Read in today's LA Times that MINI ranked DEAD LAST of all brands in "quality" in U.S. new car deliveries by having the largest number of reported defects at delivery.

I was very unpleasantly surprised.

 

I'm very surprised to hear it. I just passed 55K miles on my '09 this week (in 23 months of ownership) and haven't had a significant issue yet.

 

Mine's dead reliable and I've had it for almost a year--zero problems!

 

Seems like most of the reliability issues crop up on the MCS. As much as I'd like to trade up in a couple of years, all this HPFP, Cold Start, Timing Chain Tensioner nonsense makes me want to shell out for that JCW Tuning Kit for my R50 and hang onto it forever

 

If the LA Times is trying to report on the 2011 J. D. Powers Initial Quality numbers (posted on NAM earlier today), they missed it; but not by a lot. MINI was tied with VW for 4th from the worst (Dodge). That's tied for 28th out of 31.

 

I've had my chain tensioner, HPFP, and water pump changed. When someone tells me they would like to have one its a shame that I have to warn them about the car and the risk one would have to take not knowing if they will get a bad one or not, brand new or used. I'm talking about the R56 of course. Its a shame. BMW should be ashamed.

On that note...I still love my car and now just starting to enjoy it! I would get another one too!

 

MINI has been floating around the bottom of that list every year. It is an enthusiast car.

My wife wants/ed one, but we said no way, not again. I will happily fix and drive this one into the ground though.

 

I think if I feel the need to go much faster I'll get a beater V8 foxbody mustang and drive it on the weekends

I'd also consider a new Coupe S under warranty, of course. I do like the look of it.

 

58,000 highway miles and bad timing chain, new cam, and the call last night that the Turbo is gone. $3500 repair in a 3 year old car and we might not be finished yet. As I told the tech, I thought I was buying a Mini, not some crap car. Am having the dealer buy it off me. Bad car, bad company, two bad dealer service centers...

 

Enthusiast car? There are 6 parked on my street alone, not including mine. Seriously, they're a dime a dozen in LA. I see at least two of the electric-only versions a day driving around the city.

 

Enthusiast car = Enthusiastically you keep repairing it and taking it in for warranty work. The quality is junk-bond status, MINI is really good at marketing them though.

 

"largest number of reported defects at delivery" could mean two things. It could mean what they want you to hear or it could mean "likelihood to report something small instead of ignore it"

I'm not saying it's one or the other, just that I never trust news sources for anything.

 

If you're talking about this:
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-f...,5513154.story
that's a very crappy piece of journalism, it tells you absolutely nothing. JD Powers uses very questionable methodology for their Initial Quality Survey, which I assume is what the article is referencing. For instance, cars can get dinged for having controls that owners find hard to use. Considering how unique Minis are (took me months to get used to the radio), they get hit pretty hard for this, but it's hardly a reflection of their quality.

Here's a pretty good take down of JDP:
http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/200...jd-powers-iqs/

 

Maybe Michael Karesh's 2006 "take down" of the JDP IQS didn't take. While it's true that the IQS mixes owner annoyances with reliability data, it's an Initial Quality Survey rather than a First Ninety-Day Reliability Survey. Thus, it counts all owner complaints; even those about crummy cup holders.

Michael Karesh has his own online vehicle reliability and pricing website (www.truedelta.com), but I haven't seen his debunking of Consumers Reports yet.

 

Thanks for a bunch of interesting responses.

I still own an '04 MCS, which has about 101K miles on it. I think once I get rid of the stupidly designed OE flywheel I'll be much happier. The car has been one thing after another for a long time now, but most of the fixes have added up to improvements. I am planning a Valeo clutch and plain old single mass flywheel to replace the OEM clutch and "Dual Mass" FW. What were they thinking? I still love driving my MCS, and plan to do so until it cannot move another inch, or I just get completely fed up, whichever comes first.

 

05 MCS, 83,200 miles and the only problem fixed were worn out LCA bushings, $95 pre-mounted in the carriers. I do feel for all the people having so many issues though.