Actually, I once spent a few days without Sport Mode just to see what it would be like. I found that I adapted to it pretty quickly, and it didn't take long before the pedal felt "normal" again. Meaning, it felt like the throttle in any other car.

Naturally, I resumed Sport Mode all the time shortly thereafter. But it was interesting to find that I could still drive in a spirited fashion once my right foot learned the new routine. And actually, the lighter steering was sort of nice too. But again, we've gone back to Sport.

Spridget

 

I think I asked this before but never really got an answer...

Is there any difference in a MCa between pressing the sport button and puting the car into manual shift? To put the question another way, if I am driving in manual shift mode and press the sport button, does anything happen? I am always in manual mode and I don't think there is any difference between sport vs no-Sport but maybe I am missing something.

 

The sport button in an automatic gives you three things: remapped throttle, less power steering assist, and higher shift points. If you throw the shift lever to the side but don't actually do any manual shifts, you get the higher shift points (and the "DS" display on the tach) but not the throttle or steering adjustments. And if you are shifting manually, you can still use the sport button to get the throttle and steering, same as what the sport button does on a manual.

 

Tall Mini and tesseract,
Thank you for the question and answer! I was wondering the same thing. No wonder the paddle shifters work better with sport mode. Duh!

I did find a module you can plug into the fuse box area that puts your car in AutoSport mode every time you start up. Its for sale at MiniMania.com