Probably the most ignorant thing i have read all day.. pat yourself on the back. ^^

 

GOOD, THEN MY JOB IS DONE!! THIS PART OF THE FORUM IS FOR R56 OWNERS, YES THEY HAVE PROBLEMS. BUT IT SEEMS EVERYONE IS JUST BASHING THERE CAR ON THIS POST.... SO I THUOGHT I WOULD STICK UP FOR THE CAR ITSELF. I CAN CARE LESS ABOUT REPAIRS OR PARTS FAILING, I HAVE THE MOST FUN WHILE DRIVING THIS CAR!!!

 

Best post of the day.

...my ears are still ringing from all that shouting...

 

I love my MINI, I will proudly say it. Its been a great car, it has had its problems. But every car and every company has something that goes wrong.

Dont get me wrong, I can point out some design flaws - like the excessive use of plastic on parts that are constantly heat cycling.

The tensioner i also agree is preventative maintenance just like change plugs or oil. All the parts I have replaced on my car though I would not say are related to the way i drive, drove, take care of my car. I personally am one of those people who do preventative maintenance up the *** on my cars just so i make sure they are running to their potential.

Sure all cars have problems, just be mindful.

My MKV GTi - bought at 11k miles sold at 36k miles in that time i had a variety of things replaced under warranty.

2 Turbos
1 Wastegate
1 DV
4 coil packs
1 AC condensor
1 HPFP

and

1 engine

Which was entirely my fault but the VW tech was my friend and got it to slide for warranty.

but i was running the stock K03 with a lot of port work at 27psi =)

 

So tell us exactly what "normal maintenance" you would suggest for the high-pressure fuel pump that would prevent the early failures we're seeing on the MINI?

Seriously, you've only gone six months on a four-year old MINI without a problem, so I wouldn't crow too loudly if I were you, lest you tempt the fates.

My wife and I have two MINIs, and I'll admit that they've been more reliable than most, but the truth is that there are quite a few parts/systems on these cars that fail earlier than they should, including parts that have no prescribed service/replacement intervals. Here are some quick examples from the first-gen MINIs:

1) Plastic coolant reservoir leaking at the seam
2) Thermostat housing leaking
3) Passenger-side engine mount leaking hydraulic fluid

Not all first-gen MINIs have all of these problems, but I don't personally know a single first-gen owner that hasn't had at least one of them. Notice anything in common with these failures? That's right, none of them are parts that have any kind of factory-specified routine maintenance or replacement intervals associated with them.

So unless you're going to extend your definition of "normal maintenance" to include "replacing any known-troublesome parts at short-enough intervals that you'll hopefully get a new one in there before the old one fails", then I think you can see how your post suggesting that people are having problems simply due to a lack of maintenance reeks of both ignorance and arrogance.

 

STOP TALKING IN CAPS FOR STARTERS

2nd....you offended a great many of folks with your ignorant comment. You think those of us that have issues simply don't care for our cars or don't take care of them???? We probably OVER care for them...and know far more about the car than your average Mini owner.

No amount of maintenance is going to prevent failure of faulty parts I'm sorry. Glad you haven't had issues, but I wouldn't get too excited yet.....

 

Cool story.

The OP asked about the issues of the R56....I answered the question. If you haven't had issues then GREAT. If you think that these issues are simply "isolated" issues...then the joke's on you. I suppose ignorance is bliss around here.

 

CPO here and had chain tensioner, HPFP, water pump replaced under warranty. So far so good. Car has issues but the funnest car I've ever had and driven (so far). With that said and with all the issues reported and I've experienced, I would buy another MINI if I had $$$

 

Just because parts were replaced under warranty does not mean the car is reliable. Just because it cost you nothing does not mean it costs nothing to mini and ultimately some future mini owner will bare the costs. Mini will try to make money somewhere.

 

WHOA...I've only owned a MINI for about a year and based on what I've experienced with it I am hesitant in recommending it to others. It's like walking on eggshells with this car. You just don't know what will come up next. So yeah, not saying car is reliable. If I wanted a reliable car I'd get one of them Japanese car. But it's still not a MINI. I'm just saying that it does help with a warranty..at least until it runs out. And I've had to shell out money for other things that arent covered under warranty. But again with the amt of fun I'm starting to have now, I would buy another MINI in the future. MINI or not, they all will try to make $$$ someway, somehow.

 

How about this, its a freaking car! You have to pay to play. Don't like it keep going and find something out there that won't have a problem. Every singal car out there has its problems. I am beginning to wonder what people expect out of a MINI. Is it a fun ride or do they want a tank? I consider some of this stuff fairly minor becasue other then the tensior none of the problems stated are going to cause engine failure. My last car, 04 Nissan Sentra SER Spec V had its own issues. the 2 major issues would cause engine failure, the 1st being the catalytic convertor in the exhaust manifold had a tendency to break down and get suck backed into the motor causing failure. The 2nd problem was the screws on the butterfly valves it had in the intake manifold would unscrew and get sucked into the engine and cause failure. That was manufactor defects. Both of which were eventually fixed by Nissan. The stuff that was never addressed were the fact that the 02 sensors would go out if you touched them. Every time(I am not exagerating when I say this) I worked on it a bolt or screw would break. So for myself owning a used 07 MINI Cooper S and owning for 2 years and only having 2 issues, I would consider this a reliable car. As stated before here on NAM in multiple threads, people come to forums with problems that they are looking for help to fix. So, you see what looks like a lot of problems but, if you were to compare it to how many MINIs are out there there really isn't that many problems. Through this thread we hae pretty much covered the most common problems but, no it is just turning into a bitchfest. Plus just because I do not see how SoCalGuy2007MCS comments were ignorant. Hey was stating the facts of his car so I would have to say the majority that called his comments are ignorant, I think you should go look up the definition of the word ignorant.

/rant

 

No, I'm pretty sure that "ignorant" was the word I meant to use and that it's appropriate. In particular, re-read this part of his post, where he goes beyond just talking about his car and starts making the blanket statement that "normal maintenance" and "taking care of their car" are all people need to prevent failures or problems:

"IT DEPENDS ALL ON HOW PEOPLE DRIVE, TAKE CARE OF THERE CAR, AND REGULARLY CHECK THE BASIC THINGS ON A CAR. I WAS RAISED AROUND CARS AND HAVE LEARNED A CAR WILL LAST, NO MATTER WHAT KIND, AS LONG AS YOU TAKE CARE OF IT... AND WITHTHAT I HAVE NEVER HAD A CAR FAIL OR FALL APART. ONLY THING NORMAL MAINTENANCE. BUT YOU HAVE TO UNDERSTAND TO THAT NORMAL MAINTENANCE, INCLUDES TIMING CHAIN (TENSIONER) AND OTHER THINGS LIKE THAT!!!"



Yep, that's ignorance!

 

Alright, lets start out by saying I do apologize for some of you who thinks that my post was ignorant. Also I would like to thank Porthos for thinking my comments are not ignorant. For you who think that i am ignorant, or the comments are ignorant, I would rethink that. I was basically stating the facts of taking care of your car. We all bought, and can all agree that these cars to come with a price for fun. The more you do to your car the more is going to go wrong. To rephrase, yes i have only had my Gen2 MCS for about 6 months, but i have put over 15000 miles on it in that time frame. I have driven the car cross country 3 times now. Before this car, i owned multiple cars. And without ignorance i can state that every car that i put money into and changed almost everything about, including suspension and engine components, the stock parts that i did not change started to fail.
All I am saying is You bought the car and fell in love with it for I am pretty sure one reason, its fun to drive and it keeps a smile on your face, even if that does come with a price.
I apologize if you think that was ignorant.

 

Socalguy, your post implied that people who have had issues have only had them because of improper maintenance. Very ignorant and accusatory (without any evidence).

 

I love driving my Clubman S (despite its problems/issues/being FWD/etc.), but the hard fact remains that MINIs get average to below average reliability ratings for a reason. This is a simple fact, folks. It's really not a big deal to just accept that, even if you are one of the lucky ones with no problems so far.

When buying a car it's important to know the truth, and the truth without any hyperbole or emotion behind it is quite simply that you should not buy a MINI if you want a very reliable car. Yes, you might get a good one, but don't depend on it -- be real and rely on fact and logic. Yes, some Hondas and Toyotas have problems, but look at the OVERALL ratings for those cars. Every car is a bit of crapshoot but with MINI your *chances* of problems (including overall quality control, etc.) are without a doubt higher than a Honda or Toyota. This doesn't mean that MINIs are horrific or that anyone's a bad person for loving theirs; It simply means that overall they get average to below average reliability compared to other brands, regardless of how well they are maintained (all of the problems with mine have not a single thing to do with maintenance, for example). Period. This isn't "bashing" or being negative -- it's simply reality; And it doesn't have to stop you from enjoying your car.

 

From what I can tell, MINIs are just as reliable as any other vehicle. Yes, you might get a bad one, but your chances are pretty small.

 

Can you provide solid facts to back this up? I'm not trying to be mean -- I'm really curious!

 

i have had 2 mini's and they have both had lots of problems. i have also owned a mitsubishi and a holden which were trouble free.

 

I have a new 2011 hardtop with 869 miles on it and so far its been in the shop 3 times and for 1 week in the past month. Replaced the spark plugs and vent valve and now will be replacing an AC part. However, the part is back ordered and won't be available for 2 weeks. The service guys won't even look at my cold start issues until it is fixed.

I must admit, when I researched the car on this site, I sided with the people who had no problems. I thought that the ones that had many problems were either too picky, bad drivers or just very unlucky. Now that I had my own share of problems I think I've learned to really appreciate the users that find and catalog problems and the reliability ratings some sites give out.

Also, now that I am on the other side of the reliability fence, I do find the ones mocking people with issues a little annoying. I guess its only human nature to do so until, of coarse, it happens to you.

 

I provided as much in the way of facts as you did.

 

you didn't merely answer the question. you described a filtered-for environment that self-selects for problematic MINIs and then projected that as being wholly representative of the MINI USA population. the fact you don't see the issues behind your bad premise and resulting poor conclusion speaks volumes about your tendency towards being alarmist versus using proper deductive reasoning.

in addition, you conflate our lack of disgust with the marque with a disdain for your bad experience. again, that reflects deficiencies in your logic.

i personally know about twenty-odd MINI owners on oahu and none of us share your fatalistic viewpoint about the car. so yes, you've got one thing absosmurfingly right--we are blissfully ignorant. i hope we remain that way and i wish more owners like us would post accordingly, but alas...most of us are too busy motoring.

 

"I personally know about twenty-odd MINI owners on oahu and none of us share your fatalistic viewpoint about the car. so yes, you've got one thing absosmurfingly right--we are blissfully ignorant. i hope we remain that way and i wish more owners like us would post accordingly, but alas...most of us are too busy motoring."


Ouch, I like how you talk ! I once heard that one cannot argue with a fool ?
I've never in my 30 years of performance / speciality car life heard of a car with no tweaks required or factory flaws. I wish these nay sayers would start naming these cars. And a Camry is not a performance car by the way......

 

2008 MCS with 21,000 miles:
1. Window dipper acted up and went away.
2. Loose engine mount, re-tightened.
3. Slow leak on rear tire, replaced Pressure Sensor.
I know I have low miles but for a 3 year old car it's doing great. The more I drive it the more I love it. I can't see me driving anything else (except my other car, a Jeep).

 

Getting a MINI was a leap of faith for me. I was interested in the brand because of its much heralded compact performance and "go kart handling." Despite the MINI's less-than-stellar reliability (from consumer reviews, Edmunds, JD Power, etc.), I still went for it. All thanks to NAMers.

During my research I ventured into the MINI forums (mostly NAM), where I read great things about the MINI. It was said that there are thousands upon thousands of them out there "motoring" trouble-free, compared to the handful of issues raised by "whiners" on the forum. Besides, it was said, mechanical issues go hand in hand with car ownership; machines do break once in a while.

MINI should start funneling sales commission to NAM

In the 9 months and almost 7k miles that I owned my 2011 MCS, I've been to the dealer twice for minor issues (cosmoline stain on wheel arch, intermittent oil pressure warning light, noisy AC). Recently my windshield cracked, which is something I've never had to deal with before in my 13 years of driving 6 different cars. I've never experienced any of the dreaded problems, such as burnt clutch, failed HPFP or the death rattle. Knock on wood.

I guess, in MINI terms, I'm lucky.

But then again, I don't drive my MCS the way it is meant to be driven. I've never revved it over 5k rpm and I rarely turn on SPORT mode. I have mods, but not on the engine. I don't track or autocross, either. It might be worth mentioning that I live in California where the climate is rather mild, and thus will have less impact on the car.

I got a MINI because I thought it would be fun, but I'm just to afraid to push it because of all the potential problems that could happen. Had I gone for a WRX or an EVO, I won't be as concerned driving them the way they were meant to be driven, as they inspired a bit more confidence in terms of reliability.

So, my feelings with owning a MINI is mixed at best. It's nice to be part of a small crowd and have the perception of being all cool, but I feel I'm not really enjoying the car itself, which was the purpose of buying a MINI, because of reliability concerns.

Right now, the only thrill I get from my MINI is the attention that I get from girls.

 

My R56 MCS with Sat Nav and every possible optional died at 5.000 miles. I barely use the car. Now is at the dealer, they are replacing the water pump but i doubt thats the problem with the car. My advise is, don't buy it.