The Origins of the MINI Cooper 5-speed Manual

With the decision just announced that MINI will be switching from the Midland R65 5-speed in the current Cooper to a new 5-speed Getrag transmission I thought I'd offer some background information on why the Midland unit was chosen originally. This excerpt comes from Graham Robson's New MINI – a book about the origins of the new MINI and the development process that went along with it.

“BMW had wanted the car to have a Getrag gearbox, but we (the original UK engineers) put in the R65 gearbox instead, because it was $170/car cheaper, more compact with a two-shaft as opposed to a three-shaft layout, and no inherent cyclic vibrations, so a mass damper was not needed.”

“Because the design of the front-wheel drive Rover 75 had already been finalized around a new-generation Getrag gearbox – BMW had been patronizing this German specialist for more than three decades – the proposed link-up was logical, but the British didn't see it that way. The Getrag box, which would be all-new, would necessarily be costly and take time to develop.

The R65, on the other hand, was an existing major component, which was already being manufactured on the Longbridge site, and was in large scale use in other Rover Group front-wheel-drive cars. Originally a PSA (Peugoet-Citroen) design, it was well-proven, and well thought of.

Unhappily, it took Rover Group ages to convince BMW that this should be done, as there seemed to be a growing culture in Germany which (to alter George Orwell) stated: 'German engineering Good, British engineering Bad.' To many over-worked British engineers, it seemed, they saw an attitude which suggested that the only acceptable method was the BMW method.

On this occasion, though, Chris Lee (MINI Product Leader '96-'99) and his team stuck to it's convictions, produced rafts of evidence regarding costs, performance and service experience. Back-to-back tests, evaluations on the road and comparisons of torque capacities were all made. In addition, major improvements to the R65's change quality, a reduction of free play and healthy attention to warranty claim records were all needed before Rover won the argument.

Then, when the Cooper S derivative came along, the R65 couldn't cope with it's increased torque, and BMW had to choose a 6-speed Getrag gearbox after all…”

I think this is pretty fascinating insight considering that there have been various reports on some MINI forums about a rash of manual transmission failures in Coopers. This would seem unusual considering all the work they did on the R65 transmission and the fact that it's been called “well-proven, and well thought of”