I own a 2003 silver/mini automatic, her names sherri.
Ive had her for about 7 months now, and boyy ohh boyyy I did not sign
up for all the chaos/aftermath that was going to happen.

I'll try to make this as short as possible,

I always admired mini's...
My goal was to get myself one, My father and I co-signed for
a 2007 chevy cobalt early last year, I needed a car badly. I drove a
1985 toyota camry for about two years....poor thing was going to die
any day now, anyway ... Everything was going fairly well
at work, my credit was finally picking up.. (im 23) so I decided to start scouting for my mini while I had my cobalt. I searched around for the best deals, even Huge Dealerships here in california were trying to take as much money from you as possible, so there wasnt any hurry.

I finally came across my current mini, I felt in love with it instantly, test drove it, had a huge discussion with the salesman...compared prices
and I finally won the car over. He had it for $16,999 I managed to get the car for $14,999, It had 77,00 miles with a $500 down payment

The biggest problem I ever made was buying the car "AS IS"
Super excited that I finally got the car of my dreams, Id figured nothing could go wrong, why would it? well it did the first month after I got it, heres a list of things Ive replaced over the spand of 5 months

- air conditoner parts due to leakage ($350)
- New Power steering pump ($800, labor included)
- Deffective leather seat/ replaced with a new one ($ 400)
- control arm bushing ($300 labor included)
- powersteering oil replaced/anti-freeze drainage/ Oil change ($170)

after all that replaced Id figured, Id finally be able to drive without a worry
I was WRONG, luckily I found a really well recomended mechanic in my home town, and he gave me some great advice

He test drove the car several times and ended up finding out that my power steering pump was still making an abnormal amount of noise (still have the warranty, need to get it replaced again) and that my TRANSMISSION was deffective and will give me issues within a year which will equal a huge amount of money that I dont have or am willing to put in the car anymore. ( reverse gear is way shaky and stally it feels like the car will shut down if i dont hit the gas/ and everytime you make a stop the car feels like it wants to jump out if its body, it doesnt matter what speed. You stop and then you feel the whole car move afer you stop)

He said I should trade the car in, it would be the best solution before it completely falls appart, it currently has 82,000 miles and I really dont know what to do,
because of the high mileage and the internal damage and our current recession..dealers will definitely stray away from my car if not make me pay an absurd
amount of money to trade it in.

Ive spent a total of or close to $3,100 additionally out of my own pocket just to get the car running properly,
Im already $13,600 + $3,500 (finance charge) = $17,100 IN DEBT JUST FOR MY NEW TROUBLESOME MINI.

if that wasnt it , he discovered that the head gasket was replace early on in the car's life ...dealers will definitely be extra cautious

Heres my dilema:
trade in my car for another car (not mini)
trade in my car for another mini (this was gave me so much grief..im hessitant)
SELF REPO MY CAR....Im done with all the repairs, I cant afford to continue putting any more money into it, especially if its all engine related.

any ideas of what any of you guys would do ? I know that the trade in value of it would drop significantly...but I really cannot keep up with the car's issues
I know that no matter what I end up doing, I will loose money... just dont know how i would/could loose less

all i wanted was to drive a mini, car of my dreams....all i got in returned was being broke and indebt

heres a picture.



any feedback is GREATLY APPRECIATED, I want to read similar stories, anything ? advice, point of view

 

I don't have a good answer for you, except sometimes you lose. Either way you will probable lose more money.

I had a friend who bought a used car with a ton of problems. My friend made a mistake by not taking the car before purchase to an independant machanic, who may have found some of the problems. Secondly, she didn't know that lemon laws on used cars are little help to get the problems resolved and wished she had purchased an extended warrenty. By the time my poor friend traded the car in for something else, she lost $5000 She just wanted out of the car and into a reliable vehicle.

Some lesson are learned the hard way. Maybe the lemon laws in your state might be a help, look into it. Best of luck and sorry mini was a ball of frustration.

 

Nice looking MINI. I would think that some of the issues aren't that unusual for a 77,000 to 82,000 mile car. I'm not a financial adviser; can't help you there, BUT.... do a search on MINI CVT transmission failures. Who knows if the transmission oil has ever been changed, and the miles are catching up with it. If you wait until it breaks, it will cost more than twice the amount you have spent on other repairs to replace it. You might want to get it looked at, maybe serviced, sooner than later (by someone that knows MINI CVTs). I own one myself (-19000 mi.) and purchased an extended warranty because of the transmission stories on here. Sorry you are in this situation, hope things work out, but financing a car with that many miles, as is, I don't know.

 

I think you should trade it for another MINI...maybe an 05-06 model? Anything before those years with an auto transmission is trouble, from what I hear. Some have better luck than others, I guess it's just a hit and miss sort of thing.
I'm sorry you've had so many problems with your dream car, the MINI is my dream car as well and I'm still working toward the day when I can own one of my very own! Don't let this bad experience sway you away from the brand though, I'm sure there's another one out there that will be perfect for you!

 

That really sucks. I would check out your states lemon laws for sure.

 

Sorry for your problems.

I suggest you trade for something you can afford and depend on. It will likely mean you will still be upside down in the next car for a while. It sounds like you got a bad car that may get worse. It will take a while to dig out of the hole but at least you will be on a road to recovery.

Unfortunately sometimes when we are going after dream cars we let our hearts overrule our mind.

 

1. Nice looking Cooper.

2. CVT trannies are potential time bombs. And when they go, they are expensive. Your trusted mechanic says the tranny is in trouble.

3. Don't throw any more good money after the bad.

4. Trade it in.

or...

Keep it, knowing you're probably gonna have a large tranny repair bill and start putting that money into an envelope now, and enjoy the MINI experience.

Ya see, if you know there's potential for something bad to happen, then you can get prepared for it and it won't be such a surprise.

 

Before you do any of that, find a real Mini Cooper mechanic you can trust. Ask around. You may be being taken for a ride.

The Mini power steering pumps/power steering makes noise. Most mechs will recognize it as a power steering pump going bad, but it's probably not. They really DO all do that. It makes noise. Does it steer? You may be able to just let it go.

So? The head gasket was replaced. So what? Does the car burn oil? Have oil in the antifreeze or vice versa? If not, no worries.

Does the trans have issues? Or is your mechanic more familiar with a "regular" auto trans? The Mini is a CVT - which means it sounds like it's slipping all the time but it's not, that's how it runs (the engine stays at a relatively "set" revolution and the car picks up speed). Do some research on how they run and what the symptoms are for one that's really going bad. They don't all fail.

$400 for a bad seat?

Find another mechanic. A Mini Cooper one. Maybe get a good set of wrenches and a manual...

 

A "...SELF-REPO MY CAR..." would be a really bad idea.

The Bank will take the MINI to an Auction Site and then come after you for the difference plus fees.

It will damage your credit and make future purchases difficult and very expensive.

Head Gasket is not a problem. Transmission problem could 'total' the car.

Find a Shop, Independant that knows MINI or a MINI Dealer to change Transmission Fluid (it will need a specific brand) and Filter.
(Avoid "Transmission Shops" is a good general rule.)

Baby that transmission until you can get out from under it without ruining your credit.

Usually best to work a trade-in where your MINI Dealer
(or whatever brand you want, but would expect MINI Dealer would put more value on an old MINI),
will work the payoff into the New Car Finance Deal.

 

"(still have the warranty, need to get it replaced again)"

warranty? im a little confused... was that just for the power steering pump?

also, i think you got taken a little on the price of the car (unless it came with warranty)... i got my '02 S with 55k miles for 11,900 from a dealer(bought $2k warranty but cancelled it and got my money back after a few months).. and i've seen some other very good deals from private sellers. if you do decide to get another mini, i'd shop around and do research now that you have mini knowledge. i'm lucky enough not to have any problems with my car yet. honestly if i were you i'd complain to the dealer and see what they can work out for you.