I haven't done much freeway driving with my new MCSa in non-sport mode, so I was surprised to find that the engine revs about 700 rpm less in non-sport mode. Anyone else noticed this? and is there a reason other than fuel economy?

---the whole rev range per gear is higher in sport mode. You can work around this by moving the trans into manual mode and shift up thru the gears to sixth which will effeectively drop the revs to non sport range for highway cruising.

The gear ratios will be the same in sport or non sport. This is a physical gear.

The 700 rpm seems large to me and could be a function of the torque converter staying unlocked in sport mode to allow faster acceleration. This will also hurt fuel economy not having the converter locked on the highway.

if you have the sport button on and the shifter in auto mode, the trans will not shift out of fifth gear. Therefore, higher revs on the hihgway. Same goes for sport mode around town. It stays in a lower gear at all times then if sport were off and it was shifting up sooner. Additionally, if you leave the trans on the manual shift side even if its shifting itself, it will run a program carrying more revs(lower gear) as if the sport mode were engaged. Engaging sport and manual shift ( with or without shifting) does not alter the revs but tightens the steering.

It take some getting used to. Can not tell you if toruque convertor is locked or unlocked in sport mode. I think its the programming of the shift points/gears in each mode.

Not to hijack this thread, but what exactly happens when the sports button is engaged in a 6 speed manual? Are there mileage issues? I know there is a change in the steering. Would anyone like to elaborate? Thanks!

The sports button in the manual tightens the steering and increases the initial response rate of the throttle. Your shift points are determined by you the driver not by the slushbox, so they do not have to change unless you want to change them. Your milage can suffer because you or at least me tend to drive faster and accelerate quicker in sports mode which uses more fuel, but the difference in mileage is a function of the driver and not the gear box.

On question would be how the cruise control handles the throttle. It is possible that you will get better mileage without the sport button "on" when using the cruise control. I'm about to do the auto-sport mod, but I may turn it off on the highway. We'll see.

Just my .02, your mileage may vary....

The "instant" (one second's) gas mileage feature on the tach will tell the story for you.

You should be able to 'paddle-shift' into 6th gear in sport mode, (6th is an overdrive and ultimate top speed may still remain in 5th gear).

With cruise control, selecting 'Resume' in auto mode (I noticed this in non-sport) will often cause a downshift for acceleration, (not good for mpg's)
move gear lever to manual mode and it will stay in same gear.

I noticed this on a recent road trip. What's interesting is that sometimes the downshift is 2 gears instead of 1. Very weird to go from 6th to 4th.

So is there a difference in Sport modes when the shifter is moved to the left and manual is engaged vs. doing the same thing AND pushing the Sport button?

Yes, moving shifter left just allows you to hold or select gear changes, same result on gear change from paddles as moving shift lever fwd/back, but with lever in manual, it will remain in gear selected, but if in auto shift mode, paddle shift selection reverts to auto shift after a fashion.

With sport mode enabled, all manual/paddle shift actions are controled exactly the same as non-sport, but all the shifts are more positive, or firmer.

In sport-mode w/auto shift, gear changes (up or down) are done at higher RPM as well as being more positive.

I would expect that you would attain the highest miles-per-gallon with your automatic by using Sport Mode but manual gear selection.

By commanding earlier up-shifts and later down-shifts, your performance would suffer but mileage would increase, exactly when to upshift would depend on load, wind, road surface, temperature and tyre rolling resistance.

The more positive shifting with sport mode should also increase mileage. Cruise Control on level Highways would increase mileage, with hills, you do better without it as long as you are able to hold a steady throttle and allow it to slow uphill and increase speed downhill. The MINI's Resume function accelerates faster than best economy, just use the (+) button for a more gradual acceleration.

with sport button on in my experience it keeps the engine ready and primed for go time, where theres little to no turbo lag, the transmisson, when in manual mode will stay in a gear untill it hits redline and will shift up on its own under heavy accerlation if you dont. with it in auto mode with sport it will shift earlier but higher than without sport mode engaged. also what i've found is that the transmission will shift into 6th at 40mph 5th at about 31 if im remembering correctly 4th at about 27..and i cant remember the other, i know because im always in manual mode, more recently with sport just to make the turbo lag vanish but i still try and keep the revs as low as possable when crusing around unless im feeling saucy. at 40mph in 6th the engine is turning over at about 1500 rpm. also i know from experience that the car will do over 50mph in 2nd alone! hahaha, lately i've been feeling very saucy and have been doing alot of 1st -2nd gear blasting which has brought my average down to about 27mpg. also gear or speed aside the revs are the same sport on or not, sport on just keeps the car more on its toes and in the lower gear for the most of the peak power band from what i've seen. as for freeway speeds. the revs are the same. cruise control on 65 6th gear. button on aprox 2000 rpm button off exact same, but when i turn it back on i belive it down shifts

I'd agree with Peter. Sport mode changes how the computer controls the tranny, and pretty much keeps it in 5th gear at high speeds, unless shifting control has been bypassed by manual mode. 6th is a pretty extreme overdrive (the ratio makes the wheels turn faster than the engine) which is great for mileage, but not so great for engine performance: the turbo needs exhaust flow to operate and the engine always puts out more horsepower at higher RPMs.

As for the cruise control, it will shift the car from 6th to 5th whenever the difference between the set speed and current speed is more than 3 mph. I just used the CC to cruise through a 2000 mile driving vacation and became very familiar with this feature. I tend to use the cruise control to increase my milage by lessening the number of times I change the car's speed. Everytime you change speed, the acceleration burns a little bit more fuel than what was saved during deceleration. Multiply that by the hundreds of times I've seen some people do that results in a significant amount of fuel burn. The super consistent speed of the cruise control made for an additional 4 mpg on the flat, straight freeways.

This is a great thread! Its definately helpful to get an idea of when to use the sport button before my MINI arrives.

I remember toggling between sport on/off a few times during my test drive. Driving in sport definately put the biggest grin on my face