After 5 months of my mini ownership, I love my mini but I am nervous about owning it outside of the warranty period. I assumed between 75K-100K I would need to replace the clutch/flywheel, but I never expected the cost to be $2500+. Not that I cannot afford the warranty work, it just puts me off in the sense of tracking/dding this car will become excessively expensive compared to other vehicles I've tracked/dd. I understand any vehicle outside of warranty will have parts replaced and maintenance to be conducted and I planned on doing most of the work myself and the rest at a friends local shop (NURPerformance) but I can't see the sense in modding it, with some of the stuff being this expensive.

I thought I did my research but I'm not sure if I'm ready to keep this outside of warranty, it looks like it will be very expensive if I do so; am I over reacting to the many threads I've read on here or are these kinds of things expected?

 

I have a '12 MCS as well, with about 8 months of warranty left. I made the decision a while back, I'll either get an extended warranty or will sell it. You're not the only one concerned about the high cost of repair on a mini..

 

Any clutch is going to wear out eventually. It's not a warranty item anyway. If you're going to do maintenance and repair yourself, I can't see why you would get rid of the car. Just expect to work on the common stuff like thermostat, high pressure fuel pump, and carbon build up. I can't recall hearing of any cases of catastrophic failure with the n18 which is reassuring.

 

Go check out some of the forums for other cars. The horror stories really take the fun out of owning anything. The internet is great and also a curse. Sometimes ignorance is bliss.

That being said, I passed on extra warranties on my Used CM purchase.

 

What were the other cars you've tracked? What does the maintenance history look like on your mini?

 

Of course you don't want to let the dealer replace the clutch with their labor rate. If you and your buddies shop could do it an aftermarket clutch set would be less then $800 and some as little as $450
Clutch is a wear item and depending on how you drive the car and "ride" the clutch, it could last as little 20,000 miles up to 175,000 or more. I have heard of both of these examples from local club members both with "S" car. As you can tell one was driven hard and maybe had a flaw from the factory and the other was DD only type car..

 

You want to track the car and then have Mini pay for the clutch when it "wears" out? Would you expect them to replace brakes and rotors too?

Am I missing something here?

And for those that are listening, clutches eventually all wear out but it depends on your driving habits as to when. The clutch in Artoo ('03R53) is still tight and there is 150,000 miles on it. And although Artoo was never tracked, it has been driven hard at times. But hard autocross starts are simply going to wear clutches faster than normal and it simply depends on your technique as to how long before you need to replace it.

///Rich

 

1999 Mustang GT, 2008 Honda fit, 2012 Mazdaspeed 3; they were all fun cars and fairly simple to work on, with the exception of the Speed3's tune.

When I did the clutch in the Mustang I spent maybe $600 and that included a light weight fly wheel.

The maintenance history on my mini is good, it was regularly maintained at the local mini dealership and has had the tsbs addressed.

Rich I'm addressing the cost of the clutch and flywheel, not wanting Mini to replace or warranty the clutch, that is ludicrous. Please re-read my initial post, at no point did I say or imply I want mini to warranty anything. I am more concerned with the ridiculously high prices I have read on clutch jobs and other out of warranty repairs people have had from mini dealerships and other mini shops.

I am just rethinking how long I am going to keep my mini not because of the driving experience but because of the horror stories of out of warranty maintenance costs I have read. I'm thinking more of spend the mod money on a down payment on something with less expensive (non-bmw related) with lower costs or to mod the Mini as I intended.

 

Clutches wear out. Mine was replaced under warranty at 30,000 miles due to a bad throw out bearing. At almost 100,000 miles it is still working well. No reason for a clutch to not last 150,000 or more. I'd be more worried about the long term life of the Prince engine.