I live in San Francisco and we're infamous for hills. My house just so happen to be on top of one of the 2 steepest hill in San Francisco. In order to get from the ground to where i live, you need to climb a 33% hill for about half mile with 3 stop signs in the middle.

I've driven manual all my life and recently got a base model 08 cooper. I can climb up the hill with the car on 1st gear, but when I shift to 2nd the engine struggles and doesn't want to climb (I think my speed is too low). In fact yesterday, I had to "downshift" into first because the car just wouldn't go any more on 2nd and was about to stall.

The engine is noticeable loud at 4800 on 1st gear. All my previous cars I was able to shift to 2nd and still go up my hill but I guess 1.6L is just not quite enough to get me up. Kind of wish I got the 'S' but too late now I guess.

My question is. Is it bad for the car to have the car at 4500 - 4800 rpm all the way up half mile? Or are there other techniques I should try to use to go up huge hills? Like push 1st really hard and bring the car up to speed then shift to 2nd?

Thanks for any help in advance.

MC

 

Hi MC,

I just commented about this very issue on another thread.

I entered the MINI world without a complete appreciation of the difference between the Cooper and the Cooper S. I live in Colorado, and the first time I hit the mountains I was really discouraged.

Now, a year later, I'm over it and I love my MINI. Two things that helped out a great deal. First, feeling OK about keeping the MINI high on the RPM band when going uphill. Second, the JCW Sound Kit, which makes the engine sound great at higher RPMs.

 

The engine is under heavy load climbing such a steep grade. That is not a good time to "push" it "really hard."

 

This is what I figured hence why I shift to 2nd as I gain speed slowly, but the speed drops pretty significantly once I move to 2nd (also the stop sign in the middle of the hill really sucks).

Though Matthew's comment on his car taking on Colorado hills is making me feel better about revving high on 1st. If justa can take Colorado, little engine can probably take SF.

 

Nope, don't worry about the high RPM! No problem for the engine at all. In fact, higher RPM is much better than "lugging" the engine at low RPM.

 

The high RPM is not as bad as lugging the car's engine. Just keep it in first and you will be fine. Just do "NOT" be riding the clutch or slipping it. It is expensive to replace if you glaze it or burn it up.

I was out in San Fransisco in the 1990's on my Harley Davidson and loved your city. I did all the tourist stuff and stayed at the Holiday in by the Wharf. It was a great really Steep hill city to ride my Harley in.

 

It is better for the engine to rev within its range (4800 is fine) than to let it lug it at low rpms. If you shift up and the engine has trouble handling the load, then it is lugging which is bad for the engine. If you shift up and the engine still responds well, then that's fine.

I have a 1st gen Justa R52 convertible in SF -- heavier and less torque than your R56 hardtop, and I do go up some hills in 1st gear. If I'm doing it wrong, well I can't undo the past 5 years .

 

Awesome, I'm feeling much better about keeping that rpm high at 1st gear, being overly cautious on my new baby I guess

rkw, nice to see fellow city driver. Put that convertible down and go for a ride, did you see the weather outside today? Our summer has finally arrived!!

 

Definitely DO NOT be afraid to rev the little engine. I was in your situation too when I got mine in May. Went to pass someone on a two lane road, downshifted, and just didn't like it. Then drove for another month not testing the limits at all. Then I thought "I'm not driving this car like I see everyone else driving theirs (fast, darting around, smiling)." So I started pushing it and its totally fine. I was used to driving Miata's hard but for some reason I had a preconceived notion about a French engine not being able to take a beating. Then I realized, in France and the rest of Europe, most engines are small and have been for decades.

Now I think the NA 1.6 in the MC is a great mix of power and efficiency. Its often more fun to drive a slow car fast than a fast car slow.

1st gear up those hills until you hit the rev limiter if you must!

 

There are a lot of hilly areas around me, and my car gets up them pretty quick.

Just gun it from the bottom to the top

 

1st gear is the way to go!

Run it in 1st gear on those steeper grades. I love going to SF to visit the parents. Driving in the city is just icing on the cake. Something about driving a manual in the city gets to me. It's like finding the right gear on a technical track, but smooth and slower of course.

The steepest of hills in the residential parts of town usually call for 1st almost exclusively. I drive a first gen MCS and I couldn't imagine going any higher in gear than that. Considering those parts are usually residential areas, you'd have to be going pretty fast for second gear to be of any real use power wise. The older supercharger MCS didn't offer much power at revs around 2k-2800, let alone on a steep hill.

On the bright side, our MINIs sound great when running higher revs compared to most small cars. I'd rather be the yuppie (young urban professional) with the beautiful sporty exhaust note than the obnoxious guy driving too fast in a residential neighborhood. In fact, when I run into my neighbors, they always compliment the noise it makes when it's starts up in the morning. I'm sure your neighbors won't mind the sound either.

 

Funny Jephen19, I drive down to LA to visit my folks...

I was actually going pretty slow, but just shifting at 3500 rpm. Last night though, some *** was tailgating me all the way up the hill w/ high beam on (pretty scary since the stop sign is actually on a full incline). Then proceed to give me a middle finger as I'm parking the car. Not sure how I offended him, gonna have to throw him a peace sign next time I see him.

 

I am chicken I do not like driving uphill like that even though I did in Hawaii all the time and was fine. But be glad you got a Cooper and not an S in your situation. Not saying that the S has a lot of lag but, if you don't start getting the turbo to spool up going up hill and can make things very difficult and don't right a PITA. When I was in Denver for MTTS the week before last I really had no problems with the hills other ther one time getting started on the route to MT Evans but that was quickly taken care of with a little bit of a push off the clutch and a little more gas.

 

The redline is at 6500rpm, there is a reason for it, USE IT.

 

I'll bet if you go to redline in first and then hit second it will pull just fine, however you might be going faster than you want....so use first till it will pull second and you're in good shape - you won't hurt it.

But do check your oil from time to time, some of these engines do use a little (that's normal too).

SF is an area that would be perfect for an automatic in an S, you'll never burn up a clutch slipping it to get going on a hill and you'll never run out of power! I really appreciated the turbo when I was in Colorado last week for MITM/MTTS, I had more fun passing people by powering up out of a slow speed, switchback corner at high altitudes when normally aspirated engines were struggling to get up into their power band!