Ive been a BMW guy for years and I finally decided to make the move and go with something different which is my countryman. The Car is a mechincal disaster ! I have less than 1000 miles on my car and I have had over 5 check engine lights come on, my windows go up and down by themselves and never fully go down. On 3 occasions my car would not start and when it finally did it blew out black smoke from the muffler that stained my driveway, the transmission is totally unresponsive and sounds like its getting ready to fall apart, the car smells like rotten eggs when I come home and park it in my garage, the fan comes on every single time I shut it off and its loud as hell, and the trunk space must have designed by monkeys because you can hardly fit anything in there. The Car is a total waste of 40 grand. Im taking it to the dealer to have them fix whatever problems it has and then its off to the BMW dealer to trade this blue turd in.

 

Better change your signature then, you don't sound too "happy".

...Les

 

Sounds like you got one of the first production batches. I think anyone would be soured to any brand if they have the same experiences you have been having. I really want a Countryman, but opted to wait until they work the bugs out. Yours sounds infested!

 

Uh-Oh. Nothing is more frustrating buying a car and to find out your car is a lemon.

You should look into 'Lemon' law.. Hire a lawyer and get your money back!

 

I had a friend with similar problems on his 2-door S about a year ago. He finally got mini to buy it back. It happens unfortunately with every single make. You've been lucky with BMW.

I hope it works out and I completely understand if it leaves a bad taste in your mouth about the brand. Just don't think your chances are any better with BMW or any other brand. You just got dealt a bad hand this time. Good luck!

 

Major, major bummer. As Silvernuke said, checking the lemon laws in your state might be helpful. Your state's DMW website should have information.


Note to self: When I buy my dream car, do not choose the username "911TurboSCabriolet."

Joking aside, I do feel for you and hope MINI does right by you.

 

We had a 1st generation Saab 9-3 that was so bad that Saab made us a very generous offer on an upgrade to a Saab 9-5. We also had a 5 series touring that BMW resolved with a replacement on condition that we don't discuss it. It happens. Lemon Laws are generally three instances of a problem related to safety that cannot be resolved. I'd be real interested to see how this one works it's self out.

Sealy - Who would be crushed if his Pure Orange turns out to be a Lemon

 

My brother in the UK bought one of the very first mini coopers produced. It was a total lemon and mini bought it back from him after he got a lawyer involved. So do look up those lemon laws. My own personal lemon was a Honda Odyssey mini van, the electric doors would open by themselves, even when going down the highway doing 120km/hr. With small kids in the back it was horrific. THey refused to take it back and we sold it, taking a massive hit on it. Never bought another Honda after that.

I really feel for you, it is a terrible feeling to have your dream car dreams crushed, and then to have to battle for your rights is just cruel. Good luck.

 

Countryman, Will this be the first time that you've had to take the car in for service?

I took a ride in one recently and was impressed with how quiet it was and the smooth ride. Your previous reports (along with others) of how wonderful the car was had me considering that this would suit my wife's needs.

 

You had nothing but praise before like your quote above. Give MINI a chance to make it right - everything mentioned has to do with programming. 99% of the trouble in a vehicle today will be computer related.... Hello they have over 30 some computers on board - some luxury cars have 100+ computers!

As for the boot storage space - that's what test driving is for....... Can't reprogram that.



Back in the '80's ABS brakes were one of the first computer controlled options, now standard by law. Many cars have no mechanical connection to the throttle, and the Prius even has drive-by-wire braking, crazy.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8510228.stm

 

Buying 1st year models certainly has risks, and 1st year model of a brand new vehicle is riskier. Adding to that, the car is from the BMW family, so don't expect reliability - just check Consumer Report.

If you lease, the risk is worth it for looking cool.

 

I've got 7K on the Odometer Porthole...taking it in on 18 Apr for an air leak...Morristown said it was a minor part that needs replacing.

 

This is strictly a programming problem, nothing else. Give them a chance to get it straightened out if they can......

If not, off to BMW you go, and best wishes for a better experience. Life is too short to be miserable over a car........get something else that makes you happy, whatever that is.

One other thought, maybe you need a different dealer if this one isn't getting it done for you? There's nothing that says they're the only ones who can work on it.

 

I have a problem using Consumer Reports for car advice. I know some people think it’s the bible of reliable car data, but I find it a little biased; same goes for J D Powers. Example, years ago a co-working was telling me he was thinking of buying a small SUV. He had a copy of Consumer Guide and showed me the data on a new SUV from Honda called the Passport. The car was a new model and Consumer Guide had little data on it, but did give it a high recommendation based on Hondas reliability of past models. I then turned to the page with the Isuzu Rodeo. Consumer guide was not kind to it and rated it very low commenting about the reliability problems of past Isuzu models. I guess what Consumer Guide did not know was that the Honda Passport was built by Isuzu and did not have any Honda parts in it. Isuzu just changed the badges. Even recently I have looked at Consumer Reports and compared two cars from different manufacturers that have the same engine, transmission and other running gear and built in the same plants, they just different sheet metal on the outside; Consumer reports gives the mechanical components different rating. I also find the data they provide on the mechanicals of some BMW and Mercedes models rate highly, but they fall on more subjective items such as price or value for dollar. If the layout of the dash, the location of a switch, they don’t like the way the user interface of something like the stereo or AC works or there is not enough cup holders they rate them low. Just like J D Powers, brake dust on the wheels is a mechanical problem that has the same weight as a more catastrophic problem such as a steering or breaking problem. Consumer reports rates cars like toasters, if they brown the bread without much thought involved and they are inexpensive (why pay more for a nice polished stainless steel model when white plastic works just as good) then they are the best; but if they still brown the bread but have other futures they don’t think is necessary or they don’t like the control layout they rate them low, subjective. I find a good place for information is the NHTSA @ http://www.nhtsa.gov/Vehicle+Safety/Recalls+&+Defects . Here you can enter a car make, model and year and retrieve consumer complaints, service bulletins or recall information.

I also don’t trust all opinions or statements from forums such as this. If I see more people having the same problem or complaint then I give more weight to it. I’m not stating this is the case with this persons Countryman, but I do believe a majority of those that come to complain have an alternative motive. Some are legitimate complaints but I think a few are having buyer’s remorse and want a way out of their purchase and then there are those that just like to bash the competition. In 2005 I purchased a new second gen 2006 Mercedes ML-500. It was the first year of the new model and I ordered very early just after the release to the dealers, much like the current Countryman. Before and after my purchase I looked at some forums and found a few people complaining about their ML. Most had maybe one or two small problems. But there were also those that had a list of almost every problem you could think of including engine, transmission, AC, power accessories all on the same car. What always struck me as odd was that my ML had not a single problem and I would think I should have experienced at least one. I could just not imagine how that many defective components could come together on one car.

As for this persons Countryman I would be interested in what the dealer has had to say about all the Problems. I myself would have taken it back as soon as the check engine light came on and definitely if I had starting problems or it was blowing huge amounts of black smoke out the exhaust and staining my drive. With that many problem I would think the dealer would have Mini involved without a customer request to do so.

 

Sorry to hear you got a lemon. I would clearly check out any lemon law, or see if the dealer will take the car back. We've had nothing but good to say about the car. Did you not see one in a showroom before buying yours, as far as boot size? I don't understand your issue with the boot. It has more room than any other MINI.

 

Consumer Guide is not published by Consumer Reports.

The rest of your critique is so random and unorganized, it is hard to comment.

I think it is important to separate reliability data from ratings. CR publishes both - the reliability data is simply a statistical summary of the questionaries they send to owners, while the ratings reflect some subjectivity, like all car ratings. You can disagree with the subjective ratings and still use the reliability ratings where are the only good data we really have.

I find it odd that many criticize CR for being biased. While you may not agree with their evaluation criteria, they are perhaps the only source of information that is at least not biased by advertising dollars.

- Mark

 

Disagree with you. You are right on what CR do, but I interpret it differently. I also had little problem understanding the poster's response and perspective. I would urge avoiding terms like "unorganized" and "random"; I thank that poster for taking the time to express a reasoned perspective at some length.

As to the substance of the CR issue, I think an underlying problem is CR's basic questionnaire methodology has an underlying "halo" (or "horn" at times) bias to it. Their prior ratings on Toyota's as a group--where they were close to could do no wrong across endless CR findings--vs. their current year findings of what comes off as a very mixed bag is a case in point. I don't think that noticeable shift is explainable just based on build quality, but rather is likely influenced by owner "feel good" (and now less good) factors that are not statistically reliable or valid when they creep into survey responses and then findings. I think CR readers (and yes, I subscribe) are also probably not a representative owner sample across vehicles either--education, income, idiosynchrasies, etc. Do agree though it is one of the few available sources out there. Certainly better than the JD Power stuff that seems to me to be really shallow when their underlying identified issues (and sometimes their methodology) are examined.

 

Sorry, Consumer Guide should have read Consumer Report, the one that always has the red and black circles. Also you should be aware; a magazine’s biased point of view is not always about money. The writers can be bias based on a preconceived point of view or his or hers personal likes or dislikes. A good example is some of the magazine articles on the new Countryman. Most I have read seem to have a bias going in; they did not think Mini should have built the vehicle. Some complained it is too big, or bulky, or over weight, it was just not a Mini or a true SUV. It seems like they formed an opinion before they ever had a chance to drive it, then looked for things to support that pre-conceived conclusion. Rather than rate it on its merit, or if it meet the manufacturer’s goal, they rate it on what they thought it should have been. I remember some of the early articles on the Porsche Cayenne; most magazines did not like it because it was not a true Porsche and the articles expressed that view. I have also read articles written were it was most obvious it was not a car the writer would buy and own and the article showed. That is one of the problem I see with Consumer Report.

 

The people on this forum probably makes up less than one percent of the actual MINI Owners in the US and the World...more people on this forum who have actual problems or complaints post...so there are probably a good number of people who like their MINIs that are not on any forums.

The advice from someone's experience with their cars on this forum is invaluable...

 

I generally disagree. I haven't found that CR comes to the party with any particular agenda nor have they said anything about the Countryman not being a "true Mini" or anything like this. If anything, they're overly cut-and-dried in their testing, generally keeping subjective assessments out of things. That's the most common complaint about CR - that they evaulate cars like toasters - that they don't take into account things like how a car is styled, how it makes one feel while they are driving, how it performs in subtle ways apart from the objective data. Your complaint - that the publications come to evaluations with a preconceived agenda - seems much more applicable to the mainstream car magazines such as Car and Driver, Road and Track, Motor Trend, Automobile, etc. CR is BY FAR the "driest" publication.

Your earlier complaint about "Consumer Guide" said that the scores didn't reflect commonality between platforms. If you're truly talking about CR's reliability ratings, you should know that all CR does is compile and statistically normalize data. If the same car that differs only in trim is rated differently in one brand listing vs. another, then it is because owners reported different rates of repair for the two. It's just raw data, statistically normalized. Still think you might be confusing different publications.

- Mark

 

If I recall correctly, the methods for evaluating cars come in 2 parts. The first is CR's vehicle evaluation, which I have found to be the most unbiased of the magazine reviews. The second part on the reliability rankings (red circle/black circle) is based on CR subscriber feedback. That IS subject to "halo" effect, but it's not done on purpose by CR. For brands and vehicles people like, they'll tend to be more forgiving, or will in fact forget some of the problems. And of course, the opposite applies as well.

Sorry to hear the OP's problems, it sucks having a brand new vehicle that seems like a basket case-hope things work out in your favor!

 

Actually, we say boot here. And you may be on to something.

 

Funny pic.

And you CR 'baters need to take it elsewhere....... Althought the OP has left the building so it doesn't matter what steals the thread......

How about we debate TireRacks reviews, I get the monthly emails and the same tire rates differently every survey even in that short time. Reading the reviews of any given tire, even though you can sort by make and model car, leaves one confused with the variety of opinions.

Face it boys..... surveys, ratings, tests, studies.... are just fancy words for opinions, and everyone has one of those. One minute coffee is bad for you, next it cures all your ailments, believe what you want.

 

That was my impression of quite a few reviews of the CM. I don't mind reading a bad review of something I have bought (or will buy), but at least rate the item based on what the manufacturer intended, not on what you think they should have done.

By the way, I generally agree with your assessment of Consumer Reports, though I will admit they try to put forth a decent effort when it comes to rating cars. On the other hand, consumer audio and video equipment...



Back on topic: To the OP, I will be interested in hearing about your experiences following up with MINI on this. I tend to be vigilent in getting my money's worth, as you seem to be, and I will definitely nudge my dealershiip/MA with any information you wish to provide about your experience, good or bad. Bottom line, if the vehicle does not function as promised, they should do everything they can to fix that. If that means eventually giving you another CM, then so be it.

 

Shall we stay on topic? We have a fellow motorer in trouble. Who cares about consumer report/guide etc?