everyone of us in this forum has had some sort of problem with their car... beit small or large.
if you say...not...you are are being less than honest to yourself and the group...
it's a great little car...but it has it's issues....
some people here will say more issues than not , while others will tout ..there were minior problems....
final point....NO CAR..is problem free....
NONE OF EM

Peace
D

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2002 MCS:pure silver/black top,lapis int.,all pkgs,17"ROH rims,

 

Other than the cold start problem… None. It starts first time, but seems it will die if I don't keep the RPM's up some for a bit. No rattles, leaks or latch problems. A late September '02 build with 6500 + miles.

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S-Type Electric Blue/White, Bonnet Stripes, Sport, Areo, Rally Lights

 

OK I do have a problem. The people who ask me what kind of car is that.

 

Greetings!

I have 3500 miles on my Mini and the only problems that I have are some rattles in the sunroof and door. Besides those items, the car has been a dream. I must be lucky. I have had much more expensive cars that had rattles in them. We shall see how the dealer handles them. A rattle is hard to eliminate.
Motor on!

 

O.K. now I' glad I asked this question!
I see that a lot of MINI owners are having pleasant and almost trouble free motoring experiences. I guess that more people post when their cars have problems than when they run smoothly...I guess it's only human to complain more than to praise. (Although I'm sure that people who post their MINI's ailments have valid concerns about their cars.)
Anyway I'm glad to hear from people who have nothing but praise for their cars, and I wish more owners would post THOSE stories as well.
-Here's to more happy motoring!

 

Just to shed a little different light on the situation...The posters on this forum represent probably less than 1/10th of 1 percent of total worldwide MINI owners. Now, obviously We would like to think that MINI/BMW is listening to us chat it up online and hears our concerns over their wonderful car, We are still a statistically meaningless group of complainers/praisers. The folks on here who are having problems are the ones who are, as I am, sort of obsessed by the MINI phenomenon. And as such are trying to get in touch with the greater MINI community and when they hurt, we hear about it. Just keep in mind that scores of owners are most likely perfectly content with their purchase and so the sometimes seemingly high level of anxiety over these cars displayed here should be taken with a grain of salt, and an attemp at seeing the bigger picture should be justified.

 

I have had GIR for two-and-a-half-weeks, and no complaints. I even have a sunroof!

 

MCS built in June, just under 2k miles, only the cold start issue, everything else is great. I will get the update done to fix the cold start, I just have'nt made it up to the closest dealer yet.

 

Just over 6K and nothing I would call a problem. The rattle with the hatchback I fixed with electrical tape and the cold start seems to have cured itself. A lot of these miles were driven hard!

 

>>I have had GIR for two-and-a-half-weeks, and no complaints. I even have a sunroof!
Treat your wheels with Klasse All-in-One and stick with the softer (messier)pads. They stop you faster than harder (not so messy) pads.

 

>>Other than a big fat accident, Coop is great... sniff sniff, he's still in the shop with only 135 miles since the day I got him. >>

Storer - so Coop's not dead??!!! That's great news! Hope you get him back soon!

 

>>this may be a dumb question-- are the newer minis having less problems? it seems that the more serious problems are from owners that bought the vehicle a long time ago. Is this true? >>>>


It DOES seem that way. The '03 models don't have the cold start or hesitation issues. It also seems like the cracked windshields seem to be an '02 problem. The rattles of the hatch and/or sunroof seems to be less common in the more recent builds as well. So I would say your assumption is fairly true.

 

MCS (sport and premium) '03, don't know the build date. No sunroof problems at all, no latch problems. No problems at all, actually. 1900mi in the first 14 days, with a good mix of conditions (NYC, highways, secondary and county roads in the NE).

The only thing I am wondering about is the braking. I haven't had a car in 8 years, and never had a car with any kind of steering or braking assist (except power brakes). I notice that when braking on uneven streets (particularly when wheels are in differing conditions- i.e., left wheel in a valley/pothole and the right on a mound or other protrusion), the car wants to very perceptibly pull in a direction. It does not impede braking, which is taut and responsive, and I am not expecting I can brake hands-free, but I do feel like it wants to slew too much. Now, if I was in a car without any fancy letters attached to its braking system, I would probably find this 'normal' but am I assumng too much that the ABCDEF braking system can read these conditions and provide a straighter line? Note that this is under very pedestrian city driving. The only time I had any emergency handling (coming out of the Holland Tunnel one of the moster F150s almost broadsided me- this is a recurring worry, that MCs are too short in the passenger side mirrors of SUVs and trucks), the response was perfect: quick braking while swerving and no pull.

 

I've only driven my MINI for about 300 miles, but so far I haven't had any problems(knock on wood) I do get annoyed with having to clean the brake dust from the white wheels, luckily they are the five spoke design so it's not too bad to get around. My MINI was built supposedly in October, but I took delivery in November!? The car is designated as 2003 and so far no problems with cold start, sunroof rattle, opening the boot latch(I just press the open button on the key twice instead of pressing the key down for a few seconds, cause I'm a little scared to do so due to previous latch problems posted here) sitting at idle with air con in hot weather, only slight rattles with stereo on. So far so good, but I'll make sure to pray to every possible deity to ensure good fortune. Snoochi Poochies

 

Absolutely no problems at 1000 mi, owned for 3 weeks. Diven in rush hour freeway traffic on the 91 frwy in So Cal...the worst. I do think my CD skipped once though.

 

2000 miles, mostly city, no problems except all the attention.

 

just returne.d from road trip. eight days going from new orleans area to colorado springs to phoenix, back to colorado springs, side trips to denver & later to pikes peak, finally back to the new orleans area. weather was cool, hot, cold, snow, rain & back to cool again. as many as 14 hours with short stops for fuel & food only.

mileage is just under 8000, since delivery on aug 20, 2002. only 1 problem before trip.........airbag light came on intermittently....about 1/4 into trip, it went out. strange, yes......

it just goes & goes & goes. i do drive it hard.

made in 6/02.........p/s mcs, no options.

drive it like it wants to be driven............................................ .....................

 

Count me in

No poblems at all at about 1500 miles. My production date was delayed and my dealer jokingly said that they had a little more time to practice before building mine.

 

I only have 1200 carefree miles, but my friend has 15000 on his and no problems except for the S emblem on the side of the car falling off

 

2800 miles, NO PROBLEMS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IT'S The best!!!

 

10,058 Miles of trouble free driving. First oil service and mechanical inspection from the dealer is done and found nothing wrong. I had the passenger seat and coolant reservoir replaced on the first two weeks of ownership and all is fine.

 

Only 1200 miles and no problems...unless you count the flat tire I got on the way home from the dealership the day I bought my mini! No big deal though. They are runflats and BMW repaired it for me.

 

I may be jinxing myself, but I haven't had any real problems with my Aug '02 build MCS. I have gone in for the 3.1 software update, but that was my choice and not something I really had to do, it just fixes a couple of drivability issues. I got rid of a VW Jetta TDI that had several broken window problems, broken interior parts and a transmission problem before it was even a year old. Plus it was about 1/100th the fun factor of the MCS.

 

>>one thing that you have to take into consideration is the fact that the mini is a newly designed car... there are bound to be flaws in all new models, little bugs that don't get discovered until after a few 1,000 miles on the road... and as time passes, these little problems will get discovered, and be taken care of...
>>
>>all new cars are like this... and the mini hasn't been plagued by the problems of other newer models... the pt cruiser and it's leaking fuel pump... or the ford focus which apparently starts on fire at random or has the suspension fall out...
>>
>>to wrap up my mini-oration, the mini rocks, and it always will! :smile:

 

>>MCS (sport and premium) '03, don't know the build date. No sunroof problems at all, no latch problems. No problems at all, actually. 1900mi in the first 14 days, with a good mix of conditions (NYC, highways, secondary and county roads in the NE).
>>
>>The only thing I am wondering about is the braking. I haven't had a car in 8 years, and never had a car with any kind of steering or braking assist (except power brakes). I notice that when braking on uneven streets (particularly when wheels are in differing conditions- i.e., left wheel in a valley/pothole and the right on a mound or other protrusion), the car wants to very perceptibly pull in a direction. It does not impede braking, which is taut and responsive, and I am not expecting I can brake hands-free, but I do feel like it wants to slew too much. Now, if I was in a car without any fancy letters attached to its braking system, I would probably find this 'normal' but am I assumng too much that the ABCDEF braking system can read these conditions and provide a straighter line? Note that this is under very pedestrian city driving. The only time I had any emergency handling (coming out of the Holland Tunnel one of the moster F150s almost broadsided me- this is a recurring worry, that MCs are too short in the passenger side mirrors of SUVs and trucks), the response was perfect: quick braking while swerving and no pull.


Your problems with braking are most likely due to the run-flat tires. Do some research in this area (on the web, not just on this site) and you'll find that any car with run-flats tends to behave the way you described. Remember that run-flat technology is fairly new and (like the MINI) it too has bugs to be worked out.