http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1161436962&play=1

briefly discusses JDP results

 

Thanks for the link. If anyone else is interested in where the new dealerships will be....here is the list:

"The first of the 17 dealerships will be opened in Birmingham, Alabama later this year. Other cities on the list are Pensacola, Florida; Alexandria, Virginia; Austin, Texas; Seattle, Washington; Fort Myers, Florida; El Paso, Texas; Ontario, California; Louisville, Kentucky; Raleigh, North Carolina; Knoxville, Tennessee; Loveland, Colorado; Madison, Wisconsin; Mount Laurel, New Jersey; Allentown, Pennsylvania; San Diego, California and Tempe, Arizona."

 

Right, my bad clutch, wiring problems, leaks, wonky windows, etc. were only because of needed "adjustments". What an Idiot.

 

McDowell came across as extremely arrogant - MINI is so sophisticated that it takes the driver who is new to MINI some time to become sophisticated enough to understand the MINI. On the other hand, it is his job to put a positive spin on bad news so I guess that is the best that he could come up with. Kind of hard to tell the truth and sound positive about why some of these issues haven't been addressed and have been re-occurring since the introduction of the R56.

 

That was a very weak answer by McDowell. When did not being used to the controls of a car mean being poor quality? Also, when these initial quality surveys are sent to the new owners (myself included), the new owner has had more than ample time to get "used to the controls." These surveys arrive atleast a few months deep into ownership.

 

Have to agree with the other points made here, he needed to say something............but that wasn't it for me.

What I wanted to hear was that they had an ongoing and comprehensive plan to address these problems, like other mfr's have had to do - Jaguar comes to immediate mind.

OTOH, Land Rover/Range Rover has consistantly been in the bottom of the rankings since they started selling here, yet every year their sales increase and their prices go up. How is that sustainable? I hope that's not the business model MINI is following.............cause they were worse than LR this time, by a bunch!

 

He was doing fine until he got to the whole 'wife' analogy.

At the end of the day though, it seems Mini just doesn't give a **** about JP ratings. And why would they, they're one of the few automakers who are turning a profit in this economy, and they are rated alongside some of the top automakers by enthusiasts. It's a niche market at the end of the day, and if you want a Mini, the price might stay your hand, but the JP ratings are definitely not going to stop you from purchasing a car that's easily the most fun you've had driving since the go-kart track in grade 7.

 

One of the most popular articles on popurls.com is about the last-place quality rating (center,top,4th article - today's post only).

Here is the direct link to the article: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31570888/ns/business-autos/

If I remember the JD Power quality rating, the Mini has on average 1.65 defects per car - which seems optimistic to me. We love the car, but have had three or four problems not counting brake and rotor replacement at 32k easy country driving miles.

Hopefully Mini won't get caught "cooking the books" like Mitsubishi did years ago in withholding reliability data.

 

Loved driving my Mini, unfortunately at 57,000.00 miles it needed an AC compressor, and a new tranny! What a piece of garbage, I'll stick to rice burners thanks!

 

Remember that he is working for BMW. BMWs are never at fault, its all the drivers...

 

It's post like this on a thread that hasn't been posted in for 18 months that really contribute to the forum. If you want to complain find the "what you hate most about your MINI thread" or create a new one. Randomly babbling on here does nothing but make you look...not intelligent.

And enjoy the VTEC, we (I) won't miss you.

 

wait they are going to put another one in Tempe AZ?

 

Well, our family car (MCS is my toy) is a 2007 Civic 4 door (And yes VTEC) Now its been a pretty darn nice car , near the top in reliability (Oh cept that nasty little thing about incorrect upper rear control arms installed in 2007 Civics that Honda refuses to replace under warrenty caus according to them its just a inconvience, not a safety thing) My 2011 MCS was delivered defect free and in my five weeks of ownership its continued to be trouble free. Will it remain defect free ??? Maybe not but its so much damn fun I just do not care. So Consumer Reports says reliability for the Mini is "Average" (And they list a lot of cars that are worse.) and the Civic is "Much Better that Average" To heck with it, I much prefer the MCS to my Rice Burner.

Well duh huh.......... Just noticed this is an old thread. Anyway according to Consumer Reports Minis really improved their quality over that past few years.

 

Why the Honda hate?

If you're a car enthusiast, you like cars There are always good / bad things about every car.

 

No Honda hate. The 07 Civic is our third Honda car and I've owned numerous Honda motorcycles over the years. Just pointing out that Hondas have problems also.