Drove an automatic loaner again. If Minis like that are allowed to exist, then there is no God.

 

Testify Brother Beavis!!

Rawhyde

 

Amen, Brother Butthead!

 

To some the glass is half-empty....to some the glass is half-full. I'd take a MINI loaner over anything else any day.

 

Can of worms has officially been opened again.

(FWIW, I totally agree, unless MINI adopts VW/Audi's DSG).

I love the 6-speed manual tranny.

 

I think this one will be a holy war.

 

Was it CVT or automatic?

 

It was an 06 Cooper. And it was very lame.

 

Sigh. I'm tired of arguing my case.

But if anyone who thinks that a MINI with a CVT is absolutely worthless is ever in the DC area, I invite you to take a ride with me in my lowly CVT MINI. Not to show you that it is in any way, shape, or form better than a manual, mind you. But to show you that when you're used to and skilled with 'working' the CVT, and it admittedly takes more a lot more practice & effort than it has any right to, the CVT can certainly hold its own.

(Oh, and to answer the obvious 'well why didn't you just get a manual if a CVT is such a PITA' - I didn't want to deal with DC traffic with a manual. I've since seen the light, and realized that a MINI + manual transmission + DC traffic really isn't that much of a big deal. But unless anyone wants to buy a fairly loaded '04 MINI Cooper w/ a CVT and 77K+ miles for... <checking loan amount still owed> $14.5k, I'm pretty much stuck. And since I'm stuck, I'm going to continue to very much enjoy driving my 'lame' CVT into the ground! )


-Paul!

 

Yea...that pretty much sums up how I feel...

I am sick of hearing people say how much better the manual is VS, the automatic or CVT transmission. Yes, I drive an Automatic S...I wish I could magically turn it into a standard, but regardless, it is still a MINI, and I still enjoy driving it everyday...and to be honest, the paddle shifters are very fun and convient sometimes too - sure the shift between gears is not quite as fast as a manual transmission, but I feel I can still have just as much fun in my auto MINI as you can in your manual JCW MINI. It all depends on the way you aproach it!

Plus...I can laugh at you all when you are struggling to get started on a steep hill while I am already 100 feet ahead of you .

And anyways, personally I feel you should not be complaining about getting a loaner MINI in the first place, be it a CVT or a JCW. When I go to the dealership to get service on my MINI, I sit at the dealership for three hours (sometimes five!). Why? Because loaners don't exist for the "lowly" MINI owners at the BMW dealership .

 

Heh, forgot to mention but you reminded me skitelluride531, one of the local-ish DC dealers gave me a loaner for the day so I didn't have to sit in the waiting area. (MINI of Towson rocks!!) It was the slowest MINI of them all - a MINI Cooper convertible automatic !!

When I returned the car later in the day, the woman behind the loaner counter mentioned that she thought she saw me driving around town. She then asked with a sly grin if I knew anything about some guy in a MINI convertible that was driving around chirping the tires! Of course, I knew nothing of the sort...


-Paul!

 

I wonder if the same sentiments will be expressed if later in life you manage to develop a case of tendonitis.... I rather doubt you will take the bargain of hobbling around on crutches for the ability to drive a manual transmission....

 

an auto offers a DIFFERENT driving experience. DIFFERENT means it's DIFFERENT, but it DOES NOT mean it's "not fun". I enjoy the fact that I can focus on choosing my drive line, and passing points without having to take both hands off the wheel. I enjoy the fact that I don't have to upshift and downshift, clutching with a stiffening left leg, every 10 to 30 feet in "stop and go traffic" on a 15-20 mile stretch of bumper to bumper traffic every weekday morning. And somebody on this thread already mentioned steep hills.

Sure there's a slight second lag between PADDLE SHIFTING gears, but it's all about TIMING, and that presents the new challenge with driving an auto. Auto drivers are playing a different game with different rules....and they're having just as much fun at their own game. You say football I say soccer. blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. At the end of the day, everyday, my car will still have the emblem that says it's a MINI COOPER.

OK...now that I've said that...if I were to own a second car in my "two car garage"...definately a 6-speed manual MINI, no doubt about it. So if you wanna stick your nose up to the one car owners...

 

Hey, it's all good. Well, except for automatic Minis.

(Just kidding.)

 

LOL - XAlfa has laid his vengeance upon thee!

 

At least your loaner was a MINI!! I drive a standard and while I love it, I KNOW that I would most assuredly take a Mini loaner...even an automatic...over having to drive some other car. Just enjoy the very fact that you still got to drive a...(say it 3 times now) MINI...MINI...MINI!!!

 

I've driven the CVT and it was weird at first then I got used to it then I like it a lot. Now I want one!

 

I'd love to try one as well...

 

CVT rocks. '02 MC, 39K miles, no issues, pure fun.

 

well arn't loaner car usualy beat to hell anyways?

 

Maybe master XAlfa would care to elaborate on his "terrible" experience behind the wheel of that MC CVT. Cough, cough....

 

Maybe it was *gasp* yellow?

 

Yeah that too.

 

I only owned cars with manual trannies in them from the time I was 18 until just 5 or 6 years ago. That was over 20 years of driving manuals and I swore I would never drive anything BUT.

Then, I was shopping for a car back in 2001 and came across a stunning, green, Nissan 240SX with white leather seats. Gorgeous car ! But I'll be damned if it didn't have a stupid automatic transmission. A sporty car like that ?? Who was the idiot that decided on that ? Well... I test drove it and learned that automatic transmissions of today are not the transmissions that my dad drove back in the 70's. They are MUCH smoother, much more responsive, and actually FUN to drive.

XAlfa, I hope you never develop arthritic knees or tendonitis in your right elbow. But if you do, you'll be glad they make such good automatics these days. Like Paul! said, driving a stick in the city is rough when the body starts to tell you you're not 25 any more.

 

Hubby took his oversided Dodge pickup in for repair this week. Guess what his loaner was? Died laughing every day I came home to see it in the drive...

PT Cruiser!

p.s. one of my selling points for getting a manual was that...if my hands are needed to shift then I won't ever be on the phone while driving again, will I?