Hi all. So I've had my F56 since May. I still really enjoy it. Mine is a base car - automatic and heated seats being the only options. I want to see if this low speed "behavior" is normal:

The B38/6 speed auto combo is jerky at low speeds and idle in traffic.

1. Is it normal for it to "creep" so intensely? All automatics creep forward when in Drive and you take your foot off the brake. Mine feels like it would like to take off sometimes (idle is not too high though).

2. When slowing to a stop, it seems to downshift into 1st gear before the car is stopped. Most cars hit 1st smoothly after you've already stopped. Is it normal for this car to downshift to 1st before the car is fully stopped? This makes official "stop and go" traffic sort of jerky at times.

This happens in Mid Mode by the way. High speed operation is smooth and quick.

3. The engine itself is smooth when it's in Park, but when you go into any gear (R or D), it gets rough. But if you don't go anywhere, the car smooths out (still in gear). It's like it prepared to GO and get a little rough, but if you don't GO, after 2 seconds, it smooths out again (foot on brake, but car in gear). Hope that makes sense.

Is this just normal operation for the little B38? I've heard 3 cylinders are inherently gruff/rough.

Thanks!

 

Certainly not normal for ours

 

I have a 2014 B38 auto, the dealer just updated my software and I noticed the same thing. Its jerky when coming to a stop. As far as I know it was just an engine software update but it could have been the transmission as well. Taking it in next week.

 

The R56 was programmed the same way. If you are coasting up a slight grade to a stop the car downshifts at ~19mph with a jerk. If you are giving it slight throttle the jerk is less but still there. Not sure if thats going into 1st or 2nd, though.

As far as creeping intensely, in mid mode id guess its starting in 2nd gear. Only in sport mode does it start in 1st gear. You can test this by creeping from a stop and paddle shift downa gear and see if it goes into true 1st gear.

 

Thanks for the replies everyone! I will definitely bring it up when I go in for service. Being a 2016, I have a feeling its up-to-date on software, but ya never know! Thanks again.

 

My 2015 F56-S behaves exactly how you described on all counts. It has since day one of getting the car new, and I'm 25k in already.

I do have the NM Power Module installed, which changes the throttle response slightly, but it acted this way prior to installing it.

 

Echo that. In Sport you should feel harder and more aggressive shifts, but Mid should be smooth. Mine only shifts to first after the car is stopped (or nearly stopped).

One thing worth mentioning. When I first took delivery and started driving my car, I noticed that car would "buck" on take off. I was put off by this as no car I'd owned previously displayed the jerky behavior. As soon as I took my foot off the brake and applied any amount of gas, the car would jerk or buck before taking off.

One of the members here mentioned that moving the shift lever to M/S mitigates this behavior (and it did). Other members said that's just the way Mini's drive (which I could not accept). In fact, I wondered how a car displaying this behavior could pass QA.

Fast forward to today. I am accustom to the car now and don't even notice this behavior anymore. As stated, no other car (new or used) displayed the "start-off" behavior of the Mini. But today, I embrace it as something distinctly Mini (in fact I do not notice it as an issue any longer).

I have the JCW tune on the car w/ some the lightest wheels and tires I could find. I run mine in sport w/ exhaust open and shift level set to M/S and enjoy the instant throttle response and the "jerky/quirky" off the line performance.

 

Your question 1, I noticed this from the beginning in Nov 2014 on my 2015 f56 and mentioned this several times to the service foreman. They say it's normal behavior. I don't like it and their latest software has not addressed this problem yet since it's most likely a very low priority. My mazda cx-5 starts off the brake very smooth while f56 feels like it jerks off the line making it impossible for a smooth start. It's like the engine is fighting with the brake when in D.