As I am about to take delivery (Sunday), I need some assurances I'm making the right decision or the wrong one. I've been reading and following ALOT of the posts here about ownership and I'm a bit concerned about the problems that come with ownership.

I know the plusses are the great ride, the character, the MINI family, the mods..etc.

But the stories about problems right out of the gate concerning transmissions, engine fires, electrical glitches, warranty issues and insane dealers is freakin scaring the hell out of me!

I mean it's not alot to ask for a relatively defect free vehicle, delivered by a competent dealer, backed by a no hassle service department that'll get me through at least the new vehicle warranty without a major breakdown or stranding. I can totally hear the laughter...I know.

Am I wrong to ask this? If I am, I apologize for my niavete. And before I get browbeat, I don't want a reliable appliance with no soul (Camry..etc.) nor a wild sportscar (Corvette...etc.), but something with a bit of both. Well maybe not the "appliance" part.

I don't want to regret this, as I also see how much amazing fun owning a Mini can be. I'm asking for some honest and good advice as I'm feeling like the lamb to the slaughter here.

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

Id say that you dont have to worry. The Mini is a good soild car. I have had my 2002 since march of 2002. No problems at all. As long as you treat it right and service it on time, you'll be fine. Some people do have problems, but a lot dont. Bmw offers an amazing warrenty. So dont worry, you're making the right choice. The car will put a smile on your face everytime. I have owned a lot of cars Bmw z3, chevy corvette, honda civic, gmc yukon, toyota mr2, and a VW golf. The mini has been by far the best car. Only car I have never regreted buying. Im hooked on Mini's! Im sure if you decide to take delievery that you will be too! Good Luck with your choice. Hope that I helped alittle bit.

 

I paid 2k over just to own one in 2002. i currently own an 05MCS believe me when I say that most of the bugs have been worked out.

 

Well first off what year is the MINI you are taking delivery on? The MINI has a 4 year / 50K mile warranty and my service departments here are great. They overlook my pulley, intake, exhaust modification etc... and fix any problems that I have quickly. I bought my MCS used in January and love it. Would not give it up for the world. Such a fun car to drive (even more so than my heavily modified Eclipse GSX which was an AWD Turbo car). The only place I have heard of engine fire issues is here and they seem prety isolated when you consider how many MINIs have been produced over the last 4 years. I have had my clutch replaced, misc corrosion issues fixed, power steering pump and harness replaced (due to corrosion which i have been told is a rare problem) all done under warranty. Also the car had a broken seat track when i got it and they replaced that also. As long as you have a warranty you should be fine and all the problems that arent normal should show before the warranty is up. And you can always get an extended warranty also. My car does need to make another trip to the dealer for a leaking transmission seal, I dont know if thats from when they did my clutch or not. ALl in all I have never regreted the purchase of my MINI and would do it all over again withotu hesitation. Thats my two cents.
BEATNUT

 

Thanks for the quick replies. The car is brand new. And yes I know things happen and alot of those previous problems should have been addressed and fixed. One of the good things about buying a car at the end of it's model life, is you get the best of that production. I hope this is true, as I really want this. Thanks again for the responces.

 

Hey, Will
Something to keep in mind: you get a very skewed perspective when using NAM as your sole source of info. While there are several thousand members here, there are roughly 160,000 MINIs in the US. There is also a tendency to only post about negative things, as that is what gets folks' attention. Don't see too many threads about "my MINI didn't break today", do you?
FWIW, I just bought my second MINI. Yes, I had a few issues with the first one, but that didn't stop me from getting another. Any new car has a (small) likelyhood of having problems; that's what warranties are for.
As the slogan goes "enjoy your ride". You won't find many other cars like the MINI.

 

^^ +1
I'm on my third MINI and while the 02 had some minor issues, the 04 and 06 have been trouble free. Enjoy!

 

I agreed the service department can make or break a pleasant ownership experience. I have had a couple of issues with my local dealer. They both did get resolved.

As others have said, just remember that the posts here, talking about problems are just example of issues. They majority of folks, including me, have hundreds of happy motoring hours that are not represented here.

I love everyday that I get to drive my Mini.

Cheers

 

Your right to do your homework. You need to be educated about the good and the bad.

As others have said, its true there are 150K cars sold in the US. The amount of ppl here are a tiny fraction. You dont know their experiences so you can't say anything about them ... good or bad.

Here, you are going to here the complaints.

Now its up to you to put it all into perspective. People with problems with post them and there are a lot. For all those with ancedotal stories that there cars are perfect, are others with problems ...

You just need to be aware that all the people who wrote about their problems, did not make them up ... cars do go into limp mode on the highway.

Its your choice.

I would only add that I have owned many other cars that NEVER say the inside of a dealership for any reason. I can't say that about the MINI.

Being educated is the best defense.

 

Internet message boards tend to be like hospital wards.....people that have problems will complain and post about their negative experiences. Folks with no issues post less. This is true of most enthusiast car web message boards and computers/electronics (Go and take a look at the message boards over at www.apple.com to see what I mean)

I have owned 3 new MINIs since 2002 and I am very pleased with the quality and reliability of my vehicles.

Now I am driving a 2005 MCS 6MT hardtop, built February 2005, has nearly 20K miles and it is my daily driver and roadtrip vacation car.

In 20 months of ownership, my '05 MCS has had exactly ZERO problems, ZERO unscheduled dealer visits and ZERO repairs. In all that time, the only maintenance that has been required is oil/filter changes, tire rotations (Every 5K miles) and that's it.

Before my '05 MCS, I had a '04 MCS which was bought new and sold privately after 17K miles. No issues there either.

My wife's daily driver is a 2002 MC CVT with 40K miles, bought brand new on September 2002. Car runs like a champ.

Neither of our MINIs are "Garage beauty queens" or "Weekend" cars. These are HARD working daily drivers and in fact they both have taken up the role of family cars above everything else

It is good to be an informed consumer, but don't become too obsessed with the "negative" in internet message boards. Remember that your OWN PERSONAL experience may vary.

 

Will...

One thing that I would toss in is this:

I'm not sure what YEAR of Mini you are buying (I don't think you mentioned if it was a new or used Mini...if you did, sorry...I didn't get much sleep last night!) Consumer Reports has given consistently better ratings since the launch of the Mini. As I recall, the earlier years were not particularly reliable (according to them), but they did recommend the Mini for the first time this year. You might take a look at their website (unfortunately I think you have to subscribe). Just a thought.

Chuck

 

Chuck, he is getting a brand new 2006 MINI.

 

Don't worry. I'm surprised no one mentioned this yet, but Consumer Reports recently rated the 2006 MINI as one of the top 5 most reliable cars in its class!

http://money.cnn.com/popups/2006/autos/reliable/5.html

It's also #2 at keeping it's value:

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/c...preciation.htm

And remember that ultimately it's a BMW. BMW is well known for cars that are a bit buggy but ultimately cars that are well built and FUN. And for the most part they are very good at fixing problems and making their drivers happy. I've had 3 new BMWs before this MINI, and although I've gotten annoyed at various things they and their dealers have done, ultimately I love the cars.

I do hope you get a good service department though. The service department at my BMW dealer was one of the things I hated about my BMW, but so far my MINI service (at MINI of the Main Line in Bala Cynwyd, PA, USA) has been simply amazing.

 

I'll just say this - my car is now 4 years old, almost 90K miles - and other than routine maintenance (which I tend to overdo), the only repair I paid for was a new wiper motor - and that was operator error (I turned off the car with the wipers left on, then we got lots of snow overnight, and my wife got in and started the car - any wiper motor would get fried trying to clear 6" of icy snow off the windshield).

You're buying a great car - but any car can be troublesome. Want me to tell you about all the problems my sister has had with her 06 Camry? The point is that overall, these cars are very trouble-free. Relax and enjoy the ride...

 

New car. Warranty. Many bugs worked out. Go for it! (and you are already in 5th gear willbe, so I'd say you're already in too deep to turn back!)

 

MINI ownership is simply amazing. Don't let the numerous posts about faults scare you away. Just like any other car message board, there are more people asking questions about what is going wrong with their cars.

I have an 06 and it's been 6 months exactly and I have never been happier. No problems and I think it's the best model year because most of the kinks are all worked out. Just like Chuck said, Consumer Reports rated the 06 MINI as a "recommended buy" so I don't think you have anything to worry about. Be sure to find yourself a great dealership with a service deparment you can trust and don't forget that we're here to help!

 

I think it depends on what type of person you are.

If you're the type that will want the dealership to eliminate every little minor interior squeek and rattle, then you might get frustratred with the Mini. But if you can appreciate the great handling and performance car, then I think you'll enjoy the Mini.

We've put 3600 miles on our 2006 and haven't had any problems. Yes, there are some rattles in the interior that come and go, but we still LOVE driving the car. (and the positive comments we get from others)

 

Break the car in right and get the oil chnaged every 5k not 15k like they say, and everything else will take care of itself. Their great little cars and a lot of fun to drive.

 

Well, I have had mine almost a week and there would have to be some serious issues beyond most of what is posted to keep me from buying another MINI. There is nothing like downshifting into corners like this car. The next closet I have driven is my 1974 Porsche 914 and that does not have anywhere near the creature comforts of the MINI.

 

i've only had my 06 for four weeks, but i admit, i was feeling the same way you were right before delivery. i was even obsessing over the little things I was reading like the strut towers mushrooming and the back washer dribble (oops, sorry to add to your list) -- both of these can be addressed/fixed. But, i was feeling like these were known issues and should have been addressed by the manufacturer.

I finally decided that this was a fun, unique car that I wanted to drive. I have driven toyotas most of my life, and yes they are reliable, but they are also pretty boring.

So far, no problems on my 06. I decided that if i have problems, hopefully they will be fixed by the dealer under warranty. if the car because more problem than it is worth, I will simply sell it. I don't think that will happen, and I might lose some money (although probably not as much as with another car), but I've always wanted a MINI since they came out in 02 and as others have said, the 06 is the best so far.

the bottom line... buy the car you want to drive. if it doesn't work out, you can always replace it. you only live once, and sometimes choices work out, sometimes you have to make some course corrections, too!

 

I agree with all that's been said but will add only this: ask most of those reporting problems/issues if they'd like to give up their MINI. Most would say, "no freakin' way in he--!!"

 

Thats for the MC ... not the MCS.

I guess you guys dont read the Toyota Corolla boards huh?

 

Although mine was scratched while the dealer was installing a roof rack, I took the car for a 400 mile drive up the coast. That scratch didn't bother me one bit. I love everything about the car. I have yet to hear anyone say that they would never buy a MINI again. The only thing they will never do again is go to a particular bad service dealer when buying their next MINI. It seems that most MINI owners are already talking about their next MINI. I know I am and I've only had it for a week (with a scratched roof and no registration). That will all be taken care of though.

About a good place for service, everyone here on NAM will let you know where to go. If I would have listened, I wouldn't have bought mine where I did. At least you have a place to go to find out how to resolve any problems you most likely will not have.

Take it and enjoy the motoring.

 

The bottom line is, very few people are going to come on a message board and post "My MINI is doing great today, thanks! How about yours?" When they post, it's usually because they are having some sort of problem. So you get a nice consolidation of mind-boggling issues when you read here.

I went through the same thing as you when I first started to read here - "Oh my god, what have I done?" etc. But now that I have my car I don't even CARE what goes wrong with it - it's worth it. I plan to drive this car til it dies and replace it with another MINI. I can't imagine how I ever drove (or ever will drive) anything else. Anyone needs to go somewhere - run an errrand, go out to lunch, whatever - I'm the first one to pop out of my seat and exclaim "I'll drive!"

So don't panic The scary issues that you read about (blown transmissions, engine fires, etc) are happening to a very select group of MINIs, and for the most part, they are older model years. And the good news is, even IF something were to happen, you'll have all the support in the world that you need right here at NAM.

 

For one, keep in mind that most of those problems you cite are for earlier years, and have been fixed.

Also remember that you're mainly going to see posts about problems. Like that you pretty much never see good news on the TV?

Also mind that it seems that a lot of probs on here are in modded cars. Just seems that way to me.