If it were Japanese made, hells no. I've owned four Japanese made cars, and they've been the least reliable of all the cars I've owned, save the 84 Subaru tank wagon, my first car. That one saved my life.

I bought two of the other Japanese cars based on the need for a car, and one that would run for a while. Didn't happen. The fourth I bought based on looks and performance: a Dodge Stealth/3000GT. I'll buy another one of those some day, when I don't have to worry about it running.

Here's the problem with the big three. Every one of them has stellar products, on par or even better in drivability and reliability than the closest foreign car. The problem is not that they can't build a good, reliable car. The problem is consistancy! They can't build ALL of their cars good and reliable. That is where the foreign market wins out. Japanese makers have found the way to float on the average line between performance and reliability, where domestics tend to have a sinusoidal nature to their vehicles, with some at the top, way above what anyone else can do (Z06, for example) but with many of those cars below the average line set by JDM. They are getting much better, though, at least GM and Chrysler are. Problem is, the reputation follows them around, so even their well made cars, G6, Ion, etc. etc. have to be sold at a loss to get them out. If they can continue to pump out good reliable cars, and stay afloat, five-ten years down I think you'll see more of an averaging between the makers.

 

Vauxhall?

Try Opel, which is a Euro GM company. Of course, so is Vauxhall.

Look familiar? Now look at the badge!

 

Great book called the "long tail" that speaks to the diminishing roles of the big institutions and the "hit" culture...... (edited)

 

Yes I enjoyed my previous car (325i convertible), and I decided I needed another BMW. I couldn't afford any other model, so I went with the MINI. Now I still love BMW, and even more than that I love MINIs! My next car will be either a MINI or BMW (Assuming I can't afford a Ferrari )

So no if it was owned by another company

 

I didn't mention this earilier but I actaully thought less of the MINI because it was made my BMW. I just had a sterotype against BMW owners are rude and stuck up. Mostly as buying BMWs because they were BMWs. In many cases this has been very wrong, in many cases it has been very right. My conclusion is that it depends more of the car than on who makes it. There are certainly some trends, but I believe that even domestic car companies can produce a good car. For example, I love the new Ford Mustangs.
On a different note we talk about how unreliable Ford and GM cars are, buyt aren't the MINIs we love unreliable as well?

 

Quoting: HAVEBULLDOGWILLTRAVEL.....

If Mini were owned by any of the big 3, I would not have bought it. I just do not like domestic cars.

MEEEE, TOOOOO..!!!

 

This is sort of the view I was talking about in the earilier post. I think Will is really the one that has it right. Domestic cars can be nice, sure they're not ALL nice, many might have engines that will bomb out, or sloppy interriors however, to say that you don't like domestic cars is just obivous sterotyping. Thats like saying because it has a Ford badge that you won't drive it, but if you change that to a BMW badge you will. You really don't think that there are ANY domestic cars you like?

 

I'd bet that you love the look of the new Mustang (I do too), but the 5 days I spent in a rental were with worst days of motoring in my life. A good car needs more than a pretty body and a big engine. .. ..

 

being a "new" Mini owner (2 used ones in 4 mos...1st a MC now an MCS...had to try the MC first) The thought that BMW engineered the vehicle did cross my mind positively.

I was not happy when i found out the block was made in a chrysler plant though...I wonder why BMW did not do the engine themselves.

American auto ...not! Although my other vehicle ...a Honda Element is assembled here, but with Japanese parts and engineering (mostly) That thing just goes and is intelligently built...UGLY but intelligent!

So, it is not the worker, but it is the company's fault our cars suck. MINI has embarked on a "march to a different drummer" campaign...let's hope they keep it up! After all BMW couldn't really help the Land Rover did they! (had one and dumped it). I kind of get the feeling that BMW lets the MINI folks do their own thing to a point.

Reminder...one of the resaons for the success of european and japanese cars is that they put their $$ into engineering while American put their $$ into styling (bleh) Now it seems as though the European and Japanese companies are forgetting that lesson....it is all about refining what works...not trying to out pretty the competition!

BTW: Look what Chrysler did to mercedes and look what ford did to jaguar and volvo...more bleh

 

This is an interesting topic. The answers seem to reflect each person's perceptions and experiences with the various auto makers. The answers here I imagine would be the same or very similar if the question were simply "what do you think of other car makers?"

I suppose to reaaly pose the feeling about how the BMW association affects the buying decision one would have to ask "If the MINI were exactly the same, same price, same quality, same everything and were made by someone else".

In most answers, people seem to impose that if made by Ford or GM or whoever that the car would have problems that it doesn't have now. But what if it were exactly the same as our BMW made MINI? That is very hard to imagine.

Perhaps qualifying that it would be exactly the same would not affect the outcome of our answers because PERCEPTION is a huge part of the decision to buy.

I have to imagine, if, for example, MINI were a big three product I would probably not buy one at $25 to $30K. I would not pay that much for a tiny little big three product. But at $15 to $18 K - maybe. If it were a fun, unique car that got good reveiws, etc - maybe.

The PT Cruiser may be a good example. When it first came out it was a very unique design and it sold as many as they could make in the first couple years. But it was priced less relatively speaking. But again it was to a different market and of course it was and is a substantially different car (here in the US anyway - it shares our engine in some other parts of the world).

In my opinion, a MINI made by any other car maker would certainly find that many of us would not buy it, but many others would. The maker and all the perceptions that go with that maker would result in a different market depending on who is making it.

If made by Porsche or Audi the market may be similar. If made by the big three, the market would be substantially different. If made by the Japenese also a diffferent market.

When I first looked at MINI, I originally did not know it was a BMW product. Learning that it was though was certainly comforting.

Funny that in answering this question, everyone here assumes that it would be a car made by some other car maker (of course practically speaking, it would have to be that way). But what if MINI were made by MINI. A hypothetical car company associated with no other car maker?????

 

domestic cars in my lifetime to go along with BMW, Toyota & Honda. The domestic cars come up WAY short on reliability. The fun factor for most of them is non-existant. I found myself dealing with an abundance of squeaks and rattles, prematurely failing transmissions, stripped "nylon" toothed timing gears, flattened camshaft lobes, failed climate controls, an electrical fire from behind the dash, lots of recalls, water leaks, alignment issues, prematurely failing water pumps and P/S pumps and steering racks, lousy paint...etc, etc, etc. The worst ones were Fords...namely a Super Duty Truck that lost 2 clutches, an engine, and finally the tranny within the first 50,000 miles. The BMWs and Japanese cars that I have had the pleasure of owning have been FAR superior to all of the domestics...so much so, that I will never again own a domestic car. I feel justified in stereotyping.

 

The original question, as posed, cannot be answered correctly.

 

incorrectly???

 

i dont think it would be quite the same if the mini were produced by another company. i like it being an english/german engineered vehicle.

 

no doubt it would have made me reconsider if it was owned by Mazda or some japanese brand. Never been a fan of Japanese cars.

I honestly believe that the fact that the Mini has been so sucessful is because of the parent company BMW.

BMW makes a hell of a car and is top in service.

MiniBull

 

If the mini was built by another company . . . I still would have purchased it as long as it was recommended by consumer reports. Although I love the look of the mini - I did not buy it in 2002 because it was not a recommended car (whereas it is now!!!).

All cars eventually end up with some problems as they age - but I like knowing that my car will not end up with more problems than average . . .

I do hate Ford's though - our worst family car was a ford Taurus. While learning to drive I had my grandmother, brother, and one of his friends in the ford when it proceeded to lose power steering, have a tire go flat, muffler fell off, and brakes begin to fail . . . yeah, that resulted in a call to my dad in which I said the car had become a death trap! To top it all off the car was ALREADY scheduled to be fixed for over $600 in problems!

But I'm not a huge fan of BMW's - it seems people often buy them for their status symbol . . . as a person who does not care much about material possessions that always struck me as, well, rather creepy and/or pretentious. I buy a car by color, quality, and correct size for my needs. That's it.

 

My car experiences have been mostly limited to Volvo with a couple Hondas and Fords thrown in. As a life-long Volvo driver, I am definitely biased toward European cars even though, from my experience they are more expensive to own. However, I will never buy an American car unless they significantly increase their quality and product offerings. Thats not to say that American manufacturers can't produce an occasional good car, but overall they are horrible (in my humble opinion).

My Honda Accord EX V6 was a very fun car but I had a lot of reliability issues, which I don't blame Honda for, mostly because I bought the car lowered Big mistake on my part! So if MINI were made by another European manufacturer or a good Asian manufacturer I may still have considered it, but BMW's engineering was a major factor in my decision.

If I hadn't bought my MINI I would be driving a Volvo. I chose MINI because the Volvo dealers in my area did a horrible job of trying to help out a 24 year old first-time new car buyer. However, despite fears that Ford is ruining Volvos, I don't see that as the case. If anything, Ford's ownership of Volvo will make Ford better (although I'm still skeptical on that one...). And it has also allowed Volvo to offer a much more expanded and improved product line. Just because one car company owns another doesn't mean that it will completely ruin the other with its own bad quality. In Volvo's case, Ford has allowed the Swedes to keep running things but now they have a lot more money to use for product development and marketing. So the moral of the story is that the car industry is so international that its hard to draw a line based on geographical distinctions. And each car company is affected in different ways by its parent company. In MINI's case, BMW was probably one of the few companies that wouldn't have screwed it up...

 

I would have still bought the car reguardless of who makes it (except for Ford) as long as the car had the same engineering, features, and specs. If it was owned by toyota or honda i would consider it a bigger perk, just because of their reputation for reliability. (which i have experienced first hand)

As for the "Big 3", I dont know about the other 2, but GM (chevy) can make an extremely nice car when they actully want to. Im sorry if you dissagree for whatever reasons you have, but the corvette Z06 is completely awesome! If you do not know much about the new corvette Z06, i would suggest you read about the car (whenever you are bored)

I also encourage you to watch it whip the other cars in its GT1 glass on ESPN or Speed channels.

UNLESS! there is a Mini racing on a different channel at that time.

 

If mini were bought by Honda or toyota, i'd definitely buy one.

MTW, what is a mazadas?

 

If it was exactly the same car -- same looks, engineering, etc. it would be silly NOT to buy one. I mean, if you like it with BMW as a parent company, it makes no sense not to like it with GM as a parent company. Again, that's assuming all things being equal. If it were owned by any other company WOULD all things be equal? That's probably the real question.

I don't get the comments voicing exception that it's a Chrysler engine. So what? It's gotten great reviews. I'd rather have an engine w/ great reviews than an engine with pedigree.

IIn the end. It's all snobbery.

 

Two off topic comments I have to that:

1. I have learned that Consumer Reports is a fair initial guide but is definitely not the most reliable source when it comes to cars. Even when they were not reccomending MINI for reliability short comings, their own stats really did not back up that conclusion. As much as they deny it, they have plenty of bias.

2. I use to feel the same way about "status" cars. I don't feel that way now. I think that opinion changes along with my own economics. No American or Japanese mainstream sedan compares to the BMW sedans if you ask me and the extra expense is worth it (to me).