Took my clubby in for service - drove my service managers 2021 MINI Clubman JCW and his transmission shifts a lot more smoothly and less abruptly in sport plus mode. There is an update available so they're flashing it as well as putting new tires on it - evidently I could only get 14k miles out of my tires before the wear bars started showing up.

Has anyone had this transmission flash yet on their JCW Clubby?

Also needed front brake pads - thankfully I bought the maintenance service contract. My 18 JCW Clubby needed brake pads at 12k miles. So I guess I did better this time. :-)

 

Mine went in for service around the same time this year, maybe January but there was no change in Trans operation. How has it been since the update?

 

this is really interesting...
I have a long time ongoing complaint for my 2020 Clubman JCW (purchased in January 2020) that is related to acceleration lag.
In MID mode, the car always feels like it is slow to respond...sometimes it feel like as long as 1 second after you press GO! finally the car decides to go.
In sport mode, this is not evident at all. my problem is i don't want to live in sport mode and the car cannot be locked to sport mode (or rather start up in sport mode).
i like mid mode for everyday driving, but i don't want to have an accident because i tried to make it through a small gap in traffic and the car was late to get going.
the same problem can happen while you are on the freeway and you need to overtake someone or a truck or get get out of a bad situation...stomp on the gas, wait for 0.5 to 1 second and then bam off you go.
its also not i would expect from a 'performance' mini. plain old cooper, sure. JCW...no way! this should be very sharp at all times.
[im test driving an M135i right now on loan since my Clubman is in for all this diagnosis and the M135i drives soooooooo much better than the JCW Clubman even though they are the same chassis, same engine and same gearbox.]

Any thoughts or experience with this would be helpful. Do you suffer from this? have you even noticed this?

I'm wondering if this transmission update also fixes my lag issues...???

 

I have a '21 Clubman JCW and don't experience serious turbo lag like you describe. Perhaps check your air filter and housing to ensure all is clean, unobstructed, hoses are connected and everything is snug. As an example, my air filter has an added mesh layer glued to the bottom of the filter. I suspect this is to help with any water/snow ingress from the front vents, but I suspect it also greatly reduces the airflow compared to a standard filter. I plan to remove it or replace my drop in filter all together for a performance filter.

So here are a few things to consider trying/adding/changing to try and help with better response:
1) Unplug your battery to try and reset your ECU, and drive it hard so it relearns a more aggressive driving style and shift points
2) New air filter or intake
3) A piggyback tune or throttle tuner
4) New charge or down pipes.

I would start by a quick inspection of your airbox, filter, and vacuum hoses. Then try and reset the ecu to see if that has an effect. As a general rule of thumb, the more air going in and easily flowing out, means quicker and faster response and more power. Good luck!

 

Hi MaChefAi, it's not turbo lag that I have a problem with. It's a transmission/accelerator delay.
The car has been with MINI/BMW for 2 weeks now and they don't have a solution. After driving the M135i for 2 weeks, the issue is very much associated with the engine/transmission combo.
100% it's a software programming issue. As soon as I'm in sports mode, the delay issue is gone...

 

Did they update it to the latest software already? That should be their first step in troubleshooting it.

 

I see, sorry to hear about your issue. I hope they're able to resolve it for you soon.

As an fyi, you can program it to start up in sports mode using the bimmercode app. I have mine set up this way. I know that's not a solution to your problem, and it sounds like that's not something you want to do, but just thought I'd mention it because you thought it wasn't possible.

Have they told you what they've been working on for 2 weeks? Has it thrown any codes? Or what they've tried in order to troubleshoot your problem? Would be good to know for any future people who might run into this same issue.

Good luck!

 

Thanks for your responses
No there were no updates as I think the car has been updated previously (about 4 months ago).
Apparently, they are saying this is a side effect of 'efficient dynamics'. It's all part of the fuel saving and emissions reduction programming that goes into the car.
As soon as you go into sports mode, these go away.
No codes. The car mechanically is perfect. It's in the software that the bugs and 'bad' programming lie.
I will keep you all posted...
FYI - even Joe Achillies and Petrol Ped make mention of these issues in some of their review videos.

 

So this happened about 8-9 years ago when they first started using the ZF 8HP transmission and it took MotorTrend data logging the issue to get BMW to fix it. I had it with my 2013 X5 at the time and it is annoyingly frustrating. You just never know when the car is actually going to start moving. Normal throttle tip in does nothing, so you give it more and then it takes off on you.

http://www.trucktrend.com/truck-revi...e28i-update-8/

 

You can always press the accelerator beyond the detent and simultaneously pull the downshift paddle. This will give you the lowest available rpm limited gear. The problem with this is the lowest available gear may only have 4 or 5 hundred rpm until redline which means it will almost immediately bang the next highest gear. I have not found a way to do it in a moderately aggressive fashion.

Gary

 

No, this won't work as there is still a 0.5 sec delay! I've tried it.