I have had my pre-owned mini for one month now and love NAM...great people, great information. But reading a lot of the posts does make me very nervous, all the things that have broken and needed replacement and in cars with very low mileage. I LOVE my mini but have started to wonder..what have I gotten myself into, a giant car payment and a car that is high maintenance?? As a former Toyota and Honda owner that never had any problems beyond normal maintenance I am worried. Please, someone, anyone, put my fears to rest. I did my homework on this car and even talked with a 2004 MCS owner that has never had anything go wrong....but then I read so many posts on here that differ. Help!!

 

Well, Ive had an 02 MC, for 3 months, no probs. You have to take in to account, that everyone with any problem, posts a complaint. But what about all the people who have no issues, you never see a post saying, My MINI runs great and I have no probs. Why, do you see no posts like that? Because most peoples MINIs work great. SO it seems like no reason to state the obvous.

 

mini2di4, you have to realize that people with issues are going to make a bigger fuss than those of us with no issues. Don't let those threads scare you. Look at them as informational and like an ongoing tutorial, so if you do have some issues, you'll have a starting point for diagnosis. And you can always come here to get help and feedback. Relax and enjoy your MINI!

 

Clo is dead on. While I was waiting for Gromit to arrive, I devoured the threads to acquaint myself with any possible problems I might face. Not all cars will have probs, and some will be trouble free. I like to be armed with knowledge.

 

Steer clear of the engine fire thread, the cracked windshield thread, the stumble thread, the yo-yo thread, the rust thread, the midlands transmission failure threads, the MCSa SES lights thread and the wiring harness thread failure and you should be fine.

All cars have their problems. I had a Mini. Several of my friends have or had minis and we've all had similar issues. The issues regarding my wiring harness (03 MCS) we're mirrored in my neighbor's 05 JCW. My friend's 05 MCS is having the same input shaft and flywheel issue that I had.

You've bought the car so there is no use worrying about it. Subscribe to a TSB service and become familiar with the known issues with your car and enjoy it - they are a blast.

 

Clo is right... People are more likely to complain and post about negative things more than positive things. It's just our nature :D

The truth is, you will find the largest percentage of MINI owners have little or no problems, myself included :D

 

got link?

 

I have my 2004 MCS and have had ZERO....yes ZERO problems . Even with mods.......ZERO problems . Maybe I just got lucky.

 

I'm on my 3rd MINI. NO Problems........None.......Zero. Stop worrying. I assume you have some warranty so you'll be fine.

 

Well you're certainly no help in the reassurance department. ;-)

 

As stated above, you will mostly hear the negatives being ranted, and as with any car, they can have there share of problems. We started with a '05 MC and after 11 months of ownership had ZERO problems, we traded up to a '06 MCS and have no regrets, so far it has been problem free. However it does seem that these are high maintenance after the warranty wears off. I to have driven nothing but honda's and toyota's, both have been great for me (still have one of the toyota's), but we LOVE our mini .

 

Well, look at the JD Power stats. On average, 66 initial manufacturing problems per 100 vehicles. That's not a great score, it's middle of the pack, but we're still talking about, on average, less than one problem per car.

I can't say that my MINI has been problem-free.... It's 9 months old, I've done 10k miles. The electronic boot release didn't work for a while, though (after three visits trying to find the problem) that got fixed. My SES light came on due to a hairline fracture in the fuel tank (which was replaced)... and now I'm getting a bit of creaking/rattling from my sunroof. But overall I'm still very happy with my MINI, the fun I've had driving it far outweighs any inconvenience caused in fixing the above problems.

 

No problems here.

5,000 miles and going strong.

Dont like the run flats ... thats an easy fix (haha).

I think they worked out most of the recurring problems in 06.

Minibull

 

So I just read a post in 1st gear about a person involking the lemon law with their mini. A good example of the scary posts on here! Don't get me wrong, I don't have buyers remorse. If I didn't know about this site would be driving around in pure (uninformed) bliss but I want to be informed and am still driving around in pure bliss!! I just hope my dream car doesn't turn out to be a money pit. I also don't want to be one of those people that goes running to the dealer for every little noise! I bought my pre-owned mini from a dealer with an excellent reputation in Denver so I'm going to motor on and stop the worring!!

 

There are lots of ppl talking about lemon laws. Check in the MINI Owners Lounge. ... its constant.

Forewarned is Forearmed but I wouldn't let it stop you from having fun ... so the car isn't perfect ... its not a Toyota. If you can live with that its great fun If not, it might not be for you (a bit of honesty).

Its always better to find out as much as possible about anything you buy. Then decide.

I wish you the best!

 

My car has sucked royally in the reliability department -- but I still love it. And when the shrink started throwing around words like "masochist", I just packed up and found another

 

I am surprised I didn't find any issues when doing my homework before buying. I read tons of reviews online and the only thing mentioned were some problems with the 2002, to be expected for the first year. I talked with a 2004 owner that works near me and she has had zero problems with her car. I guess it's too late now, I am madly in love with the car and will just hope I'm a lucky one that has few or no problems!!

 

I picked up my car in Sept '05 brandy new. I had it brought to the dealer within the first week of owning it for a few little things, no big deal, then come around march i was in for brakes because they were screeching horribly coming to a stop. Finally I topped it all off with some major work in June, which brings me up to almost my one year anniversary with the car next month and my Mini has spent some real quality time in the service dept at Mini of the Hamptons. I guess we can't all get lucky. Unfortunately for me I have a '98 Toyota Tacoma with 143,000 miles and have yet to replace one major component (knocking extremely hard on wood!!) so that doesn't help the way I feel about my car but I get over it everytime I take my mini for a drive. It almost always brings a smile to my face. I can't help but love this car.

Steve

 

I just ordered my 06 MCS yesterday, but I have been trolling for a little while on the board.

My .02 - This is a board about Mini's. You're going to hear the good, the bad, and the in-between. You'll find this on a VW, BMW, Lex, Toyo, and Ford Boards as well. No car will ever be perfect.

I bought the Mini over some pretty nice other cars. I wanted something different, something fun, and just something that will let me enjoy driving again.

I'm sure I'll be doing a visit to my dealer to have something fixed, but I expect that with any car. I have a client that bought a $180,000 benz, he brought back to the shop in the first week because there was a fluid leak. With spending that kind of cash on a car, I would expect it to be 'perfect'.

 

Hey they didn't get the Hubble right the first time, and they had a billion dollar budget Relax, enjoy the car

Mark

 

Ok here is my list of issues. Tranny let go, cold weather issue. brake computer failed, hatch rattle, windsheild, we split that one, beyond that the car has performed like a champ, NEVER stranded me, and he has gone through mayor weather, like -40f no problem

Mark

 

I now have 12500 on my "05". No major problems, just a few noises I haven't tracked down and a noisy serpentine belt that was fixed under warranty. The thing is the car is so much fun to drive and has so many nice options that I've never had on a vehicle before, and draws sooo much attention from strangers that I wouldn't part with it even if it had more problems than Omtoast's Ollie.

 

Look, if you want to be a worrier, you can always find plenty of niggling little issues to worry about, but in the long run, it's wasted energy. If an issue does come up, you have the seasoned owners here on NAM to hear you out and advise you, before you talk to the dealership. Use NAM as the excellent resource it is, and try to drop that worrying thing.

Lots of us have made our MINIs into money pits by catching the modifying bug...but that is a fun and good thing! Now get out there in your MINI and have a great time motoring!

 

Well said!! And I just checked the warranty on my pre-owned mini, couldn't remember what I have and it's the 4 yrs/50,000 miles so I don't need to worry until 2008!!! OK - this girl will worry less and drive (motor) more. Look for my next "I'm worried about my mini" post in 2008 or hopefully never!!

 

had my MINI 3 years now, well, 3 years and one month, but who is counting ...car runs like a dream, no problems what so ever.

Also got it from Schomp in Denver. You will be fine. Just get out and enjoy the car.