I've had my 05 "S" since new, and there hasn't been a problem to speek of. Almost everytime I'm behind the wheel, I paddle shift. My wife drives it more than I do, and the computer has adjusted itself to her driving style, which clearly dosen't suit mine. I also have an 05 6-speed manual of my own (much more fun too). I find driving the automatic pleasureable when I'm not in a truly sporting mood.

But nothing compares to the Classic!

Car manufacturers are overly conservative when pairing components together in general. MINI isn't going to sell you a transmission that can't handle the power of the engine it's paired with.

However, if the nature of your question is: I'm getting a MINI Cooper S, and need something to point to the wife/daughter to prove why it needs to be manual instead of automatic, then I'm sure people can find you examples of it not holding up...

rarely if ever use my paddle shifter (2008 Clubman S), but i also have a 62 Mini and 64 TR4 if i want to shift gears (which is often).

Shifting with the paddles is the same as the tranny shifting automatically, so there' no difference. Its a gimmic you'll never use. Its not a 'dog' transmission.

I was hoping to hear comments from somebody who has a Cooper S with the 6-speed automatic and steering-mounted paddle shifters? I currently have a 2011 Cooper with 6-speed auto and paddle shift which I'm quite happy with, but I'm wondering if the system holds up to the extra hp and torque of the Cooper S engine. And before I get grief about having an auto vs standard transmission, it was a compromise I had to reach so my wife and daughter could drive the car (although the rarely get to!). I still have my classic Mini when I feel the need to actually stir the gears!