i do alot of freeway driving in my cooper. i also tend to drive 70-90 mph on the freeway. i noticed the RPMs on the cooper will be well above 4000 RPMs in 5th gear at those speeds. i have a long work commute and take trips where the engine is running at 4500 RPMs for 5 - 6 hours straight. is this ok on the engine. it seems alittle harsh running at those high RPMs for such a long time all the time. the engine loves to be reved but is anybody else out there with a cooper concerned like i am about high speed freeway driving for long periods of time?

also i heard MINI is putting a 6 speed in the next cooper.

 

I run an air cooled push rod V-twin Buell at 90mph and 5K rpms for hours at a time. Doesn't seem to bother it. I doubt if a car with a radiator and carrying 5 quarts of oil will have any problems running at speed.

 

As long as you are past your break-in period, you are good to go! I took my Cooper cross country from Minnesota to Arizona and back. Averaged 80-85 mph, with 4-5k RPM's. Ran great and cruized beautifully.

Mini's are built to be motored! If we were going to drive at 3000 rpm's or lower, we'd have no business owning a MINI (IMO). Motor on, brother. Just enjoy the sound of that MINI engine. Nothing better!

 

Aren't they adding a 6th gear to the '07 Cooper to minimize this kind of drone?

It's probably not too stressful on the engine though - definitely not as harsh as gunning it from every red light!

 

I was wondering about the same thing before getting my '06 Cooper - I was used to driving a 6 sp Audi running about 3300rpm @ 80mpg. However, once i put a few thousand miles on the mini - it feels fine - 4000rpm is exactly 82 mph, and the engine is absolutely smooth and unstressed. i believe it is actually quieter at 80 than my TT. If I didn't look down at the tach I wouldn't know it was 4K rpm. I wouldn't worry about it.