Generally agree with you re: shifter and clutch pedal. I do find that the sport button makes it easier for ME, and I've seen comments from some others about this. I don't know why--just seems to be a better power/clutch combination.

I was lucky coming from a BMW--reverse is exactly the same, so it was an easy transition. What IS a problem is the gate around first/reverse. I'm among those who have accidentally shifted into reverse when I've been in a hurry at a stoplight. I agree that the shifter is a bit sloppy, especially at this point.

 

I just got my MINI a couple weeks ago, and I'm learning stick on it. Still not perfect, but I'm not stalling very much anymore. I'd say go for it. I definitely feel like I'm more 'in tune' with the car, listening to the engine more, etc. and it's just more fun when you get to decide when to shift and how much to rev the engine. I've never had a problem confusing 1st and reverse (getting into R has quite a bit more resistance). I don't have the hill assist feature, but once you learn when the clutch catches, it's not a big deal.

I didn't 'practice' with a dealer car or anything. Once you can get started, I'd say go on some small streets because the parking lot get boring fast.

Here's a video of 'how to drive stick' by a guy in a mini:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t85kD...eature=related

 

Learning to drive a stick in a MINI is no big deal but I would strongly suggest getting someone with manual experience to go with you. The pointers they can give you could save your clutch and keep you from learning bad habits. Such as:

riding the clutch
dropping the clutch from to high an rpm
dropping the clutch any time
using the clutch to hold the car on a hill while stopped at a light
improper shifting both up and down
not rpm matching
"power shifting"(no place on the street)

 

B-B: Define "power shifting," please.

 

yes please what does that mean exactly?
Is it skipping gears or just shifting way too fast?

I basically taught myself how to drive stick (minus the videos and readings i found) and have been driving stick now for about 2 months and i would say i am pretty proficient with my shifting....im just worried that maybe this power shifting could be what i do normally?

When i first learned I took a long time in between shifts...maybe a 2-3 seconds....now i usually make a complete shift in half a second to a second...i dont get any jerky movement or anything because im usually rev matched just right (though sometimes i may be over 200-300 when upshifting) i guess im more concerned that maybe i let out the clutch too fast and am putting too much strain on my engine mounts

Is it normal (when u turn the radio off, no air, windows up...just dead silence) to hear a very tiny thump sound from the engine moving when you let the clutch out? mind you you have to be trying to hear it and it doesnt cause for any jerky movement...i just know that is the engine mounts, but idk if that is just normal or if i need to correct something...it seems to happen more often in that casual 5-6 shift when you are at 2800 rpm 5th and go to 6th and it lets out around 2400-2500 rpm

 

I've been driving w/ manual transmissions for 36+ years... But usually on lower performance vehicles than a MCS 6 speed. (There was a short stint in a Fiat Spider...)

I've only had the MCS for 2 weeks and am moving from an 11yr old 5-speed AWD 2-door RAV4 - which is the BEST vehicle I have owned to date. (It's the same length, width, and interior size as a Mini - just taller.)

With that as a setup, I'm questioning my shifting and clutching in the MCS...
In the RAV4 I have to push the clutch to the floor to get a clean shift. In the MCS I'm finding that I only have to push the clutch in a very short distance. Am I fooling myself? Just because the shift sounds clean, is it? Or should I be pushing the clutch to the floor - the same position as when I start the car?

 

ok i just found out what power shifting is and honestly im sure we arent doint THAT to our MINIs....at least not me haha

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jx__O...eature=related

it has to be one of the stupidest things i have ever seen...you mine as well rip your car apart...here is another video i found..though kinda funny, it shows you how stupid it is (even tho this guy is making fun of it on an AUTO...but also i would be really mad if he was doing that to my car)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17XBW...eature=related

 

Lotsa wisdom there. +1

 

Yeah its definitely pretty bad on the car. You may be overreacting a bit, the clutch is designed to slip before it rips the transmission apart, so power shifting is mostly damaging to the clutch. From my experience autocrossing the clutch slips pretty much in a hard shift, and a true power shift isn't going to gain anything you need to let off a little for a good shift because you don't want to revs to shoot up as you are going into the next gear. All really pointless to a beginner, almost all road driving I do rev matching. Still power shifting is harsh on just about everything so its best to avoid it.

 

I was taught to ALWAYS hit the floor with the clutch pedal! I would be VERY careful shifting without doing this...

I suppose it is possible that you are matching the rpms perfectly each time you DON"T hit the floor...but that would be some good luck, or your just a much better driver than me

(ps:I could be wrong on this...but just what I've been taught )

 

When you're driving "vigorously," it's hard to go 100% to the floor each time. I've never had a problem--last clutch (BMW) was still fine when we sold the car at 190,000 miles.

 

On the one hand, I could see how the faster accelerator response would make stalling less likely. On the other hand, it could make the ride more jerky and scary.

 

Thanks, daffodildeb! That's encouraging. I went out at lunch and drove on River Road (parallel to the Mighty Missisip). I shifted both ways, clutch to the floor and clutch only part way down. The part way down made it easier in the curves. :-)

I've submitted the question to my MA for an official response.

 

Ooo--I used to drive the River Road up near St. Louis. One of my favorites, though it was fairly gentle curves up there. For fun we headed southwest of St. Louis--didn't have to go too far out to get into serious fun! (Of course, the fact that we lived in SW county helped. Wonderful roads just to get to work every day. I could tell you stories! )

 

With the exact right touch on the accelerator, in theory, one should be able to shift without depressing the clutch at all. I recall races where the clutch went out and the driver continued on to finish the race without it.

One would have to pull it out of gear while relieving load on the gears by changing from acceleration to deceleration (or vise versa). The moment between the two would have no pressure on the gears.

Then one would have to match the rpms exactly so that the new gears matched speeds.

I wouldn't try this because getting it wrong is the most likely scenario and damage could result.

Anyway, in my very limited knowledge, I think that not fully disengaging the clutch might might wear the synchros, or might cause a bit of gear grinding. I think one would notice a delay or difficulty getting it into gear if the situation was causing synchro wear. One would definitely notice gear grinding.

The question becomes, how far does the pedal need to be depressed to fully disengage the clutch on the MINI. In older cars, such things were adjustable and one had to have the clutch adjusted periodically as the clutch wore down. I'm not sure whether that is still true. Clutches don't wear nearly as fast as they used to.

 

Funny you should mention this. A guy just posted a few minutes ago on the 356 Registry chatline (Porsche). He'd just lost the clutch cable when it snapped. He limped home a few miles in second gear, albeit running a few stop signs.

 

I have always driven a stick and will never drive an automatic!

Just picked up my new Mini exactly 2 weeks ago and, all I have to say is that I've NEVER had so much fun driving a stick-shift in my life!!!

Trust me, a Mini would not be as fun to drive if it were an automatic (apologies to all 'automatic' owners). Especially when you get to slide it into 6th gear!! What a ride.

woohoo!

 

interesting story actually... after i totalled my '06 MC automatic i wanted to learn to drive a standard and everyone was willing to teach me... just not in THEIR cars... my aunt has a KIA "oh no you can't learn on my car, you'll destory it"... IMHO, that was a stupid comment from her
so anyway i asked and asked and i had 100s of people offer to help, but i grew tiresome of noone actually helping, well i was MINIless for a month and i HATED it, ABSOLUTELY hated it. So I went back up to the dealership and had my eyes set on an '06 MCS cabrio with everything i ever wanted on it... and it was only priced for 26K, i was in love because i had actually built this car on miniusa but never sent the design, it was PERFECT... however little old Coop caught my eye and I was drawn to him... mom told me to go for the automatic (which neither the cabrio nor Coop had) but i wanted to learn to drive stick... So my MA handed me the keys and i said "first you drive... i wanna get the hang of it" i didn't want to feel stupid... so as we were coming back around the block to the dealership i asked him if we could pull into he empty lot across the street so i could try, he agreed... well with him in the passenger seat, and my mom and friend in the backseat i learned to drive stick right there... he showed me how to let off slowly and push the gas as the car started to pull and bam, i was doing good.. until i killed it... 132 times i killed it that day, but i wouldn't give up... I bought Coop and continued to kill him for a solid week before he only died maybe once a week... now he barely dies and i'm so proud... i even took him to MITM and cussed the construction crew out when they made me come to a complete stop on a 5% slope going uphill with a car right on my tail... but i didn't kill Coop nor did i roll into the car behind me, i was so proud... but i truly learned how to drive stick at MITM, i didn't want to crash so i rode with others to get the feel of when they'd shift and how to ride the mountain as a whole and not as a road
I'm glad I learned on a MINI and that my MA taught me... otherwise i'd be stuck with another automatic

 

I remember learning how to drive my first stick-shift YEARS ago (my older sister took me for a training session through a local cemetery) -- thought I was going to kill the car, drop the transmission on the street, etc. You never think you're going to get it, BUT, once you get the 'feel' of it, it becomes second nature & you'll never go back, trust me. You don't even consciously think about shifting anymore, it's just natural.... AND YOU ARE IN CONTROL! No better way to drive a car. And no better car than a MINI to experience it in! ENJOY!

 

P.S.

And I just have a "regular ol' MINI" - not the 'S'. I'm just zipping around town and loving it.

MINI's ROCK!

 

Brand new '07 MC owner and first time stick driver. I have previous owned 2 Corolla's and Jeep Liberty - all automatics. Gas prices killed any love I may have had for my Jeep. I decided that for economy's sake and for pure fun, I'd get a manual MINI. My wife drives a Wrangler (and will until she dies) and will never, ever own an automatic transmission. She graciously allowed me to grind her gears, stall, lurch, over-rev her Jeep for the 3 weeks before I bought my new car. I have to say, that the MINI is MUCH easier to shift than the Wrangler and a heck of a lot more fun to drive (don't tell her I said that). That being said, my initial trip home from the dealer was adventuresome (and not in a good way), but over the past 2 weeks has gotten much easier. I should also mention that I live in the most hilly area in the city of Philadelphia (Manayunk for those familiar) which only has street parking. If I can learn to parallel park a stick shift on a hill, anyone can.

This is the most fun I have ever had driving a car!! It's been 2 weeks and I can't stop smiling.

 

Go For It!

I had never driven manual in my life (well, outside of a couple of "lessons" in my dad's truck back home in Vermont on icy roads), and when I ordered my 2006 MCS, I was tempted to get a manual just to learn once and for all. But I chickened out because there was a decent chance that I was going to be moving to San Francisco area and I was fearful of hill starts. So I got the MCSa.

I soon found out that my wife and I were not heading to the west coast, but to Africa instead. In preparation (finding a Automatic car in Africa is difficult [Thanks for the correction, Daffodildeb!]), I started to read up on driving manuals and from them on, used the steptronic shifting on the MCSa to get a feel for how the gearing works. Since moving to Africa (Botswana actually. My car stayed back in the US and is living in a friend's garage for a year), I learned to drive manual by going to one of the local driving schools (literally a man with car parked under a tree). I took 4 half hour lessons: first one was driving around a big empty field, switching gears and reversing. 2nd was more of the same. 3rd was driving in traffic. 4th was hill starts. It was a great opportunity to learn and it cost me only $25! After that, I drove a manual rental car (VW Citi...not available in the US I think), a 9 hour drive to a vacation spot in South Africa, up and down huge mountain passes, etc.

I am now kicking myself for not buying a manual when I could have. Don't get me wrong...I love my Space Blue/Silver MCSa...but I am now wishing I could change it to an MCS with LSD.

One positive for the MCSa though: You can play with the shifting (using the paddles or the stick) and if you're too tired to deal or you want to take a bite of that sandwich and a sip of that coke and then your cell phone rings...(yeah yeah, just about everyone uses their cell phone while driving once in a while though we all know we shouldn't)...you can pop the shifter back into D and multitask away. The second positive: friends can use your car without too much trouble. That includes the good friends that will drive you home when you've been banged up while mountain biking, or other similar type situations, and the friend who runs out of the house when you're too busy and moves your car from where you left it, double-parked, as the tow trucks roll up to it.

Still...my next car will be a manual and if you're thinking about it, don't worry about it, just go for it.

btw, all German cars have the reverse on the left side, as far as I know. Remember...MINI = BMW.

 

Great story, and I'll bet it was interesting. But did you mean to say "finding an AUTOMATIC car in Africa is difficult?"

 

I had never driven a manual before I ordered Lewis. My boyfriend took me around the proving grounds a few times in a PT Cruiser and I kinda got the hang of it. I picked Lewis up, and made it out of the lot without stalling! (Made it all the way to the second light - oops)

But.. I love him! I actually disagree that MINIs are super easy to drive. I haven't driven another manual that was as hard to smoothly engage as mine yet. I've had a few people jump in him and have a hard time getting moving and shifting smoothly - and these are definately car people who know what they're doing. I do like the shift gate though - maybe my R56 is different than other people have experienced, but I think it's pretty crisp compared to most.

 

Well I'm home with Nicodemus II - CR/B MCSa. I know I know... I didn't chicken out, it's just that the manuals I went there to see weren't anywhere near as nicely equipped for the cash. The ride home was amazing. It was actually very much like someone had copy-pasted Nic I into this bright red car. I had almost all the same options as I did before (decided I couldn't live without the cold weather package!) but with a phenomenal amount of power! It made the drive from the dealership to the interstate a lot less stressful than the first time - two months ago - because I already felt intimately familiar with the controls. The only thing I had to keep readjusting was the acceleration (whoosh!).

Thanks anyway for all the great replies to my original inquiry. I'm sure they've benefitted a lot of people and will continue to. I'm still going to learn how to drive a stick because my partner has an '08 MCm.