Recently posted on MINI2:
… I found that shifts using the paddles happened far more quickly than shifts using the manual transmission. Because they happen so instantaeously, they synchronize perfectly with the “click” of the paddles, giving the whole action a nice mechanical feeling …
… I found the paddles very intuitive and easy to use – I was surprised, because my intial thought before driving the car was that they should have made one paddle for shifting up and the other for down. But it felt spot on …
… there was almost none of the spongeyness of feel or rubber banding that there is in many torque converter transmissions …
… I found the throttle a slight bit more responsive on the manual … after being broken in, and once the computer adjusts to your driving style, this wouldn’t be an issue …
… In general, the car felt every bit as sporting (at least in the mode I drove it in) as its manual counterpart …
Sounds like fun 🙂
(update: another review by Aleks on MotoringFile)
M&I / GBMINI 
Ian reading these reviews shows that MINI really did a great job in selecting the auto trans and didn’t just throw one in there to please that demographic. If all autos were like this I think most of us would not have such a low opinion of them in general.
I look forward to your new car if not just to see it but (maybe?) to compare the acceleration of 05 JCW auto vs 04 JCW man. Do we know if the auto gear ratios are similar to the manual’s updated ratios?
I have not seen the auto gear ratios written anywhere so far.