The other thing I LOVE about Mini’s paddles is that up and down are the same on both paddles unlike most cars where up in on one side and down the other. That works great on an F1 car when you never turn the wheel more the 90 degrees, but on a regular car where you turn the wheel all the way around it’s great not having to figure out which paddle is under you at any given time. Kudos to Mini. Now just mate this to a true clutchless manual transmission and you would have the perfect car!

And to answer the guy above, you don’t ‘put into sport mode’ to use. Yes you go through the sport mode procedures to get to the manual shift mode, but once in the manual shift mode you are shifting when YOU want to shift, not via sport mode, regular more or anything.

For the most part, shall we say, the R56 is already, hmmm, watered down.

Yeah right. It’s all about the car to be “sporty”.

I realize some people can’t get a manual for physical reasons and like to drive zippy so poney up and get an S.

“Either you want a manual or an auto – not a quasi transmission that is a mixture. Come to think I never used the stick-shift to change auto gears anyhow.”

Well, I see your point but I don’t think that is the case for everybody. When I ordered my MCSa, I didn’t know how to drive manuals and I was thinking of moving to San Francisco…didn’t want to be a novice manual driver learning on those hills. But when I learned I was moving to Africa instead, I started using the shifters to learn the gearing, when to shift, etc. Then I learned and drove manual cars while living in Africa.

Now I’m back, living outside San Francisco and though I miss driving manual, I am very happy at times that I have the MCSa: when I’m on a hill in S.F. or when I’m stuck on the 101 or the 80 in stop and go traffic. Pop it in D and relax. It’s nice to have both the regular automatic drive as an option but also to be able to downshift into turns, to slow the car on hills, etc, or to get an instantaneous response for freeway on-ramps/passing lanes.

I drive with the stick, shifting gears, about 95% of the time. I will, however, be buying a manual whenever I get around to getting a new car in a few years. However, I do think that manumatic is the future, at least as an option in America. I think that in 20 years, the vast majority of cars in the US (if not all of them) will be straight automatics with manumatics reserved for the “sportier” versions. You already can’t buy some higher end cars in manual anymore (in the US; see the Volvo line-up).

Matt

MINI needs to source their clutches from a reputable company like Clutchmasters. I would gladly pay extra to get a good quality clutch and a flywheel that does the otherwise outstanding Getrag gearbox the justice it deserves.

My next MINI will be auto. The AISIN 6-speed in my Clubman S is simply sensational. Around the auto-X course in full sport mode and with the sport mode on with the paddles is INCREDIBLE. It shifts and downshifts faster than the manual.

And all without the uneven wear and problems of the OEM LuK clutch hardware. Replacing a clutch in a MINI is a 9-10 hour job. You don’t want to be doing that every 25K miles!!!!