I just passed the break in period of my new 2012 Mini Cooper and I love every thing about it.

Let me just say this, I have been driving stick for almost eight years now and I feel like I have a love hate relationship with the way the Mini shifts.

Maybe I am shifting wrong but I actually don't like how the Mini pulls the gear shifter into gear, I am talking about the actually stick, not the transmission.

It feels kind of rough....maybe it's just me. My old Mitsubishi Lancer felt a little more smooth when shifting, at least at the shifter.

I shift my Mini by depressing the clutch fully and making sure my foot is off the gas. After shifting into gear I ease off the clutch and depress the gas until the gear is engaged, my natural feel of shifting and the way I used too shift my old cars always felt smooth, however with the Mini I feel like I can never have a fully smooth shift every time. Especially in the lower gears!

It's probably me, not driving the Mini right, any tips or advice?

Thanks

 

My 2012 is a little stiffer shifting than my '07 was - the '07 was like a hot knife through soft butter. The 2012 is that way too, but only when it is fully warmed up. But I found that shifting just as you start to depress the clutch, letting the clutch out as soon as I am in the next gear (I never get to the floor) and holding the engine revs constant makes for the best/smoothest shifts on both cars. The way I got to this combination was to slide my seat back until my clutch leg was pretty straight when I depressed the clutch. The gas is just a matter of modulation with the right foot.

 

Okay, I'll try that, I know it's all about a certain technique. Each car is a different animal, I just want to treat mine right.

Any other tips would still be greatly appreciated!

Thanks

 

This is a hard one to assess without being there...or without another car to examine to compare.

My 2012 MCS is as good as I've ever had...much lighter, smoother than my 2010 Mazda 5 (also fwd, 4-cyl, cable shifter) that shares our garage, for example. Accelerate; clutch in, lift off gas, shift; smooth release on clutch to engage, then ease back into the accelerator almost immediately. Can use fingertips even, particularly on the 3-4 where there's no gate-springing to overcome. No coffee was spilled during this operation.

Not much help, mostly just another data point.

 

Does this also occur in 1st generation Minis? I just acquired a 2006 manual MCS and it is my first stick-shift. I too noticed that shifting from 1st to 2nd and 2nd to 3rd was really hard to do smoothly, but I had no problems while shifting through the other gears. Is it just me or is it a quirk I need to be more aware of in the future?

 

My 2012 shifted rough into 1st and even grinded often. I've driven stick for 20 years so I know it wasn't me. I took it in an they agreed it was not proper.

So, the dealer first replaced a slave cylinder with no luck. Then they replaced the clutch, no luck. Finally, they had to replace the whole transmission! I had to wait for over a month for the new transmission to arrive. Now, it is MUCH better. I would not say it is like butter going into first, but it's much better than with the original transmission.

Chris

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Wow...the dealer replaced everything. It was tough re-aquainting my shifting techniques to a FWD with a stick shift. My Lexus is300 was a stick and rear wheel drive and it shifted so smooth.

 

hi,try to drive another car like yours.my coupe shifts great.not as good as my s2000 honda but really good.

 

I've had my 2010 Cooper S for one year and three months and the clutch has already burnt out on it!

The car has 29,000 miles and I bought it as a loaner with 900 miles on it. Luckily the dealership is replacing it free of charge (this time). The service person told me that it was probably because of the way I drive the car, that the clutch is high and that I may accidentally be riding it. Now I have been driving cars with manual transmission for over 23 years and have never had a problem before.

Is there some magical way that a Mini needs to be shifted or are these guys just full of donkey dust? I love my little bulldog and want the new clutch to last (mainly because a new one costs $3,000)

Any tips or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

 

My '12 S is also pretty difficult to drive smoothly. I'm able to smooth it out by not depressing the clutch all the way down and keeping the revs steady, but I feel like this technique is detrimental to clutch life.

 

That seems to work for me. 35k on my last MINI before I got a new MINI. A friend has 90+K on the clutch in his MINI. Number on rule to make a clutch last, don't slip it, including no riding it.

 

What do you mean by slipping the clutch?

 

Slipping the clutch is when its not fully engaged, and is not fully disengaged. You foot is partially pushing in the pedal, that allows the engine side of the clutch to run faster than the wheels side of the clutch. The two side of the clutch are slipping against each other. This allows only part of the engine power to be transmitted to the wheels and wears out the clutch.

You have to slip the clutch to some extent to start up from a stop, but you should slip it as little as possible so as not to wear it out entirely.

 

my 2012 is like that, it seems impossible smooth shifts, so after 3 months ,I tried just letting the RPM's go a little past 3100 rpms It made the world of difference, it so smoooooth, it was hard for me to get used to letting it rev higher and then shift, but now it is second nature, Hope this helps,