One year, 27,500 mile review of my Dec 02 build 2003 MCS.

The car:
Dec 2002 build date 2003 MCS, picked up end of January 2003.
EB/W, premium and CW packages, sports a la carte with all except with white 16" V-spokes, and originally with Dunlop SP5000 runflats (195/55). Alloy patina trim, magnesium door panels. HK stereo, rain sense and auto dim, lapis leather, MINI roof rack with basket and bike attachments, rear deck saddle bags, dealer installed MINI alarm.
Mods: Forge aluminum coolant expansion tank, Alta 22mm rear anti-sway bar, Goodyear GS-D3 Eagle F1 rubber in size 205/55.

The service history:
Only one scheduled oil change at indicated service interval at 12,000 miles.
Number of dealer visits including 1 scheduled service: 6.
Number of work days spent at dealer: 19 days (including time waiting for replacement parts not counting weekends, a rental car was made available at no charge by dealer).

Service work that was done w/o request and/or per service directive:

Diode and wiring harness for diode related to cruise control replaced per service directive at first scheduled service (12,000 miles).

Collapsing rubber hose on valve cover replaced at 13,000 miles in attempt to fix AC howl (see below) and per service directive, had no effect on AC howl.


Service issues, items that came up and were resolved, in chronological order (approximate mileage at first occurrence, and then when resolved, in brackets):

1) Engine temperature indicator malfunction (250; Speedo instrument cluster exchanged at 12,500, problem solved).

2) Alarm malfunction (3,500; not replicable at dealer, some gasket cleaning on BC done, problem did not re-occur after that).

3) Window dip malfunction: repeated sewing machine dipping motion with closed door (3,500; not replicable at dealer, some gasket cleaning on BC done, problem did not re-occur after that. Still frequently requires resetting of window dip function - about once per week, especially after washing car).

4) Speedo malfunction in stationary car, under some conditions needle 'ticking' into negative (occurred twice around 11,000 miles, fixed when Speedo cluster changed to replace temperature gauge).

5) Drivers side window function failure (12,500; window winder motor and controller changed at 13,000).

6) Silver interior trim peeling on door Y-braces (13,000; re-painted myself).

7) Throwout bearing clacking (3,000; no action taken at first dealer visit at 3,500; throwout bearing replaced at 13,000, is now quiet).

Steering column popping (17,000; steering column replaced at 22,000 and so far no popping).

Non-dealer work:
Installed Forge Motorsports aluminum coolant expansion tank myself to replace plastic stock tank in preparation for a long road trip, at around 7,5k miles.
The Dunlop SP5000 runflats were completely worn out at around 25,000 miles, but they had worn fairly evenly even tough I had only rotated the tires once at 12k miles. Most of my driving is mixed driving city / hwy. I drive usually mildly, with occasional very spirited driving. Most of my high count mileage was accumulated on several long interstate trips. To full day track days. I replaced the Dunlops with non RF F1s, what a difference! The ride is much less bone-jarring over expansion joints and bad roads. More comfortable, better grip all around, and phenomenally improved wet traction and stability.
Had Alta 22mm anti-say bar installed around 15k miles. Woweee, best 1st mod out there! Transforms handling in very positive way.
Installed Euro Parcel Shelf and Aux adapter.

Unresolved issues:

1) A/C howling with vibrations (10,000 unresolved after several dealer visits, has not occurred recently due to cold weather). For a detailed explanation of the AC howl, see threads on boards.

2) Strong engine vibrations with loud humming noise under load at 1,100 rpm, 2,200 rpm and possible also at around 3,200 to 3,400 rpm (occasionally appeared starting around 8,000 miles, more frequent at around 15,000 miles, nearly permanent since about 26,000 miles).
Since the engine vibrations at these rpms have become permanent I have noticed a reduction in gas mileage by around 25%. This has not been resolved and I will need to take it to the dealer again asap.

Squeaks and rattles here listed separately from other issues:

Center column squeak (3,500; fixed at first dealer visit at 3,500).
Door panel rattles and buzzing speaker in passenger door (5,000; fixed myself at around 13,000).
Boot rattle (15,000; fixed at dealer visit at 17,500).
Sunroof rattles, squeaks and grinding noise (10,000; fixed at dealer visit at 17,500).
Dashboard squeak (22,000; unresolved, intermittent).
Glove box lid rattle (23,000; unresolved).
Rear seat squeak (26,000; unresolved).
There are more that I won't bother to list, but in particular when it is cold, the cars sounds like a 30 year old school bus.

My summary impressions:

I love how the car handles, and how much fun it is to drive. Still puts a smile on my face every time I get into it. However, if it wasn't for that, I would have gotten rid of it by now. My best comparison is to my previous car, a 1998 Subaru Legacy Outback Limited. I had the Suby for a little over 5 years and put 60,000 miles on it. Originally one of the many reasons for going MINI was the better fuel mileage, which my MINI had initially. With my current engine problem and low mileage, the MCS is getting less gas mileage than the Subaru, and I am not at all happy with that! After break in my MCS got around 22-25 mpg city and 28-33 hwy, on average. Now I am getting somewehere around 16 - 20 mpg city and 24-28 mpg hwy. In terms of quality, I have to say there is no way my particular MINI can be even compared to the Suby, it's not even the same league. After 1 year and 27k miles, my MCS feels twice as rattly, old and worn out, as my Subaru did after 5 years and 60k miles. The leather seats, the windshield (!!!), the interior trim all look worse on my MINI now than on the Suby at 60k miles. The car has more squeaks groans and rattles than any car I have ever had, and now unfortunately the engine feels worse too. However, my guess is that my particular car has had more issues than the average MINI (I would hope).
I will give the current engine issues one last shot at being sorted out at the dealer, but I have 80% made up my mind to sell this car, and give MINI another shot with a brand new 2004 MCS.

M.

 

I know the frustation/love only too well. :smile:

* * 1 Year: 29004 Miles (Long Term Report) * *

 

Picked up from dealer 18Nov02.

14 month report:

7,200 miles and going strong as ever. No problems what so ever.

 

Thanks for the detailed report. I only have 5500 miles on my 03 MCS that I bought in May of 03 from MINI of Hawaii, with the good help of Minihune. No problems to speak of.

I need to put some serious miles on my MINI before I can report a good long term report. It seems that all I do is drive it a few miles, wash it and park it in the garage and baby it.

The MINI is not my everyday driver, so I might need to do a two year report.

Thanks again for your report.

 

Yes, thanks MG for the detailed report! You have almost exactly the same mileage that I have on my 2002 MCS (9/02 delivery)...and thankfully, I seem to have many fewer troublesome problems. I'll do (I guess) a thorough 2 year report this summer, but so far, while I have posted more service visits than you I now seem to have no on-going nagging problems...and the car runs great (better than new now that the cold start and stumble problems have been addressed).

 

Thanks for the write-up. :smile:
It seems most of us who have owned these cars for a year or more all have a laundry -list of ..issues both big and small.
The most common elements in all.... seem to be these ...buzzing & rattl'n issues...

80% made up your mind to sell????
I'd say ...you made up your mind

All good things...

Peace,
D

 

I, too, have a December 02 build 03 MCS...

Just under 29K on the odo.

Your service frequency seems almost identical to mine, the only difference being that my problems were different (except the rattles and squeeks -- I've had 3 boot latches, 2 windscreens, lots of sound deadening stuff added to dash and doors and a sunroof reinstall).

Other than that I've had a coolant tank replaced and lots of trips for sniggling (and stumbling) computer problems.

Love the car, reliability is so-so, don't like the company so much...BUT... I am petrified that this car is going to eat me out of house and home once the warranty expires. Not that I'm ever going to take it to the dealership to have maintenance done (post warranty), but I almost wept when I saw that nearly $1000 of warranty work had been done on my car the last time I took it in for rattles and software upgrade. :smile:

 

I agree, OmToast, this car has more character than anything else out there,
period (ok, save maybe for classic cars).

That would be an interesting addendum to the review, how much did all the work cost? My guess is that on mine I've had well over $3,000 worth of work done, if you count parts AND labor. I'll try and get actual numbers though.

That's why I said I have my mind 80% made up, Dennis.
Generally I dislike the idea of bying lots of new cars and then discarding them when one thing goes bad. I like the idea of keeping my car for a long time. On one hand I'm still hoping that once the problems are sorted out, this will be a reliable car, and if I got a new one, I'd have to go through that whole process again. On the other hand, I really don't know if the reliability will actually improve after problems have been resolved. DiD's response was good to hear, that the second year was much more trouble free than the first. One other reason to keep my car if possible is the interior customizing I have done - see this thread:
NAM thread on personalizing your MINI
Basically, I will give the dealer one more chance at sorting out the noise/vibration/consumption issue. If they can sort that out, I'll probably try to keep the car. If they don't sort that out on the next visit, I'll sell it for sure.

 

I have had my Mini now for 18 hours. Picked it up yesterday afternoon. I love it but it did do something strange. Just as I shifted to third the enginne felt like it just stopped running. I was running (barely). The service soon light was on as well as the EML light. I turned it off and waited a minute or so and restarted it. (always works on my home computer). The engine then seemed to run fine and only the Service soon light was stll on, so I drove home. I again turned it off and back on again and the service light is now out and everything seems fine. Any clues to what may have happened?

 

No, no idea.
However, I'd take it to the dealer.
The ECU stores fault codes, so they should be able to tell what happened if it was a problem.
M.