I have owned my MINI COOPER for just over a month now, and I must say, the car shifts a lot smoother at faster speeds and higher RPMS.

I have been depressing the clutch to the floor before shifting, and had smooths shifts only half the time. Very different from other manual transmissions I drove.

However someone on the site suggested I don't fully depress the clutch pedal, maybe 75 to 80 percent the way down, and I seem to be getting much smoother shifts in all types of driving situations!

Can anyone explain why that is? On the three other manual vehicles I have driven, the car always responded better when the clutch was fully depressed, this car feels much more jerky and not depressing the clutch fully feels much more natural to the car and much much smoother!

I am not doing damage to the gearbox by not depressing the clutch fully right?

I would prefer smoother shifts!

Thanks!

-Franky

 

Sounds strange to me. I have always gotten smooth shifts from my MCS.

You need to depress the clutch only far enough to have it disengage the engine from the transmission. I know of no reason why pressing it farther would cause any problems.

There is a short amount of time needed to let the syncros match up the gears, but unless you are shifting crazy fast after you depress the clutch they should work fine. If this might be the problems, make sure your clutch is fully depressed before moving the shift lever.

Whatever the issue, if you don't like the way it is shifting, take it in to the dealer (if under warranty) and see what they have to say about it. There could be a linkage issue or the clutch might not be fully disengaging.

Good luck!