Own a 2004 Mini Cooper. I've had the car for three years. Will not have much longer. Mini Cooper is a piece of crap. They have no durability whatsoever. I have spent more on repairs for this car than any car I ever owned. Mini has 58K. I have a Honda Element with over 112,000 miles on it. Total repair costs in 5 years, $1500. total repair costs on Mini over 3 years, over $6000!!. Ridiculous. Anyone who would buy one of these cars is an idiot. Me included. Never again!

 

fail troll is fail.

 

Sounds like this gentleman has never owned an American car!.

 

Mine has been relatively trouble free. I guess we're all idiots though. What a tool....

 

Go buy another Honda.

 

I think the problem with this MINI is not the car but rather the owner. And I second Dave's vote!

 

Bummer, Dude. Tell you what: I'll give you $1300 for your POS. Just fire me a PM.

 

Your mom is a tramp!!!

 

Let's put this in perspective. My family needed a larger car so we decided to go from Toyota 4Runners to a Chrysler Town and Country Mini van. I had never owned an American car before. My wife drove it for 3 weeks and put 900 miles on it. The car did not die on the road or leave us stranded somewhere but something was not right. So we took it to the dealer. They informed us that the engine would need to be replaced. They had it for 3 weeks. We drove that car for 4 more years and dealt with various other issues. it was a lease so I paid the last 3 months to get rid of the car early. We went back to Toyotas. We have a 2008 Highlander for 2.5 years now. It has never been back to the dealer for anything, not even once. I will never buy another American car again.

The bottom line is all cars have problems. Some more than others. if you are not happy move on. You live and learn.

Some of us do have issues with our MINI's, I think we may overlook them because the cars are so unique and fun to drive. They are expensive to maintain though.

 

Sell it, buy a Honda and quit bothering us with your rambling....

 

2005 owned for 4 years. no issues.
2000 focus,bought used owned three months.. dropped a valve seat... ABSOLUTE JUNK!!!

 

A used 2004. Wow Problems,Wow, I just wonder how much loving care it recieved by the person or more then one person that owned it before you bought it.

The next time you get it running you need to shine it up and sell it or trade it in on another Honda.

 

Considering that you have posted twice, your opinion keens nothing. Obviously you found this website way too late in your ownership because if you had found it earlier maybe your problems could have been solved with having to make a stealership trip. So you sit are the one that is wrong and if you never buy one again I wont have any problems sleeping at night.

 

I have an 03' S and the only money i have spent on it were mods! Yes,i bought new pads but they were upgrades not for being worn out,Borla exhaust not bcause the exhaust went bad,just wanted more performance.Yes, i replaced my runflats with good summer performance tires which i consider an upgrade not a repair cost.Replaced plugs with colder units not because they were bad or worn out but at same time 15%pulley installed,again not maintenance but upgrade.A new air filter came along with new air box,not bad,upgrade.You get the idea,the $$$ i have spent on my car were self inflected,my car has been bullet proof.I suspect operator problem,neglect and not a defective car. I must admit i am a finatic about my car,oil change every 3k, although it gets checked along with tire pressure and other fluids weekly.Just my $0.02.
B.

 

And I bet you look super cool toolin' around in that Element. A chick machine for sure. Almost as much fun as I had driving my high school dates around in my Dad's Ford station wagon.

 

Worst car ever? I think not. Try a 78' Pinto or an 81' Renault LeCar. I'm embarassed to admit I've owned both.

Kevin

 

Let's face it. Some of the MINIs sold have sucked big time. It's true for all cars. There have been MINIs bought back as lemons and some that have sucked a good amount of pocket money for troubles that shouldn't have been there.

This guy may have gotten one of the ones that sucks. It happens. And it will happen to others. What's really sad is that with most people not thinking about the distribution of faults that happens in any car made, that one bad car doesn't mean that all of tha car are bad. And conversly, it's an error to think that if one owned a very trouble free car, that all cars of that make and model will be trouble free! It's just not the way it goes.

Oh well.

Matt

 

lol - sorry to hear about your troubles but this is your 2nd post after owning the car for 3 yrs and this is what you write for us ?

Participation rather than condemnation could have saved you some dough in the long run....

BTW: We have a 06' Honda Element EXP as well. The regular scheduled maintenance alone since date of purchase has exceeded $1,500 !

 

He obviously has never owned a VW Eurovan. $9500 in repair bills in 3 years.

 

Sell the MINI to Helix () and then buy a Lancia or Alpha Romeo. Both are highly reliable cars that you will never have to service.

 

As for MINI dependability I see no major issues. I bought an '02 MCS used last December w/ 73K on it. Brought it home and checked it out from bumper to bumper. With the help of this site I had a better idea what to look for, like my leaking overflow tank. I ended up putting ~$750 into it ($500 of it for new tires). It is my daily driver and I have now put close to 5K trouble free miles on it and would trust it to drive anywhere. I even let my wife take it out of state for a weekend by herself.

Why do I say "Any car can be dependable if well maintained?" If you are in touch with your car, you don't just drive it, you know when things aren't just quite right and check them out. You also look for problems before they rear their ugly heads, it's called maintenance, and some cars need a lot more than others, like supercharged and turbo cars. Checking your car over only when the idiot reminder on the dash tells you to, or when somehting breaks is NOT maintenance.

I have owned cars that fall into both catagories, the cars you just drive and the cars that you bond with. I owned a '98 Buick Regal for 11 years and 120,000 miles that I just drove, it was dependable and had low cost maintenance but not much fun. I also owned a very dependable (even with the Lucus electric) '74 MG Midget that I drove as a daily for 5 years until I was offered WAY TOO much money for it . Until I got my MINI, I longed for the fun of another Midget (not any more). If you just drive an MG, you will end up on the side of the road at some point in time. But for me the quirky cars are the FUN cars. So these cars require more maintenance, for me in the end these cars give back much more than they recieve. Just like my MG Midget, I look for excusses to get behind the wheel of my MINI.

These cars are NOT for everyone, so if you can't handle a little extra work to drive a car that gives so much back, sell it to someone who will enjoy it and go out and buy a Honda Element and enjoy your boring life.

 

.

xmlman, I am a new MINI owner and, judging from what I've been reading here, I will be wrenching and visiting my dealer a bit more than I've had to do for the Toyotas and Hondas I've squired over the years.

But, it is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.

.

 

A troll is a troll is a troll............

 

 

^^^^lolz!!!!!