just keep saying, i live in a nanny state... i'm not responsible for my actions..sorry, i think you'll end up paying

 

It doesn't have to be abuse... Bottom line is that it's not a manufacturer's defect. It's operator error regardless of the cause or circumstances and you can't expect the manufacturer or the vendor (dealership) to be responsible.

If you drop your plasma TV, BestBuy isn't going to give you a new one because it didn't withstand your abuse.

 

i can't believe people are still talking about this guys car

 

I'm sorry brand does make a difference.

The big American three are super lenient. I had a dump on my Stage 2 SRT-4, and still got warranty work done there. Ford was cool as long as you didn't touch the cats. And never ran into a problem with any of the GM cars I have had. I have modded them all.

Never ran into a problem with mazda as well. But have heard stories.

Sorry to hear. If that happened to me I'd cry.

I would take the head off yourself and take it to a machine shop to see if it can be salvaged. There is guy by me that buy SHO's that had cam failures(the cam actually comes apart) If he can rebuilt those, I'm sure your engine can be rebuilt.

 

All I have left to say is that the car is at the dealer. Tomorrow they will check it out. After this I will take it to a performance shop. And that'll be that.

 

Had it been a completely stock car I'd say you would have had a case for the dealer to fix it w/ no charge to you. When you buy a new car I don't recall anything in the literature about not warranty'ing a mis-shift. The auto manufacturers are pretty explicit in what they cover and what they don't and list out most reseaons (i.e. will not cover clutch, brakes, tires, etc as these are normal wear and tear). Yet a timing chain coming off for whatever the reason should be covered.
Now, since Clubmamut has a heavily modded car I'd say that the dealership has a case to argue that his mods caused this engine failure (even though we all now know it's due to a mis-shift and wasn't the fault of the mods). This may be difficult to prove in court. As I think in most people's minds as soon as they hear "modified engine" they automatically assume you did something to ruin your engine (i.e. put on some performace part that stressed the engine beyond braking point).
Had the car been completely stock you'd have a strong case in small claims court against the dealer to honor the car's warranty.

 

It may be operator error,but you must admit the Mini's gear box is the sloppiest one on the market.Mis shifts can happen very easy with a mini gear box.
Never miss shifted other cars,but this mini is miss shifted everyday.

 

done!.........

 

my works shifts very nice tight

 

Sloppy? Mine is perfect. I love it.

Drive an old E39 M5 or 540i 6-Speed....and you'll see what a sloppy shifter feels like in a BMW product.

Agreed....and I don't have a works. (They are the same though...)

 

my 1984 colt turbo was sloppy

 

My Taurus SHO wasn't sloppy at all...had an awesome firm and pleasant to use shifter...the MCS in my opinion is even better...my 97 Jetta...now that thing was like a stick in a bucket of mud to shift...vague as heck.

I've had a couple professional racers drive my car (only ones i trust to lol) and they all commented on how great the shifter was....keep in mind they've driven modern supercars as well......now before i had the shift linkage and clutch replaced under warrantee, it was terrible lol.

 

was your jetta a o2a tranny?.....the getrag is one of the best six speeds i have ever driven on a factory car besides my brothers subaru six speed. i dont know how you can complain about it at all.

 

no no the 97 was a 5 speed...

EDIT: I did do the shift linkage mod to improve feel...but it helped zilch. One of the most convoluted Rube Goldberg-esque shift linkages ever...

 

yeah 97 5speed was a o2a i think was it a vr?

 

What, with the switchable two-speed differential? It was hard to row through all ten forward gears? Nahhhhhh! Actually, they aren't that bad if you put delrin bushings all over the place.

 

8 forward 2 reverse car ran 12.70s with a intercooler,bigger throttlebody ,bigger turbo , a custom turbo back and a 50 shot

 

you miss shift everyday?...ur doing it wrong....

 

I'm gonna have to agree with this as well...i've driven my car quite hard and never missed a shift on my Mini yet...You are using that pedal all the way to the left when you shift i hope?

My jetta was the 4 banger btw...and my girlfriend had a 95 jetta that was just as bad if not worse. Not sure if they fixed it for the later body style, but both those cars had nothing but problems with the shifters, plus hers had electrical gremlins galore. That's part of the reason I stayed away from the GTI or R32 when shopping for a new car. Maybe they are better but I had serious build quality issues with two VW's in my life so I stayed away. Plus I sell at least two or three headlight bulbs for 01 and newer VW's since they seem to pop all the time...oh and my sisters husband ended up getting his 02 Jetta bought back by the dealer via the Lemon Law....so yeah no more VW's in my life...ever.

 

the r32 o2m is a very nice transmission.
all of my friends modify vw's and one of them has a o2m in his golf, after going through 5 o2a's in one year he decided to take the plunge and custom make alot of parts to get it working

 

the r32 is a very nice car. but for a car with the r32's weight it just doesn't make enough horsepower out of the vr

 

Yea I've always felt they just aren't fast enough...

They are nice...look good...sound awesome...but just don't move. Not a slow car by any means, but my MCS would walk all over one.

 

Pedal has nothing to do with it. I just find the box to be sloppy.I find it very easy to skip gears when I don't want it to.

 

Gear box can be a little vague if you force it. Don't cup the shifter with a strong grip and force it into gear. You can shift with two fingers if you use neutral correctly.

 

Clubmamut

You said the dealer would check it out 9/23. I've read this soap opera like story today. Can't wait to hear the exciting ending!