I'm most interested in commments/feedback from owners as to their experience with the AUTO TRANS with Agitronic Paddles. I was quite impressed with it (obviously) at the MINI of DALLAS dealership but, of course, my test drive lasted only about 20 minutes. How does it perform in highway traffic ??? ...on mountain roads???

 

Mine can be pretty jerky sometimes. I don't know the exact conditions that cause it, I haven't paid that much attention, I just know sometimes it jerks the heck out of the car and makes me mad.

 

I only test-drove one in a 2005 MCSc. I thought it was terrible. The rubber bands need to be tighter. The shifts were very slow, low in the rpm range, and any AI applied to make the decisions did not match my way of thinking. I chose the 6-speed without questioning that decision at all.

 

I love it - after 3600 miles still very happy with it - we both find the car responsive and quick. The adaptiveness of the transmission does 'learn' from the way you drive in any mode. I drive it in manual mode more often then not, even in traffic, and found that I innately got used to the slight lag in upshifts seamlessly by just going up a gear slightly before reaching the optimum revs. The downshifts are spot on. The break in of the car plus the adaptive software may account for it feeling better then a test drive (and in my test drive it didn't help that the sales guy was on the bigger side, plus the SO was in the back). I still have the original software in the car, can't speak for how any newer versions might effect the shifting, etc. Being able to keep both hands on the wheel and shift has been fun and useful, having experienced that using SMGII we knew it was worthwhile for us.