Ha ha ha ha! I gotta give MINI credit for trying. They're determined to make a manual fan out of you by giving a $500 discount on a new car. Sadly the Countryman and John Cooper Works editions don't qualify. And one thing to add: I had almost no experience with a manual but a MINI is easy to learn. Just make sure you find someone who can teach you. It took me about 2-3 weeks to catch on but it's a rite of passage worth taking. There was also an interesting article on stick shifts: MINI is one of the very few companies that still make vehicles for under $50,000 with a stick shift option on ALL models. PS: check with your dealer. I have no idea if this offer applies nationwide (I'm in Texas btw.)

 

I think it an ad campaign too, seen the "shift it" commercial the other day.

 

Its definitely worth learning how to drive a stick for the experience. Gives you that much more of a connection to the car while your driving it! I'm a fan of a manual and wouldn't consider purchasing a MINI that was an automatic, kinda ruins the fun for me!

Glad you learned and that you're enjoying the new found skill! I'm glad I've had a manual in the past too cars I've owned (even if they were both quite boring).

 

I love having a manual transmission on my car and I wouldn't buy a car w/out one. However, Mini needs to discount alot more than $500 before I buy one from them. Waaayyy too many stories about clutches being fried on low mileage, properly maintained Minis.

 

Personally I'd take that gamble before I bought an automatic. Haven't heard of many clutch issues on the non-S Coopers though

 

When it comes to a clutch it's not about maintenance, it's about how it is being applied or used......There is no maintenance for a clutch. And if you show me a MINI owner with at Manual GS6 Getrag transmission having clutch problems, and it's almost always driven by an owner who never drove a manual tranny before and lives near city driving or has just been abusing the hell out of it.

I have 133K miles on my clutch and having some 200K on an original MINI clutch is not unheard of.....

 

^Semantics!^

In this case: properly maintained = properly driven. Or at least that's been the story of most of the posters who've mentioned early clutch failure.

After stumbling on quite a few threads mentioning clutch issues, I searched for threads w/ "clutch" in the title and, to my dismay, found (what was to me) too many stories of premature failure --- almost all of them mentioning no warning signs that the clutch was about to die. Premature failure rate for the Luk clutch on the MCS (particularly the '07 and newer Minis) seems awfully high. Not sure if there's any differences between the clutch they've on the S clutch since '07 vs. what was used on the R53.

And, yes, I frequent other car owner forums and posts mentioning clutch and engine issues are far and few between on that forum.

To be honest, I was really surprised to see that here. After trading in my R53 a few years ago I ventured back here as the Clubman has kind of grown on me (especially after the slight change to the interior starting in '11). I thought that there'd be better quality control of the N14 engine by now, but it doesn't appear that way to me. Perhaps the N18 will alleviate some of my fears -- waiting for more feedback on that before jumping back into a new Mini.

My R53 was actually pretty flawless however -- so maybe I'll eventually go that route. I'm just at a point where the added room of a Clubman seems the way to go.

 

Just FYI - I bought my Cooper Clubman in September and the dealer was really willing to deal. It is the first time a MINI dealer has EVER offered to deal on a new MINI with me. It was a manual and was unit that was in stock, but grand total I got about $3500 off sticker price ( 2500 off sticker and an extra 1000 towards my trade in ). The salesman offered $1500 off sticker before we even went for a test drive...

Needless to say it didn't have all the options I wanted, but it was close, and with the 0.9 % financing AND the dealer moving on the price.... well it was a offer I couldn't refuse

Plus I love being back in a MINI and having a 6 speed manual again !!

The one thing I did hear ( from the dealer and my local club ) was that MINI was having a shortage of automatic transmissions due to the earthquake in Japan. Whether this is still the case or not I don't know?

Either way, $500 off is a decent incentive - especially if you were going to buy a manual anyway

 

Having a stick shift was the whole reason I got new car fever this time.

 

I must agree that there's some quality problem with the clutches (at least on my 2007 MCS). Before I got mine, I had driven a Saturn SC2 (manual, of course) over 110K miles in 10 years without any clutch problems, as well as other cars up to ~60K miles again without any clutch problems. So I think I do know how to drive with stick. Unfortunately the clutch on my 2007 MCS gave out after ~40K miles, which is WAAAY too soon to fail. Of course MINI refused to cover it, claiming it was just "wear-and-tear" item. Yes, it's a wear-and-tear item....AFTER 75K to 100K miles, not before then.

Despite that, I still plan to get a 2012 MCS soon, and will just have to set aside money for the inevitable replacement. It's SO much fun to drive!

On the bright side, this has forced me to figure out how to drive with stick better, so in the long term that will certainly help me be a better driver.

 

Seriously?

My clutch seems to vary with pedal effort once in awhile ... Now I'm starting to get paranoid.

 

I got $1200 off for buying an automatic, last year. Five hundred dollars, for the manual, is kind of lame in comparison

The problem is reduced production of Aisin automatic due to the Japanese tsunami, so they are pushing the manual to keep sales up.

Dave

 

Not really. Isn't the Automatic like $1200 more than the stick (which isn't extra on the sticker price). So $500 off a manual is $1700 less than an automatic.

In other words, free for either. One saves more money. The other saves you on a stick.

the $500 off a manual promotion is to move more manuals. Maybe US buyers don't buy them as much as they expected?

 

My MA told me a few things that might be of interest:

1- That is only for '11 MINIs that are stock on hand. So mine did not qualify for the discount.
2- It was because they had difficulty getting the Aisin-made automatic transmissions due to the quake and tsunami in Japan. Those difficulties are mostly ironed out, so it's not so much of an issue now.
3- There had been a batch of transmissions ready to go when the factory was flooded, and MINI rejected them all due to concerns they may have wound up with undetected water damage or with some of the radiation from the nuclear plant. (My own thoughts: Or at least with the perception that there was water damage or radiation.) So they had to wait for new transmissions to be built.