I've had my Cooper S for a couple of weeks now and have a few questions, some of sure have been asked before (I did try to search for some).

1) There's a tiny round button in the center of the lower row of square buttons. I think it's next to the rear defogger. It's an unmarked round button. Does it do anything? Secret weapons?

2) Is there an option to get those lines for estimated turning/stopping in the rear display? I'm not even sure that I'd keep them, but I'd like to try and see if I like them. The current rear camera is just a camera with proximity detectors (seems like 3 ranges).

3) I conceptually understand the drive modes. When I tested them out, Sport does make it feel quicker acceleration and tighter steering. I read that it mainly affects the throttle. I tried Green once and it was very tough for me since the car felt so weak, although the "game" of trying to keep the ball in the optimal zone was somewhat fun (although distracting). What are the specifics of what the driving modes do? And does Sports mode negatively affect the MPGs (if so, how much)? It would make sense that it does, but apparently the JCWs has the same MPG as the S, so who knows?

And are there any other fun tricks/tips that aren't obvious to new MCS owners?

 

1). You mean the tiny little raised circle? I assume that is so you can feel where the middle of the row of buttons are without looking.

2) you should be able to turn those on. Click to the left and you get a row of options on the left hand side.

3). Sport should make a range of things more “sporty” depending on your spec. Weightier steering, quicker shifts, more pops and gurgles from the exhaust. Less MPG, maybe but thats mostly down to how you drive. I agree with you, Green mode makes the car feel “weak”

 

I've had some questions about the sport mode and engine performance/acceleration also. My original thinking was it only changes the throttle sensitivity. So small throttle movements send bigger output requests to the ECU. That doesn't actually change the engine dynamics as far as boost/spark advance/ fuel ratio etc,, it's just getting to the same point with smaller throttle inputs. But there has to be something about those ECU maps that changes because, for one, it dumps more fuel in during throttle-off to cause the "back-fires" or pops-and-gurgles. Also, my car definitely produces a different exhaust drone at the same RPM in Sport versus Mid, so it has to be a different ECU map. So I'm thinking if you go to a dyno, under WOT (wide open throttle), are you going to get two different HP/Torque curves under Mid versus Sport? I originally didn't think so. But maybe.

 

Thanks for the responses. This car definitely has more options than I'm used to. I thought I looked through them, but I'll look again.

I'll try to look more into the modes, but after another trip on Sport, I think I'm going to go all sport all the time (except heavy traffic). And I think my car already thinks I drive crazy since it's always "suggesting" that I upshift, sometimes two gears!

 

Green/Normal/Sport changes how much pressure the turbo is allowed to build before the ECU starts blowing off the excess, there are other tweaks but that's the biggest one I ever felt. More pressure from the turbo = more air in each cylinder = more fuel in each cylinder = more boom = faster = less fuel economy when on the gas. You can test this with an obd2 scanner that allows you to see the boost pressure, different modes will result in different peak pressure with normal hitting around 15 psi, green staying under 10 psi and sport hitting about 21 psi iirc. You can get decent fuel economy in sport if you stay off the gas, that's why so many companies make turbo engines these days, power when you need it, economy when you don't need the power.

 

Regarding the driving modes and more specifically green mode... once you're up to speed and say just cruising down the highway it works well. It really saves gas because it just needs to maintain your speed and when you let off the gas it just coasts like no tomorrow, the transmission disengages the engine so there's no engine braking. Driving around town does suck in this mode, there's just no power when taking off from a complete stop.

 

Thanks Benibiker, I'll try that next time I'm on a long highway drive.

 

In moderate highway traffic I was seeing how long I could get it to coast before needing slow down again. It was kinda fun having it disengage like that.

 

That's the ambient air temperature sensor for the HVAC.

When you have the car in reverse, you should see a few menu options on the left-hand side of the screen. It's there that you would select things like the parking aid lines, obstacle marking, and trailer hitch zoom. The available selections may depend on the car's options.

The selectable driving modes are really just electronic tricks. Sport mode will make the car feel faster than Mid or Green modes because it will increase the accelerator pedal sensitivity. It doesn't make any more or less power than Mid or Green modes, however. I believe Sport will also lessen the power steering assist which will make the steering wheel heavier, and if you've got the dynamic dampers, Sport will also increase the dampening. Green mode sort of does the opposite of all that: it decreases accelerator pedal sensitivity and softens the dynamic dampers. If you've got an automatic, it will also select neutral when you're coasting on the highway to save fuel. Might reduce the climate control output, too, not sure. Honestly, your best bet is to read the owner's manual, as it goes over all of the driving modes.