My sister has an F56 Cooper so I know how these cars drive, but the MINI SE makes it that much more fun with the instant torque. I decided to get into the SE for a few reasons. Main reason being that my commute to work is more or less a straight road mostly between Richmond/Downtown/Metrotown. so the CTR did not feel that engaging/fun. I'm sure the car is amazing on the track as I've heard from many, but I don't have the time to track the car, so I felt the CTR was a little bit of an overkill to be a daily in my situation.

I tried to go out for as many spirited drives as I could under my ownership, but between being busy with work, and the gas price going up, I felt the amount of straight-lined miles I put on car as a daily is not what the car is made for.

Another reason being that although I just got the CTR in April 2021, I was made aware that many were getting great offers from dealerships for their cars last Summer/Fall so I looked into what I could get, because these offers would allow me to essentially drive the car for free for the time I owned it.

Everyone is looking at going EV these days so I looked into a few EV options and found the SE to be among the cheapest and most fun, so it was a no brainer for me to get into one. Along with the rebates available + gas savings, the SE is a lot easier on the wallet and made my choice to get one easy as well.

Driving wise the MINI's goal was never to be the best handling car, but instead I feel it aims to be a fun car with big personality inside and out, and still be able to keep up with the handling of other hot hatches.

Of course at seven, eight, nine tenths, the Type-R is objectively the better handling car with an LSD pulling you out of a corner when you continue to put the foot on the throttle, but driving around city speeds, you don't get to appreciate that as much. And also with its looks, a cop pulled a U-turn and pulled me over doing 67/68 on quieter Granville St. I personally feel cops wouldn't bat an eye at a MINI doing those speeds making 0 noise. Overall, I feel the SE gives me more of a thrill in the city and you can zip around traffic much easier with its smaller footprint.

At the same time, the MINI's also got creature comfort features like wireless CarPlay, App controlled remote locking/unlocking, heated seats AND steering wheel, and in traffic it's also got Active Cruise Control which will continue to work in stop and go traffic (when I'm lazy or tired, the computer is more efficient on the battery than me on the pedal and it's a lot less stressful not needing to concentrate on modulating between brake/throttle)

I still have the E46 M3 when I feel the need to go out for a drive. It also makes taking the M3 out more eventful because the MINI is that much more different to the M3 than the CTR was, so I'm liking it quite a bit so far in the month of ownership.