Unfortunately, I've only driven a couple stick cars other than mine, so I don't really have a point to reference, but by far, it seems like the Mini has been the hardest for me to drive smoothly. Because I've driven the car 13,000+ miles now from when I bought it, I think I'm pretty smooth and my friends seem to agree as they say it feels as smooth as an auto now. I drove a friend's 2019 Civic Si a few days ago and couldn't help but notice how much easier it was to drive smoothly, I thought I was pretty smooth within a few miles of stop and go. The Mini on the other hand jerks around violently even if you miss the correct speed you're supposed to rev match to by a little bit. The most obvious was at low parking lot speeds in first gear. The Mini would almost throw you forward when you let off the throttle quickly, where as the Civic wouldn't really do that to the same extent. Is this normal for these cars, or do I need to clean my throttle body or something? I understand that newer cars do have a bit of rev hang built in to prevent jerky shifting, but is it not the same for the Mini because of the drive by wire system?

 

Sorry, I forgot to mention this is an S model, I think the non-S uses a different gearbox.

 

When I first bought my R53 it was impossible to drive smoothly. Just as you describe, anything less than perfect would jolt people around. I eventually discovered that my lower engine mount was torn (and had to cut it to pieces with an angle grinder and dremel to get out - different story). After replacing that, the car shifted better. I took the hint, and replace the other 2 engine mounts and the transmission mount (all were completely torn). After that, it was a different car. It shifted as smooth as I assume it did new. Since then, I replaced all the shock mounts, which took a lot of the random banging and rumbling away. I next replaced all the ball joints and the sway bar bushings, which I think helped, although I don't think they were as bad (previous owner replaced the lca bushing). I recently did the crank pulley, although its not much of a difference, I'm still convinced its smoother. Oh, and I did the clutch about a year ago. And the shift cables. and probably more I'm forgetting. All those things made the driving experience better.

TL,DR: engine mounts

 

I agree. Check the motor mounts. The upper oil filled one in my facelift R50 fails about every 30k miles it seems and causes jerky shifts. The lower mount doesn’t last much longer with the OEM rubber bushings. The transmission mount is sturdier.

 

Thanks! I'll take a look at some of this stuff. I think the car is mostly up to date maintenance wise but I'm not sure what the previous owner did/ or didn't do. It doesn't feel impossible to shift smoothly just difficult to, but I will still check some of this out.

 

See my pics here for what a bad upper motor mount looks like.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ml#post4451183