[davidac]

Any rumor of getting a sequential manual in a Cooper S as found in the M3 or the forthcoming Z4.

[Casey]

A vendor i'm friends with mentioned to me that they might do one down the road, but it wouldn't be for atleast a year if they even do do it. It would be a VERY expensive option.

[davidac]

obehave: thanks for the welcome, I have been lurking for a while now. Have an MCS on order. Funny you say an option for rich people. How much have you spent aftermarket? Nice photos by the way.

[nfo]

i wish.....
i hope by the time i'm done paying for this car i will have good enough standing with bmw credit to either get a smg m3 or whatever new mini is out! hopefully a smg by then!! here's for hoping!!
b.t.w. i'm not rich either, just another freak like all of you!!

[TomM]

There was a MINI at the Essen Motorshow with paddle shifts. I'm not sure if it was just a Cooper CVT with paddle **** though (this is being done on some X5's) or if it was a genuine SMG type gearbox.

Tom

[Rich-UK]

You can get a SSL gerarbox (SMG 'lite') for the BMW 330Ci as a £900 option*, hopefully won't be too long until it filters down to the MINI....



*According to Auto Express

[tip]

Minis with an SMG. That would be to cool.


Charles

[MarcoRacer]

Have you priced one of Quaifes FWD 6-speed sequential gearboxes? More like $10,000 - $20,000!!! But it would be sweet to have!!!

:-)

Quote:

Originally posted by obehave
Definitely not the 3-4 Grand a sequential box will cost. But I get your point. I'm pretty much tapped out so I have about 3 grand to go

And thanks on the photos

[Spy Car]

How about a really great 6 speed manual transmission?...Oh yea we already have one. I say let's forget about SMG, we already have the perfect transmissions in our MCS's.

[cooper4us]

Umm yea, I would still want to see a SMG offered in the MINI.

[PigLick]

I think I'd rather have a better CVT than an SMG, personally.

PigLick

[nfo]

piglick....who are you kidding?

[PigLick]

Hm, not sure what you mean by that nfo, but let me expand a bit. First, my comment was in no way a dig against the current MINI CVT (which I have, and like a lot). However, theoretically speaking, it seems to me that a CVT would be the "ultimate" transmission. SMGs are nice because you get the benefits of a manual transmission (better performance, better fuel economy) over a regular automatic, but with the ease, speed, and accuracy of a compter controlling the shifting. However, it is still made up of a set number of distinct gear ratios. That means that when you're driving, there is only one set speed in each gear where you are at your engines maximum performance potential.

In a CVT on the other hand, there are no gear ratios and the engine can be kept at its maximum performance potential at all times. You still get all the speed, accuracy and ease of an SMG, but there's no reason for the engine to ever be out of it's peak performance zone. Now, I myself am not a racer, and don't have any racing experience. I'm sure there are times/reasons when you are able to take advantage of being out of this range in a manual. However, CVTs still have that possibility too, with Stepronic-like modes which use set, pre-programmed "gear ratio." Heck, with an advanced enough CVT each driver could program their own "gear ratios" for each "gear." I just can't think of anything that an SMG could do that a CVT couldn't, but the reverse does not hold true.

Of course I realize CVT technology is probably nowhere near advanced enough to actually do all (or any) of this, and may never be. But, if it were possible, I would take it over an SMG any day.

PigLick

[nonsequitur]

We got the Cooper CVT because of what it "promised" as a driving experience, and practical use. The futurre of cars is in this kind of very electronic transmission (look at VW, BMW, ...).

Now that I understand how it works, I'll say that the MINI CVT transmission exceeds my expectations all around.

[se7en]

I have heard that a MFSW of sorts can be used with the CVT and would act as a SMG with paddles, but I think that the CVT would not handle the power that most would like to use with it. With its belts and all, I think they would break.

[dmholmes]

Quote:

Originally posted by obehave
Maybe as an option for rich people
Welcome to MINI2

Shouldn't be that bad. I think Toyota only gets around an extra $1000 for it on the MR2-Spyder.

[CooperSdriver]

I think if alot of you were interested, and made your wishes known to MINI, then they would probably consider it.

[RUKnight]

SMGII is only a 1250 option on the M3, they can't charge more then that for the mini. with that said I'd be all over it. I recently drove a Z4 3.0 with SMG and it was amazing, shifted so incredibly fast, a human could never replicate it. The downshifts were perfect and had wonderful rev matches to boot. If they offered the MCS with it now I would have bought one
Mike

[goin440]

Forget the sequential gearbox. Personally, I would like to see a 2.0L instead.

[stryder]

I get the distinct feeling the SMG on the M3 and the MR2 are subsidized, because BMW and toyota want to test out the technology.

Especially on the MR2, it doesn't have a automatic mode, you always need to tell it when to shift, which I think is cool, but clearly some people want to just step on the gas and have the car work.

I have no idea how many M3's are sold, but surely the SMG isn't hugely popular on it, and tons of z4's aren't sold, so it'll continue to trickle down into more popular cars, and thus probably the price will drop. I rarely see MR2's (maybe because their styling is uhh, debatable..I reccall a friend whose dad got one, and said each dealer got exactly 2 a year).

With that said, I think it'd be a splendid idea, especially since all the theory of a CVT being better is probably true, but a CVT can't handle the torque yet and an SMG can, so lets not wait for technology to catchup, and put in the transmission.

One last thing: who needs a 2.0? its clearly possible to put more engineering into the 1.6 and make it better, variable timing (VANOS) already exists, just change the engine a bit and we're off. Maybe bore it out to a 1.7. 2.0 would be bigger and heavier, and probably overkill. 200hp normally aspirated should be easily optained from a 1.6 that's engineered more, you can supercharge and chip etc from there. Look at the engine 'porn' in the performance forum, clearly there's lots of room for more expensive finishing that will increase performance, cost cutting is evident.