yesterday i had the towing truck to bring my mini cooper s to the motorwerk for service after there is only about 600 mileages in it. was it just my bad luck or it's bad design?

1) i was very strict about break-in period to drive up to 2,100 rpm and rarely up to 3,000 rpm if necessary to move in lane smoother among other cars for safety (despite it is safe to drive under 4,500 rpm but i refuse to do that anyway).

2) mind you, i never use continuing cruise control yet and wait for up to 1,200 miles to break-in period first.

i drove for 25 minutes up to average 62 mph to run up 2,100 rpm to arrive home from work to drop off my dog. in next 5 minutes, i was ready to leave for my dentist appointment then i was unable to start it. no power at all suddenly (my service advisor said i have dead battery but there has not been any diagnosed yet).

bad design or bad luck? when battery was dead. i was lucky enough to leave the doors unlocked. but i was unable to open the tailgate without power when i tried to test second remote controls to start up.

what more? i am unable to put the automatic transmission selector lever to "n" neutral without power after i depressed brake. towing trucker told me that it needs to be neutral first before he can move mini up on his flat bed of towing truck. i finally found the overriding the selector lever lock in manual book in order to be able to "n" neutral.

another problem, trucker told me where is tool for the screw-in tow fitting at rear of the mini. at first, i thought he has all tools to do the job properly but not true. i had to re-read the manual to locate the tool. bad news that my crate for dog is in back and i am unable to open the tailgate without power. i can't get the crate out of the doors. good news that i had to unloose the screw of crate into two pieces and able to get half crate out. finally i found the tool is stored under the floor mat in the cargo bay (back). i finally solved the problem but wish manual book come with dvd to demo how i unclip the sleeve of the selector lever. cuz towing trucker does not want to take responsible for breaking it by unclip it in order to "n" neutral.

long story to short story. my wife proved me wrong that we should go with toyota camry in first place instead of mini cooper s. cuz we still have toyota corolla for 10 years with 165,000 mileages in it. i am guilty of convincing her to agree with me to purchase mini cooper s instead of toyota. please help me to make the mini cooper s look good and tell me what i want to hear from you that this is only goofy from your little bad experience for short term but good experience for long term will last long to match with toyota's performance or better than toyota?

 

Just bad luck. Our 06 MC had the battery die too, but no problem since replacement.

 

did you buy your car off the showroom floor? it isn't uncommon for floor model cars (of any brand) to have weak batteries due to them being constantly drained as people play with the features.

also, i'm new to the mini community but i'm pretty sure the non-navi mini's have substantially smaller batteries than their navi equipped counterparts.

 

If something is going to go wrong, it will go wrong early on, most likely.

No car is perfect-- I'm sure there are camry owners who have had similar things happen.

 

I have some gremlins as well, but sounds like I am not alone when reading the forums. BMW is already working on a solution for my problem, which is totally different from yours. As far as your questions, well I would say it was just bad luck. Electrical and electronic gremlins don't have a time to pop out. A battery fault can come at any time due to its nature. Now, ALL automatic cars now-a-days usually have a small eyelet covered with plastic close to the gear shift **** that must be opened and pressed in order to manually release the **** (precisely for these situations). So, my advice to you is to relax, let your dealer fix your baby and enjoy it!

 

Please don't blame the Mini on not being able to find a tow hook tool or being unable to put the gear lever into Neutral w/o reading the manual first, that's pretty much on you. I'm sure it wouldn't be too much different if it was a Camry in that situation.

Otherwise, you have to give your new Mini a chance. You've invested a substantial amount of $$ on her, why give up after one incident? Also, judging by your post it's time to ask yourself - why did you buy a Mini in the first place? Weigh the positives and negatives in your mind before you go any further on this. I know as a Mini owner I'm extremely enthusiastic about the brand name, the spirit associated with the brand (i.e. motoring), the gas milage, the practicality combined with sportiness, the smile factor whenever I'm behind the wheel. That said, I wouldn't let an incident like this deter me at all. It would take more than one small incident exasibated by user error and not RTFM to sway me.

 

bad luck... My MINIs battery died 2nd day I bought it home... I mainly blame myself as I spent about 4hrs the night before in the garage playing with various different function (I have navi). i guess the dealer (they had it for about 2 weeks) had not charged up the battery when they had it and when I spent 4hrs getting to know it better. i killed the battery.

anyhow, i hooked up my battery tender/charger that i had for my M Coupe and left it on trickle charge for about 10mins, then changed to 15amp start mode. the engine started fine and had no problems on restarts. no battery related issues since then.

 

Six weeks and 300 total miles. Today, the battery was too low for starter to turn over. Used 6 AMP charger for an hour, started and confirmed Alternator putting in a strong charge, did my errands and battery was higher upon return, now have it on 2 AMP charge for overnight and indicator button looks green. Reported to MINI and will keep close watch on situation, but suspect that it may not have had a complete (trickle) charge before. ???

Only other anomaly seen is that you must SLAM :( Boot shut or you have intermintent chime and symbol of "boot not shut".

 

You can adjust the stops for the boot so it'll close easier.

And I firmly believe everyone should have a jumpstarter or battery charger in their garage. We have a boost box with a compressor that does everything.

 

that is exact what i want to hear bad luck rather instead of bad design cuz bad luck will go away but bad design can't go away.

 

no, i did backorder it and got it right away after they delivered and dealer prep it. your theory is correct but it didn't happen to mine.

bottom is that technician had diagnosed to find the loose battery clamps on both positive and negative posts. the battery was not deaf, just no connection was being made. i think a person perhaps had little party to drink beer on the duty during putting the battery in my baby at the factory in oxford, england.

 

that is why my wife went freak. thank god, they pinned down the problem with little goofy loose on battery.

my wife doesn't care to hear that no car is perfect. but we want to keep our car for good to last long. we don't plan to resell. glad to know camry has similar things happen.

 

that is why we did extend our both warranty and maintenance so i kept telling my wife to relax. she began to lose her trust in mini after only 600 mileages in it. ...but after service found out it is only loose which it did put my wife's mind in peace cuz we can't afford to allow any gremlins to fool around with electronic to destroy our vacation in long trip.

 

i agree with you that i should not blame the mini. but i called mini roadside assistance with question and she told me that towing trucker have all equipment to take care of my problem after i explained her how to towing my mini in "n" neutral issue. until trucker can't figure out and told me that it needs to be neutral first with power on and asked where is hook tool. that is why i took over to read the manual last minutes after roadside assistance didn't tell me to read the manual at all.

now all mini owner has to know two important things after read manuals.
1). locate to find the tool first before towing trucker comes.
2). unclip the sleeve (ring) of the selector lever before able to shift to neutral.

 

That is the story of my life. I get stuck watching a mole hill grow bigger than Mt Everest.
A dead battery is no big deal. Then fate gets to piling on and pretty soon you need shirpas and campons.

Tell the Sweetie to chill. Soon as you get past break in make her grab that handle above the passenger door. Bonus points if you can make her cuss in two languages.

 

Hey if when the batterys dead and you want to open the trunk theres a pull tab thingy under the rear seats that pops the trunk, just to let you know, i didnt see anything about it in anyother posts above, sorry to hear of your troubles, but you know you love it even with this minor set back.

 

No over ever reads the Spanish novel about a guy called Manual that comes with the cars.

 

Sorry to hear about the dead battery db. No one wants stress like that with a new car.

Very glad that the issue was resolved though and that it fell under warranty.

 

oh, you caught me!
i didn't know about a pull tab thing under the rear seats that pops the trunk. towing truck, my wife and i had not figured that out yet. guess we were not good to deal under the pressure time to read the manual.

btw, i didn't bring my mcs with me to work today so i drove old toyota corolla to work due to heavy rain today instead.

of course, when i am at home, i will run to the garage and to look for pull tab thing in first thing on my mind. you bingo! many thanks!

 

you are right that i love my mcs more than my wife does. that is why i did washing it (with dawn), claying it and waxing it with epic (prima from dp rocks). right now i can feel the painting so damn smooth like baby's butt!.

 

i wonder there is mini college to get bs degree for passing the courses of manual?

 

Well, i can tell you a funny story that happened to a friend of my parents. She bought one day a Toyota Sienna. everything under control, nothing EVER happens to toyotas right? the next morning the minivan was dead. had to tow it and everything. probably dead battery but still very very embarassing for the dealership. She probably had as many problems as you did to get it towed. strangely enough, they traded it in for an FJ cruiser-we all know its engine bay not uncommonly just breaks apart for no reason...i dont know if it has happened to her already.

so, dont sweat it.

 

it was not dead battery but they fixed to solve the problem due to the loose clamps on both postive and negative posts. no need to replace the battery. but what more? i felt it is more smoother than before. it is like they tune up better.

i guess if i could find a store to buy the gremlins trap as mouse trap. because gremlins perhaps live to hide in my garage. who knows.

btw, service at dept at motowerk asked me if we need a ride back to home. nice of them to offer but my wife and i drove our own old car all the way to follow the towing truck to make sure he does not cause any scratch on my baby. because i learned a good lesson from your good advice about bad experience according to the clear shield.

 

glad you mentioned it so i can use this to defend and to honor our mini by proving my wife wrong.

 

Best luck for me was that it happened in my garage, before some errands that allowed that extra time without problem.

Battery connections were secure, but battery was low.

Past three hours, without charger and digital voltmeter reports an increase in battery voltage from 12.8 to 13.1 TGTBT

I recovered my Jumper Cables from the Hangar as soon as car started and found that inside the access panel on right boot sidewall easily opens with plenty of space to store those cables.

My garage charger is just 8 AMP, so it needs at least :15-:20 minute build-up for a DB 'start'.
A 'HOT Buss' cig. litr plug would do the same off the cordless compressor, Chrysler came that way, but MINI would need modified.

My Boot Lid closes very easily, I have a pilot's aversion for slamming doors, but an 'easy' close (definitely latched) gives that intermintent chime/warning symbol.
Hard close and no warnings seen.