Greetings, I live in Mexico city (2,200 mtr, 7,200 ft) and am considering an MCS, a 2006 dealer demo. Does anyone have any mountain experience? does the FADEC adjust to compensate?

Thanks! Tim

 

Saludos, you may want to get in touch with members of the MINI Rocky mountain club as those folks drive their MINIs in the highest elevations in the country. Also feel free to talk to members in the Canada forum that also reside in the Canadian Rocky Mountain region (British Columbia/Alberta).

 

Try this...

http://www.csgnetwork.com/relhumhpcalc.html

...or other relative horsepower calculators (do a Google search). No idea how the MINI ECU adjusts, but increased altitude means decreased horsepower. (But colder air means more horsepower!!)

Some discussion in a previous thread (although mostly related to effects of humidity)

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ad.php?t=45140

 

I lived in Denver (5280 ft) with my MCS for a little over a year. I was up in the mountains pretty regularly (passes routinely over 10,000, and some near 12,000 ft). The supercharger really helps the MCS drive very well at those kinds of elevations. It was a much better car in the mountains than my Jetta VR6 was.

 

I live at about 4,600 feet and have traveled over the Sierra Nevada passes a couple of times (7,200-7,500 feet). I have not noticed any performance degradation relative to Sacramento where I picked up MR ECON.

 

OK, Cool and thanks for the responses. It is now 36 minutes from when I test drive this beast!

tim

 

I live in Colorado and occasionally zip to the top of Mt Evans (14,100 feet) in my 05 S with no problems at all, just a bit of power drop above 13,000 feet so negligible one cannot notice.

However, altitudes this high can fool the oxygen sensor (SES lite comes on). Three start/stop cycles at lower altitudes resets the sensor, and the lite goes off.

Much better than my carbed Toyota PU, that REALLY struggles above 11,000 feet, and literally crawls to the top o the mtn. Jimbo