Who's claiming their Mini is "trouble free"?

 

Sure as hell isn't me....

 

Nor me!

But in all seriousness, I really started this thread to show that 1) maybe the timing chain issue isn't fixed; 2) MINI and BMW are having a difficult time owning up to that; 3) to help anyone else that may be going down the Lemon Law road; and 4) to vent a little after being let down by MINI USA and Manhattan MINI.

Who knows if I will win my Lemon Law suit, the arbitrator has a while to decide. Until MINI makes this right, I think I have reason to air these concerns.

 

Me neither.

 

Isn't the lemon law pretty clear about what qualifies?

If you're taking this to arbitration, it sounds like it doesn't meet some requirement of the lemon law.

What's preventing this from being applied?

Number of attempts to repair?

Days the car is out of service?

I'm sure this information would be helpful to "anyone else that may be going down the Lemon Law road."

 

Xeraux: In New York, most Lemon Law cases are handled by an arbitrator and not a judge. It has nothing to do with the strength of the case, only that arbitration is less formal with regards to procedure and the rules of evidence. It is the consumer's choice to make.

I can give a full write-up on NY Lemon Law, but nothing is ever black and white here. It all depends on whether the judge or arbitrator believes that you have gone through significant pains to get the car repaired, and they were not able to do so in a "reasonable" number of attempts. There is a statutory presumption that four attempts (or 30 days in the shop) for the same problem is reasonable. It is then for the judge to look at all the evidence and decide exactly which repairs qualify to resolve that problem.

 

The mis-information you're promulgating is the problem here. If you have a problem with your dealer, you do not have a lemon law action. If your dealer can't fix a problem after 3 tries or 30 days that keeps you car off the road despite their best efforts, then you may have an action against MINI under the lemon law....

 

My personal experience with this noise (very similar) was with a 1984 Chrysler turbo New Yorker. That thing sounded like it had a bad knock when it was new. Lots if not all of them sound the same. They are not that common anymore, but if you ever see a K car turbo, just listen for that knock. I drove that car over 100K miles with that knock (at idle) whipped the crap out of it and donated it to the local fire department to light up (drove it there). So, for me, the noise, no matter how bad it sounded to me (it was bad) had zero effect on reliability or longevity.

YMMV

 

*sigh*

This is exactly why people get frustrated with lawyers. You said a lot, but didn't really answer my question, did you?

I'll ask again, has your car been in for at least four attempts to fix the same problem or has your car been off the road for 30 or more days?

Is it a mileage or age thing? Does your car have more than 18,000 miles on it? Is it over two years old?

Again, the answer to these questions will, as you said earlier, help "anyone else that may be going down the Lemon Law road." I mean, we need all the help and information we can get here. We want Mini USA and BMW USA to be accountable, right?

Personally, I think your evasiveness and the fact that you seem concerned about which direction the case will go tells me that something about your situation may not meet the requirements for this to fall under the lemon law.

 

i bought my car from the same dealer. mini and bmw of manhattan are owned and operated by bmw usa. so the dealer and manufacture are the same

 

Why not just let this play out and see what happens? At this point the only thing that matters is the arbitrator's ruling.

 

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.

And maybe I should quit reading this forum.[/quote]

Same here...I cross my finger everytime i start my car.
Let just enjoy it while it's still running

 

Oh, absolutely.

 

All of you complain about how "Unreliable" the MINI is.

Have any of you actually experienced this unreliability. It sounds as if you "have not" other wise you would be complaining as well. So stop your worrying until you really do have a problem.

Also to this point in this thread I have counted 35 different people posited to this thread. Some of them have had problems and others have not. At least two of them seem not to have purchased yet so that leaves us with 33.

So with that figure known I can also state with 100% certainty that I could come up with more than 400 people that have not had problems with their MINI. Now that is a low number i am sure and it could be well over 1000.

Now with those figures I can figure out a that the cars with problems rate is .0825% (33/400=.0825)

Now I think we can all agree that you will here from people a lot more if they have a problem than if they do not. So using a probably more reasonable number of people that have not had a problem like 1000 per every complaint then the problem rate drops significantly to .033%. And if i am totally wrong here and the number is more like 5K or 6K per problem car then the problem rate drops even more.

Now as to car being "problem free". People can say what ever they want about them selves having problem free cars but lets look at the reality. EVERY CAR manufacturer has problem cars. Just go and read forums for every car out there and you will find people complaining just as they do in this forum.

I have owned 7 new cars over the past 30 years and not a single one of them has been "perfect". All of them have had their problems, from failed brakes to blown engines, bad transmissions (replace three 5 times by Dodge even after warranty had ended), so there are NO cars that are truely "problem free".

Now for my MINI, no it has not been problem free but I also am not going to make a big deal out of a little problem as it seems the OP is doing here.


Now I also have couple of other questions for the OP.

Why were you not straight with us about not wanting money for your problem?
Then your response
So you avoided the question and stated your problem was with MINI/BMW being straight up with you and others.

Then finally when pressed state that you are actually just looking for a monetary settlement?
So you want MINI/BMW to be straight with you but you do not have to be straight with us. This leads me to believe that you "may not have been straight" with MINI/BMW. And in that case why should they do anything for you?

And yet again you have avoided the questions asked.

1. How many times has the car been in for the timing chain tensioner problem?

2. Has the car been in the shop for more than 30 days for the timing chain tensioner problem?

3. Does the car have more than 18K miles on it?

4. Is the car more than two years old?

So Why are you not being straight with us?

The true answers to the questions in this post should give the rest of us the real story about the OP's intentions. If he is an honest person he will just answer them truthfully and we will see if he even gets close to meeting the requirements for a lemon law case, and if he has really tried to work with the dealer ship to get the problem resolved.

 

I assure you that the mini is not an unreliable piece of junk. Yes, the mini has had it problems but I don't care what forum for what kind of vehicle it is, the members are there to complain or ask questions.

No one logs on and says "hey, I drove 150 miles today and never had a problem".

I've put 23K miles on my mini in less than a year and other than the self-inflicted problems I had with a valve cover, I've had ONE driveability problem and that was a fuel pump when I first bought the car.

Even then, it got me home, I was just in limp mode.

I have had my share of problems but still love my car...


Mark

 

I think he was being sarcastic.

 

Shcatz - I thought it was pretty clear that I was trying to seek some kind of resolution when, in the first post, I said that I had brought action under the lemon law. I never avoided the question - I am seeking to return the car so that I am not stuck with a vehicle that I simultaneously owe $$$ on and, yet, cannot sell in good conscience. Also, with those types of noises, would you want to keep the car outside of warranty? The reason that these cases frequently end in settlements is because BMW/MINI does not want to have to report another lemon. I offered to give them that option and would have been prepared to keep the car and use the $ to pay for any outside of warranty engine repairs. They turned me down.

As far as the engine troubles - this car was examined by a dealership 5 times within the first 2 years and 18,000 miles. In NY, the case would not have been accepted into the Lemon Law program, run by the Attorney General's Office, if I had not demonstrated that fact to begin with.

I am sorry that some of you don't believe me and truly hope that you never have to go through the nightmare that I have been through.

 

You said earlier that you were seeking a cash settlement.

Which is it?

I'm starting to think you suck at this lawyering thing.

The reason people don't believe you is because you kept/keep avoiding answering the questions.

"Examined"? Not "repaired"?

Was it in for the same thing each time?

Did they "repair" the timing chain tensioner four or more times or did they just "examine" it?

Again, you continue to obfuscate. Or you're being accurate, I honestly don't know. If you do this in front of a Judge/Arbiter, you're not getting **** and you know it. I'm betting you're hoping Mini will settle before it gets that far.

What about your situation leads you do believe that it qualifies for New York's lemon law? Or... Do you know it really doesn't, you played a little loose with the details when you submitted it to the AG's office, and you're hoping that Mini will settle with you before you get to the Arbiter?

 

Very interesting debate for us "lurkers". Please keep it going.

 

I'm not asking any questions nor pointing out anything that another attorney wouldn't ask nor pick up on.

Heck, if anything we're getting his case tuned up.

But... If he can't answer these questions for us, he sure as **** won't be able to answer them in front of people who are likely to be even more aggressive.

 

And that indicated that you wanted them to take back the car. But it seems after numerous other posts that is not what you want. What is seems you want is a payday.

Which is it?

Well you did avoid the question "how much are you seeking?" it took posts from a number of people about that before you gave us a straight answer. And when you did answer it seems you wnat to keep the car. So that is not what a lemon law hearing is about. So again I feel you are not being straight with us.

So now after al test two people asking the same question you think you have answer it but still not fully. Now you say they examined it 5 times that would not qualify in my book as that indicates that you complained about it but they did nothing to fix it. Oh may be there was nothing wrong and it did not need to be fixed is why they just "examined it".

Well with your back and forth I see no reason to believe you know what you want.

+1



+1

 

I love my Mini. I don't love it to the point of defending Mini for not fixing these problems as they should. Don't they read any of this. This is not only common to North American Motoring, but other sites as well. This is costing them sales. As the car becomes less popular, as it will, maybe the'll change.
Clever adds don't fix timeing chains.

 

Go back to lurking... none of this lynchmob mentality is helping anyone or anything.

The bottom line is he has a problem (IMO, waaay worse than I've ever heard) and wants retribution...

It doesn't matter if it's cash, it doesn't matter if it's repaired, the result is much like other lawsuits, it's more about the precedence it creates to help others down the road when/if they have the same problems.

I think you guys are being too harsh on him, if I was him and went through the same bs and still had the same noises he has on his video, I'd sue the crap out of them if I could.

Though I love my mini, I'm sick of seeing people get jerked around for stuff like the sunroof issue (how many of you have had that?), the timing chain tensioner problem (how many of us have had or do have that), melting scoops, I mean, come on...

If Mini stood behind their products, all of these things should have and would have been fixed without the public going to such great lengths.

I think ya'll need to back off him, if he wins, it only helps set precedence so when the next time someone buys a mini and they refuse to fix the timing chain, perhaps it won't be such a hassle.


Mark

 

Opps, too stupid to see that... my bad.


Mark

 

Again, I don't think it's the timing chain that's at issue here, and MINI certainly has a fix in place for that.

I think you can make a case for any car being a "Hunk of Junk" if it does something you don't like, but whether that's something actually wrong with the car or simply something you think is wrong remains to be seen.

Case in point, my MINI is in the body shop right now having some minor repairs and I'm driving a Toyota Corolla rental car - to me this car could be called a piece of *****, based on the way it drives compared to my MINI or even my wife's Audi. But is it a piece of *****, or is it just that I'm used to something different and this car is exactly what it is - a low cost transportation module and certainly not a driver's car? It's certainly competent enough, the car goes and stops and turns and seems to get pretty good economy, so why the moniker? Just that it's so non-immediate and precise like the MINI I guess......still a decent car tho, isn't it?

I'll be interested to see what the resolution to this case is, and I hope the OP doesn't bail on us for critiquing him or his method.