Well, yesterday I bought my wife an 08 Mini-Cooper S convertible with 6-speed manual from Assael MINI in Monrovia, California. It was ordered and took about 8 weeks to arrive.The dealer swears up and down it's the first 08 any American dealer has taken delivery of. I couldn't care less, but that pleases my wife. It has the "sidewalk" package. That and a few other goodies brought the final price to 31k before tax and license. MSRP of course, at least they no longer try to extract a markup. Way too expensive for a sporty little car of this type IMO but my wife has been desiring this for a long time, and well...she got her way. Anyhow less than 12 hours and 150 miles later there is a small oil leak under the engine coming from where the engine meets the tranny on the car's left side. I'm not too happy considering the dealer is 100 miles away where I live in Bakersfield. Hopefully they will give my wife a loaner so I won't have to go pick her up to boot. It's an extremely fun little car to drive, though for a big fella like me I kinda feel like Chris Farley singing "Fat guy in a little coat!!" I was just about to admit to her that maybe the car was a good match for her after all despite my misgivings, until I walked into the garage after she left for yet another spin and noticed the small puddle about the size of a silver dollar sitting there. Seeing a puddle like that on a car that you've owned for hours is a disheartening experience. Considering where it's located, I'm not too optimistic about an easy fix. BTW, Hello everyone!

 

Frankc29,

Assael, unless the new ownership has a better attitude than the last owners, good luck with them. I haven't been there since the new guys have taken over so I don't really know if they are any better.

A dealership closer to you may be Universal MINI at: 4270 Lankershim Blvd • N. Hollywood, CA 91602•818-505-7455

Down the five to the 134 west. It's a lot quicker than the Monrovia location where Asseal is located. We live a mere 15 minutes from Asseal. My wife, when she had a BMW, went to Universal over Asseal. She hated Asseal that much! They may not be any better, good luck. I hear of good dealers but I haven't found any except Peabody back near Boston, MS. A tad to far to drive though.

I did have good luck with a MINI dealership up in Los Gatos area but again to far away.

My 1st MINI an '02 was crap but my '04 has been great. Give it a chance.

RB

 

I'm not trashing the car, it's way too early for that, just venting a bit. I've come to expect that a new car should not shed fluids, none of the 4 or 5 I've owned in my life ever did. It's kind of a no brainer. I hope it's a fluke. Furthermore I hope it's as simple as a loose bolt or two. We'll see. Assael has been okay so far. I'll know more about that tomorrow when my wife takes it in. They never got aggresive, were honest in telling me from the get go that is was going to be MSRP, and the guy we're working with knows that we haven't done the phone survey yet...

 

Welcome to NAM - hope you have good luck getting the fluid leak fixed. I would be frustrated with a having a fluid leak so early on, too. Bets of luck and keep us updated.

 

Yep - good luck with getting this resolved.

They get more fun with time.

And I'm a BIGGGG guy. And it's my daily driver. And I LOVE it.

 

Wow, yeah, I can see why you'd want to vent.
Good luck- hopefully it's an easy fix and all will be good from here on out.
Welcome to NAM!

Russ R