MINI bought my car back under Lemon Law and offered me a token "customer loyalty" incentive if I decide to purchase a new MINI; however, they failed to do anything about the fact that I've been without a car for 3 months. Overall I can't say I'm happy with the level of customer service provided by MINI and I doubt I will be purchasing another one.

The BMW NA representative confirmed that the cause of my fire was the auxiliary water pump connector, the same issue bein investigated by NHTSA. At this point, I'm not convinced 2012 MINIs equipped with the turbo engine are not suceptible to this issue. I hope they issue a recall soon, otherwise they'll lose all credibility with me.

I would advice anyone with a turbo MINI to regularly check your auxiliary water pump connector.

 

Over the years i have owned many many cars. I have had "lemons": 2005 Dodge Durango that i had to have a $500 repair of some electrical compononent with nearly EVERY oil change interval (roughly-but was i suprised by that??? No.), a 1996 Honda Accord that had premateur issues with the clutch and brakes (way before it should have), a 2005 Mustang That would just stall out....at a stop sign, in traffic..anywhere..they never could dx it much less fix it (dangerous anyone), a 2011 Mustang GT that would not go 2nd or 3rd gear when cold-ford response "normal operating transmission" (wtf?) A 2009 RX-8 that arbitrarily just would not start in the mornings, making my wife late for work but NEVER able to be duplicated at the dealership (which seemed to have been fixed by me taking it out and redlining it 5 or 6 times...a rotary engine quirk but still...set up the OBDII to detect it some how!).



What im saying here is that i am coming to the conclusion that any car, made by any company at any time...could have some kind of major FUBAR and the car companies (thus far) have all seemed to have sucked making it right. In the end, i got stuck for most of the diagnostic and repair bills.

So what do we do???

I think we just have to buy cars we enjoy driving. In fact, cars that we LOVE driving...at least then we will be SOME WHAT willing to accept these added costs. (of course...it would help if they could at least DIAGNOSIS and ADDRESS the problem (*cough - directed at you Ford & mazda - cough*) so that you are at least ABLE to get it fixed.

On the flip side i have had EXCELLENT luck with Nissans reliability and their customer service. Over all i have found Hondas to be uber reliable (and uber boring), in spite of their poor customer service when you DO have a problem.

I fully expect to have more than a "normal" amount of problems out of this Mini. I also expect to only keep it 3 or so years and sell it before it gets 90k on the clock....and with almost 40mpg and being so much fun to drive, im ok with "all that" as they say.

I also have 2 words for everyone who finances a car. "Gap Insurance". Dont leave home without it....


A few other tips. Don't buy first generation designs...they may be the best performing/specs on the road but dont...just SAY NO. Car companies make revisions and little improvements nearly every quarter to some component or components of their cars...lots of trial and error..... (i mean lots). They keep that info confidential...... Wait for 2nd Gen as a rule of thumb (or at the very least.....the 3rd yr of production of a 1st gen).

If your feeling up to it..buy an extended warranty. I usually do and i usually can get a portion of that back in case (pro-rated) if i trade/sell early.

Thats about all any of us can do....

 

LEASE! That's what I did when I got concerned about long term reliability and repair costs. This is the first car I have ever leased (and I've owned LOTS of cars) and I'm very comfortable knowing that it will be under warranty the whole time I have it. I also have Gap insurance on the lease.

 

I've only owned BMWs and the MINI, all the cars have had "issues" and I've been fine with that since I enjoyed driving them. It's unrealistic to expect cars to be perfect, even Lexus or Honda (which are by far the most trouble-free brands) have their issues; however, a car just suddenly bursting in flames while it's off is NOT normal, by any stretch of imagination. MINI has been lucky no one has died or gotten injured in these fires, and until they issue a recall and fix all those cars they'll be playing Russian roulette with every single turbo MINI owner out there.

 

And, as if on cue...

http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/recalls...e&refurl=email

 

Perfect.
As soon as the notification arrives I will get it scheduled.

I'm happy about that.

 

Yay!

 

The recall says it's the circuit board not the connector. Is the circuit board in the connector???

 

The recall also says they are replacing the water pump.

 

MinniMe has only 400 miles on her and is a 2012 convertible cooper s. Not mentioned in the recall. Isn't the design the same as 2011.

 

Not sure. Mine is a 2012 Coupe. Dimensionally they look the same. I just compared my wife's car to mine and other than the outer housing which is a different color they look much the same.

Can't see part numbers so there is no way to really tell.

 

I'm going to forward to my MA and see what he says.

 

I have done the same but the email was bounced back. I then emailed another MA in the dealership. Havent heard back yet.

 

My MA just emailed me back saying it didn't concern 2012 models.

 

This is going to be fun considering my mini is us spec and is in germany. Hopefully mini EU will do the recall work.

 

I have 2012 and a lot of stuff under the hood has changed from previous years. i know this cause I was going to buy some performance parts from another Clubman owner and they would not fit due to changes

 

Another link

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2...maller-recalls

 

FerRrari thanks for the update. I appreciate it. Even though I don't have an MCS I wanted to know. Wish you the best with whatever you decide to buy.