Looking at a '09 FJCW Clubman, certified warranty runs out in a few months, and I'm torn. I really want a FJCW, need the extra space of the Clubman, and this one has a good history and is all serviced up. In other words, it has no immediate needs to speak of other than some minor cosmetics, which are completely expected on a 45k mile car. Given the remaining warranty, I'm not worried about timing chain or clutch, as they've either been done, or this car may not have been affected.

Here's where my concerns kick in. When it runs out of warranty, it could go either way. Worst case scenario and the car eats me alive in repairs, best case and it's just oil changes and tires for a few years. I know I'll eventually need to do the big stuff, like the clutch, but I'm wondering how much little stuff is going to pop up and start to wear me out over the next few years.

So, aside from aforementioned majors like tires, clutch, and basic maintenance, what small-medium expense items will I likely have to contend with? And by small-medium, I mean more than $100, less than $1000, and one-day shop visits.

I've been scouring the older posts here, and know the big thins to watch for, but day to day running and reliability are my concerns.

 

I have a '12 JCW Clubman. You can find a lot of posts in their defense (Google "information bias"), but Mini did manage to bottom out in Consumer Reports reliability ratings this year, and they maintain a below average in J.D. Powers surveys.

It is not a reliable car.

That beings said, this is my second Mini and in spite of having an ECU failure at 2500 miles, a cracked spark plug at 5000 miles, and this week a failed clutch at 18000 miles I will continue to drive the car. Mechanical issues aside, it is exactly what I want to drive for the time being. Hopefully this will be my last failure for a while but I will just have to wait it out and see what happens.

Whether or not your particular Mini is a good one is pretty much a coin flip. In you position I'd likely go for the extended warranty and stay away from any mods to the car that the dealer would not be ok with.

 

MINI sounds no better or worse than any other premium car, especially European. There will always be extreme cases. If this turned out to be such a car, its time in my garage would be limited, probably leaving my possession moments before the warranty expired. I guess I'm more wondering about general repairs and maintenance that come with the car as it passes the significant mileage marks, 60k, 100k, etc.

On older BMWs and Audis I've owned, it's been window switches and regulators, ignition coils on VWs, but my Saab needed a steering rack and the headliner started coming down at 75k miles. I've been driving an older Toyota 4Runner for the last few years, and I'm getting a little tired of the lack of power and ride, but I've grown accustomed to brakes, tie-rods, timing belts, and a few other services that all fell in the$300-500 range.

I know the drive will sell me. I test drove this one, and fell in lust right away. I guess I just need some reassurance that, barring any major catastrophes, it won't bleed me any drier than a VW or BMW over the next few years.

 

Probably no worse than other European makes wrt cost of repairs. Frequency might be a different story. I've had a few older Jags and this is better by far. Possibly people aren't used to ownership costs with foreign cars?

 

Check into an aftermarket warranty. ..they are a few $$ but it only take one repair to make it worth it

 

If I pull the trigger, I'll have about 9 months left of CPO warranty, so I'll ride that out for a few months, see how it goes, and then look into a service contract if I decide to keep it.

 

There are some common things that shouldn't need to be replaced but on the mini for whatever reason they fail regularly.

Waterpump and thermostat seems to fail often. Probably something like every 30k miles I'd expect to replace one. Unfortunately it doesn't seem like there was just a bad batch but more like a bad design so it's not like you replace the broken one and the issue doesn't come back for another 100k miles.

Control arm bushings go bad causing funny tire wear and clunking. That is probably a $600 repair at an independent shop.

Timing chain goes bad. I'm not convinced the "fix" that mini installs actually fixes anything. Just prolongs the life of the chain a little.

Carbon deposits need to be cleaned off. Probably about every 50k miles. Another $500 at an independent shop if you can find one that has the tools. $800 at the dealer.

Unfortunately they're not the most reliable cars in the world but the issues seem to be well documented and outside of the things listed above the cars are fairly reliable. We've had a bunch of issues with ours outside of the ones listed above but I don't think they affect all N14 cars. I would budget like $3k a year in repairs outside of regular maintenance stuff.

 

Well, the Movember deals swayed me away from the '09 FJCW Clubman I was considering. After much deliberation and much number crunching, I picked up a 2010 Cooper hardtop last night. It's definitely a different end of the spectrum, but I'm still enjoying it. If all goes well for the next few years, I'll hand it down to my daughter for her first car and get myself something a little more exciting.

 

The base MINI is a great choice for your daughter. I bought my daughter

a 1994 Ford Tempo with a salvage title, it lasted her for two years and

then it was thrown away!

 

Funny thing, and reviving a VERY old thread, the Justa has been great. The kiddo is learning to drive it (6-spd) and it has been mildly personalized without getting silly. Along the way, though, the itch for something JCW resurfaced and I almost pulled the trigger on a 2006 JCW GP here in town in May. Knowing I didn't NEED another car, I capped my offer and someone else bought it. Then over the Thanksgiving holiday another one popped up on www.bringatrailer.com...

Long story short, the Justa has to share the garage with GP #813 now. Just arrived from CA today and I couldn't be happier. Felt like I should share with the community.

 

I check in with BAT every morning. I thought long and hard about the '06 GP on their auction. Congrats on a great car!

 

Congrats on the GP