57% of JCWs in the US Are Manual – Lets Keep it that Way
So often we’re told that the US market is all about automatics. MINI USA has given us some stats that prove that is simply not correct when it comes to MINI’s performance cars. Even with the Countryman and Paceman included, JCWs in the US were equipped with the manual transmission 57% of the time in 2014. And with the R5X cars we here that number was as high as 75% Since they’ve offered both.
With the F56 JCW launching in auto form, for the first few months we expect this number to drop dramatically for 2015. What’s worse, because so many people drove the auto and didn’t get a chance to sample the manual, there are likely many people out there who would have been much happier with the manual. That to us a major problem. MINI is the only automaker in the US to offer a manual on every car across every trim level. And at MotoringFile it’s our goal not just to support that but to evangelize the idea of old school motoring that the manual transmission evokes. Yes, the new automatic is quite a bit better than before and yes faster than the current manual. But speed and convenience has never been what the MINI has been about. At its core the MINI is about the driving exprience. And there’s nothing you can equip with the car that adds more to the experience than a manual transmission.
Sure we’ve driven both the auto and manual. Yes it’s miles better than before. But there’s no comparison when it comes to driver engagement with the 2015 JCW.
<p>I waited three months for my new F56 JCW Manual. I’ve had it a month and put almost 4500 miles on it. It was worth the wait.</p>
<p>When I bought my JCW, the only option for the performance car was manual. I’m disappointed that was changed. So based on that, the statistic of merely 57% still being manual is a strong move in the favor of automatic, unfortunately.</p>
<p>When I got my ’09 JCW in ’09, they were 100%, take it or leave it. Great transmission/linkage!</p>
<p>Very interesting, I’ve been driving nearly 10 years and being a Brit always had manuals. I’ve had 4 manual MINI’s including a F56 MCS, I had the auto JCW</p>
<p>This smacks of the ‘Luddite Movement’, a group of nineteenth century protesters in Lancashire, England, who smashed automated cotton weaving machines, because they believed that automated machinery would put them out of work. They were, of course, fighting a losing battle, as are the defenders of manual gearboxes in the twenty-first century. Increasingly stringent emissions legislation will outlaw manual gearboxes post 2020. Enjoy the option of manual gearboxes in new cars, while you still can.</p>
<p>And the Luddites were right! Automation and they productivity increases it brings DO put lots of people out of work… But that doesn’t stop progress.</p>
<p>What I’m finding is that going from a good manual to a good auto is that one changes aspects of the driving engagement, but it’s not all for the worse. Clicking off downshifts with a good flappy paddle, trail braking into a turn, with both hands on the wheel makes a lot of turns more fun, even though that illusive perfect downshift is absent.</p>
<p>But, a lot of that has to do with the programming of the auto (or DCS). Some are so bad that I’d rather push the car by hand! Luckily for us, they tend not to be in performance cars.</p>
<p>But Nick, as usual, you are exactly right that the manual will go away as computer controlled automatics will deliver better performance AND mileage. Used to be that autos got worse in both categories…. Now they are getting better in both categories. Only one they seem to lag on is price per unit (I think manuals are still cheaper up front, but clutch replacement can make that a savings at purchase, but more expensive over the life of the car.)</p>
<p>Buy ’em while you can, if you want to. If I get another MINI, it will be manual. We’re looking at ditching our Mazda CX-9 for a used E series wagon (third row seat and room for our 120 lb dog), and I’d be happy with that as an auto. The electrics don’t have a transmission, so there the point is moot.</p>
<p>Voting manual with wallets will keep them around longer. That’s the subtext here as it has been in MF for many years. You the manual loving MINI owner are responsible for MINI offering manuals across the entire range.</p>
<p>I voted manual, and just got my new 2016 JCW on Friday. I’ve had 5 new MINIs, the latest being my 2009 fJCW. I must say this new one is in an entirely different class than all those I had before. This is really a small rebadged BMW. I’m loving everything about it. The ride, engine, interior – everything is just amazing. I am very happy that I pulled the trigger and bought this one. And, as far as the nose goes, I got the Rebel Green, and I really don’t notice any of the things about the front end people have criticized all these months. Finally, my 7 year old JCW retained 40% of its initial cost as a trade, so that’s pretty darn good, too.</p>
<p>With “self-driving cars” in the horizon, twenty-first century driving does not look like a very happy future for petrol-heads!</p>
<p>I think the Luddite argument is off here. This is not a protest against the drumbeat of technology. I understand that the newest autos are faster and more efficient. For some of us it’s something enjoyable being taken away. Autos aren’t evil just not as much fun. Like giving up stove cooking and being forced to only use a microwave.</p>
<p>Great analogy. It’s amazing to me that anyone would be so fiercely loyal to the notion of an automatic. They clearly will always be here and will get better and better because the greater masses demand convenience.</p>
<p>Try telling F1 drivers that manual gearboxes are more fun to drive that modern automatics.</p>
<p>Remind me Ulrichd, which MINI variant do you currently drive?</p>
<p>When was the last time F1 was considered fun?</p>
<p>July 26th 2015, in Hungary.</p>
<p>Sure I watched and loved it. It’s fun to watch video games too.</p>
<p>What a pity you couldn’t be there to enjoy it live – I would have bought you a beer :)</p>
<p>I would have accepted :)</p>
<p>Really?</p>
<p>F1 is basically a computer with 4 wheels and a driver doing the steering (but I still watch every race). After 8 years of MINI ownership (R50, R53) I currently drive a BMW 128 6-speed. I still hang out here because I hope the Rocketman/Minor might yet live.</p>
<p>When talking about automatic vs. manual MPG, forget about what the window sticker says. The EPA MPG tests use very modest speeds and acceleration rates. Automatic transmissions are tuned to maximize MPG under those test conditions, upshifting at 2000 RPM or less. This doesn’t relate at all to how most of us drive our MINIs. If you drive like that, you would probably be happier with a Corolla rather than a MINI.
If you drive your MINI like it is intended to be driven, you’ll have that automatic in sport mode much of the time and you’ll be driving it more like a manual. Sport mode’s higher shift points and not shifting up to 6th at 40 mph will drop your MPG to the point that there will be little, if any, difference from the manual transmission. In 4500 miles of mixed driving, my 2015 manual F56 JCW has returned 33.4 mpg, well above the EPA ratings of 23/31/26. (Actual calculation of miles traveled and gallons used, not the optimistic computer calculation.)
I drove a Jaguar F-Type V8 for about a year. It had the best automatic transmission I’ve ever driven, including MINI’s. I always drove it in Dynamic (sport) mode and my overall MPG was less than the EPA rating. I wished it had a manual transmission. Paddle shifters are nice under some conditions, but I missed the driver involvement of a manual. As time goes on, I may not be able to buy other cars with manual transmissions, but I’ll always have a manual in my MINI.</p>
<p>I’d vote manual too. I’ve had the Aisin automatic in my 2013 R59 for almost three years now, and there’s almost not a day goes buy that I don’t hate it. It won’t shift when my right foot wants it to, and the down shifts in the Sport mode are ridiculous, same for holding it in a lower gear too long, in my estimation. In the old three and four speed autos, I was always able to do the shifts where I wanted them too, buy just lifting the right foot, just a little, but we’re talking about twice the power too.</p>
<p>The main reason that I’ll go with the manual in my next JCW is for control of the vehicle. I feel with the manual, that the control is with the driver, and not the car making all the decisions. Again, just my opinions. What one of the commenters here stated, that the mileage figures are based on 50 mph, or close, for highway figures, but the manual gets better mileage at a little higher than that, mph. My 2010 JCW was stirred at a 34 mpg figure, and I was able to average 38+ almost all the time with my way of driving. On several occasions I was in the 40’s. Most of this is in the way that one drives, but there are times when you just want to get some place, and it becomes a vehicle for transportation, again.</p>
<p>As for the lack of performance, vs the automatic, here again, this will depend on the driver in so many circumstances. A person, good with a manual, all be ahead of the automatic, but the automatic makes the average, to less driver, better, on account of the shifting. This statement may tick off some, but think about it, the transmission is doing the thinking, and you are just pointing and steering. Oh well, I guess you can tell, I’d stick with the manual, my wife will not like this, but she has her RAV 4 to drive. I got the automatic in the roadster on account of her, and has yet to drive the roadster, so next time WILL be a manual, but kind of wish that they do like the Vette did, and add a gear, or do something with sixth for mileage.</p>
<p>My 1909 JCW horse and carriage was the ultimate driver experience. Visceral. When I pulled on that rein, I could feel the horse whinny beneath my hand. Nothing but pure engagement.</p>
<p>l know machines are now technically faster and more efficient, but as long as there is a performance horse still available on the market I will be a hold out.</p>
<p>I completely agree, but other than the JCW the dealers are making sure autos rule the day. Inventory on hand is 95% automatic. I love to stop and look a new cars even when I’m not shopping for one, and finding a manual at your MINI dealer is tough, so I’m sure if you want an F56 Cooper S with a manual you are ordering it because there will be only one or two on the lot. Manual shoppers will have to be determined as a group to get the car they want.</p>
<p>Live and let live, I say. The spirit of fun that Mini espoused in its wonderful guerrilla advertising back in the early 2000’s focused on doing your own thing and enjoying it to the max. Ads ran with headlines like “Let’s show the world what makes us different”, “Let’s avoid the middle of the road”, “What’s your carfun footprint”.
Today, just a few years later, there are more conventional pressures to go with the mainstream. No center speedo, no CD slot, no window switches on the console… No manual transmission next?
I think it’s wonderful to enjoy a manual transmission if we want to. I will order one on my next Mini, even tho’ I know that the new auto is “better” and even “faster”. But is is more fun?
[I also think it’s wonderful to have a CD slot in my dashboard; when I said that on another article on this site some young things wrote derisively as if a CD were about on the level of a dinosaur. There’s nothing wrong with the latest and greatest, but there’s a lot right with embracing variety. Let’s respect each others’ wishes.]</p>
<p>This discussion reminds of fuel injection replacing carbs. I loved the sounds of the Webers on my ’77 308GTB, but the car only had 180 hp and got 15mpg, if you were lucky. It’s great that those of you that desire manuals can get them, but manuals are a dinosaur just like carbs.</p>
<p>We should enjoy our dinosaur cars while we can. In 15-20 years you won’t be able to buy a car with a steering wheel, brake or accelerator pedals. The rise of autonomous vehicles will make them dinosaurs too. Driving for enjoyment will be a thing of the past. In the morning, you’ll unplug your autonomous transportation appliance, get in, tell it where you want to go and read the morning news on your tablet/phone (newspapers and print books are dinosaurs too) while the “car” takes you there. So hang onto those 2015 or earlier MINIs, manual or automatic, because they might be the last real cars you can buy for driving enjoyment.</p>
<p>True, but you have the timescales wrong. The average new car lasts over 15 years… That’s average. Just like I see cars from the 60s on the road today, in 20 years I’ll see cars from the 80s on the road. The actual change over in the light vehicle fleet is much, much slower than what all the emerging tech articles in the automotive press would have you believe.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t bet on late 70’s to the early 90’s cars. With few exceptions, there weren’t any built that would be worth keeping. You see more 60’s cars, not all ex muscle cars, than one sees these 70’s/early 90’s boats.</p>
<p>With Direct Neural Interface there won’t be any need to read the morning news. Oh, and there will be no need to tell the transporter where you want to go. It will know.</p>
<p>Nicely put, John!</p>
<p>It’d help if the dealerships would order any with manuals. When I was last at Motor City MINI to pick up some oil change stuff, and decided I’d take a few test drives while I was at it, every JCW model I asked about was only on their lot with an auto. If the dealerships aren’t ordering the manuals, people won’t BUY the manuals. Not everybody can take 2-3 months to wait for their new car…</p>
<p>Dealer orders are based more on profit per car, and fear of it getting stuck on the lot.</p>
<p>A long time ago, I factory ordered a Ford Explorer Sport 4×4 with a 5 speed (this was in Upstate New York). None of the Ford dealers had the 2 door, and none had the manual. In the three hours it sat on the lot, 3 different people saw it and stopped in to buy it, unlucky for them, it was already sold.</p>
<p>Heck, I bet if they bought 20% manuals, they’d see them sell quickly, and then they’d buy more. But I think the spec buyers aren’t very adventurous, and they just go the easy, safe route.</p>
<p>Sad….</p>
<p>But on the other hand, if you get a chance to drive and Alfa 4c, you might say it would be a better car with a 6 speed, but it’s one of the most exiting drive I’ve ever had the pleasure to do, and it’s the very first car I felt confident enough in to accelerate all the way through the corkscrew, from the top. Normally, I lift a bit (ok, a lot) till the front end becomes fully loaded and I know the car will turn. The 4c, as soon as I’ve finished breaking at the crest, trail braking a bit into the sharp left that gets you into the scary stuff, I was back on the gas, laughing hysterically and how much fun it was. I’ve never been anywhere close to that aggressive in any car. If I had the money, I’d have one in the driveway RIGHT NOW.</p>
<p>Here is a link to an excellent article in The Guardian this morning. It’s not a for/against argument, more of a love letter to the fading art of shifting your own gears. There is one standout observation to me: Driving stick requires constant mental vigilance.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/aug/18/cars-manual-transmission-stick-shift-automatic" rel="nofollow ugc">http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/aug/18/cars-manual-transmission-stick-shift-automatic</a></p>
<p>Sadly, the stick makes it so much harder to text while driving.</p>
<p>That is officially a LOL</p>
<p>“Driving stick requires constant mental vigilance.”</p>
<p>And therein lies the enjoyment.</p>
<p>One of the reasons that many Mini dealerships don’t order manuals is what has happened at my local dealer. I think it was about six months ago they got in a Black JCW convertible and roadster. I think that they had acquired them from another dealership that couldn’t sell them. Anyway, convertible was a six speed manual and the roadster was an automatic. Case study: The roadster sold several months ago and I saw just the other day, that the convertible JCW was parked in the back of their storage lot. No sold sign, just sitting there with other 2015 Mini’s.</p>
<p>Now, is this dealer going to jump on the manual JCW, or S bandwagon and order up several manual transmission mid $30K cars? I don’t think so. I asked them about manual JCW hatches when I test drove their automatic JCW last month and the sales manager said, that the manuals wouldn’t be made available to him until probably December, and if they did order one, it would have to be a firm sold deal. I thought that comment was interesting, beings as we’d a pretty good idea that the manual JCW’s were to be in the process of being build at that time. That was mid June. For once, I did keep my mouth shut. Guess it’s another Chicago buy for me again.</p>
<p>My dealer had two 2015 F56 JCW automatics that arrived in early May, one on the showroom floor and one right out in front of the building. When I took delivery of my manual JCW mid-July, the dealership had delivered two manual JCWs that arrived before mine, but both automatic cars were still there. A sales manager told me he couldn’t sell them, but he had several new orders for manual JCWs. When I was back at the dealership last week, both JCW automatics were finally gone.</p>
<p>I wonder what dealer he discounted them to? They’ll probably wind up here at my local dealership here in Iowa. That’s how he gets most of the JCW’s that they get for stock. They’ve got quite a few roadsters right now that probably got here the same way,</p>
<p>There are those purists who will always want the manual
transmission vs. the automatic. Being a purist, I love manuals. But also being
a Motoring Advisor, I have to do what is best for the customer. Always will. Unfortunately
it’s not up to me what the dealership orders. That is actually up to the
customers, not the manager like many think, not because we build MINI’s to get
the most profit. We order on a base template on what has been and will continue
to sell. We see hundreds of people every month, talk to each one, discuss every
option available and see what works best for them and their budget.</p>
<p>These are the most common excuses of why the average
customer doesn’t want the manual.</p>
<p><pre><code> “I don’t
</code></pre></p>
<p>want to shift while in stop and go rush hour traffic”</p>
<p><pre><code> “I’m
</code></pre></p>
<p>getting too old to use a manual transmission”</p>
<p><pre><code> “I don’t
</code></pre></p>
<p>want to pay the $$$ for replacing the clutch”</p>
<p><pre><code> “My
</code></pre></p>
<p>son/daughter doesn’t know how to drive stick and it’ll be safer for a new
driver to drive auto”</p>
<p><pre><code> “My
</code></pre></p>
<p>spouse doesn’t want to/can’t drive manual”</p>
<p><pre><code> “But
</code></pre></p>
<p>the new Sport Auto has Launch mode!! “</p>
<p>In my
dealership we typically stock over 80% auto vs. manual. That’s because it’s
what customers request the most.</p>
<p>Playing devil’s advocate, maybe what is actually “best for the customer” is that MA’s explain why some of these excuses are unwarranted and may be holding them back from potentially enjoying their MINI even more. For instance, my wife couldn’t drive a manual until we bought our MINI, either. It takes like a day or two to learn. And guess what, she’s glad she learned and that we bought a manual even though she didn’t know how to drive it at the time we ordered. If the customer always knows exactly what’s best for them, what’s the point of having an “expert” MA there to guide them? Maybe some of them just need the extra moral support to pull the trigger on a manual and ignore the BS about clutch replacement (it’s cheaper to buy and maintain, and less complex), etc. Some people have legitimate reasons they can’t drive manual. Others might just need a little nudge and may just love the result.</p>
<p>I just finished a MINI run today. Lots of Minis including the old Minis. The newer Minis ( 12-15) were overwhelmingly Autos. Get used to it. Manual transmissions are dinosaurs in every element.Nascar is the only high level series that still uses manual transmissions.</p>
<p>Oh, I don’t think that manuals are dinosaurs yet, but people that know how to drive manuals are getting close to that. One major reason that you will see so many autos is that in the last five years, with the influx of new dealers that are use to ordering cars in to sell immediately, they know their customers will buy autos. Say like in my case, we ordered a r59 three years ago, I like manuals, but my wife can’t drive a stick. And, she said, at the time, I would prefer not having to watch you shift all the time, and thought that she would drive the roadster when we went on trips. Well, I went for it, and guess what? She hasn’t driven the car once. So, the next JCW will be a manual, and she’s good with that too. Thankfully.</p>