[MotoringFile] The Revolutionary New Circular MINI Cooper Digital Experience Is Here & We Go Hands-On

by Gabriel Bridger



Last Week We Went Hands-On With The New Mini Interior. This Week MINI Has Take The Wraps Off Of Its New (Circular) In-Car Digital Experience And We Can Finally Give You Our Hands-On Impressions. While It Looks Great On At A Glance, There’s Much More Going On Below The Surface.MINI is reinventing every aspect of the brand and it starts not just with what’s under the hood but what is on the dash. We recently went hands-on in Munich with the new 2024 J01 MINI Cooper Electric and its circular OLED display, experiencing the new MINI OS9 in-person. While we can’t yet spill everything about the car, we’re excited to finally lift the veil on this revolutionary new digital experience.

Last week we showed you the new MINI Cooper Electric interior. Written from inside the car itself, we walked you through every inch of the new MINI interior design. But the singe most interesting thing about the new interior was also the one thing we couldn’t talk about – that circular OLED screen at the center of everything (or as MINI calls it, the MINI Interaction Unit). Today we can finally talk about this radically different digital experience and its circular OLED display – the first ever in the automotive industry.

TONS more at the original MotoringFile article, including a video review...

 

Yep saw that, like the classic Mini speedo option.

 

Oh, my. It's BIG. That's great. Photo above doesn't clearly show that - photo in the article shows more context.

But I find the design "disturbing", would take some getting used to. I dunno, I want more bezel,it's a car display, not weird-shaped smart phone.

Speaking of smart phones.... does it support Apple CarKit? And whatever Android equivalent? Are apps able to cope with a round display? Or would you get small rectangle? Maybe CarKit-aware apps would at least display on a bigger square, losing corners?

Edit: it has an Android OS, but supports both (whatever Android car thingie) and Apple CarKit. Both work in a 4:3 rectangle, leaving edges for car controls.

 

it looks so freaky and cheap

 

It does indeed look cheap. Heck, the whole car looks cheap.

And no separate speedo and tach? What are they smoking?
This is one of the few things that will keep me from even considering a 2025 Mini.

 

In the pictures you can see there is HUD. It's showing speed on all of them, but I would expect you can configure to show RPM as well.
As for cheapness - to me it's hard to judge based solely on pictures. I was wrong a few times in the past and learned my lesson not to jump to conclusions before I actually have a chance to see and experience things in person.

 

200 miles (321KM) per charge is still a low range. Would still get “Range Anxiety” especially when driving uphill in a cold day with rain windshield wipers on and lights on, etc.
My iPhone (Apple) battery (5 years old) start dying now and require charging every day versus every 4 days in the past! So what would happen to those EVs batteries after 10 years of driving? Loss half their range?
To me it seems you can keep an ICE vehicle for life, but that is not the case with EVs as batteries would start degrading from day one, and the cost of replacing them is not cheap. For example Chevrolet Bolt; they discontinued this model, so what would happen to those owners after 10 years when they have to replace the battery??? Just too many question marks for EVs........