My wife will only drive an automatic. All ribbing aside (for the obvious reasons), is there any real info out
there on when they might put an automatic transmission in the Cooper S?

Thanks,

Ren.

 

According to several quotes by MINI in car mags., "there wont be a CVT option in the MCS because this is a 'drivers car'."
Who knows, they may change their mind someday.

 

yes my wife says the same thing. i want the s but she wants the automatic. any marriage counsellors out there? i know i should give in but i do not want to.

she has bad memories of me trying to teach her to drive my old 67 camaro. it had a stick but it was really finicky and would get all hosed up on her. i am sure the 6-spd is smooth as silk (i could only test drive a 5-spd) because this is the new millenium and technology surely has improved on the old 3-spd gearbox with the 18-inch long shifter handle, right?

we have to come to a decision that we can both be happy with. any advice?

 

mikihasa, I had a similiar problem with my wife. She has always driven an auto. I have only driven stick shift cars. Well, when we decided to replaced her Honda Civic she wanted a Beetle. She test drove a couple of Beetles and decided she wanted more power. So she saw the brand new Turbo S and fell in love with it. The only problem is that it only comes in a 6 speed manual. At first, she decided against it since she couldn't get an auto. It took a lot of talking, but I convinced her to try the stick on my 2000 Jetta VR6. It is a smooth shifter with an easy clutch. She tried driving my Jetta for a while. After 2 weeks I told her just get the Turbo S and that she would learn the stick in a week mainly out of necessity since it would be her only car. Sure enough, after a week of driving the Turbo S she had the 6 speed manual down to a science. No problems at all. That and now she loves manual cars. She has stated that she never wants an automatic again. This is coming from a person who was adamantly opposed to stick shift cars and never wanted one.

The S' 6 speed is sweet and silky smooth. It is safe to say that the S' shifter is much better than the 67 Camaro shifter your wife tried.

 

Find a driving school that will teach your wife to drive stick. They have professional (Patient) :smile:

 

Oh and she may even teach you a thing or two!

:smile:

 

y'all,

thanks for the encouragement. i was glad to hear the the shifter is smooth as butter and i will seriously consider some professional driving instruction for her because i would not be the ideal person to teach her much of anything. maybe we'll even get her some race course experience--what the heck!

anyway, the s is gonna be my car--she has her 2002 dodge minivan and she promised that the next car we buy would be mine. i saw the mini (i think there is only one here in ocala) and it was lust at first sight. i got it bad, folks. it's like a disease that is slowly killing me...but i don't really mind. weird, huh?

thanks again

 

I have always only driven an automatic. I also had a bad experience in a manual when I was 16, so I never drove a stick. I test drove the CVT and was BORED out of my mind! I decided right then I would learn to drive a stick. I ordered a MINI with the 5 speed manual transmission and the dealership is going to teach me to drive a stick a few days before it arrives. My husband offered to teach me, but better to learn from a stranger. If I get frusterated I will be less likely to yell at someone I don't know as well!

 

As far as I have heard, the supercharger in the Mini S won't support the CVT....at least that is what the dealer told me in the very beginning when I asked alot of questions.....I have a CVT myself and I am glad I got it that way....city driving with a manual transmission is just not for me so it is nice to have the automatic option....plus I have found that the tiptronic is very responsive.....

 

>>I have always only driven an automatic. I also had a bad experience in a manual when I was 16, so I never drove a stick. I test drove the CVT and was BORED out of my mind! I decided right then I would learn to drive a stick. I ordered a MINI with the 5 speed manual transmission and the dealership is going to teach me to drive a stick a few days before it arrives. My husband offered to teach me, but better to learn from a stranger. If I get frusterated I will be less likely to yell at someone I don't know as well! :smile:

 

I wouldn't count on seeing a CVT on an S. CVTs are still in a relatively young developmental stage. The MINI's current CVT cannot handle the increased horsepower/torque of the S over the Cooper.

Whether they will put a standard automatic into the S is anybody's guess, but I wouldn't bet on it.

Audi has just recently re-engineered the CVT and come out with one that can handle the 220 hp its 3.0L V6 puts out. However they had to change some main design elements to do it, so I would not expect to see something like that in the more inexpensive cars for a while. (Audi calls their CVT Multitronic in case you see that term thrown around).

 

after driving a manual for a few days, it becomes automatic

 

>>I have always only driven an automatic. I also had a bad experience in a manual when I was 16, so I never drove a stick. I test drove the CVT and was BORED out of my mind! I decided right then I would learn to drive a stick. I ordered a MINI with the 5 speed manual transmission and the dealership is going to teach me to drive a stick a few days before it arrives. My husband offered to teach me, but better to learn from a stranger. If I get frusterated I will be less likely to yell at someone I don't know as well!



_________________
Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should.

 

I actually went to the dealership last night and since it was slow I took one on a "test drive" to practice. I only killed it twice and learned how to peel away from a stop light