Further to my comments recently about the automatic transmission, I recently posted the following on CooperSpeed:
Normal drive mode – OK.
Mostly like any other car (of course, the looks & handling are still a MINI, so that makes it more special!)
Normal drive is keen to keep the revs down around 2000, unless you go for lots of throttle. 6th gear is much lower than the stick shift (about 2300 at 70mph) and so it really is a cruising gear – you have to shift to get power to pass or climb hills, and that means pushing the gas more than you would expect to need to.
On the negative – there are often times when the gear is too high and there is not enough engine power; you have to force a downshift to get what you want. And while shifting is quite smooth, it is also a bit sluggish and sometimes it seems unsure whether to shift down one or two gears, leaving you waiting (probably not long, but it is unexpected).
On the positive – it will automatically downshift if you start braking on a downhill, giving excellent engine braking (it does not do it unless you brake and it does not do it unless you are going downhill).
Also the steering wheel “temporary shifters” are nice – click once or twice to get some downshift avoids the need to floor the gas. However sometimes the transmission “brain” and I both decide to shift, and the result is two shifts.
Sports drive mode – Fabulous!
The negatives of normal drive mode are eliminated!
The transmission seems to always be in the correct gear and I basically never notice it shifting either.
It keeps the revs higher and avoids the sixth gear (at least at 70mph type speeds); everything is just perfect. There is of course more engine noise (sometimes a good thing) and no doubt worse fuel economy.
For now I normally use normal drive mode for everyday commuting and when my wife is in the car, and switch to sports drive mode when I am in a spirited mode or with other MINIs!
Manual mode – unnecessary! (for me, anyway)
Sports drive mode has been so good that taking full manual control just seems un-necessary … in fact I think sports drive is quicker than me at getting the shifts right, at least for now. Maybe more practise is needed but I don’t see much reason for it so far.
UPDATE: Answering a comment from Bill, I tested this morning that you cannot hold a gear at redline, even in full manual mode! The transmission insists on shifting – at a quite low 6200-6500rpm. Disappointing …
M&I / GBMINI 
I’ll agree with you on most of this Ian, but I have to disagree on the comments on manual mode. Most noticeable for me is taking corners at speed, I find that I get a better response in coming out of the turn in the gear that I select, rather than letting the car figure it out. Even in SD mode I notice a bit more of a lag than I like, or than I get if I am in Manual.
Of course there is also a big fun factor in doing the shifting yourself. For those of us coming from a manual, it’s just more comforting at times to do the shifting yourself. And it goes without saying that the paddles are a fantastic feature, in fact I would enjoy the manual mode a whole lot less without the paddles.
I agree totally with your comments about the normal D mode. I call it boring mode, and really only use it when I am ….. well, now that I think about it, I don’t really use it much at all!
I think all the detractors of the auto in the S should really try one out. I loaned mine for a trip around the parking lot of someone who drives a JCW MCS and he loved it (and in all fairness, I loved trying his car out for the same trip!).
Great comments. I like hearing others experiences with this transmission. It’s worth noting I think that I haven’t seen any posts from anyone on any of the boards from someone who bought the autoS and didn’t like it.
Ian,
Thanks for the answer and checking that out for me. I was/am considering a MCSa but since I like to drive well into the 6500-7200 range, made possible by MTH and a lot of M7 goodies, this is disappointing news. I suspected this was true but nobody ever wrote about it. Quite often on the track and at AutoX events it is faster to momentarily bump up against the rev limiter for a few seconds than it is to up shift and then immediately down shift for the next corner. I guess if I end up with an auto trans I will have to switch from my “Boy Racer” phase into my “Cruising” phase, and for that I might as well get an MCSCa and just let what little hair I have left fly in the wind.
Bill
Bill, you might ask Franz if he could program something like that into the MCSa MTH software. I know for a fact that he has a version done for the MCSa.
That brings up an interesting question – where is the MCS auto transmission controlled? Is it by the same EMS2000 that controls the engine (which is what does the CVT on the MC) or is there a different computer?
Can Franz/MTH alter the transmission control algorithms?
More importantly, can JCW (when their upgrade for the MCS auto is released) …