Done about 550 miles so far and have finally found my comfort level w/ the automatic. Have to admit, its not bad at all. My totally subjective comments.

The car is plenty quick in full automatic but comes "alive" in sport of manual shift mode even if you do not shift gears. The raised rev limits keep the engine in a better sweet spot.

At first I thought I preferred the manual mode w/o shifting gears except to downshift for turns. Re-evaluated that and now run full manual shifting gears with the gear lever rather than the steering wheel buttons ( 40 plus years of rowing gears will do that to ya). I prefer to control the gear change rather than letting the brain box do the work and it downshifts "smoother" manually then the computer chosen gear down points (can be jerky). It upshifts and downshifts immediately and helps keep the chassis balanced very well. The only downside for me is a few brain fades forgetting to upshift--still driving an auto---that will fade in the next few days with more miles.

I also have added the sport button engaged to the full manual shifting and like the weight of the steering in that mode.

On the highway I just drop it back into full auto dropping revs and saving a few hydrocarbons. The accelerator downshift gives more than enough passing power when needed. I am still on break in so have not really run up the tach. There is more than enough power to pass even using the imposed 4500 limit.

For those who like hole shots (not that I have tried yet) you can downshift into 1st at stop lights (sport/manual is a 2nd gear start) and really burn up those run flats.

For those who have opted this trans by choice or compromised to accomadate another driver (ME) this is a fun, efficient automatic. Maybe someday MINI will have a DSG type trans but for now, I am very satisfied. Its all good--it just took some experimenting to find my comfort level. Now a few more miles and I can run up the tach and really feel the need for speed.

I wonder how much the JCW kit will raise the bar. Got to start salting away those pennies. That kit could be very tempting. Jury still out on runflats. Not liking the lack fo feel. Can't decide if I should burn these tires up or opt out now. Even 20K miles is a year and a half away. Brigestones RE960 AS 215/45-17 (this is my snow car) highly endorsed by my guy at Tire Rack. Loved the P Zero Nero M/s on 2004 Cooper but Bridegstones are supposedly better.

PS..this trans is way better than CVT. No jerking in reverse. No early morning run away.

 

Thanks for your thoughts on the MCSa. I'm looking forward to driving mine in about a month

 

I'm a huge fan of the auto. I know the difference, and for a pure weekend / track car I would buy a manual, but for a daily driver that also gets driven HARD on the twisties, my auto is GREAT. I think the auto with paddles in sport/manual mode is an advantage on heavy twisties like the dragon...

 

Sometimes I wish I got the automatic too! Mine is an 07MCS manual... I missed the feeling of just stepping down on the gas and GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO~ now I've gotta downshift, well not that often, provided with the torque that we're getting. But sometimes I still wish I got an automatic~

 

I couldn't agree more.. after owning mine for 10 days, and 900 miles (great weekend.. ahem ), I'm not sure now that I would have bought the 6-speed manual even if I didn't have bad knees. I've really grown to appreciate the auto for what it can do.

The car is extremely user friendly - as long as you don't need to haul 3 friends of family membes around on a daily basis.