My wife has a mini (2004). It has only done 7.5k but never seems to go into reverse well. Crunches to begin with when cold and sometimes when hot. Garage say it's just because of that sort of gear box -straight something or other. Do all new mini's have a problem with reverse. Obviously not the really new ones just out. Any repies would be greatly appreciated.

straigt cut gear i would have thought, stronger but noiser and more dificult to engage

straigt cut gear i would have thought, stronger but noiser and more dificult to engage

Cheers, maybe it is meant to be like that. They changed the gear box oil to a different one and said that might help!

best thing i find when cars are funny about getting into reverse is to hold the clutch down for a few seconds and maybe slip it into first before hand, helps on both my mazda and my skoda

My brothers 53 plate is the same. It is meant to be like it - designed to be hit into reverse weirdly...

Yep, my mates Mini was the same.

He had to have a replacement box due to a clunking in reverse, and the replacement box was just as bad at slotting into reverse as the original one.

I just wonder what sort of damage it is doing each time!

drove a mini for a while and yes it was difficult sometimes to get into reverse

i doubt very much if it has straight cut gears in one of those things...

i would suggest changing the gearbox oil, noramally a crunch like that is caused by the syncromeshes are getting baulked up with goopy oil

IB5 gearbox in the Fords is the same , crunches into reverse , no synchro on the gear , gear is also straight cut , so i would imagine a similar set up for the Mini

one of the tips that used to be mentioned in the Ford hand books was to depress the clutch then wait a couple of seconds , then engage the reverse gear

If it's just crunching, let the revs die off to idle then wait in neutral for a few seconds.

If it's balky, try sticking it into 5th and easing pressure on the clutch pedal, then back down and try reverse again.