I have a 2010 Clubman, automatic, no turbo. One thing I noticed, if I'm cruising down a steep hill at highway speed and tap the brake, the car down shifts. Is it engine braking automatically? Is this a feature? I'd rather keep coasting down the hill sometimes and find this annoying.

 

What happens if you don't tap the brake pedal? Do you have cruise control?

 

If I don't need to touch the brake, the Mini will stay in 6th gear as I go downhill. Good question about cruise control, I'll check that out next week on the way to work. I'm talking about route 280 in North Jersey if anyone's familiar with it, but it does happen on other steep downgrades.
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My 09 Clubman S automatic engine brakes down hills also. I haven't noticed if it initiates when I press the brake pedal, but I do notice it stays in a lower gear than expected sometimes. If I want to go faster I usually manually upshift with the paddle shifters.

 

I have a 2010 Clubman S. Does the same thing. Seems like it's using the engine intentionally to assist in braking. Happens NOT on hills, too. Kind of takes a little getting used to when driving around town.