OK guys-who uses steptronic out there? I would like to give mine a try, but I am a little worried that I will break something. I have driven stick for 20 years, and the thought of shifting my automatic seems wierd, almost unnatural . . . .

thoughts? love it? hate it? is it just a dumb gimmick? please tell!

 

Several recent threads on this. The Steptronic has proven to be very reliable and can pull off some quick upshifts in manual mode. As for breaking, the ECU will protect the engine from over revving if the wrong gear is selected. The 6th gear ratio on the Steptronic is especially nice for cruising since the engine only turns 2000 rpm at 60 mph.

 

i been running mine manual as regulaly as i can, still got some getting used to, but yeah, i've been assured here that its very hard to break something on it.. seems good so far.

 

My mini is a 5sp, but in the past I found I only used Steptronic when I knew the road and wanted to hold a gear, or down/up a hill etc. I would switch for specific reasons, but if I was vegetating (which is fairly often) I just let the car do its thing.

 

A car should have three pedals!!!!!!!

its really a dumb gimmick, my audi q5 has it and its just plain stupid. I crack up every time someone tells me its a manual and automatic! makes me sick all these young kids with mommy and daddy buying them cars are growing up thinking a steptronic is a manual.

I saw your post on the clubman section, so i know you went with the color over a manual. In short you have nothing to worry about, except trying to engage a non exhistant clutch These trannys are designed to be "Shifted"

 

I used mine almost exclusively as a brake substitute. A couple of quick downshifts to slow down. That's how I made the original brakes last 99k miles!

 

The 07-11 Steptronic in manual (DS) mode is great.

I have tracked my 07 MCS and it has never given me any on track problems. Actually can turn some good times on the track since you can concentrate on your line.

We have the Steptronic in our Countryman ALL4 S and it is nice to manually select gearing when you want to have some fun on the snow.

Over the years, I have driven a lot of 4/5/6 speeds and I really enjoy putting it in D on the dull days.

 

I ordered my S with the steptronic. When I gave the S a test drive at MINI of Honolulu I had to play around with it, and luckily it's the same as my husbands BMW 135i's transmission. It's auto then you give it a switch over and you have a manual over-ride. You won't hurt anything I promise! I was scared of that too, but it works pretty much the same way as a manual, minus the clutch. You up shift and down shift when you need to, and if your MINI thinks you forgot about it, it will do it automatically for you, so no harm done. Give it a try next time you're at an intersection, that's how I learned . I also use it when I pull upto someone and want them to think I have a manual haha .

 

My wife picked out our MC (her 1st car & needed automatic)..now she drives my Xterra ..& I drive the Mini

..I would have prefered manual (& will get 1 day!)...but since it has the manual shift option..I use it..every day.

..the feel, of course, is not at all of a real manual trans, ..but it is helpful being able to have some control over the shifting, as some others have pointed out for downshifting, braking or staying in a certain gear when needed. With the paddle shifters..can tap to make a quicker downshift & acceleration with a better feel than the full automatic mode...where you have to mash down on the gas pedal..then the car hesitates..shifts..then lunges forward!

..the 1 thing I really do not like about streptronic is its "overide" if you forget to shift (or haven't shifted yet)...to me, that feature defeats the point of putting it into manual shift mode.

wpb mini- you haven't tried the manual streptronic at all? wow
J

 

just do it....

 

You absolutely can NOT hurt it by mis-shifting. The computer will not allow it to over rev, period. Since you aren't actually shifting gears but telling the computer that you would "like" to change gears it has the final say in what goes on. So you might as well use it, makes for a much more fun drive.

 

My wife's 07 has it and i auto x'd it for a year without any issues. It's a fun alternative to an automatic.

 

I can only assume Black11mccs's comment as posted in jest, flip the shifter all you want, thats what it's designed for, just make sure you keep the sport button in the ON position all the time.

 

Black11mccs: Your post really made me laugh. The lack of a clutch is what really throws me for a loop. I still have not decided if I will give the steptronic a try or not . . . Seems a little like cheating, ya know?

 

What would happen if you throw the stick over to steptronic while you are already in motion? Would the tranny fall out???? Not that I would do that or anything, but I am kind of curious . . .

 

It just ges into manual mode. I do it all the time!

Dave

 

yeah nothing to worry about, everything is electronically controlled and smart enough to not listen to you if you tell it to do something bad.... i've tried!

 

I didn't see anyone comment on "DS". Steptronic has "three" driving modes, obviously there's "D", but if you shift the stick to the left of "D" It'll go into "DS" which is a bit sportier, finally when you switch gears it goes into "manual". I also like that if you are in "D" but need to overtake someone you can just con into a lower gear with the steering wheel paddles, and it'll go back to auto in a little bit. Personally I love steptronic, but then again I drive in very heavy traffic.

Cheers!

 

thanks all! today, I tried the steptronic on the way to a lunch time meeting. Since I drive in sport mode all the time ("DS"), i thought the steptronic setting sounded very much the same. I will keep trying it for a few days before I make my final decision, but it does feel strange as hell being able to "shift" without a clutch! And while it makes driving more interactive, it still is not like the control you get from driving stick...

 

This is my understanding of how it works. Moving the stick to the left (DS) puts you in sport mode but still full auto. It's just a quick way to go into and out of sport mode without having to fumble around for the sport button.
Moving from DS to manual shift by moving + or - will cancel sport mode unless you then hit the sport button or unless you were already in sport mode to begin with (via button before moving into DS).

Manual mode will down shift for you if you forget but will never up shift for you. If you forget to up shift you the engine is saved by the built in rev limiter.

 

The sport button also changes engine program. DS is just the transmission, shifting at higher RPM and quicker but harsher.
If you shift into M while moving it will leave it in whatever gear you are already in. You can then up/down shift as you desire as long as you don't want to cause damage. If what you ask it to do is determined to be stupid it will display the shift, blink at you a few times then goto the next gear which would be allowed.

 

thanks Lewthor and klricks,

I have been trying it for 4 days now and I think I will stick with it. I like being able to keep the rpms lower when coasting on the highway, or revving it when I need to pass. Other than that, it still seems wierd not having a clutch to change gears . .

 

A lot of mis-information in this thread.

But you certainly cannot over rev these computer controlled cars of today.

I like it when not in sport mode, start going up a hill and slap it over so it down shifts to a gear lower. Generally I do not paddle shift otherwise unless going down a hill for braking.

Of course you can paddle shift at any time too, it just won't hold the gear unless in slap stick mode.

 

my 2010 does not have the paddles. . . I found out in another thread that 2010 was the year the paddles were discontinued. (at least I think that's what I read)

BTW, I like the reference to slap stick mode, lol

 

My 2011 Countryman has paddles.