I am selling my beloved Mini...Cooper-04. I have 57,000 miles and things are going wrong. The dealership...Knauz in Illinois WON'T return my phone calls. Mini USA was no help after three calls to them to assist me in having the service department call me back. Clearly, KNAUZ does not want to help me and I have had it. I have selected another car and am trading my car in tomorrow and getting another make of car where I will be helped even after the sale. :impatient

I wanted to trade my MINI and get another one, but what kind of a message does the dealership send by ignoring calls and emails? This makes me sad because I LOVE my car. I have owned my Hondas and Toyotas into the 100,000 mile range. Since my Mini is acting up at 57,000 miles I wanted to get another one with the newer warranty. Maybe someday I will get another one from a different dealer. But, for now I am so ticked that KNAUZ will not help me, I am minied out. By the by, two of my friends have gotten their cars from there and they are experiencing the SAME avoidence from the dealership. They are doing the same thing as I...getting another car, not MINI.

Good luck to you all. I have loved reading the forums. Many of you have been so helpful when I have had problems and posted my questions. I wish MINI and the dealership had this much dedication to their customers as you all do to the people who have questions and issues.

Bye and thank you!!

 

What kind of problems are you having with your MINI?

 

Sad to see you go. That dealership needs a swift kick.

 

Catch ya next time around, tomgirl!!!! Sorry things didn't go better.

 

UBER BLU

My two service lights keep going on. I had my rotars and brakes checked and they are apparently fine, but there is an awful grinding sound when I attempt to brake, the engine sounds very loud now and when I use the Sports Drive, the car jumps into another gear and it actually can spill my coffee from the jerking. It feels like the bottom of my car is going to fall out.

A few of the things my one friend is experiencing in her Manual Cooper '04 are: 1. auto door locks 2. driver side does not work. 3. fan continues running after the car is turned off and she needs to go start the car, move it back and forth and then try turning it off again 4. clutch locked up and replaced entire clutch ($1200.00) 5. Service Engine light continuse to go on and this if after 40,000 additional miles sinece the light began coming on 6. many, many thermostats replaced...more things that I could list but I won't.

 

You don't have to leave the forums! Sad to hear about the mini though :(.

 

Thank you.

This probably sounds stupid, but I have never been so sad to sell a car. I drive a lot and this has been such a fun "ride", but it is also my only car and it needs to be dependable.

I will be back into a Mini, someday and hopefully the bugs will be worked out and we will be able to drive them as long as Hondas and Toyotas.

 

Sorry to hear about this but join the crowd. I'm hoping in a year or so they become dependable so I can buy another one. But you got too many issues

 

There are 2 other dealers in the area, aren't there? If you still want a MINI, why not try the others?

 

Tomgirl----- Give the guys over at Patrick MINI in schaumburg a chance, they've been able to straighten out a lot of strange issues with my own car. If they can't straighten out the problems, they go ahead and start looking at those 'other' brands!!!

 

Sorry to hear, but ultimately it is your loss!

-Cody

 

Not all MINIs are lemons. Believe me, I've owned a Mercedes that was junk from the day I drove it off the lot. Sorry that you feel the need to leave. Bye Tomgirl.

 

I agree - it sounds like the dealer is bad, not necessarily the car! Try somewhere new!

 

Why not lemon law it? What kind of trade value are you getting for a car with such problems, or are you hoping they don't notice until after the deal is done?

 

^^Faaaaar more likely than not, it's way, way past the lemon law period. Most states cut off is between 1 and 2 year and in the 12-18K mileage range that you have to lemon it. (trust me, I've done it)

I feel your pain, tomgirl. I had two MINIs, loved them both but was sick and tired of the problems. I would certainly own one again as a 2nd or 3rd car... it's a blast... but I could not keep making trips to the dealer, missing work and fearing what would happen once my warranty was up. There are other cars out there with personality... good luck on finding one.

I stuck around the boards because I know so many people here and after having two very modded MINIs, I know waaaaay too much about them and still enjoy giving advice and seeing the new things that come out.

 

Lemon law at 57K miles?
The brakes should be pretty simple - any mechanic will be able to put it on a lift, spin the wheels and find where the noise is coming from.
The CVT, that's a whole different ball game.
Sorry to hear about the troubles!


Hey! She said 'Buh Bye'. What part don't you understand? The 'Buh'? Or the 'Bye'?

 

Oh, right. 2004, 57k miles. Guess I shouldn't have skipped my coffee this morning.

 

Chicago is one of the few cities blessed with more than one MINI dealership. Most of us MINI motorers have to drive hundreds of miles to visit our dealers, (myself included).

So, why not try Patrick MINI??? If Knauz won't listen to you, hit the road, and go to Patrick! Seems like a no-brainer to me!

 

No reason to sell a car you love just because one dealer is treating you badly. Try a different dealer, or a different garage completely.

 

Sorry to see ya go...and a real big kick in the a...for the dealership.

 

All dealerships are three hours from me. That means enduring Chicago traffic or driving to Indianapolis, IN. I lose a day of work when I go to Chicago. It was ok when I was trouble free, but now it has become a real hassle.

The ideal situation as I see it, is owning a Mini and another car. I would drive my Mini in nice weather, although I have snow tires and that makes an incredible difference in winter drving. So, someday I think there may be a closer dealership and I will buy another Mini.

 

Yeah, I'm not in the same boat. I work at home, and have another car for snowy days. I can no longer imagine my life without my MCS! I'd try the other dealership before I bailed out! No MINI - CRY!!!!

 

Really sorry to see you go tomgirl. Before you go I hope you visit a different Mini dealership and try out one of the 07s (you'll definitely like it - probably significantly better than the other car you're considering). If they feel there's a chance you might consider purchasing one, the dealership may very well go out of its way to help you with your current problems.

 

I just traded in my Mini. It has been 72 hours since the trade. I have my new car, which is not a Mini and my friend ran into the dealer who sold me my car that said that the mechanic was going over my car and found that I need an entire new transmission. He said that it was their fault and they should have discovered this before, but they didn't. Wow-talk about good timing. How much would a new transmission have cost me? My car was a Cooper Base with automatic CVT, 2004.

 

Sad as this is, the sacrafice that tomgirl is making needs to be followed by others. I know of no other car company able to get away with the crap MINI does, because it knows we'll keep them no matter what!! Thank you, tomgirl. And I hope your decision will help speed that day that MINI owners can expect their cars to be a reliable as the Japanese econo-boxes.