That seems really really low milage to have it wear out.

 

If it was Monday it was not me - the CM has been at the airport since 5:30am Monday... Enjoy your trip!

 

Indeed.

Earlier in the thread I noted that a fellow Countryman owner in my area had their clutch fail at 1700 miles.

 

My best friend owns a 2012 CMSA4 - lots of driving for work; almost all on prairie-flat country roads and highway (i.e. not hard on the clutch!)- 45,000 km in first 10 months of driving. 35+ years experience of driving manual transmission. Burning clutch smell about 4 weeks ago - checked at dealership - no problems found. Clutch burned out last week - car "died" at the side of the Trans-Canada Highway.

Warranty coverage refused by Mini Crowfoot (Calgary). Owner had to pay full-cost of clutch and flywheel replacement.

 

Sorry to hear that... The evidence continues to mount. owners of manual transmission ALL4's need to be wary.

 

I hope your friend is going to sue the dealer and Mini. Why would he let them get away with this? In Alberta is there something similar to Small Claims Court here? We are approaching 4000 miles with no clutch issues, but if that happens to us I will go ballistic.

 

I guess he should have bought the extended maintenance plan?

 

will that work? seems to me if they blame it on user error under the 3/36 maintenance plan, why would they NOT blame user error under the longer plan? they may simply do one replacement in the 6/100 plan, and if it happens again, send you packing.

couldn't they do that?

 

Agreed. IMO what should have happened was the dealer fixing what is apparently a defective part.

 

Midnight Blue, how are things with the replacement clutch?

 

All my cars are manual(I have 4). I would drive another car to the dealer and take him for a ride, so he could show me what I was doing wrong. I would also direct him to this forum to prove there are others also. There are several threads here about clutch issues. Personally I think the hill assist it causing premature wear.

 

Good advice. I'll definitely pass it on. I am not personally invested in this (still driving my problem-free '05 MCS), but I agree that there definitely seems to be a clutch "issue" with the Countryman (at least the All4). Thanks.

 

So far, so good. But as a result the Countryman has become a seldom driven vehicle. Seems too fragile and we feel like we have to avoid situations where there is going to be heavy traffic and frequent clutch use. The first sniff of burning clutch will just be met with anxiety. Looking forward to end of lease, unfortunately.

 

Sorry to hear that. I had to go into New York City the other day, and I was definitely concerned given the other owners' reports of clutch smells and problems. I did get stuck in several traffic jams (and it was a very hot day so I had the A/C on) but fortunately everything seemed fine.

 

We have some continuing concerns about the clutch, unfortunately. We try to make sure we've got the RPMs up when entering tight situations because of infrequent stalling on starting out. And when we go to SF we really try to avoid some routes with stop signs at the top of every steep stretch.

 

pretty sure mine is going. 1st is very sluggish, stop and go traffic, especially up hill is not fun at all. Pretty disappointed. I expected it to go early, but not before 20k. I have an appt for the 20th for other issues so we'll see. I do have the extended maintenance, though at the time of writting they said if it goes before 40k they'll say its user error

 

This thread was enough to talk my into an auto CM, my 1st auto ever...:-(

 

Last weekend I had to park on incline hill and the clutch smell was pretty strong. only got 3400 miles on the car, but did noticed my gear changes are more notchy now, in a good way. Before when you row into gears there isn't much click/feel

 

I'm sad to say that Greg made the right decision if you must have a Countryman. :(
We were excited to find a vehicle like this from MINI, as where we live, awd is a must. Between my wife and I, we have about half a million miles on manual transmissions. When our clutch failed at 12k, MINI sat on the car for A MONTH debating with me whether to cover it ($2900 fwiw). In the end, they did, but made me sign a 'goodwill' affidavit that they'd only cover it once, and I'm not paying for the next at 24k then 36k then 48k then 60k... that would be well over $10,000 at BMW pricing to keep a brand new, $35,000 car on the road... just for the first 60,000 miles! I'm not angry; just disappointed. I have zero faith in the clutch longevity, and thanks to the "service" department's treatment, I guarantee you I'll never be a customer again.

Trading this same-part-number-clutch-as-the-regular-2wd-mini bloatmobile for a Crosstrek XV from Subaru as soon as they're off the boat. :(

Buyer beware.

Tad

 

Addendum: I was a high-probability Paceman customer when rumors arose; well in advance of our purchase of the CM which is wife's . I hope MINI is paying attention and steps up to take care of those of you who do face this failure, as this <will> affect sales... I'll be looking at Evoques and TTSs to get my next manual awd coupe.

EDIT: at Subaru Forester ad that just populated at the top.

 

Took mine in today, and got the typical service treatment, warning if they find excessive heat and no faulty components that the bill will be on me. 18k miles FWIW.

 

Mojito, That really sucks! BMW is setting themselves up for a class-action lawsuit by not standing behind the warranty, And trying to blame the customers versus admitting to a faulty design A lot of people think that class action lawsuits achieve little but to make the attorneys involved a lot of money, But the discovery phase of such a lawsuit will force them to turn over the records showing that they are well aware that these cars have far too high an incidence of problems. I hope when the inevitable lawsuit comes that it's well-publicized as to what actions they took when they knew they had a problem.

 

@ 4200mi, So far so good. I did hear a slight grind when exiting a off ramp in too high of a gear once. No bogging, just a grind.
(I have driven a manual car as my daily for 22yrs, its not my clutch work)

 

wonder if theyll use the same clutch in the new Paceman?! if so, super bummer! :(

 

Hard to imagine that it would be different given the identical powertrains. Hopefully they have recognized the issue, and will be changing to a beefier unit on both.