I'm having a strange issue with my stock R52 (base, not S), with automatic.

When I'm at a stop, and press the gas to take off, it has a small period of low power, then it feels like it picks up after a second or two, and has a lot of torque.
If I press the gas all the way down to take off quickly, it has a much longer period of low power before it "catches" and really picks up. I'm not really sure how to explain it better. Another oddity is the idle is fine, but seems high - around 1000 rpm.

It doesn't seem to be an issue with the CVT transmission, because if I am moving at speed and start to accelerate quickly, I see the same thing - slow acceleration has a small pause, and fast acceleration has a large pause. Both then pick up quite nicely.

I've recently replaced plugs/wires/coil/injectors/air filter, and those made the engine run better, but did nothing for the pause. Compression is within spec also.

Not really sure what to look for next.

 

So, to answer my own question, the problem was apparently that I generally drive very conservatively, and the system has tuned itself for this. I reset everything possible (the pedal, the ecu, etc.) and the car behaves like I would expect it to now. I'm sure it will train itself back to where it was in a while.