curious what others feelings are on automatic transmission fluid. the past owner of our cooper s swapped out the oem for synthetic. do you thing this was a good change or would you go back to oem? not sure i love the way the car downshifts when coming to a light or starts from a stop but am also uncertain if its simply a characteristic of an automatic turbo or the AFT

 

Can not say about the turbo. I was getting slow shifts a while back. I replaced with Toyota Type IV from the Toyota dealer, $6/quart. Cleared up the problem.
There is a thread here where I did a write up on what tools you need and how to do it. (I mean there are MANY threads on this but I encountered a couple problems and let everybody know).

 

anyone else able to weigh in? Clutchless, any thoughts from you?

 

The downshifts are very harsh and jarring sometimes when I am close to a stop (15 MPH or so), my car has always done it since new. No problems when accelerating though the shifts are smooth and predictable (sport mode makes then much quicker). However, I would make sure the ATF fluid you used meets the JWS3309 ATF spec.

 

Fix it for good, sell the car and buy a manual...lol problem solved.

 

I think that's just the nature of those transmissions?

I had an r56 non-s loaner a few days ago and it almost seems like it tries to simulate having a manual?

The engine braking is there, unlike many automatics that just keep on coasting forever when you let off the gas.

And those downshifts feel like half ***ed single clutch rev-matches.

Example:
Off gas
Engine braking- then a quick sensation of coasting- then back to engine brake......didn't like it, it's very abrupt.

Grab-release-grab

 

thanks all, happy to hear from others too. we had a justa 5 spd but the wife had enough of the shifting and wanted to trade into an "s" auto