that's funny, 'cause I've had that thought too...

now that it's spring I tend to start the day with a blast up to Blackburn Circle and a Dunkin' down near Gloucester Harbor.

too much fun, and it burns 1 gal round trip

$3.80 for the gas
$2.05 for the coffee

a spring morning on a good bit of road -- priceless!

Oops! Sorry, back to reliability - which is NOT boring in a Mini, but IS boring in a Toyota..

 

20K Miles of Bliss on my 09 JCW. Best car I ever owned hands down. Last car was an E36 M3 convertible, before than at E36 325iC, before that a E30 325e all modded with suspension, bilstiens, springs etc. This one tops all those out of the box. Once your brain can catch up to the car then it is time to mod which I have recently done. The 2010 JCW CLubman is working well too. 0 Problems. Minimal problems with the 05 MCS until the end (on the way to pick up the 2010, must have sucked up something in the alternator).

 

Bought new on Nov 17. 4000 miles now and Zero problems. nothing, nada. It is the trouble free new car I've ever owned including my 07 Civic.

Oh the 07 Civic
Sun visor hinges explode in hot weather, I'm on my 5th
Incorrect rear upper control arms installed when Honda Built the car. Honda refused to cover repair uder warrenty because of miles on car.
And one auto transmission problem.

ALL cars have issues. Go the the Civic users forums and you'll see.

 

Had my sweet 2010 HB Clubman for 9 weeks now. Bought "new", with 3500 miles on her(she was an excutive car). No idea how she was driven during that time. Since I've adopted her she has 6600 miles now. My Mini dealer replaced the front rotors (warranty) yesterday...as I stated, dont know how she was treated as an exec. car. I am a very gentle braker, although I rarely need to brake this baby while cornering...LOVE THAT!!!

The best part is......wait for it....37MPG!!!! Ok, maybe the best part is driving her and how she handles. Both of these facts = Awesome Car

2010 HB Clubman, fairly loaded, much loved

 

Oh, Oh Oh....forgot to mention how much l LOVE the sport button!!! Gotten me out of some situations!

OH and the way cool ambient lighting!! And where do I send flowers to the person who invented heated seats? I know these are not necessarily inherent to the Mini...but I love these features.

I know more cool stuff will occur to me....

 

I bought mine new and I've had it since August of last year. No problems.

 

I bought mine new last May. I haven't had to do a thing to it, not even add oil.

Dave

 

Had my 03 with 77K for just under a year. So far the only problem has been a broken dip stick or more accurately one that would have broken if I stuck it back in one mote time. Snapped it off myself, re-inserted and drove right away to dealer for an $18 replacement. In hindsight I probably should have bought two as the dealer is 60 miles away.

 

I'm still waiting on my '11 MCS, but I think one post above summarized it well from my research. Being resourceful if you do have problems is important. Some things can be corrected with a little knowledge, the right approach, and the right person working on your car. Right now I have an '02 Jeep GC and if you read Internet posts related to that car your will find lots and lots of complaints about expensive repairs. Most are somewhat true, but what I've found is that is you prepare yourself with knowledge and know what it should cost to get fixed, you are in a much better position to make out OK. So yeah, you can go ahead and pay the Jeep dealer $500 to replace a power window motor/regulator...or you can do it for $90 yourself (just one example). So be resourceful, do your research, and if you like the car (or don't have a choice) don't give up. I watched a youtube post yesterday of this woman in Charlottle complaining about her Mini and how it is (was) a lemon. She bought it new and said she didn't have time to pursue the lemon law, yet she had time to make the video and post signs in her back window advising not to do business with the dealer and not to buy a Mini. When she took it back for warrranty work they advised her they would not work on the car and to take it to another dealer. LOL

 

Every Vehicle has problems even those toyotas and hondas have had engine and service issues... both ours are trouble free since day 1! If you want safe cheap and almost reliable ride the bus!!!!!!!!!

 

1 year old, 20,000 miles, not a single issue. *knocks on wood*

 

[FONT='Times New Roman']I have a 2004 Cooper S that I got about 2 years ago, the previous owner took really good care of it and I have been doing the same. My car has had no real issues and it’s about to cross the 70,000 mile mark. Only think I have changed was the power steering fan which was making a lot of noise and I know the previous owner replaced the door window motor. But over all I love my MINI and haven’t had any problems with it. In fact I still haven’t even replaced the battery! [/FONT]

 

Since the warranty expired two ears ago, my car has been back for oil changes and brake pads. Nothing else.

 

'03 MCS JCW - in 65K miles I had a brake light switch, window motor and the coolant reservoir replaced. New owner has had zero problems too, AFIK.

'09 Clubman S - at 3K I had the chain tensioner replaced - nothing else in just over 30K miles....

 

To the OP, you have had an unfortunate run of bad luck. Although many of the problems are not unheard of on this forum for the same owner to have been stung by them all is disheartening. Just the fact you had to dish out $500 for wheel speed sensors implies more then one failure when most people never see one fail during the life of their cars.

In the old days they used to say that anyone could get a lemon which were usually built on Friday afternoons or Monday mornings. It sounds like they might have started yours on Friday and wrapped things up on Monday.

As for your comment regarding value however I just don't see any strong evidence supporting that contention. I have had my 03 MCS for less then a year and after months of hunting I felt they held there value a little more then I would have hoped for, if you get my drift. There are not that many cars that sold for $26K new that would still command a $12.5K price 8 years later. As for $4000, well given your cars history and possible condition maybe that's the most you could expect. But in my opinion you are in the minority. There aren't that many $4,000 MINIs out there.

 

I have my 09 MINI since new. Very pleased with her. Drove to Key West and Wisconsin, snowy Maine and Vermont. Getting ready for Texas in summer heat.

If you good to MINI, MINI good to you. Wash and wax regularly tell her she is the best car you've ever had and do not forget to do scheduled maintenance. That's all.

 

perfect!

 

I bought my 2005 S in December of 2004. 125,000 miles later I've had 2 of the problematic hydraulic engine mounts replaced under warranty, no other issues at all.

The suspension has been race tuned and the engine modified to produce 210 HP at the wheels. I still have the original clutch ( and windshield!)

My Wife's '05 S has less that 50K miles and no problems with it either. It spun and rolled on the highway, was close to totaled but got repaired and is better that ever.

 

Wow....and OMG!!!

 

Mine is a 2009 Justa automatic. It had a new water pump in its first month and since then has been reliable as can be. Its approaching 30K now.

I've made a couple of changes to it to suit my personal needs a bit. It has the torque arm inserts from Way at Way Motorsport (thank you sir) and we've replaced the run-flats with 205/50/16 Avid Envigors. I added PIAA driving lights and a hardwired GPS.

The most recent change was to add Akebono brake pads, which it didn't really need, but we found that when we installed them on our daughter's 2005 that they almost ended the black crud all over the wheels so we added them to our car, too.

It runs every day and we average about 500 miles a week unless we are on a trip with it. It has gone to MOTD 2010. Mini Takes the States 2010, and Minis in the Mountains as well as numerous trips to visit our daughter in Virginia and the beach in Key West.

I change its oil every 5000 miles -- religiously, and it always gets full synthetic 5W30.

The car gets about 36 mpg on the highway with the air on and about 32 to 33 in town also with the air on most of the time (its Florida, remember).

The little car just chugs along like its enjoying every minute of it, never complaining or misbehaving in any way.

I have had 19 Hondas over the years. They are also so reliable that they are boring, but none have been one bit more reliable than the little green Mini. and none except my 87 CRX Si could even get close to the Mini in fun factor. The CRX was close.

When our Mini wears out, my wife and I have already decided that the next one will be red and white. And there will be a next one.

We have had one opportunity to rely on the good will of the Mini organization. Our daughter's CVT died at 70K miles. We asked Mini to help her, and they did. Great folks. You'll not hear a complaint on either the car or our dealer. They have been exemplary (well, their sales manager isn't real good at returning phone calls, but he is busy selling more cars).

We're very happy folks.

You'll not get a sob story from us.

 

Only around 3600 on the clock and the only issue is some D-Bag scraping up the back end a bit. The one trip to the dealer was on a "We Owe" and they (MINI of Pittsburgh) took great care of us! I can honestly say that even with all the negative vibes that come out of a forum, I would still buy the MINI if I knew then what I know now. This car is AWESOME! And frankly, I don't care if it has issues the gods know I have mine!

 

I know this is an old thread but I think it deserves resurrecting. I have only had my MINI for a month now so don't really have much to say on this matter but would like to hear some positive stories.
My MINI is a 2007 MCS with 130,000 km, or translated, about 80,000 miles on her. The engine was replaced at about 60,000 or 70,000 km by previous owner. I am guessing this was due to a timing chain issue.
I have read so much negativity that I really need to hear something positive.
When I was at dealer picking up my MINI an elderly gentleman was there waiting for mud flaps to be installed on the car he had bought the week before. He told me he had traded in his old MINI for this new one and it was his third. He said that in the 4 or 5 years, I can't remember exactly, that he had his previous one he had spent next to nothing to maintain it and it had required nothing much more than routine service. That was very nice to hear.
Lets hear some more good stories.
I hope I can get 300,000 km on this car like I have with my last 2 jeeps before retiring them..

 

Im buying my first fun car, an 04 cooper s, this week. Ive thoroughly gone through the cars service history and can say since 04 in 50,000 miles its had its fan assembly replaced, and its coil pack replaced due to the infamous cylinder 3 lead corrosion. But aside from that, it looks to have been trouble free.

Im really, REALLY happy to have found this thread. I swear, loving MINIs and looking at what gets posted 99% of the time can easily turn a prospective motorer away, or give someone like myself who just made the jump an ulcer. This lets me relax a bit, and be happy for receiving my new pure silver cooper s! OP, thanks for your charitable work lol.

 

65,000 miles on my 2008 justa and its been the most reliable car I have owned. Not once in the garage for anything except scheduled maintenance.

 

After owning BMWs that were great cars, totally trouble free I bought my first Mini in 2009. Not one issue. I traded it for a 2010 convertable. It is 2 years old with 16K. No issues at all. Both Mini were totally trouble free. Great cars. Love my Mini (Shortie).