Ok, so I had posted a thread a while back about my car:

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ad.php?t=86506

I figured I'd start a new thread to warn others of possible hidden weirdness since I STILL don't have my car back as the problem seems to have escalated. It seems that after putting the new strut on the car is still misaligned on the machine, and so now they think it is the sub-frame that is damaged somehow and it's gone from a 'minor' problem to a fairly major one.

Now to me, this seems really odd since I would have thought something like that would be caught somewhere along the way! They are thinking it might have happened during transportation and it just wasn't reported... UGH... Details still seem rather sketchy like they still don't know EXACTLY what is wrong with the car.

Apparently, now they have to talk to some head honcho guy and see if he will let them go ahead and fix it on a 'goodwill warranty' since MINI USA will prob say it is not covered under the car's warranty. If he says no, then they have to go through MINI USA or something to determine where and when it was damaged, if that's even possible... They did basically say that it would be fixed eventually and I wouldn't have any out of pocket expense since they can see no physical damage and I reported the wheel being off so early on.

This whole scenario kind of makes me sick since I would have never thought a problem like this would occur in a brand new car, and especially that someone wouldn't report something that happened to cause this problem. The thing that's crazy is they say they have never seen anything like this before - that makes me feel oh so much better

So now they are saying I probably won't get my car back till after Christmas, which means it will have been up there for over two weeks. Thank god I have the loaner!

Has anyone else ever had a problem like this?!

 

wow.... sorry to hear bout that.

 

I know someone last year who had their car damaged in a storm, during transport. MINI just ordered/sent them a new one, saying that since it was damaged, they could not legally repair it and sell it as a new car.

 

Keep your chin up and good luck.

 

Sure sounds like they should provide you with a new MINI in place of the damaged one.

 

Do you have any friends/relatives that are lawyers? You might want to consult one just in case.

 

Bummer dude.

Sounds almost like damage from the tie downs. Somebody got them in the wrong place and tightened them down and bent something.

Hopefully they will be able to figure it out and you will get your nice new toy back.

 

Thanks for the support!

As far as a new car goes, I don't know if it's damaged enough to constitute that especially since I have already owned it for 3 months... I know there is a 'lemon law' out there, but I think that comes into effect if many things are wrong. It's annoying because I wanted a 2006, so that's why I ordered it customized. If they did give me a new car, I guess it wouldn't be exactly what I wanted... oh well, I think it will be fine, just needed to gripe and release some steam

 

The lemon-law is if they can not fix a safety related fault, which I think this might be, within 3 attempts. I also think there might be a time limitation concerning over how long the 3 attempts to fix take.

But if you have your mind set on a 2006, the only way now is to persevere and have this one repaired. They should be able to do it. Otherwise it would be a 2007 or a dealer spece'd car.

Good luck. Keep us posted.

 

So, no news yet... I guess my MINI will be spending it's first Christmas at the dealership... UGH! I was going to give it a detailing as a Christmas gift

I WANT MY MINI BACK!!!!!!

 

Which dealership? Hope it's not MoTW.

 

Yes, it's MoTW

 

Ok, so I FINALLY picked up my car yesterday after almost three weeks at the dealership. They replaced the faulty strut that was determined to be installed faulty at the factory (ugh!) and it was apparently 'missed' by the inspections since it was only 'minorly' bent... mmm... Anyway, it is fixed. The whole subframe thing ended up not being an issue, since they finally realised it was actually their alignment machine that was slightly off for some reason, and so that is why it was still not perfectly aligned when they put it on there after replacing the strut... mmm...

So, I guess the factory does mess up sometimes, but I presume that has to be expected that faulty parts get in there... I was just unfortunate to have one of the cars... Well, I say unfortunate, but really it got fixed under warranty and all so I guess it's fine.

The steering wheel is now much straighter, but it still seems a little tilted to the left if you ask me. By no means is it as bad, but I noticed that the loaner's wheel was actually tilted about the same, so I think it's normal. It's barely noticeable, so maybe i'm just OCD or something, haha... It does eventually go the right when on a straight road, so that is good. Anyone else ever notice that their wheel is ever so slightly tilted to the left when driving straight?!?!

Anyway, fiasco over... At least my car was sparkling clean inside and out... I guess that's the least they could have done...

 

Sorry about the long wait and the pain you went through, but if they found and fixed the real problem I'm happy for you. Enjoy your ride.

 

Wow, lets hope they correctly fixed the problem.

 

Although I love my car to death, I have to say that MINI factory QC isn't the best I've seen... at least compared to the other cars I have owned. I've had my car for a week now and noticed that they cut my carpet weird leaving a nice 1.5" cut by my shifter... and just under the the hood (right at the front edge) they missed painting a 1 x .5" spot and it looks like they noticed it too... because they just clear coated it instead of touching it up with the actual colors. My problems are all VERY MINOR and cosmetic... but it makes you wonder if MINI's QC standards were higher we wouldn't be seeing so many complaints here.

These aren't supplier problems I read about (more common with other companies)... it's more factory process problems.

Don't get me wrong I love my baby and would never give her up... it's just a observation . I still can't believe I own one!