MINI of Peabody finally got a CVT MINI in, and my girlfriend was eager to take it for a test drive. We were both pretty impressed by the CVT's performance. Very smooth shifts, and the sport mode is great. She usually drives pretty conservatively in her RAV4, but she definitely turned loose in the MINI! She loves the car, and is scheming to get one. No doubt about it - it's a fun car.
But next to the CVT...a MINI S..hmm..can I drive that? I can? Cool! Behind the wheel, I noticed right away that the blower makes a big difference in low/mid end response - there's more power available, even though it takes a bit for the blower to spool up. But once the engine gets up past 4000rpms - the thing smokes! The 6 speed box is sweet too - relatively short shifts, and a tap on the clutch and bang, bang, bang, through the gears. It was easy to shift up and down in 4th-5th-6th at nearly 90mph. Sixth feels pretty tall, and no doubt given some room, the little car could zip well past 120mph.
Even though the car is stable - 90mph feels like warp speed. The rear began to feel a tad light, mostly due to the 60/40 weight distribution and FWD [edit]under steer.
But next to the CVT...a MINI S..hmm..can I drive that? I can? Cool! Behind the wheel, I noticed right away that the blower makes a big difference in low/mid end response - there's more power available, even though it takes a bit for the blower to spool up. But once the engine gets up past 4000rpms - the thing smokes! The 6 speed box is sweet too - relatively short shifts, and a tap on the clutch and bang, bang, bang, through the gears. It was easy to shift up and down in 4th-5th-6th at nearly 90mph. Sixth feels pretty tall, and no doubt given some room, the little car could zip well past 120mph.
Even though the car is stable - 90mph feels like warp speed. The rear began to feel a tad light, mostly due to the 60/40 weight distribution and FWD [edit]under steer.
