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94 Posts
Hi all from the Netherlands !
Thinking of trading my current car (Porsche 996 Turbo) for a new JCW 3-door. Need something newer but cheaper to run.
My wife loves the new Mini's and has a 3 month old Cooper Clubman which I really enjoy driving.
I took a fully optioned JCW out last weekend - sport automatic with adjustable dampers, sports seats, heads up display and switchable exhaust and loved it.
My only quandary is - manual or auto ? I just cannot decide !
I'm 50 but a 17 year old petrol head at heart. I've never owned an automatic - driven loads - but never owned one.
The demo car I drove I liked the noise the exhaust made on both upshifts and downshifts, and loved the launch control - but realistically won't be racing "kids" away from stoplights
I do plan on getting a plug in box to increase BHP as opposed to a full remap, and have read the topics here on the subject.
I found that first the flappy paddles a little slow to respond and awkward to change whilst turning the wheel and moving my hands - but got used to that.
I liked that in sport mode the auto box in manual mode would not change up for me and allowed me to hit the rev limiter.
I did t like the downshifts as it would not allow me to control exactly when I wanted to downshift - felt a bit hesitant.
But I did like hanging into the down paddle and letting the box select the lowest possible gear - certainly quicker than I could do with a manual.
However from all reviews the manual is more fun and more engaging, but the one thing that irritates me with my wife's manual Clubman is the throttle blip the car does for you before changing down - I have always rev matched on downshifts and feel something is being taken away from me.
For those of you who have gone to the sport auto from manual cars - can you give your impression of this car with an auto box please - or it is a no brainier, and go with the manual ?
Cheers
FC
Thinking of trading my current car (Porsche 996 Turbo) for a new JCW 3-door. Need something newer but cheaper to run.
My wife loves the new Mini's and has a 3 month old Cooper Clubman which I really enjoy driving.
I took a fully optioned JCW out last weekend - sport automatic with adjustable dampers, sports seats, heads up display and switchable exhaust and loved it.
My only quandary is - manual or auto ? I just cannot decide !
I'm 50 but a 17 year old petrol head at heart. I've never owned an automatic - driven loads - but never owned one.
The demo car I drove I liked the noise the exhaust made on both upshifts and downshifts, and loved the launch control - but realistically won't be racing "kids" away from stoplights
I do plan on getting a plug in box to increase BHP as opposed to a full remap, and have read the topics here on the subject.
I found that first the flappy paddles a little slow to respond and awkward to change whilst turning the wheel and moving my hands - but got used to that.
I liked that in sport mode the auto box in manual mode would not change up for me and allowed me to hit the rev limiter.
I did t like the downshifts as it would not allow me to control exactly when I wanted to downshift - felt a bit hesitant.
But I did like hanging into the down paddle and letting the box select the lowest possible gear - certainly quicker than I could do with a manual.
However from all reviews the manual is more fun and more engaging, but the one thing that irritates me with my wife's manual Clubman is the throttle blip the car does for you before changing down - I have always rev matched on downshifts and feel something is being taken away from me.
For those of you who have gone to the sport auto from manual cars - can you give your impression of this car with an auto box please - or it is a no brainier, and go with the manual ?
Cheers
FC