After having the car for a week, there's one thing I really don't like about my MCS. It has difficulty sustaining a set speed with cruise control and often fluctuates +/- 5 MPH. For me, this could be the difference of cruising safely or getting pull over for speeding.

I spoke to MINI service advisor and she indicated that's normal for MINI. Is that true?

 

Yes, I have seen my speedo go from 80 to 68 when cruise is set to 75. I wish it was more accurate in keeping the speed to the set MPH.

 

Mine stays right on except I keep coming up on cars that need passing.

 

i really have not had a problem with it, but after we all went to cleveland to get V36 loaded into our ECU's, Ryephile siad his cruise was much better and held a better speed. so amybe this will help you too. motor on!


the chad

 

>>i really have not had a problem with it, but after we all went to cleveland to get V36 loaded into our ECU's, Ryephile siad his cruise was much better and held a better speed. so amybe this will help you too. motor on!
>>


I've noticed the cruise control on my '04 S also fluctuates +/- 5 MPH. My '93 Honda Del Sol only fluctuates 1-2 mph over the same stretches of highway.

I'm taking my S in on the 26th to have the minifini armrest installed. I'll ask about what version software my ECU has and see about upgrading to V36 then. Thanks for the info...

Dan

 

The mini's engine lacks the power and engine braking capabilities at low rpm to maintain a constant speed when ascending and decending grades.

It's in the manual.

 

It stays within +/- 2mph for my 5-speed, but I only use it at highway speeds where the rpms are up around 4K. At lower speeds/rpms maybe it would be different.

But I use CC everyday (highway commute) and have no complaints.

Hey Dan, I sold my '94 Del Sol to buy my MINI. I loved that car. Sold it to my nephew with 275K miles on it and it's still going strong.

 

>>After having the car for a week, there's one thing I really don't like about my MCS. It has difficulty sustaining a set speed with cruise control and often fluctuates +/- 5 MPH. For me, this could be the difference of cruising safely or getting pull over for speeding.
I spoke to a dealer friend of mind who confirms your stsatement that it's "normal for a MINI"...

Peace,
D

 

>>Hey Dan, I sold my '94 Del Sol to buy my MINI. I loved that car. Sold it to my nephew with 275K miles on it and it's still going strong.

My Del Sol only has 195K on it. :smile: I kept it for commuting to work and to use on real bad weather days.

Dan

 

I don’t have a problem with mine.

I’m clocked everyday by police and their radar, on my way to work and my cruise control works fine.

It will fluctuate some as gravity and normal things (hills – down slopes) come in to play, but the cruise control works great in the MINI.

 

When I am driving the MINI the cruise control is off. I just love driving it :smile:
sometimes way to fast but well now that is why I have it

 

As agokart said, I've found that V36 helped out the cruise controls' functionality significantly. While the MINI's CC is by no means an industry benchmark, it does function OK.

 

The cruise control on my '04 MCS is as bad as, or even worse than, you describe. I've had CC on many cars, luxury and cheapo, including a cheap aftermarket unit on an Alfa, and they ALL worked fine. Definitely something wrong with this; can't be "typical for a MINI" if some of you don't have the problem! I doubt fix#36 is the answer - I think that was done to my car before delivery (I asked for it, but then I also asked for DRL, which didn't happen. Anyway, no "stumble" or "yo-yo".). Will have it checked when I go for service.

 

May 02 build:: Cruise control functions as it should. Needle stays pegged at the set speed. :smile:

 

Dec 03 build MCS: same problem here, set speed +/- 3 to 4 mph.
IMHO, the cruise control on the MINI is basically useless bcs of this.
It's not that the car lacks power, because w/o CC you can easily manually keep the speed right on. It's because of the very slow response of the system. On mine I notice that when going downhill it will decelerate too late, way after you have sped up, then as you are coming up on the hill the throttle is closed, and you are rapidly losing speed for 2-3 seconds before the throttle is gradually open. Classic problem of feedback too slow. As a result of this poor setup, I also notice that my gas mileage on hilly roads with CC is about 2-3 mpg lower than w/o CC.
Bottom line: forget about CC on MINIs.

 

Just got back from 7.5 hour trip this PM from SC to PA. On all but the flat sections the cruise was quite frustrating. Would drop 3-8 mph up hills then go 3-5 mph above set limit down hills. Also you had to tap the brake peddle fairly hard to kick off the cruise... much more than just a tap that my wife's Accord needs. That said, I was running 75-83 most of the time. MPG was 25-26 in hilly areas of PA, WV and VA, 29 mpg in NC & SC. That was calculated at fill-ups as I don't have the on-board computer.
Loved every minute of trip, leather sport seats are very comfortable. Was stable as a brick at 85 mph... ran 100 mph several times just to see how it felt... other than the increased sound from the Alta Intake & Magnaflow... could hardly tell the difference between 85 & 100.

 

All I have to say is that it does function.

It is the least consistant of any car I have owned or driven.

 

It seems to me that the CC works better on the '02 Cooper CVT model. I haven't tried it yet on my '04 MCS but I suspect it will work as it should. I'll give it a try this week.

 

>>When I am driving the MINI the cruise control is off. I just love driving it :smile:
>>sometimes way to fast but well now that is why I have it

 

Mine fluctuates significantly, too. Set at 65mph (just an example), it then jumps to 72 or so, then down to 62. Very frustrating. It does it all the time. I don't think my car has ever held a constant speed with the CC on.

I have an appointment tomorrow to get v36 flashed. I am hoping this will solve this issue as well as my yo-yo. Will report back in a week or so after several miles. Stay tuned...

 

From the responses, CC function seems to be inconsistent between different MINIs. I'm wondering if it's model specific (MCS vs. MC vs. CVT), or software version dependent, or worst of all, just another quality issue.

_________________
04 IB/W JCW MCS

 

Has anyone upgrade the software on an JCW MCS?

 

On the freeway when you encounter grades, the CC is sluggish to keep its speed up and it's just RETARDED (literally) like that.

 

Last month i drove my 03 MCS 1600 miles from CA to OKLA. Ran the CC most of the way and I found that it kept a pretty steady speed. No problems to report. :smile:

 

My MCS has wildly imprecise cruise control. I just got updated to v.36 but I haven't tried the cruise yet. IMHO, considering we have drive-by-wire, the cruise control should never deviate by even 1 mph as long as the engine power or engine braking are sufficient to control speed (which they are in nearly all cases since I can manually maintain exact speed on the same stretches where the cruise control falters).