Had my car in for service yesterday, a 2009 S, and was provided a loaner of a 2011 S. First thing I noticed differently in the acceleration was it felt like there was no turbo lag which I often feel I experience with mine. Was there a significant gear ratio modification from the 2009 to 2011?

 

The 2011 has a revised engine with double vanos. It's a little more flexible than the older ones. I suspect that's what you're noticing.

 

Darn; is there anything that can be done on the 2009 to help with this?

 

No, you're not going to replicate that technology in your car. There's other things you can do to reduce the turbo lag, but the 2011 has a substantially different engine than your car. Sorry!

 

Kind of figured that, but thought I would check.

Can you elaborate on the other things to reduce turbo lag?

 

I'm probably the wrong guy to ask, I'm not very knowledgeable about modding Mini engines. I do know the Alta Access Port is considered one of the best bang for your buck mods. I'd do it immediately if I wasn't still under warranty.

 

Didn't really want to get into modding an engine...any simpler routes?

Does fuel type or occasional dry gas additives make any difference?

 

Not really.

 

Minis have one of the smallest turbos made. I don't know about you but I can hear my turbo fully spooled at 2k rpm. I barely call that lag at all
Some people say boost tubes will help turbo lag but I'm not sure how much improvement they can possibly make, the engine has to do some work to produce enough exhaust to power the turbo.
Different types of gas will not help turbo lag

 

Yeah the turbo spools up fairly quick on these being twin scroll and all. 2k is pretty low to build psi. My wrx started building psi at about 3k-3.5k.

 

I don't have a boost gauge yet, I ordered one yesterday, but I have a k&n intake an I cn hear the turbo spooling and building boost pretty quickly. Also when I let off the gas I can hear the diverter valve release and let out a some pressure, enough to get a pretty big whoosh
I'm sure it's not a lot of boost, maybe 5 lbs but it does build pretty quickly

 

As a owner of a 08 MCS I too noticed a lot of difference with the 2011 MCS's. My loaner felt alive as could be. The engine in the 07-10 (N14) is different than the 11+ (N16 I believe). Like stated above the double VANOS helps.

Some things I have done to remedy the sluggishness of the N14:

-Get rid of the hot side boost tube. The muffler's increased diameter allows air to expand (momentary loss of held pressure) and spool up is delayed. This was my first mod and a faster spool up was easy to notice. This made the car much easier to drive from a stop.
-I purchased a CAI, this removed a lot of resistance from the intake track and again spool up was much faster.
-I then did a cat-back exhaust (2nd cat & res delete) and again spool up was increased again. It just keeps getting better and better. All while increasing my gas mileage too! My exhaust was done my by locale speed shop.
-My most recent upgrades were the ALTA FMIC and the ALTA AccessPORT. NOTE: the FMIC just by itself is a great upgrade (not price wise however) as the ALTA FMIC has less boost drop over the entire core than the OEM one!!
-The AccessPORT is the hands down best money you can spend on your MINI. Period. I am not trying to push anyone's products nor do I work for ALTA but damn their products work great together.

Long story short, the hot side boost tube and the intake were great adds for the money and took away most of the 'sluggishness' of the N14.

Hope this helps.

 

Automatic transmission? I suspect they adjusted the shifting parameters after so many people b1tched about it. Nothing to do with gears but certainly driving feel.

 

The older motors also had more of a carbon issue on the intake valves....
Ask your dealer about it...many threads on it here. Newer motors have a revised pcv system and valve cover to help...but the laggy feeling is a symptom....
Newer car also has a revised motor...the vvt...has a wider torque band....