Gabe, don’t the paddle shifters make the auto more “trackable” when in Manual mode?

Not if they don’t work when you want.

In manual mode my 2005 doesn’t change gears until either I tell it to or when it realizes it would damage the car if a shift didn’t occur.

In a track situations things are much different. You quickly realize how unnecessarily conservative the “sport” programing is.

In fact you can hear clearly in the audio review that the car won’t go down to 2nd for me entering a corner. It’s the same move I’d make in a manual to maximize power but in the MCSa you simply can’t get it to do what you want. Essentially it’s what I’ve experienced on the road – only on the track it’s magnified and going very fast.

BTW on a slow and mostly 2nd gear AutoX course, the automatic isn’t nearly as happered as it is on a true racetrack.

The way you said it suggested the man might either have somthing up his sleave for the JCW that’ll blow everyone away, he thinks the ECU is un-crackable (not likely), or he’s toting the current MINI press line downplaying the possibilities: “sorry folks, nothing to see here, move along”.

It’s just difficult to fathom since coming from the Volvo tuning community I’ve seen how easy it can be to draw power from a turbo powered car.

Do like the idea that was expressed by Lavardera ealier about making it functional with the sport button.

excellent coverage as always!

brad.

How could anyone complain about the burble?

What majorally impressed me was the incredible smoothness of the acceleration in the audio clip. I give mini and deffinet thumbs up on the sound, the S had a nice turbo whine and the Cooper just sounded nice going around the track.

Gabe can you clairify your comments a bit regarding the S auto? It was clear you didn’t regard it as a track car, but I had a hard time making out other parts of what you had ot say about it.

Terrible at the track. The software issues that plagued the last version are still very much present. However it’s not as bad in an autox situation.

Gabe, can we assume that you were on a hands free phone?

That would be a safe assumption! I was using a corded mic attached to my shirt and a pair of iPod headphone coming off the mic.

Even on the phone, you sound like you’re driving it close to the edge. Did any “journalist” manage to lose it?

Also, I’m very eager to hear your take on the sports suspension vs. the standard, both for those who track and from the standpoint of those who don’t.

Thanks. Sounds like that was a great 15 minutes!!

The exhaust note from the various videos I’ve seen of the R56 Cooper S has been a reminder for me that the R56 is still a MINI in the character of the R50/R53. It will still sound good without it, but the lack of the exhaust popping will be missed if it can’t be added back through a software change.