I got an 06 MCS a few weeks ago and here are its problems...

1. coolant leak, pretty bad one.
2. driver side front ball joint/bushing worn out (clunks over bumps at lower speeds)
3. mushroomed strut towers on both sides
4. slight burning smell when I rip on it
5. power steering makes wierd noises when turning at very low speeds.


I thought the 05-06's were reliable.... I mean I still love driving the car, and these problems arent really bothering me (unless MINI decides not to cover them under warranty). but this is kind of silly.

 

How many miles does it have?

1. Coolant leaks are notorious on these cars. Take it back to a dealer and have it fixed under warranty.

2. The ball joint bushing should be covered under warranty as well. Be warned, they might scream abuse.

3. I bought my '05 with mushroomed towers. It all depends on who owned the car before you. It's a surprisingly easy fix, however, I talked the dealer into pounding mine down flat.

4.When you rip on it, a slight burning smell is normal, unless it really is a bad burning smell. Describe the smell a little better.

5. The power steering pump motor makes a whining noise. This is normal.

Hope this helps. Sounds like you got some intermittent problems mixed with the previous owner's bad driving habits. I wouldn't call it a lemon yet. Get those few problems fixed and go from there.

 

it has 19,800 miles right now. The burning smell is just a slight burning smell, I cant really explain it, its nothing overbearing though. I find it odd that thats normal. What's the cause of the smell?

Also, I know the power steering makes a whining noise, but when I make a left or right from a stop, the power steering makes a different noise. Its a deeper sounding noise.

 

Burning odor: Maybe the clutch plate ? and check the power steering pump fan near oil drain plug, make sure it is not getting hung up on debris, and check the fuse behind kick panel for it.

clunking sound: I had a Jaguar that made clunking noises over bumps on front right side. I got under it, grabbed the front sway bar and yanked on it a few times and re-created the sound. Turned out the sway bar bushings were shot.

MINI's power steering pumps are electric to save HP. ( most cars it runs off a belt from engine pully ) It will make a whining noise esp when turing the steering wheel when mini is not moving. Most times I check the power steering fan during oil changes making sure it spins freely.

Strut tower shrooms: There is a thread in here in NAM for repairing the strut tower mushrooming. Very common depending on what part of the country you live in. Most early model minis were prone to this. Sorta strange yours is an O6' with this happening though. I was under the impression the towers were re-inforced in 05' models and up.

If still under warranty, call your SA for appointment and give him the list, and make sure they check your engine mounts while they are at it too

Was this a private sale ?

 

While the 05/06 are reliable for German cars they are not going to be as reliable as a Toyota on average. I have had some of the problems you mentioned (coolant leak, engine mount, wheel speed sensor) but I still consider my car reliable. It has never left me stranded. If you are looking for a car without any "issues" then a MINI is not the car.

 

Completely agree with emoore; I wouldn't consider any of the issues you stated as being "lemon" worthy. Did you buy the car from the dealership or a third-party? Did you have it inspected by a mechanic first? Not to say that it's your problem but you bought the car with those issues, and that's what can happen when buying used. However the dealership should take care of most of them. A "lemon" is only a lemon if the dealership can't fix it after multiple attempts with a short-amount of time.

 

It might be uncommon to have all of those issues in an '06 with less than 20K miles, but separately each of the issues is not unusual for a MINI. I would say that your car is not a lemon by MINI standards.

No, MINI never made any changes during the entire 1st gen production, right up through the '06 coupes and '08 convertibles. Strut towers did not get reinforced until the 2nd gen models.

 

This is being nit-picky: In mid 2005 MINI started adding ridges to the inside of the front strut towers. This was first noticed when people started installing camber plates and rubbing was more of an issue on mid-05 and newer R53s. Whether or not these ribs/ridges made any difference to prevent mushrooming, I doubt it, but as other's have said it's easy to fix.

 

With all due respect, I think you are expecting too much from a used car which I assume is from a private sale. I've owned many cars, most "pre-owned" and I expect to spend $500 or so to correct things in the car that are the result of wear and tear from a private owner and some minor inconvenience having things fixed by a dealer in that type of sale. (BTW, those cars range from a $1800 10 year old Ford Bronco II to a 50K+ BMW 535i that I bought for 25K and the MINI I am currently driving.)

ALL cars have some weaknesses or tendencies to problems like the MINI mushrooming. They are inevitable and in a car over 2 years old (even with low mileage) you must expect to correct them (in this case with reinforcing plates).

The combination of mushrooming at low mileage and bad front joint suggests that the car has had some hard use. (What do the tires look like--are they original or replacements?)

As for the coolant leak, again a minor weakness that requires maintenance and some villigence which obviously was not done by the previous owner. However that should be a waranty item for you (and one reason I bought and extended warranty on mine).

The smell may be incidental but also may be related to either hard use (clutch) or maintanance (fluid leaking on metal parts that heat when pushing it) or fuel (CAT smells more with some gas).

We use the term lemon very loosely and in my estimation, your problems do not qualify your MINI as one (see http://www.free-lemon-law-guide.com/...ifications.php if you want a legal analysis of the term). My car caught fire as the result of a bad PS pump and it cost over 4K (warranty and insurance), was in the shop for 3 weeks and i wouldn't consider mine as a lemon.

None of these things should cause a major depression on your part (or calling the car a lemon), they are just part of owning a used vehicle. Fix them and your pleasure factor will increase and you take control of the situation.

Incidently, I think much too much is made over comparisons with Honda and Toyota lack-of-problems. MINI has some problems but has fewer miles and years of use than these brands and so there is less opportunity for engineers to work out bugs. And I do think progress has been made, the PS pump had three versions between '03 and 06 and the R56 does not list the pump as among the problems.) I love the look and feel of the MINI and with due respect to Honda and Toyota owners, most models are as exciting as packaged vanilla pudding to me.

 

^Great post

 

great post

Don't let the problems get you down. All can be fixed, none are terminal, all are reasonably known:
1. coolant leak (warranty: plastic coolant neck cracks, they'll fix it)
2. ball joint/bushing (warranty, esp. if <3 yr 36k service agreement)
3. mushroomed towers (warranty, consider anti-mushrooming plates and maybe under strut reinforcement, ~ $200 to prevent recurrance)
4. burning smell (likely coolant or other fluid, clean undercarriage and report)
5. power steering (check with dealer, check for obstruction, get/make protective cover - see "Dorky Cheapskate mods" thread - or, better, skidplate).

You've got a great car, nice color combination, and the factory LSD (greqt option!). Enjoy it! Where are you located - check up on local Clubs and you can have even more fun - and also get better information and representation with your dealer.

 

Thanks for the compliments. I sure do love the color combo. I just expected it to not have any pelroblems after only a few weeks of owning it. Especially sine the 06 models are more reliable... Oh well like I said it doesn't really bother me I just wanted to make sure I didn't buy a bad car. I'm gonna take it to the dealer soon to get the ball joint and coolant leak fixed.

Ps: can I uses prestone or valucraft coolant? That is really all these cheap pep boys stores have.

 

FYI Mini will not cover the mushroomed strut towers.It will be a grand to fix.

 

^^ that's $1000 IF you fix it through Mini, and if your dealer doesn't help you out! PLEASE check through the threads before leaving the Dealer to take care of the mushrooming - you can fix this easily, though likely not silently, in your garage. Strut tower plates should be considered a must for any '02-'06 Mini, and the lower tower reinforcements (fit atop the strut between the strut and bodyshell) aren't a bad idea ether. Purchasing both may set you back $200, however. The strut tower tops are a 10 minute installation, and that's if you have trouble finding your socket wrenches. You may need an alignment after fixing the mushrooming, but it may also put the car back into alignment.

Until you get to a dealer, you can get coolant that advertises as "mixes with anything". While I wouldn't recommend mixing it with, say, pancake batter, it'll work jus' fine in the MCS system, especially if you're using it as an interim measure until you get to the dealer. As an '06 with lower miles, I'm assuming you're udner warranty - in which case tell them about everything and make your mind up once you get the diagnosis - but don't sign for any repair until they tell you the cost. I know Mini of Pittsburgh (our local dealer) has been great with the analysis and service parts for me.

Good luck!

 

Thanks, I wasnt sure what coolant to put in so I stayed away from buying anything that wasn't "recommended".

My car is under warranty for about another year give or take a little. I know the mushrooming isn't covered under warranty and I read up about the fix, it doesn't sound so bad. If the dealer tells me the worn out ball joints were my fault from driver abuse I'll just tell them we bought the car 3 weeks ago from a private seller, none of this is my fault. That should get them to fix it under warranty.

 

I complained of a smell not unlike burning while under heavy acceleration to my dealer and 3-4 weeks ago they replaced my clutch under warrantee,

the car has driven me so crazy however I have now sold it and it goes in on Saturday to trade for a honda.

peter

 

With all due respect to the engineers on here and others of higher knowledge than myself, a honda and a toyota are still cars just like minis, chryslers, mercedes etc. They all have problems. Some more than others. If you want to say that minis are crap compaired to a toyota go buy a toyota matrix. I know 3 owners of them and all have continuous problems. many more problems than even the early 02 minis. Toyota has done nothing to fix the issues. I know this as my very good friend was a technician for toyota for 3 years and they were always in the shop just getting the same parts replaced. No fixes or redesign. so that is only one instance you say. Mini has made currently only 3 cars and I am willing to bet that on average Minis have better reliability and customer satisfaction than all of toyota and honda combined over their entire lifespan.

end rant.

Dont worry. I dont even have a mini yet and even being aware of the issues ive seen on here I have greater confidence in these cars than almost any other on the road. The car may not be perfectly reliable but what it lacks in reliability it will make up for with smiles on your face while driving it.

 

The problem with looking at the number of cars (of any brand) that come into the shop for repair is that it doesn't give you any indication of how many cars *aren't* coming into the shop. Honda and Toyota make more cars in any given three-month period than MINI has *ever* made, so even a problem that only affects 0.1% of the cars will still mean that a lot of cars are ending up in the shop.

I worked in a car audio shop for a while in the 80's. We saw a lot of Rockford-Fosgate amplifiers come back with problems - they probably accounted for about 25% of our returns, in fact. But, Rockford-Fosgate amps probably made up about 75% of our total amplifier sales, so even though we were frequently having them come back, they were actually our most-reliable amps. The other brands that only made up 25% of our sales accounted for 75% of our returns.

I agree that the difference in quality between MINI and the Japanese imports probably isn't as big as some people think, but I don't think anyone can make a serious case for the MINI being *more* reliable.