While I'm thrilled that Mini sales keep going up and up (please build more dealers!!!), I'm a little concerned about build quality with the factory operating at or beyond capacity.

I'm still placing my order, but I'm really hoping that quality doesn't suffer with those chaps pushing more and more cars off the line.

 

Robots build cars now...not people. I wouldn't worry about increased production affecting quality (And the robots come in sober on Monday morning!). First time in the history of British automobile manufacturing where they could sell more cars than they could build...I'd hope the unions/workers finally got the point of all that and don't decide to kill the industry again like they did in the 60's.

 

Clay Bar was a famous Mini racer back in the 70's.... winner Monte Carlo Rallye twice, 24 Hours of Le Mans 3 times and tried to qualify a special built mid engined Mini Cooper at Indianapolis in 1974 but due to the FWD he had to drive facing backwards and dropped out of competition due to severe neck pain. He died in 1990 while testing for BMW on an open track at the Nurburgring after his prototype "new" Mini was run over by a Mercedes bus carrying tourists around the famous track.

 

Will the robots be sober on Sunday thats when my clubman will be built?

 

Clay Bar.

 

I heard that his father, Cash, had a drinking problem. (Not enough cash).

To answer the original question, a clay bar is used by OCD detailers to strip tiny bits of dirt and debris from the paint before they spend the weekend polishing and waxing their MINIs. Take a look in the "Detailing" section of the forum. (BTW, I am becoming OCD since buying my MINI. I think its contagious)

 

Robots don't build the car completely without human workers doing some of the assembly. If robots completely built the car, why are there so many employees at the plant? Watch one of the MINI build videos some time and you will observe workers assembling the interior of the car as well as installing and lining up the entire engine assembly.

 

10K on mine now and I had to replace one front tire due to road trash. No problems yet, getting ready to due my 3rd oil change, I'm 'old school' about that!

 

I know we all like to think that everything we buy is never touched by another human being, but people are still heavily involved in all aspects of manufacturing. Many manufacturers dreamed of a people-free assembly line when robots first started making a big showing there, but after careful cost analysis, there are still plenty of tasks that are easier and far cheaper to be performed by people.

What we are really talking about here is quality control, and that is almost completely done by us upright mammals. This is the area that usually takes a big hit when operating at (and beyond) capacity. Mini clearly stands behind its warranty, so anything missed at the plant will be fixed later, but the hope is that you get a perfect product to begin with.

Disclaimer: I don't work at a car plant, but I do have a degree in Industrial Engineering, and I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

 

 

at 3,800 miles, the latch assembly in my right-side rear hatch door came completely loose from the door frame. Boggled the Service Advisor... he figures it wasn't properly torqued at the factory... we use the door almost daily.

 

I have these two items as well. Perhaps all later model builds have this measure of protection.

 

You always have to take my comments with a grain of salt...I know people build cars too of course...but the robots sure did help QC. And I DID work in an auto plant (Chevrolet, in the 70s) and my father was superintendent of inspection, so I know a bit about what goe's on (Or hopefully, what used to go on). Oh the stories I can tell!!!

 

Just got my JCW carbon fiber scoop to replace the stock ABS scoop that warped. See the pic in my gallery!

 

Bringing this one back up, my 3 week old Clubman just had the right rear belt moulding below the quarter glass basically fall off. We took the car to get the windows tinted and lo and behold I looked at the right quarter and sure enough the moulding was barely holding on. I assume a few more miles and wouldda fell right off. Not a big deal for me, since I own a bodyshop. A quick reattach and it's been fine since. But it was very unexpected. If I weren't capable of reattachment, it surely would have made me pretty mad.

 

For the most part, yes they do, but what they don't do very well is come up with good solutions to common problems, or things that should be a recall.

Couple of cases:

My 03 Cooper;

When I still lived up in Manitoba, my door latches would freeze up, well MINI said it was the cables inside the doors, not the right lube or some such thing. Well the Tech. at my dealer up there was the one that figured out it had nothing to do with cables, but ice building up in the outside levers, not letting the levers return all the way, which did not let the internals of the latches cycle, so you would be locked out of the car. Well they called him a fool, made him replace cables, which fixed nothing. But on my car, he installed 04 outside levers, with better seals, and stronger springs, I never had an issue after that, and it became "THE FIX"

The early builds, up till 04, had bad axle seals on the Midlands trannies, they would freeze in extreme cold, causing the tranny to dump fluid. MINI, in it's wisdom, did not make this a recall issue, to replace $30 worth of seals with improved ones. That would look like they made a mistake, so what they did is wait till folks had their seals dump fluid, then replace the whole tranny for $3500. This happened to mine, had the seals replaced, and drove the car for a month before the new tranny came in, and I could get it in. The old tranny was fine IMO, but I'm happy they replaced it.

Wifes 05 Cabrio:

Well it had 3 roofs.

What this kind of thing means to me is that we pay more up front to cover for warranty work, that could be cheaper if they took the time to figure a proper fix, and do recalls on things they do figure out before major issues show up.

2nd Generation:

Melting hood scopes; WHY DON"T THEY MAKE A PROPER HEAT SHEILD

Mark

 

Received my MCS Clubman in late June'08. Fit and finish were excellent. Had a little wind noise with the sunroofs, but was adjusted easily. Now all is quiet, minus the tire noise (runflats) going down the freeway at 90. This is my first Mini, but was quite pleased with fit/finish in/out.

 

One of the few good things about the global recession and resulting lowered Mini sales is that the plant is no longer working beyond capacity. This eases my worries a little bit about build issues, especially since mine is scheduled for production in another week or so.

There's a silver lining in everything I guess...

I have to say though, after watching that manufacturing video on the Mini website, it looks like it is a highly automated and well laid out factory.

 

For those who are waiting for a Clubbie with a sunroof: if you live in a place where it's hot half the time, get the sunroof tinted. It's pretty cold here in Texas right now with temperatures around the 40s but I'm not waiting. I got the darkest tint I could on my sunroof as well as a sunshade for the front windshield. I test drove a Clubbie in late August and it had a no-tint sunroof. Holy moly was it HOT! The MA, my dad and I sweated throughout the whole test drive. The poor Clubbie will probably smell like a gym on a Sunday afternoon within a month! Heck, it was so hot that the dealer called the ice cream man and yep, the customers formed a line the instant they saw the ice cream truck!

 

The only problem I've seen in the month I've had RedMist, is pretty minor. Last week the rubber weather strip at the bottom of one of the barn door windows, came off.

Service writer at the Mini dealer (Bob Smith) discovered there is a factory bulletin on the subject. They are replacing all the stripping this week.

 

Have had mine since June, 2008 and love it! Of course it has had problems! The best part is they fix them for free at the dealership and give me awesome minicooper loaners...what's not to like? So far these things have occured and been fixed at no cost to me:
1. Chrome door sills replaced because they peeled up.
2. Club door latch and cable replaced.
3. Driver's side window motor replaced for various malfunctions.

Soon to be fixed at next oil change:
1. Hood scoop slightly melted.
2. Oil change.

Note to remember: Some owners have had club door issues with the small black triangular latch at the bottom sticking and not allowing you to open the door without manually popping the latch forward. Push it all the way out and notice the small cable and tiny hole the cable goes in. Spray Silicone lubricant spray (you can get it just about anywhere, even wall mart) into the hole and up the cable and voilla, problem solved. It gets stuck after several washings or rainy days. It has pretty much only happened twice and each time the lube did the trick. DO NOT USE WD40 OR ANY OIL OR IT WILL GUNK IT UP WORSE!

Hope this helps. I love our clubmanS! One of the best cars I have ever owned and one of the most fun for sure. It would be a toss up between this and my Chevy SSR as to which was the most fun. THey are both great fun vehicles to drive for sure. THe clubman has a lot less problems and the service is way better so in my mind, it is a better car.

 

thanks for the updates

 

MINI is in another universe compared with my last car, a '00 Intrepid. When I traded it in, the ceiling liner came out, the door seals were warped from the heat, the center console was coming loose and could be pushed 2 inches left or right! The inside of the instrument panel fogged in cold weather. The bug guard that rises when you open the sunroof was made of the cheapest, flimsiest junk you could imagine. It broke right off and it can't be fixed because it's all in one piece around the bottom of the sunroof! HORRIBLE quality. Ironically, the car was reliable. I never had any problems with it over 70,000 miles and 8 years of ownership. Maybe that's why I kept it... until the Clubman came out. I had test driven a standard MINI but found the storage space a bit too small. When the longer Clubman came out, I HAD to have it.
The fit and finish are great. I never had any assembly issues. The interior parts are light years ahead of the Intrepid in terms of quality so I might not be judging it accurately enough for some on this board. That should clue you in how bad the Intrepid's quality was. When I press on the parts, there is no creaking or groaning. They don't visibly move either (Yes, the Intrepid had such cheap, crummy parts that some actually flexed when you pressed on them gently!). Overall, the MINI feels like a BMW 7-series compared to my Intrepid so I think it's a very high quality car!

 

DragonWagon makes two very good points here: My 2009 is beautiful, it's a not an S, and I couldn't be happier.

(Had one issue with an airbag light, and it is fixed.)