1st Gen R50 Cooper Class Action in California - 1st Gen MINI with CVT

The loaner that I had to drive was an automatic Justa. It would hesitate when going into 3rd. When third gear finally hit, it hit with a loud "thunk". I had to manually shift the thing as I was afraid the trans was about to fall out. The Justa loaner had 16,000 mile on the odometer.

 

Did you just have that experience recently? I'm asking because the CVT is no longer made...I think it went away when the Gen 2 MINIs started coming out.........

 

Correct old wise one. No more CVTs in MINIs. I read somewhere that the remaining CVTs were being used in riding lawnmowers sold by Wally World. :lol:

 

Jeff, as self pronounced leader of the Silverbacks (afterall I'm the one with it on my license plate) I hereby declare you as a lifelong Silverback....do you feel the love?

 

LOL- I apparently don't like their replacements, either :lol:

 

I must have one of the only reliable ones, then. My Navigator and I went out for a walk today and a short spin of about 40 miles and it's running fine.

 

Gee, thanks Mark! I'm feeling all gushy inside now.:ihih:

 

It was a second generation but was not in the best mechanical condition.

 

I've never driven an second generation auto, so I cannot compare. I have an '06 [pre-May build] MCSa and a [9/02 build], early '03 MCcvt.

 

It seems to shift hard and not when you want it to.

Well, maybe I'm just a manual snob now :lol:

 

My CVT is at almost 49K and is still running great too! While I know that they have some issues, I think a lot of the problems come with irregular maintenance. I will soon be headed down to Indianapolis to get my CVT flushed and pampered!

Keep Motoring fellow CVT owner!

 

Good luck to all you CVT owners. I wish you continued good luck....

 

You are a real positive type guy Crash. You don't like CVT, so the rest of the world should hate it too. Give it a break.

Jim

 

^ ???

 

Nah...it's all good, as it is merely one's preference. I drove manuals all my life [here in the States, and in Europe] until I bought the MC-CVT, and then I bought the MCSa new just before the second generations came out. I never once figured that I'd leave the manual shift behind and prefer what I now have, but I do. I REALLY like the MCSa tranny with its stick and paddle shifters, but that wasn't available for the MC when I bought it, slightly used in early ' 04. Even so, until the CVT goes under [it now has just over 45k], I'll still drive and love that car.

The CVT gets great mileage when in the "D" drive, while the MCS does better in the shift mode. Go figure.

One more thing, my bad left leg is thanking me everday now.

 

My wife had a Nissan Murano for 3 years (leased) with a spectacular CVT. I was amazed that it worked so well on such a large vehicle (230hp, I think). That car was a joy to drive, but I had to be careful... with the loss of shift-points, you lose a speed reference and I'd occasionally look down and be doing 90+ MPH.

If I didn't dislike Nissan so much now (see www.nissan.com), we might have gone back to one when that lease was up.

To bad that the CVT magic didn't rub off on the MINI.

 

I'm the opposite- the '03 MINI was the first manual car I've ever owned. The husband said if I wanted a MINI it HAD to be manual. My '09 is a manual as well and I just love driving them now. It will be a long time until I choose an auto again.

 

All my cars over the past 15+ years have been sticks. My wife and daughter have often asked why I drive a stick saying "why do you buy cars with a stick shift, when you know that we can't drive them?".....EXACTLY:biggrin5: