Well, it's happened. I have brought my 2007 to the dealer for the 6th time for the same problem. (check engine light with sputtering at low rpm)
I have envoked the lemon law and they will be returning my money for my lease.
I'm going to take a break from mini for a couple of years til the bugs are worked out. This saddens me. This was my second mini.
The dealer was great............Mini not so good and fought this all the way.
I travel alot for work long distances and couldn't trust this car any longer.
I feel a little like there has been a death in the family. Well that is the news.

Bye for now.

 

While I understand the "bad feelings", you do realize you are generalizing a bit. Because one car had an issue, doesn't mean they all do/will.

I just picked up my mini yesterday, it's running like a dream (knock knock knock). Before you throw in the towel, cool off a few days, and then re-order your mini, you know you want it!!! ;-)

 

My car ran great fir the 1st month.
I don't believe I generalized,however even an employee from the dealer suggested this course of action and thought that it would be a great idea in the future to stay away from 1st year vehicles.
Actually, I'm quite calm..if I thought with my heart I would still own the car, however my head says 6 times is foolish especially driving in NYC traffic.

 

I think you did the right thing by returning it. That said, we have 4000 miles (in 2 months) on our 2007 MC and have had no issue. And I am pretty fussy. Actually the last few cars I have owned (BMW's and a Ford Fusion) have been so much better than cars of old. I could always count on at least a rattle, loose trim or something for the dealer to address before or during the first service. No nitipicks on any of them.

 

I feel for you big time and while their is no 'right decision' for everyone, I fully understand yours. I went through similar misery with my first production year VW Jetta GLX back in 2000. I did not invoke the lemon law because I loved the car and each time it went back to the shop I convinced myself that it would be all good henceforth. NOT! I did convince the VW District Manager to extend my warranty by a year, VW gave a 100K powertrain warranty at that time, and the dealership was only two city blocks from my office; that made things a tad better. By the end of the third year of roller coaster ownership, the car, for all intents and purposes, was rebuilt under warranty and it hasn't given me grief since. I swore I was going back to my Honda/Nissan roots after this experience. So what did I do? I purchased a first production year MINI Cooper S. So as I take delivery this Friday, there will be lots of anxiety, hope, and prayer - though I'm not very religious and prayer probably won't help me out at this point.

 

Yeah, you did the right thing!!! Why accept a car w/ chronic issues??? That said there are a lot of happy R56 owners and so don't give up completely on MINIs even though you may want to for a season. BTW, if one is to give up on first years cars one might as well give up on second years cars, too...it takes a long while to work out each and every kink and even then problems can arise. As an example, I for one was shocked to hear of so may Getrag tranny failures on some late model R50/53s!!! Gook luck on your next car...MINI or no!!!

 

I feel your pain. I went through a very messy first-year relationship between me, my 02 R1150RT, my dealer and BMW Motorad.


It was a very trying experience attempting to convince BMW and my service dept that the engine had developed and continued to develop a significant big-end rod knock after only 3000 miles. I let them rebuild the engine once but after it ate the second set of big-end connecting rod bearings, I insisted they change out the engine. They wanted to rebuild it again and I flatly refused. The bike had been in the shop for over 10 weeks of its first year due to the same knock and the dealer's inability to resolve it. When i pulled the trigger on lemon law in NJ, they flew in an engine direct from Germany to make it right. I had my bike back in 10 days with a new engine in it. It's 5 years and 45,000 miles later and the bike is right since then.

Someone made a good comment: Not every MINI is going to abuse you like the one you happened to end up with. Chances of having the same experience twice are really very slim.

 

Makes me nervous - I've seen the check engine light twice, but its been quiet for a while. I love the Buzzby, wouldnt want anything to happen to him: HOWEVER you paid for a car. You ended up with problems. Cant blame you for feeling fried by the whole thing, the buggers do provoke a deep emotional response... Maybe someday you'll come back.

 

That is great!, I'm glad that you were able to give it back to them. What troubles me, is MINI/BMW's attitude. They sold you a defective product, and they should have either taken it back, or given you a new MINI, with no fight. This makes me believe that MINI USA/BMW USA's warm & fuzzy advertising/marketing is just bulls*it, like most other manufacturers.

I lemoned a Mercedes ML four years ago, and MBUSA spent more in legal fees than it would have cost to simply replace the vehicle. Most of these manufacturers just don't understand how difficult it is to acquire and keep loyal customers...not to mention the bad pr that a disgruntled customer can create for a brand.

 

There's something mildly arrogant about the way the German industrial community (spefically BMW & Diamler-Benz) deals with American consumers. There's a very real sense of their belief that they can "do no wrong" when dealing with them. It takes a heavy hand to move them off the dime and do the right thing. Other than that, they make great products.

 

I've experience this arrogant attitude on the BMW side with their response to consumer complaints. Most recently, I wrote a letter to BMWUSA concerning a pro-global warming article in their owner's magazine which glorified Al Gore's movie by doing a softball interview with the political operatives that produced the movie. BMW even offered free copies by returning a response card. I suggested they stay away from political and other controverial issues and focus on their cars. The response letter basically insulted me and ignored the focus of my concern. This isn't the first time they have taken an arrogant attitude toward their customers (i.e., iDrive, 5/7 series styling, etc.)

 

Also, let me add mandatory runflats on many models as another example where BMW/MINI management ignores the wishes of their customers.