I am considering trading my my 2011 Countryman S. This is the 1st Mini I have owned and must say I have not been very satisfied. Don't think it would even be close to my top 5-cars I have owned. Going to be looking at cars/trucks on Friday.

 

<crickets>

 

Very disappointed in overall quality. Trim can't stay on the car, never had a car with some many squeaks and rattles including the Jeep Wrangler I had. For $30,000+ you would think you would be getting something of an ok quality at least.

 

2011 car. Probably going to take a bath on it. But I'm sure you have already thought of that and are prepared for the bath.

Too bad it's a lot of money to flush.

 

Actually from talking on phone it appears I can get $29,500 for it in trade. I paid just under $31,000 for it. Will let everyone know on Friday what the dealership is offering me.

 

Good luck - speaking from experience, driving a car you never really liked can wear you down over time - especially when there are other good choices available. I hope you get the right ride for you in the next iteration...

 

f

Good luck with that and personally I have a hard time believing that. Why on earth would a dealer give you 29.5 for a car that was under 31k. I don't know of any dealer anywhere that will make only 1.2 K on a car.

Jeez

 

i agree with PatM. only plausible if you are buying another car from the same dealership or car group. and who would buy a 2011 for that much being a used, first year car when they can buy new for the same discount and a full warranty. are you sure its USD and not Pesos? im sorry youve had bad luck with the car but anything the dealer tells you get in writing or call outside the dealership on your cell, and as soon as he tells you that price, run in get the cash and run out.

 

Quite happy with my CM however If I could get that kind of deal on my 2011 I'd take it and buy a 2012 CM in a heartbeat. Only thing I do different is get adaptives.

 

You all know how dealers play the numbers game. "Give" you more on the trade but don't budge on the MSRP of the new vehicle. Then they can tell the used car shopper "we can't move on the price, we're in it for $29,500."
I trade cars almost every year, and have never had to take a bath. The Honda CRV that came before the MINI was bought at year end for a few grand off MSRP, and disposed of a year later for only $2000 less than I paid for it.

Sorry to hear about your disappointment, but agree with what others said...a car is too expensive a purchase, and most of us spend too much time in them to be unhappy.

 

Sorry you didn't enjoy it. I had a rattle, but the dealer took care of it for me and seems quite willing to deal with any obsessive repair requests I make under warranty, so I'm pretty darn happy.

Good luck with your next car. What are you looking at? I spent two years shopping for cars, and the CM was the first that gave me the combo of interior space, AWD, fuel efficiency, cool factor, handling, and manual tranny that makes me happy. I'd love to hear what else is out there that competes in the same niche.

 

I have thought about trading mine in as well, but for an All4. Then after driving one as a loaner I decided that I made the best decision buying the one that I did.

Good luck if you do decide to sell. We bought an 08 WRX and sold it 3 months later due to it being in the shop all the time and just not enjoying it at all. We took a bit of a hit, a little more than we wanted to, but it was worth it in the end.

 

I'm not sure taking the financial hit for some "rattles and squeaks" is the best choice. Every car I ever owned had "rattles and squeaks". My floor squeaks in my house, but I haven't tried to sell it yet.

 

Traded her in today on a 2012 Toyota Tacoma TRD quad cab. Got $27,000 for the Mini and the Tacoma at Invoice price which was $2200 off. Also got windows tinted thrown in on the deal.

Had a 2005 Tacoma for several years and enjoyed it. Will pull or jet ski much better than the murano we have also.

Reason for trading was beyond the rattles. In the 6-months I had the mini, it has been the only car I have owned that has been to the dealer this many times. With the dealer 140 miles away and having a full time job it just isn't as reliable or trouble free as I was hopping.

Wish you guys/ladies all the best and appreciate all the kind help and responses I have received from this board.

 

bradrulz,

Good luck with your new Toyota. My experience has also been far from perfect, but mostly due to the lousy support I receive from MINI and the dealer. The car is great, and nothing has gone wrong with it in the 1st 6,000 miles. The trim is still falling off the car, and I just returned from a long discussion with the manager at my dealer. He is still giving me the BS story about the trim being fixed, and their inability to get parts from MINI. Yet, I watch them unloading a truck carrying 5 new Countryman, and they all seem to have trim on them. Mini continues to build and sell cars, but they can't stop to send parts to an existing customer who has been waiting for 6 months for the same parts? I am tired of being promised one thing, never contacted, waiting another couple of weeks, no they don't have the parts in, sorry, the order was mistakenly cancelled, what parts do you need?... I may follow your lead and look elsewhere before I have to deal with these guys on any major issues. I think you will like the Tacoma. You won't get the gas mileage, but the ride should be similar, and the 4WD on the Tacoma is a bit more aggressive than the CM's.

Good luck,

Mark

 

The ride should be similar between the Tacoma and the CM?

I find so much of this confusing. I get being frustrated with the trim thing. That absolutely sucks. I get finding the rattles annoying and disliking a bad dealer. I don't get taking a $4,000 hit over it or how a doublecab pickup fits the same lifestyle needs as a compact CUV.

If you weren't enjoying the car and you are enjoying this one, and you have the money to spend, more power to you. People get to spend their money the way that makes them happy and don't have to justify it to anybody, especially me. I just don't understand the reasoning at all.

 

I gave up on this thread long ago. Your right the logic is flawed.

 

Your definition of "giving up" is much different than mine; perhaps that's the reason you're still posting on a thread that you "gave up."

Maybe that is also the reason you don't follow the OP's *logic.*

Happy motoring y'all!

 

Yes, the ride is similar between the two. The CM has anything but a 'smooth' ride, and the Tacoma Quad that I drove in last year felt as smooth on bumpy roads as my CM does today. A lot of that may be the run flats, but the CM doesn't handle bottoming out very well.
I guarantee the 4WD system of theTacoma is more robust than that on the CM. The quad cab does seat 4, and has pretty good storage space (with a cab), so the functional aspect is similar. One thing the CM does have is that it will run circles around the Tacoma on a road coarse, but in day to day driving, the difference isn't that far off.

Besides, the whole point of a new car purchase is to get the car that best fits their needs. Obviously, the CM doesn't fit everyones needs.

Mark

 

It is all in how you look at it. I had a loan on the vehicle so I would have paid $xxx.xx regardless of the vehicle I was driving during that period of time. So the payments made over the 6-month period are cost of ownership for any vehicle I would have.

The Countryman was fun to drive, but it wouldn't make the top 10 of cars I have owned. To me the Tacoma rides nicely over bumps and on highway. This is my 2nd Tacoma . . . the first never required anything other than normal maintenance. Part of the switch was a change in our lifestyle. We purchased a jet ski and were not all that comfortable using our Nissan Murano with the terrible CVT transmission to tow it up into the mountain lakes in Arizona. So the Tacoma was our first thought.