Question is in reference to my Paceman All4 manual, but I'm posting it here 'cos there's a whole lot more Countryman owners out there than Paceman owners at the moment.

My understanding is that traction control kicks in when the electronicals detect that one wheel is spinning faster than the rest (exact opposite of ABS). MINI's All4 system splits power 50-50 front to rear most of the time, varying more to the front as speed increases until about 80 mph, when it's 100% front (i just read this on MotoringFile). Given that this should seriously limit the times that wheels can spin at different speeds, how does traction control work with All4 and what is it actually doing, particularly when starting off from a dead stop? And, moreover, what's happening when you turn traction control off?

 

My understanding: TC includes two components: one is control of wheel slip by activating a brake (typically on the front wheel with least traction) via the ABS system. The second component is reducing engine torque. When TC is set to OFF, the second part (engine torque control) is disabled. Even when both DSC and DTC are off, the car still attempts wheel spin control on the front pair of wheels using ABS.

I don't think there is TC on the rear pair of wheels but not sure about that.

 

http://www.motoringfile.com/2011/12/...tem-clarified/

 

thanks for the link! How they can get 25-30 mpg driving all 4 wheels virtually all the time is a mystery to me.