Just got my order number for this. I'm looking for owners with this combo to give me some insight on the handling. thanks

 

As a lay-man I would say the following: My Mini (LTL YELO) beats every one away from the lights, goes up to a ton like a rocket, corners like it's on rails and does everything you could wish for, Then if you want to be Stirling Moss you can knock it to the right, change down and really scream, But but what do I know? maybe a stick shift is even more radical. Ron

 

CVT all the way. I really like the sport mode, altho mostly on surface streets, or passing on the freeway. The Standard Mode works very well as an overdrive, cruising at 80 at about 3,000 RPM. The CVT forces you to be a smooth driver, with careful input of the throttle. Not that you go slow, but since it's fly-by-wire, stomping on it just spools up the revs, while the CVT keeps it at optimum input. I get a better feel from the gas pedal in the CVT than I got on the shifter MINIs I drove. There seemed to be a very slight lag when you give it the gas on the 5-speed. Or maybe I just didn't like the feel of it.
The Steptronic mode takes some getting used to, and as the computer actually controls everything, practice makes perfect. It can be driven as 6-speed quite easily, which was my secondary motive for getting it in the first place. Now I got a 6-speed Cooper!

BCNU,
Rob in Dago

 

Thanks for the reply. Actually, I idolized Stirling Moss some 35 years ago. I've never bought a car for fun before, and they banned imports of Minis from the U.S. right before I could drive. But I watched them race.

So my on-order Mini is my mid life fling. And a link to the country, that next to my own, I truly love. (If it weren't built in Oxford, I couldn't have done it)

-minidad

 

thanks, you and your compadre in San Diego have given me some good tips- and something to look forward to.