Good morning,

A good friend of mine is currently living in Germany (on a long-term assignment, wish I was there :smile: Anyways, he is able to bring two cars back, due to the fact he is married. However his wife wants a Suburban when she gets back to the U.S. (we've both tried to reason that two adults and one 5 year old don't need the burban for driving around Chicago, but hey- whaddya do?)

So in talking last night, he said he could bring back a Mini One D from Germany w/free shipping. Also has some way of avoiding the VAT there, duty would be about $700 on the car... Couple of questions-

*Would it even be possible to run in the U.S., due to the differences in Diesel?
-Would it be possible to mod the Mini One D for this?
*What is the Mini Jambuster (on the mini.co.uk?) Anti-radar device
*Has anyone done this before?
*I assume no warranty, as dealers would be like "WTF is this"???

I've driven the new Diesels, and must say they are pretty impressive these days... Long ways since the 1983 Olds 88 my dad had- my memory of that was coming back from Cedar Point in Ohio and walking 5mi down the turnpike to a service center in 90 degrees because it blew a connecting rod

Any thoughts or advise would be appreciated. Tho the MCS seems like the attractive alternative :smile:

 

>>I've driven the new Diesels, and must say they are pretty impressive these days... Long ways since the 1983 Olds 88 my dad had- my memory of that was coming back from Cedar Point in Ohio and walking 5mi down the turnpike to a service center in 90 degrees because it blew a connecting rod :smile:

A quick word on diesels first: Diesel engines worked quite well outside of the US for years before GM intervened and single-handedly destroyed the market for diesels in the US by throwing their low-tech lack of know-how at it. When the GMs (in some cases, literally) blew up in the faces of their owners, the American ignoranti responded with a "diesels bad" mentality.

I wouldn't advise getting any MINI without a warranty. There are too many problems reported.

 

I believe that it would not work. The sulfur content here in the US is too high. Do a search for this I am pretty sure this has been discussed before. Could have been over at MINI2, but I can't remember.

 

to my knowledge the high sulfur content in US diesel would sooner or later destroy the engine of your MINI One D. It might work after the diesel will finally be brought to proper sulfur specs, I believe that is scheduled for 2007. Then we may finally see some of the high-tech, high performance, high mileage Euro spec diesel engines here in the US.
I would love to have a MINIOne D myself!
I would also agree though, it would not at all be a wise idea right now to get a MINI without warranty coverage, there are simply still too many quality and reliability issues with the MINI to risk that!

 

There is a lot of info about diesels over on the TDI Club Page.

Yes, it's a page geared toward VW's TDI engine but they follow all the latest news about anything related to diesel cars. Can't say they have an answer for you but it's a good place to start.

 

Hi sulfur content will destroy the engine.

Besides you will not be able to legally register it.

 

Also, no warranty service possible. Very bad idea. IMO