Quote:
Originally posted by taxwonk
Our Mini has a CVT. I forget what the acronym stands for, but basically it means "stick without the clutch." It's faster than traditional manual, because shhifting is electronically controlled instead of mechanically controlled. It's kind of fun sometimes, but basically, I tend to keep it in sport auto mode, on the rare occasions Mrs. Wonk lets me drive it.
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I think that you're thinking of Tiptronic/AutoStick type technology, where you have control over the shifting of an automatic transmission.
There is also SMG, which stands for sequential manual gearbox or something like that, where it's a true manual, but the computer does the clutching and you just use paddles or buttons to shift. This used to be mostly on exotics, like Ferraris, but now the M3 and some of the little Toyotas have it.
I tried to check edmunds.com to see what kind of transmissions the Mini offers, but it's down/slow, probably as a result of all the worm traffic on the internet today. Generally, though, a computer controlled automatic will still shift slower than a manual transmission driven by a good driver. There is also loss of torque from the use of a torque converter.
With an SMG, the shifting can be very fast if done well, but I hear than the Toyotas, in particular are very slow. The M3's SMG is supposed to be great (as are the $10k versions in lots of Ferraris that started it all), but I hear that it not very reliable and is directly related to many engine failures in early E46 M3s.
Edited to add some info. 
