detroit’s three musketeers, shone briefly but it shone brightly, and in various ways, its legacy still shines today, through art, through pop culture, but most intensely through movies. After all, the silver screen was always where it felt most at home.

https://carvisor.co.nz

09/02/2022

𝗕𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗘𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰 𝗖𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝗙𝗼𝗿 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝗗𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴
𝗕𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗛𝗼𝘁 𝗛𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸: 𝗠𝗶𝗻𝗶 𝗘𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰

Mini Cooper is one of the greatest success stories in automotive history. And like any great story, it’s had its ups and downs, defeats and victories, highs and lows, but the thing is, the Mini story is still going strong. It’s like one of those long-running TV shows that never seem to end but just keep going and going, and they keep surprising you with every new season. Granted, not every season’s a success, but for the most part, it’s one hell of a ride that you don’t ever want to end. So, a whole new chapter has just begun for the Mini, and it’s a biggie. The little bugger's gone electric.

Fortunately for all the Mini enthusiasts out there, it’s still very much a Mini. Literally. Almost nothing has changed in the design from the regular model. Sure, there are some details that tell us it’s an electric car, but by and large, it’s exactly the same as its petrol-powered counterpart. Now, according to various reports and leaks, that might change as soon as 2023, when this British icon will receive the biggest design overhaul since its introduction.

We have to say that we've seen the leaked photos, and the redesign will not be as dramatic as some sources have presented it. At least the design of the front, that is. The back will be slightly more controversial, but we believe it will catch on. It will for sure be a bit of an acquired taste, but perhaps a welcome refresh. No? Well, we’ll see when they make it official. What we are welcoming wholeheartedly, though, is the rumour that the next generation will be smaller than the current one. This really is fantastic news, seeing as the Cooper has been getting bigger and fatter with every recent refresh, to the point where it’s getting kind of ridiculous to even call it Mini anymore. So, we’re looking forward to that.

Until then, though, we gotta talk about Mini’s latest baby, the Mini Electric. As we all know, there are not many cars out there with a more interesting history than the iconic British hatchback. However, we won’t be getting into the history of the Mini here, since we’ve already written about it at length, and if that’s something that might be interesting to you head to this link (https://bit.ly/MiniCooperCarvisor), and it will take you there, and then you can come back here. Or, you know, you can just finish this, and then go read the prequel. It's up to you, we’ll remind you at the end.

When it comes to electric hot hatchbacks currently on the market, the Mini Electric, or as it’s known around the globe Mini Cooper SE, reigns supreme in our humble opinion. And that is because BMW haven’t messed with it too much. They’ve taken the regular Mini Cooper S, and they’ve gone, “How can we make it the same, but electric?” It’s really a simple recipe. The Cooper S is a phenomenal car, and any Mini car has to live up to much more than just the iconic design. There’s one thing that is at least as important, if not more important to the character of a Mini than its globally recognisable silhouette. Its go-kart-like handling. The Mini has to be an agile and nimble little machine that can take on corners like nobody’s business, and it has to have enough power to make it all much more fun. So, that is what they were aiming for and that is what they have pulled off here by intelligently designing this new version to virtually be the same as the regular model, in every possible way.

Almost exactly like the petrol-powered Mini Cooper S, the Electric has 184 hp, even if it is a little heavier. The extra weight is offset by its acceleration. And the interesting thing is that Mini are claiming on their website that the 0-100 km/h time is 7.2 seconds, but real-life experience shows it’s closer to 6 seconds, and many other reports confirm that. Moreover, our fear was that the added kilograms would have adverse effects on the handling. And while Mini were adamant that it wasn’t the case, we were a bit sceptical. After all, what else are they going to say? Of course, they’ll say it’s the same, just like Coca Cola says Coke Zero and Diet Coke are the same as regular Coke, well it ain’t. However, we are ecstatic to report that they were absolutely right. The handling of Mini Electric is nothing short of amazing. It is one of the best handling electric cars out there, and it is recognisably a Mini, alright. The engineers weren’t pulling any punches when they were making this one, let me tell you!

Everybody who has ever had a Mini, or anyone who has ever considered buying a Mini and given up, knows that one of its biggest problems is boot space. Or lack thereof. Well, you’ll be happy to hear that in spite of the large batteries borrowed from its cousin, the i3, none of that barely existent storage space has been lost. But none of it’s been gained either. As the French say, plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

One thing, however, hasn’t stayed the same, and when it comes to electric cars that is currently the most important metric. The range. Mini are claiming a range of up to 145 miles, but they also warn that this varies according to “driving habits and environmental conditions”. This means that in reality, it’s going to be closer to 120 miles for most people. To put it mildly, this is not a lot. Just compare that to the petrol-powered version which will do close to 400 miles on a full tank. The difference is enormous, but, hand to heart, they have thought this through. It’s the case of different strokes for different folks. Even though they are almost identical in many ways, Mini Cooper S and Mini Electric are different tools for different jobs.

BMW have made a calculated bet with this car. They had a simple choice to make. They could either have the legendary Mini handling, or long range. But not both. The only way for them to improve the range was to load the car with heavy batteries, and weight and nimbleness are mutually exclusive. To find the answer, their data analysts had been studying Mini owners’ habits and found that the average Mini Cooper S owner travels 26 miles a day on average, and they very rarely cover more than 100 miles in a day. The answer was clear. Focus on the handling. The 32.6 kWh Lithium-Ion battery pack was deemed a sweet spot. Installed in such a way as to help keep the centre of gravity low, it helps the car’s weight distribution and has it cornering like a champ.

Even though it feels more analogue than most of its competitors, Mini Electric still has all the bells and whistles that you’d expect from an electric car. It really is the best marriage between the old and the new. And if you don’t use your car to cover large distances, and you mostly use it for cruising around town, and for an occasional trip to the beach, it might just be one of the best options out there if you're looking to jump on the EV bandwagon.

Stay tuned for the winner of the next category.

Or click on the link below to find out right now. 👇 below
https://bit.ly/CarvisorTopElectricCars