Drifting slightly off topic here but... really?

If using paddles and going clutchless are okay for Formula One, that's good enough for me. (Realizing that there *are* significant technical differences between transmissions in your average Formula One car and your run-of-the-mill Cooper S.)

And I don't personally recall having "Big Brother" change gears on me as long as I stay in Steptronic mode.

 

Oh for cryin' out loud! You have just as much control with the Aisin six speed automatic, in manual mode, as you do with a manual transmission. I've driven manuals for years and I don't think I could shift any faster than the Aisin automatic and I don't think 95% of you elitists with manuals could either.

I really like my MINI's automatic and I'm getting tired of people with manual transmissions looking down their noses at me because they think manuals are better. They aren't better, they are just different.

Dave

 

No kidding Dave, I feel ya...

It reminds me of the SteveHoffman music forums where hardcore audio geeks shun anyone who is using less than $500 power cords on every component. Truth is, the difference both there and within this topic is that the difference is so slight in real-world conditions as to be statistically insignificant.

Most head to head comparisons I've read over the last 6 years of planning for my MINI shows that the difference is next to nil, with some reports even favoring the auto.

So I will reiterate Dave's comment that they are different, not better or worse. The elitism and divisive bickering over such a stupid topic is the antithesis of what the MINI community is supposed to be about.

Motor on...

 

I am on day 3 of a 2011 MCS auto loaner. At first I liked the auto. Now I am over it. It is really jerky when getting off the gas. There is a whining noise. I'll be glad to get my manual back tomorrow.

 

After crashing MINI #1 I couldn't use my left leg due to the injury. I kept telling the therapist I needed my clutch leg back. If I had to I would buy an auto w/paddle shift. I don't have to now...I am driving with both legs and liking it. It has nothing to do with the car and it's capability, or whether it shifts easier, faster or smoother with either setup. The 2 cents is that my sports car will have a shift and clutch. And if I buy another MINI down the road I will pass on an automatic transmission due to personal preference (and that's all it is) Find what you love and love it to death!

 

We are stick shift snobs for a reason. Plus comparing a semi automatic F1 car to your MINI is not a good comparison at all. If you look the only thing it has in common is that it has paddle shifters. Everything else is as it said it is controlled by electro-hydraulics. Which means the clutch (which it has but no pedal).

 

Some of the arguments for manuals are becoming inane. Yes, I drive an automatic. After owning and driving manuals, with one exception, for the last 43 years I switched to an automatic three months ago. Some of the arguments should be cross-posted here.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...r-any-car.html

 

The arguments on both sides are getting ridonkulous.

 

It's a fine comparison when you say that "there's a reason race cars are manual". Quite obviously not all race cars are -- and F1 uses a semi-automatic transmission because it's simply *better* than a manual for that particular application.

I also quite clearly stated that there *are* significant technical differences between an F1 semi-automatic transmission and the Aisin 6-speed automatic used in the MINI (setting aside the CVT formerly used in the r50). But I'm not sure how you can say that simply having paddle shifters (which both F1 and MINI have) gives you less control over gear selection. Maybe you meant something else? At best unclear, at worst misleading....

Anywho, I'll get off my soapbox now....

Motor on!!!

PS -- Reflecting a bit more on this topic there is one aspect of having an auto tranny in my MINI that I do regret: not being able to run a Giken LSD.

 

Not so much arguments as strongly-held preferences, I think.

 

Well ya that too