With my '04 MC broken in, and with a fresh oil and filter change, it was time for some redline runs this last Labor Day weekend to hear the little engine scream. Since the MINI is such a sophisticated car, I thought for sure that a rev limiter would kick in at the redline. Nope. I ran it just past the redline and realized that there was no rev limter, so let off the gas. So, I guess there is no rev limiter in the MINI?

 

There is. Its at like 7200 or something like that. Whos got the actual number?

 

It's a little over 9,000. Don't be afraid to wind it out.















j/k, it's 6950.

 

Often the tach doesn't display true RPMs - the rev limiter WILL kick in. Felt it on a track day last Thursday. It's fairly subtle though - I'm used to Miatas, where the rev limiter makes it feel like your car is going to self destruct.

 

Just wind it out until you can hear/feel it. You'll know when you've bounced off of it. :smile:

 

I did some redline shifts and it was well into the redline before the limiter kicked in. :smile: Some times you just have to wind it up all the way when going through some turns.

 

Not 100% on this, but I've heard and I believe from my own experience that the reason the MINI's reve limiter isn't as intrusive as on say, a Miata, is because it is a "soft" limiter. Since the MINI has drive by wire, it can simply cut the amount of throttle to the engine when you hit max revs. With conventional cable throttles, the rev limiter cuts engine RPM by cutting the ignition momentarily and repeatedly, giving you that "bouncing off the rev limiter" feeling.

 

if you have the cvt the rev limiter is 6000 on driving (havent explored 6th gear at WOT) and when in neutral or park it is 4000. This is really annoying anyone know how to remove it. I realize this may be a dumb question, but who knows i may be a dumb person.

 

According to tach readings, it is around 7200 on my car. Contrary to what others have reported here, it does not feel "soft" when it hits. It feels more like someone reached over and turned off the ignition key- and it can take up to a half second or more for the engine to recover!

I've hit the rev limiter 2 times in the year I've had my MINI, both at inopportune times. I'm careful to avoid it now. Both times were at the same location- just outside Leesburg, VA, where US 15 narrows from 2 lanes each direction down to 1. There is a traffic light just before the merge point. After the second lane drops away, there are no passing zones, and the road gets twisty enough that most vehicles slow to the point that it makes the drive frustratingly boring for a MINI.

In the last instance, the rev limiter was triggered (indirectly) by a Cadillac land yacht. Unfortunately, the Cadillac had a Northstar under the hood and a rolling start on me. I kept pace with it until the rev limiter forced me to shift (GAK! *cough* *sputter*). The shift left me looking at his right quarter panel, at which point he proceeded to merge into my lane (his was ending) as though I wasn't there. I lifted, rather than let him hit me. It turns out that MINIs aren't the only thing that runs pig-rich when floored- the Caddy's tail pipes were spewing black soot as he pulled in front of me.

Sure enough, he drove the next 10 miles doing significantly below the speed limit- just because.

 

I was driving on the freeway the other day and I went to shift to fourth from 6th to pass some idiot driving slowly in the fast lane. Well I went from 6th to 2nd by mistake, doing about 80. The tach went up to almost 8000 before I realized it and put the clutch back in. The rev limiter didn't kick in as far as I can tell. The MINI made a nice growl though

 

To my understanding, the rev. limiter applies to up-shift only, i.e. it prevents you from over-revving from 1st to 2nd, 2nd to third .......
When downshifting, the over-revving is not caused by the amount of throttle you apply but by the ratio of the gearbox, ie assume you are driving at 100km at 6gear with 3000rpm, but you downshift to 2nd accidentally at that speed, the rev may end up at 8000rpm because of the huge difference in gear ratio. Since the throttle has nothing to do in this situation, the DME(ECU) will not response to the over-rev. You can really blow the engine in that kind of situation.
Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong
Cheers

 

Why would you want to over rev the engine? There is nothing to gain even when shifting at redline. Optimum shift points would be a couple of hundred rpm before redline