Hey everyone,
I want to make my first (second) post as an actual Mini owner, but I can't. That isn't to say I don't own a Mini, oh I do, but, well this is where it gets interesting. I bought mine on Oct. 9th from Florida. It's an '05 S, tinted windows, black rims, 50,000 some miles, beautiful. Despite how anxious I was, luck had it that it took over 2 weeks to show up at my house (I had it shipped on a truck). Dropped off at 11:30pm, I spent the next hour feeling the car out, overwhelmed of course, largest purchase I've ever made. Now, the weird thing was, I was happy, but I felt uneasy about something the entire time. The lack of ease ended up being well founded as on my last trip back to the house, the engine started up with a wild knock, a diesel like sound. I parked it, and went into the house unimpressed. The next day I woke up and there it was, so I hadn't dreamed it arriving; started it up, and I hadn't dreamt the hell either.

Problems: Front right parking light out, horn inoperable, reverse lights inoperable, missing plastic cap near license plate, front lower grille penetrated through puncturing ac condenser, and to top it off, a bent rod, needs a new engine.

Wow.

So after about 3 weeks talking back and forth with the seller, and eventually eBay's auction insurance company, I was reimbursed $3,500, and about two weeks ago Friday, I ordered an engine from a broker (10,000 miles $3,100, going to be $845 to install). They said it would take 7 days, I call them back a couple days ago, "Another 7 days, it hasn't even been pulled yet") (Needless to say, I can't even look my mini in the eyes during this time period, just makes things harder). So here I am, sitting in my room, looking out of my window at my two vehicles, a white 97 plymouth voyager, and an '05 MCS, and I'm forced everyday to take the van, I feel like I don't even own a mini cooper yet, and it blows.

The worst part about this all is, by the time everything is fixed, it will be winter, man this sucks. But I like reading these boards, I can't wait to start personalizing my Mini.

Do you guys have any suggested or 'obvious' upgrades? I plan on installing an alarm, and integrating my iPod somehow but that's all I can conjure up right now.

If you read this entire essay, thank you, ha, I look forward to joining you all very soon :-D.
-Sim D

 

Chin up man. Working on the car will give you a personal sense of accomplishment. I hope everything works out.

It sounds like you learned the ebay lesson the hard way.

 

Oh Ebay, will you ever yield something that is not broken?

Anyway, couldn't they have just replaced the rod? the labor would have been less than $800 maybe and the part would have been only like $100 or something.

 

Heh, I hope not, he was convinced it needed an overhaul, so I went along with it.

 

Hey welcome to NAM.

Glad you had the insurance to cover it, with all the drama and effort going into this sound like your MINI will soon become more than just another car.

Have any current photos? What are you running for wheels?

And since you asked for mod ideas, after two and nearly one quarter years here is were I'm at:
In order installed (roughly)....

Aux input
Bogie stickers
Europlate
ALTA CAI
Vaccum Gain System
Honda S200 Antenna
Silvania Silverstar H7s
Ceramic front brake pads
Custom CAI box top
CAI insualtion
Rear Seat Delete
Beltine Black out
Custom Tach face
Hella 500 Driving Lights
4th Brake light
Replacment Kumho AST tires
Yellow Lamin-X Headlights
blackout spraypaint for headlightand tail light chrome
V1 & remote (in dash install)
Boost Guage
Garmin c550 (custom mount)
R99s
Paint for blackout R99s
Kuhmo ASX Tires for R99s
Rear brake pads
Euro Parcel shelf
R56 shift light
Replacement Relay for Hella 500s
Replacment Hella H7s
Engine Damper
ALTA 15% reduction pulley
M7 thermostat, new housing and gasket
Tension stop
Replacement belt
Hella 500 Amber fogs with custom braket
Painted tow hook
Custom tow hook plate mount


So as you can tell there are certainly options out there CLick my signature for some photos.

Where abouts are you located? And worry not the MINIs are excellent snow/winter cars

 

Welcome to NAM!! I think I would have snapped a long time ago, so at least you haven't lost your cool. I hope you have many trouble free miles ahead
as you've had your share, and than some, of of problems.

 

Yes, Welcome to NAM! Hopefully this awful situation will turn out better for you.

 

oh snap

 

I understand, I am on my 5th loaner, 3 Minis, Focus, and a Corolla. Little car has been in the shop 8 weeks in the last year. Getting ready to lemon law the little guy. Stereo shorts out at up to 128dB everytime it rains hard. At least we are in a drought.

 

All the time - I've had well over 700 transactions on eBay, and have only had two "go bad", and neither one of them was a high-dollar item.

I bought my last Ducati motorcycle on eBay, and couldn't be happier with it. Likewise, we sold my wife's last motorcycle (BMW R1200C) on eBay, and the buyer still periodically sends me emails telling me how much he loves the bike, where he's ridden it, etcetera.

 

^ +1 -- including my problem-free MINI

 

I've had literally hundreds of successful eBay transactions with only one problem, and it was resolved very quickly by the seller.

 

Have a great time personalizing the car. I am sure you will have fun.

I am currently looking for a 05 or 06 and I can't wait to get my hands on one.

-Jetta

 

I too bought my 03MCSBRG on Ebay, and love it. No issues, and i got it for $8000 off the sticker with only 2200 miles on it and no tax title, license BS from the dealer. Could not be happier. Your episode could have been worse, at least the insurance is coming through. I too think you could have fixed the rod problem for less than the cost of the new engine. Hope all your difficulties are rewarded with years of Mini Fun! Cheers

 

Ouch. In spite of so many good reports on dealing through ebay, I am certain that if I tried to buy a car that way, my result would be more like yours than the "typical" worry-free experiences I hear about so often. I can't go to the local McDonalds without them f##ing something up.

 

Yikes... sorry to hear about your troubles.

Unfortunately, my car purchases on Ebay have had diminishing returns that basically got worse as the purchase price went up.

 

Hey Musiq, for your IPod integration my suggestion would be the DICE interface. I love the thing it has got to be one of the best methods for the iPod IMOP. Good luck with your car, im sure it will make it up to you in smiles when its all better

 

DICE is good but if you have the OEM Nav, I recommend Intravee! You can get one at Bimmernav.com

 

I would look into getting air horns installed too. Mine have come in really handy a few times. Being a MINI, people sometimes do not notice you (if you can imagine such a thing) so it's funny to watch them poop a cow when you "blast" them!

 

While the engine's out replace all the belts & hoses, and while you're replacing all the belts do a 15% pulley upgrade, much easier while the engine's out... may want to consider an upgrade on the clutch - it's not a known problem area but you'd have it licked for ~ 100kmiles... also cheaper to do while it's out.

Chin up - you'll have the Mini in no time - and as an echo of the above, they're great winter cars... I love maneuvering on y snow tires when SUVs are having trouble...

 

I had a similar situation in where I purchased a 03 MCS and had it only for one day before someone rear-ended me. This cost of repair came to over $6,000. It took over two months to repair. All the while, I had to drive 07 Mercury Montego Grandpa Car.

 

hey a bit late to join the forum but just wanted you to know your not alone. recently bought my 04' MCS. Had it for a day or two, and the engine oil light came on, and found out the black vent piece that filled the fog lights (that I didn't have) was loose INSIDE the front bumper. Took it back to the shop, fixed the oil problem, and scheduled for the bumper piece to be fixed. No big deal... Then the same day I get T-boned by a driver. I won't get my car until later when it starts to snow too, and I already want to start putting mods in the car... I feel your pain.

From what I've read in the forums so far it seems that the ALTA CAI is a good start. Then you can move to exhaust, strut bars, the pulley, UNICHIP, oil catches, rims, tires and personal touch ups.

 

Oh man, the saga continues,
the engine finally came in last week wednesday, a month later than it was supposed to. Mechanic told me it would be done by friday, of course it wasn't, monday comes, and he has the wrong ac condenser (yeah that was shot too), orders a new one, tuesday, wrong one again, wednesday, it doesn't show, thursday no show, friday finally it shows up and hell is over with. Or is it, oh, it's not, 3 hours into my heavenly driving experience, my headlights dim, stereo shuts off, and car rolls to a stop. WOW, WOW, WOWWWW.
Needless to say I was furious, so, I rope towed it home in 12º weather, and let it sit for the night.
Saturday morning, I spent a couple minutes trying to find the battery (ha, it was in the back) brought it into autozone, and it was good :-(. So, I brought the charged battery back, put 'er in, Mini started right up, and ran for about 20 minutes while the voltage dropped (scangaugeII), so now I need a new alternator? This means at least another week of downtime for me. I've had this car for over 2 months, driven it less then 4 hours. What a nightmare. Thanks for listening guys :-).

 

I'd get the car squared away first and into basic running condition before thinking about any mods...

 

Upgrades?

iPod interface
GoMiniGo Glove Box Tidy
Short Shifter
MCAW circuit
M7 Strut Plates or SRP plus Bar