This is actually an improvement. At least now they are trying to find the problem instead of telling me to run regular unleaded to cure the cold start.

 

I have a february build MCSa and have thrown 2 eml's so far. Both have to do with faulty ECU programming. The tech told me that the computer has a certain program but they have to make it think it has a different program.

I have had some rough starts and strange sounds in the morning but it hasn't died...yet.

 

Did they source the ECU software from Lucas?

 

In Road & Track earlier this year Thos. Bryant had a funny column about Lucas electronics.

 

aka The Prince of Darkness...

 

 

Actually, the thought of an automatic MINI kind of bums me out. I kind of defeats the purpose IMHO.

 

Big surprise replacing the T/B did nothing. Still runs like crap. Back to the dealer it goes. Round 5.

 

Been there done that. We got our MCSa in March. ( Feb build ). The latest upgrade to V 42.? worked. We towed it twice. The last time was in September. The only time it has come up is over 90 degress. Otherwise it is very enjoyable.


RY

 

I guess the other thing to keep in mind is the dealer. I've been dealing with Westchester Mini / BMW in Elmsford NY. So far they have been very good with taking care of these issues.

 

We did v42 and currently on v43. No better. Looking into lemon law options. With this type of service and no fix this will be our first and last Mini.

 

Check the classifieds for parts/accessories for sale.

 

dont be a jerk. not all of us can drive a manual for whatever reasons (health maybe... and because of that they should not be denied the ability to own a S....

back on topic... Give Bryan @ Moritz a call... hes a had a bunch of cars come in with this problem... see if he can help! good luck!

 

There is a certain failure rate for any product. I see only a hand full of people posting here with serious problems with their MCSa. The rest of us are happily motoring. Good luck with your next car.

 

Exactly - I'm sorry to hear that you got a lemon but that certainly doesn't mean they all are (I'm loving our MCSa). As I've said I've seen people struggle with lemons of all sorts of makes (mostly BMWs because that is what I've been involved with, but I've heard about many brands having them). Its a wretched thing to get stuck with, you have my sympathy. Best of luck with your next car.

 

It still sounds like a software issue to me. Also sounds like your dealer will never find it.


Lemon Law it, go to a different dealer and start over. This car, without major problems, is just too much fun to pass on.

And I'm sick of the manual purists still making comments about the Auto. I guess the fact that some high end luxury cars only come in auto (albeit dsg or other splendid form) makes them useless.

 

Hmmm - in that case, doesn't a killer stereo, A/C, power steering, Nav, power locking, power windows, cruise, MFSW, power sunroof, heated seats, auto wipers, xenon lights, power brakes, EFI, supercharger, etc. kind of 'defeat the purpose' of a MINI?

It's called progress, man. It happens - deal with it.

 

The difficult part is that the car is cute and fun. The wife loves it when it runs. A little under powered for me but still entertaining. My greatest gripe is the dealer not taking care of us. Lucky us they are the only Mini dealer in the state. Not willing to risk buying another car from an out of state dealer. Probably go back to a BMW or Benz.

 

Maybe lurk on some related car forums for awhile before buying, see what people are saying after some time of ownership, what sort of issues come up, and then check on how good your local service is for that make...

PS: I am surprised to hear that about Rasmussen MINI - of all the dealers I visited they were among the most helpful and informed (sales side tho, not service) and the shop area looked great.

 

And I see only a hand full of people posting here who own an MCSa. So that failure rate appears to be pretty high.

 

Maybe few MCSa owners here. But if you look @ the stats since the MCSa was realeased the number sold is very large.

 

Honestly, online forums only reflect a small percentage of car owners, so worldwide numbers/issues cannot be determined based on them IMHO. While forum users might be a microcosm of the greater community of owners it is likely that the population of people are the boards are more skewed towards modding and performance issues then the norm, thus you are likely to see a higher percentage of manual transmissions (esp when you consider the frequent negativity directed towards anything but that on forums).

More often then not people buy their cars and are not involved in message boards; the people most likely to be involved in forums seem to be those dealing with problems and/or looking to mod, or are involved in other enthusiast-type events. Even with Mini boards it seems to happen that people post when ordering then either become modders and involved in events or just are happy and don't participate much, if ever, again, unless there are issues - so of course, the problems stand out. Only Mini knows how the numbers of MCSas out there are really doing as a whole.

Anyway, I'm sure there are a lot of MCSas out in the world doing fine, we can try to take a poll about it but who knows if there are enough owners of them on NAM to reflect the real world numbers. It's funny, but based on the forums there are plenty of problems with the manual transmissions too (stiff shifting, sloppy shifting, stalling, software probs, etc), based on that alone I don't know if we'd buy one of those again either

 

I spoke to the dealer this morning. They were not surprised that we wish to pursue the lemon law. They stated that they are seeing a lot of people do the same. Not limited to the MCSa, both standard Coopers and MCS MT as well. As I have stated before it's not an MCSa issue, it is a Mini issue. Those of you not having issues consider yourself lucky and continue enjoying your cars. With any luck the problem won't develop. For us all started well and gradually degraded.

As far as other makes/brands, we are long time BMW owners and had great luck and service. Wife traded her 330i to get the Mini. Myself I am a total car junkie. I built the cars in my signature. Thankfully I had not yet modified the Mini.

 

OK I'll give you the heated seats, cruise, power windows, Nav, stereo and auto wipers BUT supercharger, Xenon, power breaks, EFI??? Are you crazy!? The second group is what make a car MORE of a sports car! In my opinion automatic tranny make it LESS of one! Again, this is only my opinion. There obviously are plenty of MINI drivers with auto that love their cars and would disagree with me... "progress" has nothing to do with it. Anyway, the basic technology in auto transmissions is probably 50+ years old, hardly "progressive".

Yes, I understand that F1 cars have "tiptronic" (read: automatic) transmissions but that also "bums me out" and I'm a big F1 fan.

 

My point is that some people (not me) consider any car that's not a Triumph or MG T Series or Austin Healy (i.e 2-seat, 2-door, low-slung convertible) as transportation and NOT a sports car. The car mags have debated what makes a sports car, and there's really no true answer. It's all in the eye of the beholder.

As to trannies, there's no way you can compare the current crop of 5, 6, and 7-speed electronically controlled automatics with any 50 year old auto. The old 2 and 3 speed Powerglides and Hydramatics from the 50s and 60s don't have a lot in common with the current crop of slushboxes. Oh, and even if automatic transmission technology IS 50 years or so old, manual transmission technology is over 100 years old - so wouldn't the automatic be the more 'progressive' technology?