If you have a CVT (automatic) transmission on your cooper you know that it can be shifted into steptronic mode where you control what gear its in. So its kinda like manual but not really. My question is, how do I use this feature? Do I start in 1st and then build up to 5th as I go faster? I have no clue when to upshift or downshift and when I do try and use it the car gets VERY jerky and Im afraid Im going to kill the engine. I would like to use this feature more often, but dont know how. The manual does not explain it at all. Does anyone have any pointers?

 

You use it the same way you would use a standard transmission. Have you ever driven a stick shift? I would recommend playing with it on an open road or parking lot and when your radio is off so you can really listen to the engine rev. Start out in first. You really only need to stay in first when you are below 10-15 miles/hour (ie-just starting to pull away from a light, etc.) As you increase speed, watch your tachometer. When you reach about 4,000 RPMs, shift into the next highest gear. Normal driving (40 MPH or so) will be in 3rd or 4th gear. As you slow down, downshift. You can use downshifting to slow yourself down as you approach a stop sigh, etc. You will eventually learn by the sound of the engine (when it really starts revving) to upshift. When you first start out and she starts to shudder, you do not have it in a high enough gear. Try shifting to 2nd or 3rd. It really takes practice, but you will start to learn fun tricks. One of my favorites is this: When you are driving in say 3rd or 4th and you want a burst of power to pass another car, downshift to 2nd, slam the gas and you will take off with a quick burst-then shift back up to 3rd or 4th. Fun! When you are driving on the highway (60 MPH+) you will be in 5th or even 6th gear and will not have to do much shifting. Don't be afraid to play...after all, there is no clutch to burn up! Hope this helps! Have fun and happy motoring!

 

>>If you have a CVT (automatic) transmission on your cooper you know that it can be shifted into steptronic mode where you control what gear its in. So its kinda like manual but not really. My question is, how do I use this feature? Do I start in 1st and then build up to 5th as I go faster? I have no clue when to upshift or downshift and when I do try and use it the car gets VERY jerky and Im afraid Im going to kill the engine. I would like to use this feature more often, but dont know how. The manual does not explain it at all. Does anyone have any pointers?


I have a Cooper CVT and make frequent use of the Steptronic program. If you have ever driven or know how to drive a manual transmission car, the use of the Steptronic is pretty intuitive with the difference that you are not dealing with a clutch pedal between each gear change.

Did your dealer demonstrated to you how to use the Steptronic mode in the CVT?? My dealer did 3 times and made sure I knew how to use it before allowing to drive away home in our new MINI.


The beauty of the CVT is that you can toggle back and forth between all 3 available programing modes (Normal, Sport and Steptronic) while you are driving or "On the fly" without having to stop or otherwise running the risk of overreving the engine by selecting the wrong gear. The CVT is pretty smart becuase while in steptronic mode the computer automatically compensates the gearing and matches the correct gear for you according to engine/vehicle speed when switching from normal mode to sport/steptronic modes. If by any chance, say, you try to select second gear while doing 65MPH, the computer has a fail safe program that will not allow you to do so in order to avoid overreving the engine which could cause damage, so in this sense you are much more likely to kill the engine if you were driving a 5 speed stick Cooper than a CVT.

To use the CVT Steptronic mode perform the following steps:

(Starting from standstill):

1) Slide the gearshift selector to the rightmost position to change from Normal to Sport Mode (Notice in the center speedo that the gear position letter changes from either P or D to SD = Sport Mode) The "-M/S+" quadrant at the shifter's base will light up.

2) Tap the shifter towards the "-" position one time. Now the Speedo indicator will display "1" meaning that you are in "Manual" "First Gear".

3) Begin accelerating the car normally and watch the tach needle. As you accelerate the engine will begin to request gear changes (Increased noise and power buildup), tap the gearshift towards the "+" position to make a quick change to 2 gear and then onto 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th gears dependending on traffic/driving conditions. To lower gears tap towards the "-" sign like when you are lowering your speed to recover momentum, passing or entering a curve. Again if you are not used to drive a manual stick shift car this will feel very akward to you at first until you get the hang of it. Don't let the RPM's go beyond 3 to 4K RPMs between each upshift.

4) the center speedo indicator will show you in which gear you are currently geared into. Don't panic, the computer will automatically compensate if you make a mistake when selecting the gears either up or down.

5) At first, practice with the CVT Steptronic mode in a street with light traffic. Practice shifting and downshifting, entering curves, slowdown, accelerating etc, until you understand the way the car reacts to each gear shift change. Soon you'll discover how much more fun it is to drive the car in steptronic mode (It will feel natural after a while) and how much more power the engine develops from standstill and in the midrange at highwayspeeds etc.

6) when you get tired of playing with the steptronic mode, simply move the gearshift selector to the left and you'll be again in full automatic normal mode.

7) While driving in normal mode at any speed, you can switch from normal mode to steptronic on the fly. Simply push the gearshift selector to the right and then "tap" the selector towards the "+" or "-" sign. The computer will automatically take you to the right gear (Say if you are doing 70MPH the computer will automatically take you to 6th gear) and you don't have to stop or start way down from 1st gear or anyhting like that.

The "+"/"-" movement of the CVT gearshift selector feels weird at first, but after practicing with it, you get used to it and it is loads of fun. Again, don't play with the Steptronic on heavy traffic until you have mastered it. It takes no time and the computer's fail safe program makes it much easier than learning and dealing with a real manual transmission.

Also, while in Sportmode and Steptronic, the program makes the engine run at higher RPM's to keep it running at peak in the powerband. Don't fret, this is normal and as long as you don't take the tach needle to the redline, you are not damaging the engine, just uncovering the sportier side of the Cooper CVT.

Hope this helps.

 

thanks so much. I will be sure to try this out. Hopefully I can get the hang of it, as I have never driven manual before.