1) You didn't answer my question.
2) Did they fix your car?
3) Did Mini provide broad fix for this issue?

C'mon, you can tell us. It's not really about lying "under oath" or "false trust", now is it? It's about a payday for you.

How much are you seeking?

I'll bet it's more than the cost of a new Mini.

 

That is a good question. As far as I know they can't give you any money. They can buy back your car and if it covers the amount owed than you are even. If they give you more than what is owed(which they will most likely NOT do) you will have extra cash. Or they can do a trade on a vehicle that is of equal or greater value.

About 6 years ago my dad went through this with his Ford F-150. After three trips and two new transmission(and a whole lot of other parts mixed in over the 3 months) they final called it a lemon. Lucky the dealer ship had the same truck just with a v-8 not a v-6 and cruise control sitting on the lot. So on the fourth visit they had all the paper work written up and the new truck all detailed. It is a rather large pain in the *** to get this taken care of.

 

Why, you don't want them to be just like all the other car manufacturer's?




Mark

 

There is a thread on this forum asking people if they'd had their tensioners replaced and whether the noise came back. Seems to me the overwhelming number said it had fixed the problem - it did on mine......

 

I think it's just a better bandaid than they've had before. The explanation of why the current fix works and the others didn't just doesn't hold water, and the valve lash adjuster root cause makes much, much more sense.

We'll see where this goes....

Matt

 

Xeraux - my offer to settle was much less than half of the cost of the MINI - more than reasonable to end this and help for the tons of hours that I had to work on this case, dealing with BMW while they hemmed and hawed about making me an offer and at the end, told me they had nothing for me! Is it an abuse of trust for your car company to tell you everything is fine - when clearly they know it's not? I think so. I know that many people aren't fans of lawyers - and for good reason - but it's this kind of action, and grassroots support, that got e46 m3 engines warranteed for 100k miles.

Bear in mind that I spent thousands on dealer accessories - and only dealer accessories - for this car. I really loved it, perhaps why I am so disappointed now.

 

Ok, here is the video of the engine after the latest fix. If you pause on the shot of the date on my phone, you can see that it was only from a few days ago. Also note, between this video and the last, I got the JCW engine kit installed by the dealer (why? because I am an enthusiast and truly believed MINI could fix my car!).


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Qb1t8KS19E

 

Damn that sound horrible.

 

Not according to BMW USA's own engineer! Now can you guys see why I am a little upset?

 

That really does sound terrible. My car doesn't sound anything like that (even when I have noticed a cold start rattle). To be fair, if your a lawyer with a problem you fix it in court. I suspect if the OP was a BMW tech he would have fixed it himself. I sell cars (not Mini) and often call on friends at other dealers to help me with auto related issues. It's really just using the tools in your personal tool box.

 

That's after the fix???

That is HORRIBLE.

Regardless whether you start or finish a class action suit, I'd think it would be pretty safe to say that your main desire is to fix the freakin' problem.

Can I make a suggestion?

See what bulletin they are fixing your car under and see what parts are being used.

I'm just wondering if your dealer's techs aren't up to speed on the latest fix. My car sounded like that and I never took it in because I knew they hadn't fixed it yet.

Once I felt comfortable they had a fix, I finally took it in.

The car has been perfect since.

Doublecheck your part number and bulletin and make sure your dealer isn't being stupid. I know from experience that what one dealer even thinks is a problem, another denies it. There doesn't seem to be any consistency between dealerships.

Let us know.

Mark

 

I'm all for accountability with these matter, thanks for pursuing this! I'd like to see warranty for timing chain related issues extended. The DSG tranny in my VW recently had its warranty extended to 10 yr/100K due to issues some people have been having.

 

wow, it sounds worse after the fix...

 

This was certainly the newest fix - that came up at the hearing. I'll post a pic of the papers for everyone tomorrow.

 

Wow. I just joined this site after test driving a mini today. I was going to buy it, but now I am not so sure. Maybe I should get a VW?

 

Is VW any better? It really sucks that car companies seem to be reverting back to the evil ways of the 1960's. They stated to clean up their act a little when the Japanese got the idea (from an American) that they could out compete other companies with reliability and good customer relations. Looks like Toyota fell off that wagon in a big way. Don't know about Honda. They may have been smart enough to keep to it.

 

VW has been better to me personally than MINI as far as the number of dealer visits for problems. VW is actually very good about recalls, if only due to the much larger number of them on the road!

 

Yep! This is exactly what mine did a few years ago, but Mini fixed it. The engine scared me....I thought it was gonna flop right outta the engine bay it clattered so loud. Now no issues. I do plan to get rid of it just before the warranty runs out...I dont see this as a long term reliable car.

 

I have two Honda's. Both had repairs covered for free post warranty. I had a inner tie rod break on a 99 Honda CR-V. I had it in for an alignment at a tire shop and they said they couldn't because of it. I took it to the dealer. His reaction was "wow, that shouldn't have happened, we'll take care of it, no charge". On my 2004 accord I got a letter from Honda stating that a part on a board was suspect causing the integrated display for heater controls and the radio to go out. They were extending warranty services for that failure to 7 years and 100,000 miles. Mine went out a couple of months later. Both cars, even the 11 year old CR-V still drive like the day I bought them, with no other major repairs other than normal maintenance.

I'll always have a Honda in the garage. Sadly, that's not necessarily a statement I can yet make about Mini, although my mini has been rock solid as well.

 

I have driven Honda cars since 1979 and have been completely satisfied with them. But I have never been on a Honda internet forum.

I thought MINI was a great car until I got on this forum and found out what an unreliable piece of junk it is. I live every day expecting it to break down and leave me stranded on the side of the road.

I did have the dreaded "cold start rattle" a few time over my first year, so when I took it in for the one year service I told them about it. Lo and behold, they replaced the timing chain tensioner and said, "If you ever have another problem, just let us know."

Who knows, maybe my dealership - Cincinnati MINI - is the exception. And maybe I should quit reading this forum.

 

Fell off what wagon?

As I recall, Toyota has acknowledged the problems, has recalled and is fixing them, the Chairman made an completely unnecessary appearance before the U.S. Congress, and even made a public apology.

Seriously, what more is necessary?

 

I'm starting to think that Roadshow Mini is, too.

My dome lights didn't work off the lot. I thought, "Oh, great. An electrical problem." My Clubman went back about 5 (might have been more) times while they researched and researched the problem. It turns out it was two separate systems that were having problems and consequently was making it extremely difficult to diagnose one little thing.

They kept at it and kept at it until they had it fixed. I couldn't have asked for better service.

 

I'm constantly surprised at the folks who come here, read about a problem one or even 10 people (out of a several hundred thousand car owners) are having, and immediately assume thier car will do the same and because of that one problem, their car now is a piece of junk and their dealer is crap.

No knowledge of the full circumstances, no personal knowledge of the event, yet they take everything they read in the forum as dead fact.

I'm also surprised how many people are absolutelu disgusted with their car after having one tiny thing fixed.............really? What do these folks expect?
Cars are designed, engineered and built by people, they're not perfect - never will be - nothing else is. Not a Honda, nor a Toyota, nor anything else.......

Build a bridge and GET OVER IT!

Getting back to the thread subject, if I understand the OP's position, he feels MINI broke their contractual duty to him to repair his car and now owe him half the value of the car back in cash "for his trouble" or because of their attitude towards him? I wonder how this will stand in a court of law? if they in fact did repair his car within the terms of the state's lemon law provisions, how do they owe him anything?

Seems to me the law of "usability" is only broken if they did not fix his car expeditiously, a fact that hasn't been clearly determined.

So, OP, what's been the outcome of this action, please?

 

Very hard for me to tell from the video whether it is just normal DI knocking or something else.

I'm reminded that a lawyer who represents himself has a fool for a client.

 

Bing-f'n-o.

I'm wondering if the ink is dry on that law degree.

Also, I'm always suspicious of people who sign up to a forum and their first post something like this. Notice the O.P. has only posted in three threads and each are related to this single topic? Heck, even his username is related to this topic.

I'm still waiting on the hook.