If your not going to be doing much hard driving or even a good aggressive canyon carving it's not 100% needed. When I have my family in the car and were out and about I don't mind the DSC cutting power, applying brakes and keeping us safe. Great feature. But on a track day or autocross the LSD is a valuable tool. Lastly. You'll never get one installed later if you decide you want it for less than $1500.00 if you can't do it yourself.

 

I think you are confusing DSC with ASC. This is common because the same button turns them both off. ASC (traction control) is on all MINIs. It operates during acceleration. When a drive wheel starts to spin it will apply braking to that wheel. If the other wheel also starts to spin it will cut engine power. It is ASC that causes the engine to seem to bog under hard acceleration. Having LSD will delay the intervention of ASC because it more effectively puts power to the ground (less wheel spin).

DSC only comes into play when the car is moving in a direction other than where the front wheels are pointed. Usually, what it does is to apply braking to one or more wheels, while drifting, to turn the car. This is to help you regain control in a slide.

 

I emailed my MA and added the LSD to my build sheet on my Clubman S. I still don't know if I'll really need it, but I don't want to have any regrets of not having ordered it. Thanks for all of your imput on the LSD.

 

Funny. One of the original posts mention the torque steer pulling both to the left and to the right. I've only experienced torque steer pulling an MCS (my '06 MCS or any other modern FWD drive car I've driven) to the right. The reason it is torque steer (from my meager understanding) is from the drivetrain twisting the front suspension a bit as it applies torque to the wheels. Wouldn't it make sense that this would only twist in the same direction every time (given that you are talking about a forward gear and not reverse)?

I'm wondering if you were feeling something else... maybe a twitchy suspension setup from the car not settling in yet on the springs or slick runflats on a cold road? Maybe suspension bracing still in place somewhere or a bad alignment from the factory?

I only get torque steer (as I know it) under very, VERY hard acceleration from my tweaked MCS engine (198hp at the wheels), but I've got a stiffer suspension to help deal with the additonal force. The worst offender was a Saab that I test drove... the top of the line mid-sized coupe. That thing almost pulled me into a ditch when I revved it up and dropped the clutch at a stop sign.

 

But torque steer was much better controlled in the 1st gen cars than in the new ones.

 

I'm starting to drive out Clubman more aggressively.
The torque steer is still noticeable even with non-runflats, no biggie though.
It will pull either direction depending on where the wheel is facing, the road conditions. The fact that most streets slant to the gutter, in the US tilt to the right, which means that we are almost constantly turning the cars to the left, just a little.
I live outside Philly where the road conditions are some of the worst in the country until you get past the burbs. Just came back from the store, noticed good torque steer while riding a small ridge in the road and it was wet.

As a waiter or waitress might say..."Enjoy".