As much as I love manual transmissions, I’m not convinced every single vehicle would be better with a third pedal. I mean, what would you really get out of a Chevrolet Suburban with a stick? Clearly, the Suburban’s greatest sin is that it no longer comes with a column shifter that clunk-clunk-clunks into Drive. At the same time, we’re no longer in an era where the shift lever is actually attached to the transmission in any way. It’s just a glorified button that tells the computers what you want the transmission to do. And I have to say, the way Mini does it is pretty fantastic.
Dedicated readers may remember that I’m a huge proponent of Mercedes-style column shifters. It’s a simple, elegant solution that makes three-point road turns so simple, and Hyundai’s version, while admirable, just isn’t quite the same. Unfortunately for me, personally, not everyone agrees that column shifters are the way to go in this new electronic-shifting world, and far too many of the results are both a waste of space and unintuitive. You can usually figure it out pretty quickly, but then it gets changed for the next generation, and you’re back to square one.
The shifter in the new Mini Coopers, though? I can absolutely work with this. It’s small, conveniently located, stays out of the way, doesn’t waste any space and makes it clear right out of the gate exactly what you’re supposed to do. Why any automaker would dedicate space to individual buttons that take up more space, I have no idea. I’d even be willing to bet Mini’s lever costs less than separate Park, Reverse, Neutral and Drive buttons.
Ask me how I know
Meanwhile, take a look at the shifter on my personal car, a 2024 Fiat 500e. Or rather, a press photo showing a cabin similar to mine. I actually lent it to my brother when he sold his truck, so I won’t have access to it for a few more days and therefore can’t grab a photo myself. As a result, you’ll have to settle for an official press photo showing a presumably much more attractive Italian man holding the wheel instead. I mean, just look at those hands. There’s no way an unattractive man has hands that nice. Wait, where were we? Oh yeah, the shifter.
Just look at how much space all those buttons take up! And even worse, in order to put the car into drive, I have to reach all the way across the center console. Is it the worst thing in the world? Not at all. But it’s annoying, and now it’s even more annoying because another automaker has reminded me just how much better it could have been. It also clearly isn’t a dealbreaker for me since I’m on my third 500e, but come on, Fiat. You’re killing me here.
At least that button layout matches the design of the rest of the center console and is generally out of the way. Some automakers still stick you with a massive shift lever like you used to get on older automatics, where the shifter actually did something. They may be familiar, but now that they’re no longer necessary, I just don’t understand why you’d waste all that space. Especially since a smaller, less intrusive shift lever would free the designers up to do a little more with the center console.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m still a big fan of column shifters, but that doesn’t mean Mini didn’t do a fantastic job with its shift lever, too. Let’s see more of that, automakers.
