The door latches on my 2009 S ragtop are getting so hard to open that my wife frequently has to ask me to help her open the door for her. What's going on? My dealer is telling me nothing is wrong, though I've shown him how much easier the latches are on the other used cars on the lot. Is this a common problem? A search turned up nothing.

 

People are always struggling to open my passenger door. Part of it is that it is that people just expect to pull as if the whole handle will move and don't know to "squeeze" instead.

A couple of years ago, I had the same issue....the passenger door became difficult for even me to open. While I had the car in for maintenance, they lubed it and all was well again. You might give that a try if the dealer won't do anything about it. Not sure what the "approved" lube is for the job....but lithium grease in the spray can would be what I'd use.

 

My R57 passenger door was like that from new and it seems a frequent Mini complaint. The service guy said there was nothing they could do about it, but after he told me that I found the workshop had made it a lot better, but the effect didn't last very long.

I tried squirting silicon spray lube in around the moving button and that improved it too, but it also didn't last that long, so I'm guessing that is what the workshop did. Spray grease might take a while to clean up the door afterwards......

 

Also had the same problem on my 06. I wonder if it is just from lack of use?