I went to the J.D. Power Site and dug up the survey. Here is the IQS Ranking for all manufacturers:



MINI was at the break point between the 3rd and 4th Quartile. We don't have any MINI owners with 3 years of ownership yet, so no ranking for MINI there. That said, here we are in 2004 and MINI is still having problems getting close to the industry average for initial quality. As a 2002 MINI owner I had higher hopes for MINI after the initial teething was done on the first year of production.



Stumble and yo-yo come to mind.



Strange how windows are a source of problems for some manufacturers. You'd think they would have some experience with those by now.

VW's window problem were different from MINI's. In VW's case the window regulator broke, causing the window to slide down into the door.



Seeing VW institute this type of a program very late in the current generation of cars doesn't give me much hope for much change in the early MK5 cars and the B6 Passat.



Hopefully MINI can pull things together here while it's still in the middle of the production cycle.

 

Weird.

I have a 99 Passat with 122,000 miles on it. Still gets the job done.

My neighbors have a 2nd generation Passat that's been on the verge of getting lemon-lawed for a while. The dealer's taken it apart and put it back together multiple times.

So what the heck happened in the last five years?

 

I had a '99 GTI, and always felt the build quality on it was superior to my MINI. Obviously, the MINI handled far better....but the GTI was solid inside, what I expected from a German / European car.

 

The MK4 Golf/Jetta/GTI/NB has had a few major problems: window regulators, MAF sensors, and coilpacks on the 1.8T.

 

On that J.D. Powers list I am surprised to see how low the new Scions have scored (They are Toyota products). So it seems that there is some truth about the lack of substantial quality from these Japan, Inc econoboxes.


VW's quality problems are nothing new. Dr. Piech (A very brilliant but mad man) did both good and bad to the VW Group. VW's problems symbolize the typical German arrogance of we "can do no wrong" that is not only haunting them, but Mercedes Benz and BMW alike.


The cocky attitude of German manufacturers today has an eerie resemblance to that of General Motors over 30 years ago and you all know what happened to the General after that.


Read today's http://www.autoextremist.com for further insight in the sorry state of affairs at Chrysler-Daimler and the German car industry in general.


Sttugart: We have a problem....

_________________
Come and check out our new club:

http://www.minisofmiami.com

 

I am also pleased to see that MINI has been able to pull from the bottom of the barrel in this year's J.D. Powers initial quality scores.

VW and Hummer are still in the same place as last year...no change. The Koreans (Hyundai) are kicking butt. Scion at the bottom and much lower than MINI.


Some good discussion material here...thanks Dave!

 

Dave, you have to give credit where credit is due. MINI has improved as that's what REALLY matters. Look at VW which is currently building fairly old cars and still has problems galore or Hummer which builds only 2 models and the H2 is a spinoff of the GM full size truck platform used on everything they make.

I would like to see what are the problems reported. I gave my '04 MCS a A+ report card back in January when J.D sent me the 90-day ownership survey. In fact, my '04 MCS has not seen the dealership for any kind of repair or warranty work in 8K miles and 8 months of service. The '04 MCS has the '02 Cooper CVT beat in number of unscheduled dealer visits (Mostly for software updates and the like).

That list is alarming...what the heck happened to Porsche? Is the hideous Cayenne destroying thier initial QC scores? What about Scion, products from the can do no wrong Toyota empire? Look at Toyota, Honda an Acura all fallen drastically from last year's positions.

Nissan and Mazda are also way down at the bottom of the gutter.

So, what does that say to you?

 

Interesting to note that last year's "indsutry average" used to be 149 problems per 100 cars. Now the bar has been raised to 119 problems per 100 cars. MINI currently stands at 142 problems per 100 cars. I think MINI last year scored at over 180 problems per 100 cars. So to me, MINI has made a significant jump up with initial QC scores.

Evidently, the bar has been raised this year.

 

I had three company VWs a 1995 Golf 1.9 diesel (sloooooooow); a 1996 Golf 2.0 Gasoline (fast enough to get out of its own way), a 1995 Passat 1.9 Turbo diesel (not quick off the line, but had great cruising velocity); and one personally owned VW a 2000 GTI VR-6 (fassssst). Quality was never an issue on any of these cars. They all worked exceptionally well. Shame to see VW has lost its way.

 

>>Dave, you have to give credit where credit is due. MINI has improved as that's what REALLY matters.<<

Call me a whiner, but I disagree. I think 5-speed transmissions are important. They're putting a better 5-speed in the '05s, but they're leaving existing owners high and dry. I think windshields are important. Same problem. I think engine software is pretty important, too. Plenty of our cars have been back over and over again for the same idling/stalling/yoyo issues.

>>I would like to see what are the problems reported.<<

I would, too!

>>In fact, my '04 MCS has not seen the dealership for any kind of repair or warranty work in 8K miles and 8 months of service.<<

You're lucky. It's that simple.

 

I really hope that MINI does get it's problems sorted out. With some of the weird warranty issues I had (specifically 2 seals replaced), I had an almost ticking time bomb feeling about the car. And I felt I was lucky not to get any windshield problems.

The whole thing that triggered my search for a new car was sitting in the VW R32 at the NY Auto Show. The build quality of the interior reminded me of what I liked about my GTI, and it started me looking at quite a few different cars. I realize this is different than a manufacturer's reliability - and many point out that they would prefer to drive the MINI with it's better handling and styling, but if it comes down to style & handling versus reliability and long term peace of mind....some are going to get tired of seeing the service department and taking vacation days to "bond" with them.