CVT gearbox - absolute cack!

[trackdemon]

Have been 'enjoying' a MINI One with CVT box recently - absolute rubbish, or at least the gearbox is. I've tried a manual MINI ONE before and found it usefully spritely so its not lack of power, but the CVT steps of the line abruptly and then feels like its bleeding away a good 20% of available power - result: 90mph feels strained, almost no acceleration beyond 80mph and constant thrashing of the engine to keep up an acceptable A road pace. Fitting the car with a realtime economy gauge not a good idea either, the frequency with which it dips into low 20's is frightening. And whats with the gimmicky paddle shift buttons? THEY DONT WORK! Press button, wait couple of seconds, it changes 'gear'. By which time you want to shift again, process repeats. Awful! Amazing that CVT was once professed as the future of gearboxes, thank got it hasn't really caught on.

Fun handling though, and nicely put together as MINI's are...