To everyone that said that they hated the oil dipstick, now I know why. It warmed up enough that I didn't have to de-ice the front end to check my oil after a fill up. That dipstick is truly rubbish! I was hoping that everyone that said it sucked wasn't serious.

 

I hate that my gas mileage goes to crap every time I add a new part to my MINI. HaHa.

 

I dislike the vents blowing on my hands, how noisy it can be, the seat belt is not height adjustable, can't adjust the speed on intermittent wipers, the sport mode doesn't come on when you start the car, the sunroof has no solid shade to block the sun, and it is ridiculous that the sunroof doesn't have an auto open feature. I also don't like the way the rubber floor mat feels in front of the gas pedal, but I suppose I could just find different mats. I mitigated the sun issue with stripes across the roof and I should have an auto-open module arriving in the mail any day...

 

The brake dust 'problem' is easily remedied.

Even the least expensive aftermarket brake pads will stop the car better than the stockers and be less expensive than the stockers, as well, AND, much less brake dust.

 

I love my 02 MCS, but if I have to choose the things I dislike would be:

1. How the rear of the car sucks dust, water and mud like a Hoover Vacuum!

2. Water entering the cockpit if the roof/windows are wet and you open the door or window.

3. Tiny hole ports for the Fog Lamps

And by the way, my 02 MCS do have auto up windows/run roof, adjustable height seat belts, maybe because it was imported from Europe?

Cheers!
RayanMX

 

I don't care for the armrest and a few other little things, but of course the things I love about my Mini far far outweigh the negative.

 

1. Cup holders need to be further from the switches.
2. Sun roof needs to operate like the windows where a quick touch opens all the way up to be more intuitive.
3. Not sure why the doors need to be closed to operate the windows but mine does and from other descriptions it sounds like other years are different.
4. Brake dust is horrible on this car and all other BMW's, fix the whole fleet or at least offer an optional dustless pad! If the dust is supposed to stop squeaks it isn't working anyway.
5. Arm rest always seems to be at the wrong height for me and it opens up all the time.
6. The car needs a temperature gauge period.
7. It's a turbo car but I hear nothing that reminds me that it is. I see nothing that reminds me that it is (unless I lift the bonnet) boost gage and a hint of turbo whine or some BOV noise would be cool.
8. Also to set the JCW apart the engine should be larger. Punch it out to a 1.8 tune it mildly to last / give it huge potential. The M3 is out of reach of a 3 series with mods, Where the JCW is pretty much an S with a tune and some brakes.

I love everything else about the car, so when I get my next Mini in 5 years I expect all this stuff to be fixed.

Update for the dude below: Your brakes dust too and your stopping distance is about 20 feet more than mine from 60 mph, maybe more if an 02 is anything like my 05 MCS. And I take the wide torque curve of a turbo over a whining engine any day. . . I don't hear my turbo because of that awesome factory JCW exhaust!

 

Maybe you should find an older MCS/JCW. You'd love the sound of the bigger supercharger. When I wind mine up it sings in harmony with the JCW exhaust.

 

Sometimes I hate the rough ride...but I get over it when there's little traffic and I can push it.

I hate the parcel shelf...It is bent out of shape and jams up the boot lid. I want to burn it. Going to get rid of it and make my own "parcel shelf" solution.

I wish I had a heat indicator/guage...maybe oil temp etc.

I love my Navi, Sunroof, heated seats, powerfold mirrors, sound system...and my performance runflats...people seem to hate the runflats...I think they're awesome.

 

My '11 JCW has light BOV noise, and for the first time yesterday (I had the windows down since it was finally nice out) I could hear turbo whine on acceleration.

 

Not exactly. The add-on JCW kits don't have the stronger head, stronger pistons, stronger clutch, bigger turbo and larger exhaust and catalytic converter. There may be a few other things done, but this is all that I can remember without research. Anyway, the JCW kits don't replace anything inside the engine and a tune doesn't address any of this.

 

I hate the fact that the same blocks, cranks, and trannys weren't used for all the models. It would have solved a huge reliability issue.

 

Now I am a newb, but I hear the BOV in our 2010 MCS very well. I couldn't hear it in my 2011 MCCS until I switched the air filter though. It is still quieter than the MCS, even though they have the same drop in K&N filter. I don't think I have heard the whine in either car though. With the stock air filter, we didn't hear the MCS BOV until driving in the mountains (twisties!) with the windows down.

 

Mine is pretty exaggerated. Sounds cool.

 

All the girls call it "cute", and all the guys call it a "chick car". Too bad the guys don't know how many chicks I get with it hahahaha

 

I used to get the same thing with the Miata, until they saw my redheaded wife.

 

I used to have a Nissan Frontier 3.3l V6 supercharged (the Lightning Arrestor!). I made an intake for it and added a 3" Flowmaster exhaust. That sounded great too, kind of like a Porche flat six with a whine like a M7 Mini.

Yes I can hear the BOV with the windows down too. Would be nice if I could hear it with them up, so maybe make it just a smidge louder.

I acknowledge I have oversimplified the difference between a JCW and MCS. But my point is a tuned MCS will make more power than a stock JCW (for less).

Stopping is another issue that I completly ignored and the new JCW is the hands down winner compared to the new gen MCS or old gen JCW or even the GP. But overall it would be nice if the JCW was out of reach like an M3 is to a 325i. I guess that is a testament of how good a value the MCS is. But still don't get me wrong, you will never get the keys to either of my JCW's out of my hands! These are the best cars I have ever owned.

 

I didn't notice an Alta AP in your sig.

Get one (or two in your case) of those and you'll be so happy you might blow an artery.

 

However, I suspect it comes with a bit less reliability. My guess, and it is purely my guess, is that BMW uprated the head, pistons, etc. because the increase in boost level took up some of their safety margin. The factory JCW begs to be driven and the boost of 19psi (as I remember) is fairly high for an unmodified street car.

 

the damn cupholder, the "cute" or "gay" comments, and BRAKE DUST

 

I see people complain about the cup holder a lot. What is wrong with it? I don't eat or drink in my MINI, so I use the cup holder for a micrfiber cloth, for cleaning. The cup holder looks like any other cup holder to me.

Dave

 

I hate the price of BMW tagged parts !! That's all

 

They must not have noticed the cup holders when they test drove the vehicle, -- or the arm rest, or known it was a BMW product!?

 

I hate this cup holder:

The reason why, well, it will rotate ALL THE TIME. If I have any drink in it (I am a high school athlete, so normally, water bottles), it will either rotate to the right on a left hand turn, and just smack the dash, or in a right hand turn, it will rotate into the air controls, and turn my air all the way up before I'm even out of the turn so I can't do anything about it! And this is going slowly through the corners!

 

Mine has a detent in it at center and doesnt move unless a passenger's knee moves it.