I'm originally from San Antonio so I know... But hey, I live in Eastern Oahu (Hawaii Kai) and it takes me 3 hours with traffic and all for a round trip to the North Shore. Giovani's Garlic Shrimp is worth the drive!!!

 

For long trips I'll take my Toyota Tundra. Got tired of pounded kidneys in my youth. [Actually, the Tundra is American made ]

My old Ford Ranger, with it's intermittent electrics, was built in Mexico if I remember right. Dodge Minivan was Canadian.

charlie

 

What if you are overseas and you order the car there. Then the factory ships it to America where you recieve teh car at another dealer.. and its full of little annoying problems like above... Will the dealer give a "Hooey" about teh car you did not order through them? Are they obligated to give a hoeey?

 

The factory workers in Cowley have no excuse for this. Didn't MINI cut back on production recently because of the economy? That means they have MORE time to put your car together. Like another person said to you, if there are so many exterior mistakes, how do you know the engine was bolted together properly? If the dealer doesn't fix the problem, I'd be really angry and file a complaint with MINI. They deserve the complaint because it was their fault to begin with. It's the distribution center's fault too for letting so many errors through the cracks. I feel for you. The Clubman is not a cheap car so you should expect it to at least APPEAR alright but I wouldn't accept a scratched paint job either.

 

But, the Clubman is a 'cheap' car. Yeah, you can load with options til it approaches Beemer levels, but, the base level car is low end of midrange. We paid more for a Subaru Forester as we did for the Mini.

Many cars come off of assembly lines with problems. Even with QC checks a certain number make it to the dealer and into customer hands. Every production system has a certain number of 'bad' products that get made. 99.9% still means that 1 in a thousand has a problem and every car maker will produce a 'lemon' every now and then that has multiple problems.

Cutting back production does not change the speed at which a production line runs, it means they layoff one shift of workers (or only run 5 days a week) and the others have to work just as fast or faster. In the production area I was involved in we had the most quality problems when production was cut back. Why? Workers ticked off that they have reduced hours was the most common one.

Your job as a consumer is to not buy a bad product or to make sure the dealer fixes them. There is a special document that you fill out during purchasing. It is a list of things the dealer has not done yet. Options not installed is the most common one. If you see flaws that is where it needs to be noted (if you even accept the car).

If you are shown a flawed car and accept the flaws then that is not the fault of the mfg or the dealer. Yes, it may mean that you have to wait a bit longer to get a car. If you accept the car then you are relying on the warranty to fix the problems. When it comes to bodywork and blemishes that can be a problem.

charlie

 

I've been to Giovani's when I was there a few years back! It was freaking awesome! Don't know if it was worth the $12 to eat out of a diner truck though