I bought a 2008 Mini Cooper w/ 6 speed manual transmission early this month, and haven't had any problems with it until today.

I was in 1st gear attempting to pull away from a stop sign, when the car stalled. It almost seemed like the throttle response was suddenly different, as the normal amount of pressure on the petal didn't seem to give the engine the amount of throttle it needed to move.

Any ideas what might cause this?

 

Just a one time thing or is this permanent now?

 

Could be the high-pressure fuel pump on its way out -- a known MINI problem that any dealer will fix under warranty. The warranty on the pumps was extended to 100k miles. See if it happens again and with more frequency.

 

If it was a single time thing, it could just be that you pulled out the clutch a hair too early. Then, once you throttle, the engine's unable to get going.

 

I wouldn't worry too much about it unless it starts happen more than once.

 

Press the sport button. It helps eliminate this problem.

 

Thank you for all of the replies. I realized later that I don't remember pushing the sports button, so it's very possible that I didn't give it enough throttle because I was expecting a more responsive throttle response.

It's good to know about that high pressure fuel pump warranty extended to 100,000 miles, I wasn't aware of that, is there a source online that I can read about that?

 

It was probably just an accident caused by your left foot. I stall my car about twice a year when I'm not paying attention.

 

Do you have an MCS or a Cooper? If it's a Cooper then you don't have the fuel pump issue.

 

It's a Mini Cooper, not a Mini Cooper S.

 

I have that problem if the sport button isn't on.

 

I had a 24H test drive in an '08 S. I forgot to turn the sport button on after stopping somewhere for a few minutes, and immediately stalled it. Oops. I don't know why that button is there, it should always be ON. When I was a kid I had a 386 computer. It ran at 16MHz, but if you pressed the "Turbo" button, it would overclock to 33MHz. Who wouldn't have it on all the time?

 

That's why there is a AutoSport Module form FES...