Hi, just joined as my partner is considering buying a 2001 Cooper with the cvt box. But it's giving problems and just wanted to determine the possible (likely) size of said problem..

So the car is a Cooper, 2001, with 69k miles on it. Not great service history, some creaks and rattles. The prmary concern is the gearbox.

When the ignition is turned on 'EP' appears on the dash. Once started, that becomes 'P'. Foot on the brake, into reverse is fine. Foot on the brake into neutral is fine. Still on the brake into drive it stalls. The only way I have found to engage drive and not stall is to left foot brake and give it decent throttle with my other foot whilst putting it into D. When stopped at a junction say, there is a distinct shake/vibration with the foot on the brake...I'm presuming coming from the gearbox.

So, I'm wondering does this raise any particular alarm bells for any members here? Any bad memories? I suppose the hope would be a new battery, maybe software upgrade would cure it. The other side... it could be on the way out and we're not anxious to get into a four figure replacement scenario needless to say.

Any thoughts or insight would be most welcome.

Eh mods...sorry. Just saw the cvt/auto sub forum and posted there now (and may have found a solution to the problem) so you should probably move/delete this.

Me bad.