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Identify CVT or Aisin Transmission

58K views 15 replies 7 participants last post by  namanjohnson101 
#1 ·
Howdy !

Can anyone advise how to quickly and efficiently identify if an auto Mini has the CVt or Aisin box ? I know all about when it was implemented but I'd like to know if there was an easy way to identify it. The only way I've found so far is the Aisin has a plate rivited on but I don't know how easy this plate is to spot.

Thanks !
 
#3 ·
Look for a hood scoop (and a supercharger).

Can't go wrong with this method unless someone swapped hoods on a
normally aspirated model to make it look like a Cooper S.

All the auto R50 MINI Coopers have the CVT, (and the non-supercharged
1st gen R52 MINI Cooper convertibles).

All the auto R53 MINI Cooper S have the Aisin (as well as
the supercharged 1st gen R52 MINI Cooper S convertibles).
 
#4 ·
The car I'm looking at is a 2005 standard Mini, not the S. So that makes it an R53 right ?

Also, according to a PDF on BMW planet (can't post a link here til I've made 15 posts) It says from Jan 2005 the Cooper S will have the Aisin but the standard S will continue with the CVT. But other stuff I've read says from 2006 onwards all Mini's have the Aisin.

May be safer to stick with the R55 & R56.
 
#9 · (Edited)
Because the R50 (Cooper Gen 1) auto is CVT, the R53 (Cooper S Gen 1) auto is the Aisin. So if you want the Aisin box in a Cooper you need the gen II models. If you go for the Cooper S, then the facelift model (MY2005) had the Aisin option.

However just to confuse that, the Australian versions were both called R50 up until the MY2005 models. None of the R50's had the Aisin box and after 2005 the S in Australia was correctly identified on the plates as the R53, so if you follow my cryptic plot above, only an R53 labelled or newer Aussie vehicle can have the Aisin box.
 
#11 ·
I'd never get an automatic transmission car, period, for personal reasons, but if I did,
I'd never get an auto 1st gen standard MINI Cooper, although an auto 2nd Gen standard MINI Cooper would be ok.
If considering an S model, I'd choose a late (2005-2006) auto 1st gen MINI Cooper S over an auto 2nd gen MINI Cooper S.
 
#16 ·
R56 Transmission Question

Can anyone tell me the easiest way to identify which automatic transmission is in my 2010 MCS? I am having some problems and in order to research potential solutions, I need to identify which trans is in there. Thanks for any help :)
Damm even I am having a similar kind of issue, I have searched all over the internet and even have posted on number of threads on different forum, no solution seems to work. I am really frustrated, can anyone of you here help me resolve this issue, I am very much tired now.
 
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