I've found two lags in my 05 CVT. I've heard about them before, but never experienced them until now and I'm wondering if there has been a fix for them yet:

1. There's a lag shifting into the reverse when I'm moving forward at a bit of a speed. I don't notice any sort of lagging when I"m in stop and shift to reverse, but if i'm doing a 3 point and move forward then shift to reverse immediately, there is a definite lag.

2. There's also a lag when I shift when I upshift and let off the trottle. Say i'm starting from 1st gear, i've i get up to a shift point and take my foot of the accelerator when I do the shift and put my foot back on after the shift, there is a pretty big lag, almost half a second. This is also the case when I shift from 2 to 3, not sure if it's present from other gears. There is no lag though, if I keep my foot on the trottle and shift.

so, I know there have been some new programing for the transmission and i'm wondering if there is something newer than what I have that would fix these problems. October build 05 CVT.

 

Hi mataku!

1. Dunno what to tell you about this one. My MINI (CVT tranny) has always done this. I learned to minimize it through time and practice. And if I recall correctly, my last car (Nissan Micra w/ CVT tranny in England) behaved in the same fashion.

2. My MINI does that, too. Solution: don't take your foot off of the gas!! My CVT shifts fantastically with a steady pressure on the gas while shifting.

If your MINI has been built in October 04, there's likely an upgrade available for your ECU. You could try and make a special visit to the dealer to update it under warranty, but you'll probably have better luck mentioning it when you bring in your MINI for the 10,000 mile service. Unless it really bothers you, in which case politely press the issue with the dealer.

-Paul!

 

My MCC 05 does that also. I've asked a few times and I'm told its normal. Though I don't see how harsh jerking is normal.

Howard

 

My 04 MC CVT does this jerking as well. I have noticed with software upgrades from Mini and making sure the car is warmed up this problem is lessened. I too can say if you want full out fast shifts in the manual mode, don't take you foot off the gas when shifting.

 

this may sound silly, but the reason why I even tried the whole taking my foot of the gas thing was just to see what it would be like to drive a manual gearbox car. I just wanted to see how much of a hassle and such it would be to own a manual in the city. anyways, I guess it's not too big of a deal, I was just wondering if there was a fix for it.

thanks

 

There is nothing wrong with your cars as described so nothing to fix. Earlier CVT's did have some lag issues starting out and going into reverse when cold that have been largely fixed with software updates in the last year or so. Since you have '05 cars I would think that your software might be up to snuff.

1. You really shouldn't be shifting in reverse while moving forward. These CVT's are direct drive transmissions with cluthes similar to manual for starting out and stopping. They do not have fluid drive torque convertors like normal automatic transmissions. If there wasn't some lag until forward movement stops you would probably eventually damage things.

2. Paul and others are right, you shouldn't let up on upshifts when manually shifting. This just gives conflicting input to the software. Letting up on the gas tells the car to slow down and the upshift is telling it to go faster. Just hold your foot steady and shift the thing. Depending on how hard you are driving and what the adaptive software has gleaned from your driving habits the car will smoothly upshift; sometimes faster than others depending upon inputs.

MINI really does a very poor job of explaining how to drive this CVT technology. Properly driving the CVT manually takes more knowledge and skill than driving a manual in my opinion. Go to the MINI2 site where you will find an incredible section on CVT driving techniques. It should be required reading by all MINI CVT salespeople and owners. Most owners tend to love this technology once the understand it. Its not perfect but brings tons of character to the car.

 

I'll take note on the reversing

I have read the stuff on MINI2, spent hours reading it while I was waiting for my MINI, but I don't think it mentions much about these issues. I also figured the whole giving it conflicting inputs and that's why it was jerking, but I just wanted to make sure this is normal.

thanks for the info