hey everybody,
i just joined this forum because i just bought a mini. it is an '02 british racing green cooper with a black top and sun roofs. i'm out to sea right now on the USS abraham lincoln and i can't upload any pictures right now. i'll throw some up when i get home, but i'm pretty excited. i want to know what everyone thinks of the cvt transmission. i don't know if i like it yet. 1st gear is really laggy from a dead stop. any suggestions? if you increase horsepower does it reduce the lag of first gear? or do i just have to get used to it?

 

Welcome and thank you for your service,

How many miles do you have on the clock? The CVT tends to be looked at like a ticking timebomb, because the belt will wear over time and is a costly fix.

As far as the lag, there's a few things effecting that, one being design of the CVT another being the electric throttle, have you tried to see if you get better performance in SD mode?

 

Welcome to NAM from Middle Georgia Minis and thank you for your service to our country. I have a six speed so I'm not familar with a CVT. I hope you have many trouble free miles and great new adventures along the way. I was a AD2 many, many years ago on prop planes.

 

Welcome from North Carolina and stay safe.

 

i have about 2,000 miles under my belt. i drove it back to Washington from Arizona. it now has about 20,000 miles on it total. i have no idea what "SD" mode is, or how to put the car into it. i've only had the car for about a week before i had to leave for a couple weeks. it was the lady that i bought it from's late husbands. so i have no idea what has been done to it. it has a bunch of mini mania stuff in it like a diagnostic code reader that plugs into the cigarette lighter, but i haven't had it looked at yet to see all of what has been done with it. the guy was very meticulous with everything mechanical he did. so i totally trust that the car is in top mechanical condition and nothing was short cut. I'm an AT so i work on aviation electronics.

 

I have a CVT and it is laggy off the blocks. Sport Drive (SD) will help a little, but more than anything you just need to let the computer get used to your driving style - it will adjust and you'll see an improvement.

To put the car in SD, just push the shifter over to the right while you're in park. This will make the CVT behave a little more "sportily" (for lack of a better term).

The previous owner was probably not a performance-minded driver and it just needs to be pepped up a little I chalk my CVT lagginess up to it being my daily commuter, and I rarely push it except on club runs and when the rare odd mood strikes me.

Welcome!

 

thanks man! that should help out a lot. it is going to be my daily driver too. but i was hoping that it could be both at once. the previous owner was a very conservative guy. so he wouldn't be as lead footed as i am. but he has an 05 mini cooper S manual up here in WA that i almost bought, but it is a convertable. so i went for the hard top cooper auto. i think if the cvt gives out i'm going to look into doing a conversion to a manual. and eventually a supercharger. but that is a long ways out. i'm just going fo cosmetic stuff for now. thanks for the warm welcome!

 

Welcome and don't forget to join the club https://www.northamericanmotoring.com/forums/general-mini-talk/55983-official-british-racing-green-thread.html