I just love all of these negative and almost mean comments about your taste in cars and the reasons for your problems. It's nice to see some people giving good advice and pointing out things that the original poster may not know about the cars he's looking at but for the outright snide comments, that's just not needed. So you think the Eclipse is ugly? Well, I do too but you know what... not my car. He can buy what he wants and I honestly hope he has a great experience with it. Some of you may want to think twice about the whole "community" thing. I feel like all owners are part of it, even if they are past owners.

I had two MINIs. An 04 and an 06. The 04 was in the shop for FOUR MONTHS and the 06 went in for various issues 6 or 7 times in the year and a half I owned it. So anyone who says the 05's and 06's are all problem free cars is nothing but wrong.

I LOVED both of my cars so much. I bought a second one because of this. I hated to see it go and still miss it all the time but I just could not deal with the trips to the dealership. I have a job to go to every day and I got tired of my boss asking me why I was having so many issues with a brand new car since I had to take time off so often to take it in for service.

As for the 04, not many people know how heartbreaking it is to go to leave for work in the morning and your car with 13K on the odometer won't start and has to be towed to the dealership for a problem that take months and $1000's in parts to fix.

I'd buy another 06 in a heartbeat if it wasn't my only car. MINIs are great cars and I truly love them but quite a few of us have been dealt a bad hand with them. I am jealous of all the owners who have had trouble free days with their MINIs, I really wish I was one of them.

I have a Mazda now and it's never been in the shop.... ever. 36K on the odometer.

As for all other cars being boring, well that's why we personalize them. The aftermarket for many Japanese cars is huge and offers tons of options to make the cars anything but boring. Like my car, there are so many companies in the US and Japan that make parts for my car that I can find things I've never seen before pretty much any time I look. I've been to many owners events and every time, there are so many parts and accessories that are new to me. Sure, when may car was made it looked pretty much just like the 412 others that were made in my color but it doesn't any more. I could pick mine out of all of the rest of them in a second and the longer I have the car, the more I do to it.

 

Hey Jenn, '05 R53 MCS, 35K and not a single problem in 3 years. Nothing but routine maintenance, hard working daily driver.

Sorry you had bad luck with your MINIs, but there are good Apples out there and you almost never hear from those trouble free owners.

 

Nice post Jenn, thank you.

I realize that posting about other cars on specific car forums can bring out the negative, it's quite I'll right, I expected it. While some post to help, some post negative comments because the car they own might get bagged on by someone else. It happens but it's understandable.

No car is perfect, no car ever will be. But, I've had such a nightmare with my MINI it's time to move on to something else and try again. An Eclipse, maybe, I haven't signed any paperwork yet. I read through that "deadeclipse.com" site. Some valuable stuff in there but it's all mostly paint issues and on older Eclipse's. The last couple of years for the Eclipse has gotten much better reviews.

I drove a Honda Civic Coupe today, that was junk. Very noisy, fit and finish was poor, the V4 had nothing on the Eclipse, slow and unresponsive, and the car had a very tinny, cheap feel to it. All that and it's cost was more then the Eclipse. A better car reliability wise, maybe, but mush less of a car for more money.

I had a nightmare with a Toyota 4x2 truck I owned, bad rotors that nearly took me to a lawyer and the lemon law to get it fix right and that's a Toyota, one of the better manufacturers out there.

I'm sure there are site's on the net and horror stories for every car manufacturer out there. The net can be your best friend or worst enemy, all you can do is research, weight the pros and cons and make the purchase. Although, the net tends to bring out the negative on site's like these much more-so then the positivies like the above poster said.

 

Fun site, but a similar one could be made about any run-of-the-mill car. It only takes a few people with bad experiences to fuel the fire.

 

Very true. If I would have known of this site (NAM) before I purchased my MINI, and would have read some of the problems posted here, I'm not so sure that I would have purchased one. But, I didn't and I did, and so far couldn't be happier.

 

+1

 

I read about all of the problems and bought one anyway ...and sure am glad I did

I participate in a bunch of different kinds of forums (wristwatches, hi-fi, wine, fishing tackle) and complaints always outnumber praise, regardless of the maker. People are just more vocal about issues than non-issues.

dean.

 

I always wanted a MINI--finally ordered one at age 57, and then worried constantly about whether it would be okay or not. It was expecially nerve-racking because it was first of all, a new model year, and second, really sight-unseen. Even the dealer had no information about what I was ordering!

After the order I stewed and put a thread on NAM about my worries. Turns out I wasn't the first, and later, after I got my car (and was very happy), I saw similar threads.

It DOES take a leap of faith to order something after knowing some of the problems. Fortunately, I have a very good car--so far, with 15,000 miles--even though it's probably the least likely to be good. It's a week 3 build of an entirely new design. I've had a small bug or two, but nothing like what I've read about here on NAM.

 

Of the many car forums I've visited and searched while car shopping over these past several weeks I can say that the MINI Cooper forums have the most threads relating to problems. Add to that there are not nearly as many MINIs on the road as there are of any other specific car in it's price range, the odds are that your going to end up with a troubled MINI. These cars have lots of problems ranging from minor to major, it's they way they are. Yes, there are good MINIs out there but they are few and far between, or so it seems.

I didn't do any research before I bought one, my mistake. If I'd have done so I'd have most likely passed on the purchase for a daily driving car.

Who knows, with the amount of money I'm going to have to put back into my MINI I might just keep it as a fun weekend car as I still plan to buy a new car for a daily driver. They are most likely one of the most fun cars to drive in it's price range, I won't get that with any other new car I buy. It's such a shame they are so unreliable and have so many problems.

 

Its OK. It all depends on your perspective... Is the glass half full or half empty?

 

Farewell good friend, we hardly knew thee. I have an 03 MCS with 82K, not a problem yet. I hate you got a bad one, but it's my experience out of all the cars I have owned, the MINI seems to be the best built. (Plus having a great garage near me like Grassroots Garage doesn't hurt either.) Good luck with your new Eclipse. Hope it's everything you are looking for....

 

If I had found NAM first, I probably still would have bought the car, because I am stubborn that way. But, with what I know now, if I were me, I would go with something else.

 

That's interesting since, iirc, you've owned multiple Minis. Why the change of heart?

 

Here's a pic of the transmission I took this morning. The trans shop guys says he thinks that this trans has come incontact with salt water and that this is not the original trans that came with the car. The MINI is perfectly fine otherwise, no sign of water damage.

Because of this I will never buy a used car again, you just don't know what you're buying.

 

looks like your trans took a dip in the atlantic.

 

The poor build quality of my Mini, coupled with and exacerbated by, the worst dealer service I have ever had.

 

Well I don't think you can blame this on MINI build quality.

I would blame hurricane Katrina, maybe?? I always wondered where the parts from all those cars ended up.

Bill

 

Probably Katrina to blame, I cant think of any other logical reason. That really stinks though

 

You've had a bad experience. I would feel the same way. Too bad.

No car is perfect. Anything made by mankind can (and will eventually fail). I've had the occasional weirdo problems with almost every car I have ever had (my 85 Camaro, my 91 Laser, my 97 Mercury XR7).

There are lemons out there. There are liars and cheats out there who will rip you off.

My first MCS was a 2002 that I purchased with about 41K miles on it back in 2005. I drove it for a year and traded it in with about 70k miles on it because I was out of warranty and because Mini of Sterling (VA) had a 2006 MCS with the JCW kit as a demo.

I have had Starbuck for 36K miles since August 2006. I get the oil changed every 5k miles (Royal Purple) - and there have only been 2 problems. One was the climate control (it had to be replaced because the lights failed on one side) and the second was a warped thermostat housing.

Nobody likes having a vehicle that is failure prone. Frankly - it sucks big time. However - it is a chance we have to take. My grandparents (now deceased) only bought Cadillacs that were 2 y.o. after they bought a Chrysler in the early 50's that had a glove left in the oil pan.

We all know the game is rigged - however you cannot win if you don't play the game.

 

That tranny is just plain, flat-out wrong. Not only is it rusted but it appears to be dry; I can't see evidence of much fluid on any of the gears. Was it cleaned off for inspection, or did it come out of the housing that way? And if so, how in the H-E double toothpicks did it even manage to function?

Hard to imagine that there wasn't some sort of blatant indication (like, maybe, a noise sounding like a old stone grist mill falling apart in the middle of an earthquake) that this mechanism was so far down the path to meeting its maker.

RonP, I'm really sorry you got screwed with this. I hope you have some recourse.

 

Katrina cars are everywhere. Those things were picked up out of the mud and have been getting distributed all over the country, either whole or as parts, ever since the end of the storm.

 

LynnEl, are you sure your nine thousand seven hundred and fifty posts to NAM didn't just wear the Mini out prematurely? Maybe you could put those posts into book form as an owner's history, hit the NY Times bestseller list, and buy whatever you want for your next car..

 

Never been to a DSM website, huh? Sure there's a lot more of them and they had a good ten year run, but they packed a lot of problems in a small package because of a lot of somewhat new at the time technologies, their performance capabilities, and the abuse the owners give them. I don't fear any new car as there's always the chance of getting a lemon with any car(I do avoid the first model year after a substantial redesign). Sure, MINI's have their share of problems but I think part of it is to blame with the philosophy behind the way the car was engineered and the mindset of the owners. People who buy plain jane cars for use as daily transportation are much more forgiving of certain problems versus those who are enthusiasts and much more passionate about their cars and drive them in a much more demanding manner. Little things that some people don't notice we notice and feel right away. Weaknesses in the vehicle that would never be found by owners who only use the car to get groceries and slog through traffic to work will be quickly found by someone who tracks the car, or spend long durations in it on twisty roads, pushing it's limits some.
The MINI's not the most reliable car in the world, but we aren't the most forgiving owners in the world either, we demand more out of the car and ask more of the manufacturer.

 

We bought a 2000 Eclipse GT (the body style just before the current one)new in 1999 and traded it for our '05 MCS in August '05. My most pleasurable car change, ever. I only had 2 component failures in the Mits: a door window switch wiring problem and a lumbar support lever.
The car was fast and nice on the highway but was a steamship relative to the MCS in the curves and parking lot. The first time I drove into the parking lot at work and tried to park I thought I'd been transported back into our '72 Ford Country Squire wagon. Backing up was always an adventure as there was NO visibility out the back eapecially with the ridiculous fin going right across the middle of the rear window. The doors are huge as well which makes getting in/out of the car in tight parking spaces a challenge.
We test drove the '06 Eclipse and nothing had changed in terms of the negatives I've listed. More power but still didn't handle worth beans. The styling was great until I got to the front of the car. I thought they'd slipped a Pontiac onto the lot.
Lastly, the bane of every Mini owners life: rear seat leg room. You've got even less in the Mits! While I don't need it often in the MCS, I have been able to put 4 adults in the car, and 3 of the guys had fat boy genes. Their words, not mine. :-)
I don't share well with others so I had to buy an '07 MCS for my wife. :-)

 

Sorry to see ya go,,,,Good luck with teh new ride and happy modding with the new car.

You'll be back someday.