Up until today no problems with my Countryman since February but today ugh! I was driving in town and first rough engine noise and then full shut down. Luckily coasted to a safe spot on the road....but the car was totally disabled. Called Roadside assistance and 45 minutes the car was on a tow truck along with me back to the dealer. While waiting, I lifted the hood and saw coolant sprayed all over the engine compartment.....so probably a coolant leak....but time will tell. Good news, even though my dealer was out of loaner Minis, they fixed me up with a nicely equipped 328 BMW sedan. So has anybody else experienced a complete engine shutdown without warning....no lights...nothing. Total time elapsed from initial symptoms to engine shutdown....30 seconds.
The dealer has gone out their way to eliminate any inconvenience...but kind of alarming that it happened so fast.

 

Oouch. 2 months, 950 trouble free miles here. Keep us posted!

 

Wow, that's crazy. Did you just lose the engine power or did you lose all power, i.e. power steering, lights, etc.?

 

It was very strange, engine would try to start and when I stopped pushing the engine start button the starter kept going for another 10-15 seconds. All other power was ok, thankfully other wise contacting Roadside Assistance would have been a real trip. Had a real hard time trying to get it out of park and into neutral so that the tow truck could winch it on to the flat bed. Basically had to get the engine to catch for a second and then move the lever out of park....the whole experience was a real head scratcher. Haven;t heard the outcome of the diagnostics yet but will report when I get the results.

 

Latest update....fuel pump is bad so that needs to be addressed before tackling the leaking coolant issue....stay tuned

 

So believe it or not, I just plain ran out of gas. The fuel gauge sensor is bad and needs to be replaced. Fuel gauge indicator showed 3 bars when in fact the tank was dry. So ruh roh no go juice in the tank. I guess I should have checked the mileage between fill ups....but I thought the gauge would indicate correctly. Oh well, hopefully nothing else shows up when the new part arrives and they complete my diagnostics check.

 

Well, that's not as bad as it could have been, I suppose. Hope you are reunited with your CM soon.

 

Thanks for the updates!

 

I didn't have any engine issues but the back-ordered parts really gave me a long wait. Just wanted to share my experiences.

I bought the car in January, hit a pot hole in Feb. Left for an two month trip. Got back in late April, decide to replace the tires; waited two weeks for the back-ordered tires to arrive. A week after the tire replacement I set off to an alignment at the mini dealership. Was told the car struts were bended and the alignment could not be in perfect! Ordered replacement struts, Again; waited another two weeks for the struts to come in and have them replace. Ordered the JCW Kit, pick it up last week, finally all have been completed. Just got my car back today with the JCW kit installed. I'm loving it!!!

Will have to hit the dealership sometime to fix the front passenger window problem, have been told that its a computer bug issue.

All that, I'm still Loving it! Looking forward to the upcoming roadster!!!

 

As predicted by the previous poster, the fuel management system containing the fuel gauge sensor part is nowhere to be found stateside. Part has to come from Germany and won't be here until at least July 12th. So that means I'll be without my Countryman for 2 weeks. Somewhat assuaged by the 3 Series BMW loaner that I have...still not as comfortable as my Countryman....what are ya gonna do?

 

Had same problem with driver side window, it does no go down all the way sometimes. It was the motor, and had to wait 3 days for it.

 

haha R60 > E90

I hope you get your CM back safe and with a fully operational gas gauge!

 

awe man... i better stop by a dealership soon to find out the real problem. over the phone they just tell me it an software bug! Thanks...

 

Got my car back today, new fuel monitoring system installed and it's all good. Now call me delusional but I was glad to get my Countryman back. The 3 series loaner is a very nice car but I like the comfort, the handling, the room, the noise level of the Countryman over the 3 Series sedan. I was a Bimmer guy for several years but the Countryman at this point in my life is a better fit and ALOT less expensive.

 

Same here! Never liked the 3 series nor the Old 5. The room in the 3 is much smaller than the countryman.

 

You know, we actually measured the interior room in our 2000 328i and the Countryman. It turned out that the 328i was 3" wider across the cabin between the front doors and 2.5" wider across the rear doors. The interior height of the 328i was less than the CM-S-2. But, you sit much lower in the 328i so you don't notice the difference.

Interestingly, the real wheel track of the CM-S-2 was wider than the 328i; don't know about the CM-S-4. The body was also wider on the CM-S-2.

So where did those 2"-3" go? Door thickness. The thickness of the CM-S-2 doors looks almost double the thickness of the 328i doors. Gives me a good feeling about the crash-worthiness of the CM in a side impact.