[nonsequitur]

onefastmini, can you get any other technical information on the ZF transmission, or any of the other components? Private message if you want.

[Shep]

I did some Autocross at Mini Owners of NJ's get-together last Saturday. Never done it before--I was a total novice. There were new and classic Minis, Coopers and S's.

My CVT did really well for me. I put it in SD and gave lots of gas (not flooring, usually, but about at the detente, I guess). When I could flash a glance at the instruments, I saw engine revs of about 5000 much of the time. I felt ABS working, and DSC probably kicked in a couple of times.

Of course I could have both hands on the wheel the whole time, a real advantage with the tortuous course. Manual shifters did the whole thing in 1st or 2nd gear, so didn't have more than one or two gear shifts on this short course. Even so, I think a CVT actually had the advantage, as I had high revs the whole time, whereas the manual folks' revs would go up and down with their car speed, thus losing power.

The short course, in a parking lot, took me 38 secs. The fastest time of all was 33 secs, in a modified new Cooper (S's did less well, interestingly). Classic Minis were somewhat slower.

I actually won 2nd prize in the "unmodified new Cooper" category (no distinction was made between CVT and manual; I don't know who else had CVT).

[nonsequitur]

Well I will say "Congrats!" on 2nd Place. As you do more of this, come back with observations and suggestions. If you have any hints on driving, post them to the Cooper CVT driving technique thread where we can all learn from what you find.

The CVT is a capable machine that stands up very repectably to the other MINI models, and a surprising collection of other fast cars. Fun!

[nonsequitur]

At a steady measured 60mph (using Cruise works)
2700rpm - Drive
3400rpm - SportDrive
2900rpm - Step 6
3500rpm - Step 5
4400rpm - Step 4
5800rpm - Step 3

At a steady measured 40mph (using Cruise works)
2200rpm - Drive
3000rpm - SportDrive
??00rpm - Step 5
??00rpm - Step 4
??00rpm - Step 3
??00rpm - Step 2

At a steady measured 20mph (using Cruise works)
4000rpm - Reverse (rpm limited, Speedo at 20mph)
1650rpm - Drive
1900rpm - SportDrive
1800rpm - Step 3
2600rpm - Step 2
3800rpm - Step 1

At a steady measured 10mph (using Cruise does NOT work)
1300rpm - Drive
1300rpm - SportDrive
1800rpm - Step 2
1800rpm - Step 1

Would someone check me on these numbers? I'm using the 15x5.5" wheels with 175/65R15 tires (74.875" measured circumference).

Note how the transmission has switched into Crawler mode at 10mph! You can switch the gear selector back and forth between D <> SD with no effect, but putting it into Steptronic changes the rpm (although then no difference between 1 <> 2).

I'm trying to confirm gearing details by doing a spreadsheet of all possible combinations, and then using math to calculate effective ratios, final drive, etc.

VT1F Variator ratio range: 2.416 to 0.443:1
VT1F Reverse ratio: 2.68:1
VT1F Reverse torque multiplication ratio: 1.1:1
VT1F "Spur Gear" options: 3.65 to 4.60:1 (= Final Drive ratio?)
MINI CVT Final Drive ratio: 4.10:1
MINI CVT Reverse ratio: 3.82:1

The "Reverse" gear ratio shown on some documents may be the lowest Variator ratio (2.416) multiplied by the 1.1:1 planetary gear ratio (= about right)?

[nonsequitur]

There have been new threads and exchanges in some of the established ones about performance of the CVT-equipped cars. It's interesting to read, but opinions are strengthened when supported by carefully developed facts.

Maybe its time to do some tests? Please keep this thread focused on objective information and keep the opinion rolling into all those other threads!

Punkyfunky did a thorough job with his OneClick installation as a good example of one member who has posted helpful information we can all use. That work should be linked into this thread, and there may be others.

[nonsequitur]

These are the fixed ratios mainntained by the VT1F CVT in the Steptronic Selection. The information is from ZF Gebrieb in Belgium:
2.416:1 = 1st
1.622:1 = 2nd
1.117:1 = 3rd
0.847:1 = 4th
0.675:1 = 5th
0.562:1 = 6th
And the "constant ratio" (exact meaning?) is 5.76:1.