That in part explains a year of disappointing ride and handling on a Cooper S with sport suspension.

They told me the new ones were just different with the electronic steering...

 

 

You should at least get one years payment/depreciation back. Not that I ever saw a shipping block before, but sounds very restrictive. Must drive so differently now. Did the car skitter or slip during high speed turns?

 

I hope this is a joke!

 

You've been driving with the blocks in place since May 2008?

 

I've heard of that, with BMW dealers. Have they no new-car checklist???

 

I'm surprised your teeth hadn't rattled out.

 

I drove my 06 MINI for over a year with the front sway bar loose. Dealer installed a JCW Suspension didn't tighten the hardware. Had the JCW sound kit as well forgot to tighten the hardware on the exhaust, had this thump thump sound as the muffler was flopping back and forth. They don't seem to check their work at the dealerships.

 

Early MK V GTI buyers also had a fair share of nasty surprise like this.

 

Sorry, it's not a joke. The steering was dead-feeling and the vibration/ride were harsher than I expected. Because of these I rarely used Sport mode.

 

Sport mode has no effect on suspension.

 

So you swapped the O3 Justa for an 08 S in the exact same livery? Both are really nice.

I hope your experience with the 08 is as happy as that of the 03 now that you have the suspension straigntened out. (I'm assuming you wouldn't have gotten the 08 if you didn't love the 03.)

Happy Motoring!

 

I was just thinking that. Its not unheard of on vw forums. I would expect higher standards from bmw though

 

Is that Atl as in ATL? If which one?

 

Most dealers hire non-mechenics to do things like oil changes, rotate tires, wash cars, and get the new cars ready to sell. These people do not get paid very much. They are not trained very well and they really are not usually very intelligent. They move cars around the place and open the doors hard and cause door dents Etc. They usually don't stay around long but the dealers seem to find new ones all of the time. I don't think I ever seen the same oil change "Monkey" twice when I had my Corvette.

The guy that set up that car was probably one of those. He was probably never tought what to look for or do. What do you expect for a $30,000 +++car. Skilled people to make sure it is right when you purchse it. Not in this lifetime.
Ronnie948

 

I would assume there was very little body lean, probably provided ''truly flat cornering".

 

well, some people do buy the mini for its go-kart feel.
having one sitting on suspension blocks would do the trick.

 

I wasn't going to say which Atlanta dealer or mention it to Mini USA, but have to admit I'm pretty pissed. I drove two hours back over there, took it back in, etc.

 

It might be something to take up with MINIUSA. You paid 30k for the MINI experience and you didn't get it because of a dealer error. And its been over a year with the blocks in?! Can that cause some damage?

 

I would definetly try to contact mini. You might as well try to get something out of this.

 

How did you discovered it? also do you have a picture of where or what it looks like?

 

This happened all the time with S2000's when I was at Honda. Granted they weren't all delivered from our place, we'd get them in from time to time for service and behold...."We thought it looked a little high"

Least they told you vs. just removing them and covering it up

 

At least you didn't ditch the runflats to improve the ride (or did you ?).

 

Just think, now you have a brand new suspension to break in!!!

 

Yeah, what do these shipping blocks look like?