2007 Mini Cooper S: Roadtrip to Sequoia...and why I wouldn't buy one

The torque steer is there, but much more manageable when in sport mode. Did you have the button pressed? It takes a lot of the loosey-gooseyness out of the rack, and makes it much easier to hold the reins when the FWD really starts twisting.
 
Also, the ride is night-and-day better if one makes the investment in regular non-runflat tires. I keep in the boot a 12v compressor that can optionally squirt goop in the tire, and a Dynaplug kit, and as a last resort my cell phone to use in the event of a flat. Well worth the risk to enjoy grippier yet more comfortable tires for daily thrashing. Highly recommended.

plazomatic,
 
I only drive the MCS in sport mode. It's like color TV versus black-and-white -- once you've seen it in color, why would you go back?
 
So yeah, my torque-steer comments are based on driving the car with sport mode engaged. I just feel like pronounced torque steer is a little behind the times (compare MS3, as noted).
 
-Sadlier

1. Harsh ride? I've got a 2007 Cooper S with ZSP and sport suspension and 17 inch RFTs (well no longer as real tires handle better). I feel my cooper is too soft.
 
2. Torque steer? A hearty lol. Try applying the throttle in a smooth linear fashion and there's zero torque steer.
 
I have zero problems with torque steer and push the car hard daily. WOT is frequent on my drives. Maybe you guys should press the sport button and learn how to progressively use the throttle?

blueguy,
 
Are you serious? I prefer a firmly-sprung suspension too, as I really dig cars that handle. But saying a MCS with sport suspension and the 17s is too soft is like saying a 911 Turbo is too light on power.
 
Perhaps you could replace your dampers with 3-inch thick solid titanium rods ;)
 
I have no problem applying throttle in a linear fashion, it's really not too hard. But still, I too have noticed some torque steer on a few occasions.
 
All that said, it's not enough to affect my affection for the car. I love its sprightly demeanor.

johnny, I think I would like a hot wheels suspension! I always found my bimmers and cooper to be soft.
 
I really, really beat on my cooper and never experience torque steer issues. I recall you guys also mention that the S button doesn't change much beyond throttle mapping. On my cooper, the S button triples-to-quadruples the tightness of the steering. Seriously, the car goes from fingertip steering to requiring strong arming. People on north american motoring mention the same discrepancy. It seems not all electric steering racks are alike.

blueguy,
 
I should shoot a video of the torque steer if we have the Mini at the track sometime. Here's what I'd do: get it up to 35-40 mph, take my hands off the wheel and mat the throttle ("in a smooth linear fashion," if you like). Guarantee you the car would shoot off to the left like it had caught a sudden gust of gale-force wind.
 
Maybe your MCS is the little-known "Mazdaspeed3-fighter" version -- torque steer deleted.
 
-Sadlier

sadbuttrue,
 
Whoa, so you guys are claiming that a car pulling with your hands off the wheel is somehow indicative of something bad? I want to live in this fantasyland where cars don't pull when you accelerate WOT.
 
This will happen on every FWD car. Hell, my BMWs (and all I've driven) pull to the right if I didn't keep my hands on the wheel. Tracking my cars they always pulled. Heck on the autobahn at 140 my e90 still pulled to the right (that was probably the liveliest thing about that marshmallowy lame car).

It looks like an Ewok in the forest!

"I have zero problems with torque steer "
"Tracking my cars they always pulled. "
 
Sooo.. you have zero problems with torque steer but your cars always pull.
 
Ok, got it, I think... :)

bal, I don't have problems with torque steer. If one lets go of the wheel on any car it will pull in some direction. Rwd, fwd, awd - in my experience cars are going to pull somewhat because to a million influences - slope, uneven torque, basic physics (especially fwd). It's not like one has to muscle a cooper out of a corner.
 
Look, I hate FWD. Hate it. It's the one thing on my Cooper I'd change as you can't hit the apex smoothly with a FWD car (too much weight transfer shenanigans) but I realize with FWD comes a bit more pull out of a corner if I floor it. So I don't go for WOT with the Cooper. Just as I'd never nail the throttle of a RWD car like a 3 or Miata going into a corner.
 
Why would anyone expect to nail WOT on a FWD car while still in a corner?

Great pic - I never thought of vertical stiching, or I'd have a picture like that from our trip there last year.

sadbuttrue,
 
I think you should shoot that video because I think you would be surprised at the result. The only time I ever experience torque steer is if I completely cock-up the 1-2 gear change. If I'm just being lazy, then the moment I engage second (under WOT), the car pulls to the left. But that is the only circumstance that I can detect torque steer.
 
On a back country road with speeds around that 35-40 mph range, torque steer is nonexistent. I just don't see how the torque steer in the MCS would be so bad that it would become in any way unmanageable.

mpowerf1,
 
I didn't say it was unmanageable. You just have to brace for it and fight against it. Some of our staffers think this makes the Mini entertaining -- I'm not one of them.
 
blueguy,
 
"Why would anyone expect to nail WOT on a FWD car while still in a corner?"
 
Answer: slow in, fast out -- unless you're in a Z06 or something, in which case WOT exiting a corner might not be a bright idea.
 
Anyway, the point of my hands-off-the-wheel suggestion wasn't that all cars except the MCS track dead straight when you go WOT. I was just trying to convey to you guys that our long-term MCS reliably darts hard left when you step on it, i.e. torque-steers like a banshee -- and that I am not a fan of this trait, which is not present on any of the other FWD cars in our fleet.
 
Another example of a competitor with far less torque steer is the Cobalt SS, based on my limited experience with it (one drive through the canyons).
 
-Sadlier

I don't get this torquesteer issue sadbuttrue is experiencing. I autox my MCS, and if there was ever a time torquesteer would raise its head, is during an autox. But nope, no torquesteer.

Do you guys use the S button? If you do and it pulls like that, really take it to a dealer. My S button transforms the steering.

Blueguy, as noted in my first comment, I only drive in sport mode.
 
It's fascinating that multiple people are claiming the MCS doesn't torque steer. Do you guys know what torque steer is (it's when a front-wheel drive car noticeably pulls to one side under hard acceleration)? Or do we have a defective Mini?
 
Somehow I doubt the latter.

Doesn't the MCS have traction control? Could this be a case of traction off vs traction on?

Yes, we know what torque steer is. My 2007 Cooper S does not exhibit this unless I don't press the S button and apply WOT from a standstill. If the car is sitting still and the S button is off, then WOT will pull the car. But even WOT from a standstill with the S button means the car will barely pull.
 
It sounds to me like there is something wrong with your car.

Alright, I guess we will have to agree to disagree on this one. Though I'm still kind of mystified. In our MCS, if you put it in sport mode, with traction control on, and mat the gas at any reasonable speed, the wheel will tug insistently to the left. It's a textbook case of torque steer. I have no idea how there could be so much variation between our MCS and the magically torque-steer-free models you guys drive.

Is your steering 3-4 times heavier in sport mode?
 
I see people on NAMA saying the steering feels the same in sport mode and there's no way in hades. My car feels loosey-goosey in normal mode. I feel like it's a remote control car when driven - accidentally -in normal mode. The steering is scary light and totally resistance free in normal mode. Hit that magic S button and the entire car transforms.

blueguy,
 
Honestly it's been awhile since I've driven the MCS in non-sport mode, so I can't comment on the steering right now. Occasionally I forget to press the sport button when I start the car up -- and almost stall it out because of the downgraded throttle response, at which point I immediately press the sport button. Next time I'm in the car I will definitely do a torque-steer comparo, non-sport mode versus sport mode.
 
FWIW, at least one other staffer here has confirmed that the steering does weight up considerably on our MCS in sport mode.
 
-Sadlier

Another thought... I actually find that some of what feels like torque steer is often the DSC kicking in, braking one wheel or another before it spins. I definitely feel less tugging at the wheel when I have DSC deactivated under spirited driving.
 
Of course, even more judicious application of throttle is necessary once the nanny is put to bed. And the fact that my MCS has the optional limited-slip differential makes nanny-free driving less frustrating than with the peg-legged open diff.

About torque steer...
 
From standing still, leave your hands off the steering wheel and step on the gas hard. If you see the wheel suddenly jerks to one direction or another then your car has torque steer.

louis, why would any sane person accelerate that way?

"louis, why would any sane person accelerate that way?"
 
No one will. I was just talking about what's torque steer.
 
A managable TS does not equal to no TS.

Does your car have the optional (not availble on Auto) LSD? Mine does and torque steer is minimal, certainly not intrusive, but present.

I was just wondering the same thing last night, autoanalyst. I want to say the MCS doesn't have the LSD, but I'm not sure. The long-term introduction (btw, where's the link to it on the LT blog, friends?) doesn't explicitly state if it was ordered or not.
 
http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Drives/LongTerm/articleId=121998

Looks like maybe it does have LSD from your link SubyTrojan:
 
"We also checked the option boxes for a limited-slip differential ($500) and sport suspension ($500)."

Whoops! You're right. I'm wrong. I was tired when I wrote that. That's my story and I'm sticking to it! :o)

Well that's even more curious since they are complaining about so much torque steer with the LSD. I guess they should get rid of it in favor of a 135. At least then 'torque steer' could be called 'drifting'. :)