Car Magazine on MINI’s Start/Stop System

Sections: Efficiency | In the Press | R56 (Hatch) Sep 4th, 2007 17 Comments

Car magazine from the UK (perhaps our favorite auto mag out there) takes an in-depth look at MINI’s new “start/stop” system that debuts on the 2008 MINI (everywhere but North America). Here’s an excerpt:

Once the engine is up to full operating temperature, the car is programmed to cut the engine when you’re at standstill with the transmission in neutral (those used to staying in gear at lights won’t get the system to work). A beefed-up, faster-acting starter will then wake the engine the instant you depress the clutch to select gear and move away.

That’s the idea, and it works well in practice; the 1.6 restarts immediately and you’re never left waiting impatiently, even if you’re doing a tyre-burning getaway. You must adapt your driving style and select neutral every time you come to a stop for the engine to cut, and once it does you’re left in eery silence. The air-con and stereo functions continue to work (although air flow rate is less powerful) and the only telltale sign that you haven’t stalled is a flashing stop-start symbol winking in the messages display. There’s nothing complicated to befuddle Luddites.

If you’re working on a tan and enjoy global warming, or if the system has a fault, you can push the button near the gearlever to turn the stop-start system off. But we can’t think why you’d want to. It’s a simple technology that works seamlessly in the background, and you’ll save money by letting it do its thing.

You can read more here:

[ Mini stop-start ] Car Magazine

For those in North America, expect this system to make it across the Atlantic in a year or two.

Written By: MF Staff

Gary

Such a nice tech… Why not North America?
ImUrTrboLvr

I like the idea of brake regeneration alot more. I’m way too conservative with my braking, I always downshift for engine braking too.

I just wish there was someway where I could actually be rewarded for braking more often.
Craig

Such a nice techÃ¢â‚¬Â¦ Why not North America?

Depending on how much this system costs it may be difficult to sell when there is no difference in fuel economy numbers listed on the window sticker.

I like the idea of brake regeneration alot more.

AFAIK regenerative braking is only useful with an electric or hybrid vehicle. The regenerative system converts the kinetic energy back to electricity to charge the storage battery. This electricity is then used to accelerate again. This will not work with a purely hydrocarbon powered vehicle(such as the current MINI).
Kennedy

AFAIK regenerative braking is only useful with an electric or hybrid vehicle. The regenerative system converts the kinetic energy back to electricity to charge the storage battery. This electricity is then used to accelerate again. This will not work with a purely hydrocarbon powered vehicle(such as the current MINI).

You can freewheel the alternator and use regenerative braking to charge the battery and power the electronics, which gets better mileage by reducing parasitic drag of the alternator always running. I am not sure, but I think BMW already does this on some of their cars (5 series perhaps?).
http://www.nemini.org PaulGraz

I’m sure it works well when new – but my car is almost 5 years old with 107K on it and it just doesn’t start as well as it used to. I suspect that after a few years you’ll just be turning this feature off completely.
Craig

You can freewheel the alternator and use regenerative braking to charge the battery and power the electronics, which gets better mileage by reducing parasitic drag of the alternator always running. I am not sure, but I think BMW already does this on some of their cars (5 series perhaps?).

Drag produced by the alternator is almost completely related to the electrical load on the alternator. If you’ve ever tried to spin an alternator that is not installed in a vehicle it spins with a small ammount of drag. The on demand water and oil pumps provide much greater savings in the R56. Also, most if not all modern engines shut off the fuel injection when manifold vacuum exceeds a certain point. Such as when using engine/vacuum braking with a manual transmission or exhaust braking with a diesel.

With an electric powered vehicle or hybrid vehicle regenerative braking is the equivalent of putting a small amount of fuel back into the tank while braking.
GregW

By owning a Mini with this feature, does this give you “Carbon credits” to offset all other personal harmful stuff ommitted into the environment? Seeing the USA, Australia, India or China are not signatories to the Kyoto Protocol agreement, why even bother? Just another gizmo to give problems if faulty.
Aurel

Isn’t it bad for an engine to turn on and off all the time? How is this exactly going to work without having to turn over the engine?
Pretzel Logic

GregW — all politics is personal, I guess. Personally, I’d rather drive a car that pollutes less and uses less fossil fuel than an otherwise identical car that pollutes more and uses more fossil fuel. The 2002 Prius that I sold to my brother-in-law is closing in on 80,000 miles and hasn’t had one problem with its “gizmos.” You gotta start somewhere, folks. Bring the MINI D and the new gizmos to the US of A, BMW!
nuvolari

You gotta start somewhere, folks. Bring the MINI D and the new gizmos to the US of A, BMW

wurd
Jerry

ok, when I learned driver’s ed and Physics (around the same time) I was told stopping/starting/stopping/starting engine constantly actually wastes petrol, unless you plan on idling for more than approx 1 minute. any truth, or urban myth?
Marc

Maybe I don’t really understand the explanation, but this sounds like a terrible idea to me. Doesn’t an engine experience most of its wear on startup?

mb
g

Here’s a Canadian site with a lot of interesting information on engine idling and its environmental and mechanical effects. Hope this answers a few questions.

Idle-Free Zone

-Gabriel
AndrewH

My understanding was that, far from North America being the only place to miss out on this stuff, these systems are only really being made available in Europe. They’re certainly not coming to Australia any time soon either :(
mufflethis

“I just wish there was someway where I could actually be rewarded for braking more often.”

How about having your clutch around much longer and saving yourself a costly replacement?
mufflethis

“ok, when I learned driverÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s ed and Physics (around the same time) I was told stopping/starting/stopping/starting engine constantly actually wastes petrol, unless you plan on idling for more than approx 1 minute. any truth, or urban myth?”

That was true with older cars not so much anymore.
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