Hi Motorers

So as you can tell I don't have that many posts because Im new here and Im new to my 03 Mini as well. I dont know what my car is doing normal like other MINIs getrag 6speed transmission or not. Oh, and excuse my English, as it's my second language.

The other day, I noticed that when I turned my engine off and wanted to put it into 1st gear since my handbrake is not that strong, I was able to put it into 1st without pressing on the clutch. I was able to go into 2nd without pressing on the clutch but not 3rd,4th,5th, or 6th.

Is this normal with other people or is my transmission or clutch is messed up? My older cars I driven that were stick shift, I couldnt engage the car into any gear without pressing the clutch whether its running or off.

 

Yes. Absolutely normal!

Happy motoring.

Rich

 

Thank you for your input. I was very worried
cheerss

 

Reverse is usually a better gear to hold a car with a weak or non functioning parking or hand brake.

 

i never heard of that, but it makes sense since reverse is as strong as the 1st gear.

cheers mate

 

Old saabs have to be in reverse to remove the key from the ignition.

 

Just to amplify a bit, it's really just a matter of chance what gears a manual transmission will engage sitting at a stop with the engine not running. Whether you press on the clutch or not doesn't matter a great deal. If the gears happen to be aligned when they stopped or can be jostled into alignment, they'll engage. This is not something that is important as the transmission is designed (obviously) to be changed through gears while in motion with the engine running.

- Mark

 

the title of this thread is so deceiving. I thought I was in for a thread about clutchless shifting. Oh well...maybe next time.

Yes, as the poster above explained, perfectly normal.

 

^me too