I pre-ordered my clubbie the day after Thanksgiving and it was delivered two days after launch. I have taken multiple multi-day road trips and numerous daytrips. I have put over 9000 miles on it and have become intimate with the operation of the vehicle.

I use the manual mode shifting almost exclusively... Over 99% of the time. I just prefer to tell the car what gear I want. I really appreciate that this car is fully automatic tho, as the car will downshift all the way to second and will not let you over-rev the engine in any circumstance.

I have discovered an annoying phenomenon while accelerating at or near full throttle. Upshifting at or near redline from first into second results in the car subsequently automatically short-shifting into third (shifts well below redline).

I have driven SMG-equipped BMWs and now much prefer the way that transmission holds the gear (even bouncing off the rev-limiter). As I said before I really like that my MINI is auto but this short-shifting phenomenon is taming my enjoyment of this otherwise very capable transmission.