I just traded in my CVT for a JCW today! The club has two members so far, ssallykat, and myself. Any other 'Extreme' upgraders out there?


(And thanks to COOPERation for the excellent 'club' badge!!



-Paul!

(Note - this thread isn't an invite for JCW haters (or even JCW hater haters ) that are out there. Take it to another thread! )

 

that badge is tight congrats on the JCW!

 

Woo woo - good for you, Paul! What was it like making the transition from CVT to manual; had you ever driven a stick before?

 

yes went form an 03 Cooper non S to the JCW whoo Hoo big fun Big smiles

 

How's your neck?

 

The most I've ever driven a stick was a practice round with a bet-up old Acura Integra with a fairly shot clutch, a practice round on a friends JCW (thanks, Krut ), and about an hour and a half with the MA in the parking lot when the paperwork had been signed!

I managed to make the 50 mile trip home without stalling, or grinding any gears! Now, I wasn't the smoothest manual driver, but I think that could be forgiven considering the circumstances!

The Cooper S transmission is a very forgiving transmission to learn on. It has enough torque to it that it makes it easy to get going in first - even on a hill! Because of that, after spending an hour or so doing circles in the dealership driveway, I felt comfortable enough to just drive away!

And becoming very good with the CVT manual mode really is actually helping me to pick up manual transmission driving skills fairly quickly. Because of the CVT manual mode, I understand where and when to shift from the sound and 'feel' of the engine, and I understand principles like engine braking, even if I haven't quite mastered them with a manual yet! But I figure that will come in time. Bur for my first 12 hours and 50 miles, I think I'm doing pretty good!

Also, I'd like to mention as an aside that I have nothing but love for the CVT! It takes a while to learn how to eke all of the power that it is capable of out of it (I'd say that it took me about 20,000 miles before I could really drive it well), but when you really learn how to drive it, it's a very respectable, if very misunderstood, transmission! When I traded it in, I had 83k miles on it put on since March '04, and it was still going strong! I hope that my JCW is as trouble free as my CVT!


-Paul!

 

Fine - traction control has yet to be turned off! I have seen the light flicker a few times coming out of first gear though!


-Paul!

 

Im a little late, but as soon as I saw your signature, Paul, i had to find your first post with the new mini... I can't believe it! You said you'd never be able to get out of the cvt too.


Congrats!

 

Hehe, thanks! I really didn't think I could afford a new one, especially considering that I had 83k+ miles on my '04. But, with the egging on of the fellow 'extreme' upgrader, Sally (aka ssallykat) told me to just see what would happen. Tate MINI gave me a very reasonable trade-in deal, and my bank happily gave me a new loan, so, I decided 'why not?'!

Although, this wasn't my first post. That one was better, if decieving! Check here for the first post!


-Paul!

 

yes... i didn't bother reading about your net hat... i'm sorry

 

(it really wasnt about his hat )