Problems with my MINI
 

Well I have had my Mini for almost a year now. I have really loved everything about the car, and until about 5 months ago, I had no real problems. Just the minor stuff that you get here and there. About five months ago, while driving down the highway, my EML, Service Engine Soon, and Traction Control light went on and I lost a tremendous amount of power. The car suddenly starting driving like I was in 6th gear going 20mph. No power and shuddering when I pressed on the gas and I couldn't really get it above 50mph. When I shut the car off and turned it back on again, the power was returned for the most part, it still was a little unsmooth and all the lights went out except for the Service Engine Soon light.

I took it to the dealership and they indicated that the code read "Misfire in One or More Cylinders". They saw a loose hose and blamed it on that. They reset the codes and cleared the light and I was on my way. About 2,000 miles later (which is only about 3 weeks for me, the same thing occured. This time it was in the shop a little longer and they indicated that it was due to a bad DME and they reflashed the whole computer. This fixed the problem for a little bit. During the time it was fixed I had a pulley put on, Denso IK22 plugs and Kingsborne wires. Well about 2000 miles after this, the same problem, this time they replaced my plugs and wires and tried recreating the problem, but no luck. So I took it home. About 500 miles later, the problem occurred again. This time they replaced the fuel pump and the coil assembly. This has occurred two more times since, and again with same type of results. A very vague code that they can't decipher, the problem is not easily recreatable, and they have had the regional service guy out and MiniUSA working on the problem. Still no luck. At this point it is in the shop and the whole thing is torn apart, the supercharger is out, the head is off, and they still haven't found the problem.

I will name the dealership, only because I have positive things to say about them. It is currently at Global Imports in Atlanta. And throughout this ordeal they have been very good. They are as frusturated about this problem and can't get any resolution from BMW. I can see how the code is vague and since the problem cannot be recreated too well, it has been difficult for them to pinpoint it. They have kept me in a nice rental car and have given me a break on some other work. The car has now been in the shop for about 35 days and counting in the last five months. Although Global has been doing a standup job under the circumstances, I have about had it with this problem, and so I have thrown in the towel and have decided that I have a lemon. It was hard to do because I love my car, but I think after 6 tries it is fair to say that either this is never going to get fixed, or they have torn a brand new car so far apart, that I may not want it anymore.

I have retained legal counsel to pursue the steps needed to get MiniUSA to purchase my vehicle back. I have exceeded the statutes for the Lemon Law in Georgia, so my lawyer is pursuing this under the Magnuson Moss Act, which states that the dealership is required to repair the vehicle in reasonable amount of times. Obviously we know that this has been pretty much determined by Lemon Laws and court ruling to be three tries. The Magnuson-Moss Act is also a lot more lenient in dealing with resolution. I do not need to get them an extra chance or document as much in writing. The law firm I am using has done about 8,000 warranty cases and has lost only about 35 of them, so I am confident with my extreme circumstances and there record that I should prevail. Global has backed me up in this pursuit, and I really can't thank them enough for their hard work during a time that has been frusturating for both myself and them. I don't blame this problem on the dealership, no do I think this is a problem indicative of Minis. Just a freak incident that has occurred to me. I hope to resolve this quickly, so I can purchase another Mini. I have since looked at an EVO VIII, WRX, A4 (used), VW R32, Dodge SRT-4, and the new GTO, all of (except for the WRX) them were not out when I first purchased my Mini. I am still going back to the Mini for the sheer fun, quality, and uniqueness that neither of the anyother cars totally posses.

I will keep you posted on the outcome. Hopefully it will be resolved in one month, since everyone is cooperating, but if not, then it may be 4-6 months. I hope no one else has to go through this.

Well Darn. Man I hate to read posts like this, but it makes me glad that so far I have a MCS that runs fine with no problems to report.

I do hope you get things sorted out and good luck to you. :cool:

Good luck on your Lemon Law suit. Maybe MINI will just provide you with a replacement car if that is what you wish. However, there may be deductions for mileage. As for my mom's car, the MINI USA guy says the cvt is supposed to be a jerky tranny as it emulates the 5 spd. They have uploaded v.36 5 or 6 times to cure the problem and according to MINI USA rep, the uploads did not take, These attempts included shipping the DME to NJ to flash the software. So, I am also pursuing Lemon Law and possible legal action as the car has been out of service for 46 days and MINI does not want to take the car back as a Lemon.

dgs...

Hopefully, BMW will honor the lemon law and will give you a brand new car with an apology and with no deduction for mileage, in recognition of the hassle you've endured and the amount of time your car has been out of service.

That would certainly be the right thing to do to and it would engender some goodwill. If this were to happen, you would probably announce your happiness with BMW to the world on this widely read message board!

Unfortunately, BMW does not have a stellar reputation for customer service so you should expect the worst. You're lucky to have a good lawyer.

Sorry to hear about the troubles with your MINI and best of luck resolving the issue. Such a hassle! So nice to hear your dealer has been so good to work with....that's encouraging. We'll be watching your progress!

" I have exceeded the statutes for the Lemon Law in Georgia"

I thought the Lemon Law was always a year? Good luck with this and I hope everythig works out.

Earl

In Georgia the Lemon law states one year or 12,000 miles, whichever is first.

Did the dealership think the cause of the problem could be a bad engine wiring harness? I have a MC, not MCS, and my car exhibited the same symptoms. The wiring harness in my car was replaced and I haven't had any problems since (for 12,000 miles). Most MCS's don't have wiring harness problems but a lot of 2003 MC's did. I hope you get the problem solved so you can keep the car.

Good luck,

retroom

:???: This kind of stuff makes me depressed and sorry for you. I hope everything gets resolved as it should!

it's nice to hear that your dealership has been pleasant throughout the ordeal and is supporting your decision. good luck and i hope you get a buyback and/or a replacement vehicle from bmw/mini. their customer service isn't known to be stellar so i hope the road ahead of you will be quick and uneventful!

i know how you feel about having a "new" car torn apart and such. my mcs has experienced more than it's share of out-of-service days as well and it kills me to have to own a "new" car that has so many random problems.

Very sorry to hear about your problem.
I wish you a speedy resolution.
Please keep us informed of your ptogress.
All good thingd

Peace,
D :cool:

Progress Update:

Well the car was returned to me on Friday (this is the 6th visit) after having been at the dealership for two weeks. They wrote up a two page note on the fixes that they have performed on the car. I do not have the list since they were still finishing it, so I will pick it up today. I drove the car off the lot and about 3 miles later, the engine bogged down and all the lights came on again. I returned back to the dealership and my advisor had a cow. Unfortunately everyone went to lunch and I didn't feel like leaving it there anymore. Besides turning off the car and restarting it gets the ECU reset somewhat and the car is drivable. I was getting tired of rental cars and just wanted to drive my car a little on the weekend. The dealership has already spent $1500 on the rental car.

I will have to wait to see what they have done with the car. A letter was sent from my lawyer to BMW North America last Monday with a 14 day deadline. So we will see if they are willing to settle. At this point, I feel that they have replaced most of the parts in my car with still no luck. I have experienced a few scratches on the car since it has been in the shop, which they have fixed, but still detracts from my willingness to accept the car. I figured it would look better anyway showing that the car still wasn't fixed. At this point the dealership is nearing 25% of the purchase price of the vehicle on fixes, so I think that they are quite tired of seeing the car.

I know that a number of people have sent me e-mails with potential fixes. Some have already been tried and some haven't. I think that at this point even if something does fix it, I still do not want the car. Not only do these problems not give me any satisfaction, but I also found out that my car was damaged and repaired at the VDC in Spartanburg, SC. Of course since it is unofficial and BMW is not required to tell you what happens to your car at the VDC, then you never quite know. It was at the VDC for over a month which is significantly longer than the 4 or 5 days that it should be there. I know that it involved something with the driver side door and required at least an entire repaint of the door. Not sure if anything else was wrong. I had heard that there might have been some electrical problems, but I cannot confirm that. I am not too happy about the repaint, since the quality will not hold up to the rest of the car.

I will continue to provide updates.

I'm sorry to hear about your problems - it is stuff like this that makes me hesitate in my desire to pick out a new MCS. I live in Atlanta as well and was wondering if you could provide some info (here, in PM, or email)?

Who did you work with at Global?
Were you satisfied with the price/deal?
Did you consider Hank Aaron MINI?
What did you pay over/under sticker? Int rate?

I ditched Global for United BMW when I got my M3 and they did a fabulous job (Global wanted to charge $5k over sticker). United doesn't have a MINI dealership [ :sad: ], so I looked at Hank Aaron as again, Global seemed to have inflated prices. A couple other questions, if you don't mind:

What law firm are you using for your lemon law work?
Approx. how much have you had to shell out for the work?

Thanks!
Doug

UNBELIEVABLE! And I thought I had problems with my 6 windscreens! You have more patience than I would have had,although even with all my glass issues, I can totally relate to what a good dealership can mean in dealing with recurrent problems.Mini of Peabody has been fantastic! Kudos to Gary and the rest of his team!I'm adding my 2 cents worth because in the research I did with the lemon law in Mass. I found out that there is NO time limit on problems involving personal safety(which windshield glass certainly is) but in your case I would think that having a car bog down at any moment at any place,could certainly be construed as having potentially fatal implications too.Mention this to your lawyer in case he hasn't already pursued this avenue.Good luck and God bless. :eek:

Time for a new update....

Well it has been 9 days since my lawyer sent a letter to BMW North America, and I am happy to say that Mini has responded back with an offer. I am not going to go into the details, because I don't think it will be fair to Mini, nor will it be ethically right when they have me sign a non-disclosure agreement. Each situation has it's own uniqueness, so mine may not be indicative of anyone elses.

But, at this point I am happy with the timely manner of the response. We are still working out the details, but I have confidence that an agreement will be reached in short order. Mini really stood up to the plate on this one, and realized the problems that I had. They responded quickly, which shows that they stand behind their product.

Happy to hear about your quick resolution. Hope everyhting works out well and that you stay in the MINI family.

>>Time for a new update....
>>
>>Well it has been 9 days since my lawyer sent a letter to BMW North America, and I am happy to say that Mini has responded back with an offer. I am not going to go into the details, because I don't think it will be fair to Mini, nor will it be ethically right when they have me sign a non-disclosure agreement. Each situation has it's own uniqueness, so mine may not be indicative of anyone elses.
>>
>>But, at this point I am happy with the timely manner of the response. We are still working out the details, but I have confidence that an agreement will be reached in short order. Mini really stood up to the plate on this one, and realized the problems that I had. They responded quickly, which shows that they stand behind their product.


So will you be getting another MINI, or moving to something else?

dgszweda1,

Good to hear you are making progress. Thank you for updating us.
Let us know what your final outcome will be in terms of what you plan to do.

I will most likely stay in the Mini family. This requires me to remove all of my upgrades (i.e. parcel shelf, whalen knob...), good thing I kept all the stock items. I will loose the pulley, but at @ $350 installed, it won't be that bad, maybe this gives me an excuse to buy the 19%.

I am torn right now. I want to stay under $30,000. My Mini is all optioned out, so it is in the $26,000 range. There are a lot of exciting cars continually hitting the market. I think the Mini still has a great "exclusivity" to it, along with a really great performance factor. Maybe not all out speed, but a great all around performance car. I really despise people putting this car in with likes of the PT Cruiser. This car is so much more than that.

I will tell you what I have looked at:

1. Dodge SRT-4 - Great performance vehicle, great seats, go fast engine, performance features that exceed the Mini (i.e. brakes, lsd..), great price but still a Dodge Neon.

2. Audi A4 1.8T - I know not in the same automobile category as the Mini, unfortunately buyers rarely stay within the auto industries categories. Great refinement, great sport coupe, love the look, okay performance, cheap to increase hp, not as much fun as the Mini.

3. Mitsu EVO VIII - Bat out of hell, too in your face slapped onto an econo box styling, still a Lancer, No freakin cruise control, problems with clutches and paint.

4. Impreza WRX - Great 0-60 times, but a lot of lag, and in general driving doesn't feel as fast as the Mini unless you keep on the boost. Exterior styling not so good, cheaper interior styling as the Mini. Great 4WD system and pretty good handling.

5. Impreza STi - Nudged above my price range. Don't want to look like I am competing in a rally when I go to work, although Atlanta highways make you feel that you are in one.

6. Acura RSX - Great Acura quality. Fairly good performance, but typical Honda VTEC. I know that the Mini doesn't have the most powerful engine, but it sure feels much more powerful than half these cars in the normal city driving such as 30-60mph burst and general acceleration. I don't want to have to drive my car at 7,000 rpm to feel like it has power.

At this point I don't think any of these cars have quite the same mix as the Mini, although each of them exceed the Mini in one or more areas. I also like the exclusivity and the quality (why am I saying quality when I have just had a problem). Because unlike most people, I don't take an isolated incident to reflect the overall product quality. The problem that I am disputing is the only problem that I have had, other than that the car has been great. I haven't heard of anyone else having this problem, and neither has Mini. I will most likely not buy my Mini in Atlanta. A $600 prep fee and a $400 doc fee is ridiculous in the current market. I will probably buy at Classic. I have a ton of airline miles, so I can use a few of them to fly up there and pick it up. By the time I get back to Atlanta, I will have gone through half of my break in period. I will probably get the exact same specs as I have now, except I may opt for the the 16" R90's. At Classics, 20% discount, $616.80 is not so bad for the wheels, and I can sell the stock 16" as brand new and probably get $300 for them, so a cost of $317 is not quite so bad.

I will keep everyone informed on what I decide to do, and if the settlement is ultimately reached.

Final Update
 

Final Update....

Well today, I dropped off my 2003 Electric Blue MCS at Global Imports in Atlanta, for the completion of my buyback process. It was a bittersweet moment. On the one hand, I am glad to have gotten rid of my seemingly unfixable problem, but on the other, I am going to miss the car a lot. I have really enjoyed this car, and still feel it is the best bang for the buck.

Overall the process went very smoothly. Both BMW and the dealership were very understanding and the process went as smoothly as can be expected. I am very impressed with both and because of this, I will be doing business with both in the future, and fully recommend them.

After really examining a lot of different cars and up to $30,000, I cannot find another car that combines all of the features of the Mini. Whether it is one car not having a dead pedal, or steering not as accurate or tight, or features..... I must come to the conclusion that I will need to purchase another Mini. Therefore I have placed an order at Classic Mini for a Jan 05 Mini (really want the LSD). The hard part will be having to wait until February or so to pick up the car. Arghhhh!!! I will just have to keep up on the boards.

Glad to read that everything seems to have worked out in your favor. Hopefully, your '05 will be a much better car than your '03 was.

I'm glad you are sticking with MINI! It is unfortunate that the fees will keep you from buying at Global again, as you mentioned that they've been great throughout your ordeal. Did you ask them about dropping those fees (or asking MINI USA to pick them up) since you are definitely a special case? I'm assuming you'll still go to them for service.

scooterboy,


I will be sticking with them for my service, no question about it. I hate not buying my car from them, because they were good, but I just can't justify the $550 above invoice and the extra documentation fees that they charge. They also don't give a 20% discount on parts like Classic does. All in all it will be about a $1,000 savings, which means I can purchase more stuff for the Mini at the same price. I just really hate paying fees, for really no tangible benefit. Especially when other companies are charging no fees, and it means I can get a few extra "goodies" for the car.

I will have to purchase an airline ticket to Ohio, but I have more airline miles than I know what to do with. The flipside to going to Ohio for my car, is that when I get back to Atlanta, I will have already covered half of my break in miles.

Do you think that if I took my car to the dealer for this same problem they would blame it on the mods? If so how could I possibly disprove this? Is it a common problem that most dealerships are aware of?

They could give you trouble with the mods. The advantage that I had is that the problem occurred before any mods were on the car and continued after the mods. They at first were blaming my new Denso plugs at one point. I showed them that I had the problem 3 times earlier on old plugs. They changed the plugs and didn't even get the car out of the service bay, when it happened again. Most of my mods were mild, except for the pulley, which they never mentioned. What is funny is that during the buyback, BMW reimbursed me for my Alta pulley.


My problem seemed to occur under moderate to hard acceleration after the car had been subject to moisture. For example, if it had rained hard the night before and the car was sitting outside, I could pretty much guarantee that the car was going to misfire probably in the first 40 miles to work, and trip all the lights (EML, Check Engine Light, DSC).

Most of your mods are pretty mild except for the Alta pulley. But it would be hard to prove this problem on the pulley. I would try it and see what happens. The fact that you have performance parts on your car doesn't void the warranty. It also doesn't mean they can blame all the problems on the parts. They have to show specifically why the part you have is causing the problem. The ownace is on them to show the correlation, not on you to defend the performance parts.