I bought a 2008 mini hardtop S in February and since then ive incured almost 3 thousand dollars in repairs. I was just wondering if mini repairs always cost a lot or if i just bought a lemon. So far the vacuum pump went bad, the brakes needed a full replacement and then this and that needed to be done as well as well, and now my check engine light is on again :( im scared to figure out what is wrong now. what do you guys think?

 

I think you can't count the brakes. You bought a car with little time left on them. You either knew this, or didn't have them inspected. Either way, that's a consumable, and not really a reflection on the car. I can't comment on the vacuum pump. I have a first gen without one. As far as "this and that," it would help to be more specific.

 

Unfortunately, the biggest risk of purchasing used is the possibility that you will need to pay for deferred maintenance like the brakes and hidden (undisclosed) repairs that the PO may have known were needed, but didn't want to pay for, thus causing them to sell the car either in a trade on another vehicle or in a private party transaction. Sorry to hear about your bad luck. I rarely purchase used vehicles, but when I do I always figure I am going to need to put at least $1500 into it once I get it, that way I am not stretched too thin financially. Sad to say, but in many cases when you purchase used, you are just purchasing someone elses problem.

 

I wouldn't count the brakes as a problem either. Brakes are a wear item that need parts to be replaced with due time. If you bought aftermarket brake parts and had them installed by an independent shop you could have saved a lot of money.

The vacuum pump failure was most likely caused by infrequent oil changes by the previous owner. But they were probably following the old 15,000 mile/1year oil change interval. Running the engine with a low oil level will fail it over time too. You're lucky it didn't lock up the camshaft and destroy your engine. It's happened to a few people so seriously be thankful for that

The new MINI is a German car. You're naturally going to pay more for parts because they're sourced from BMW's after-sales group in Europe.

Keep in mind there are a lot of people that p1ss and moan about their MINIs on NAM and very few that praise the car. I'm one of the people that has a very reliable R56. I'm kind of on the fence with recommending the MINI as a daily driver because of it's little quirks and parts cost compared to a American car. Sure there are people that want to say everything American is crap, but big three has done a lot of things right. Above all, check out that check engine light, take care of your MINI, and much luck to you for many reliable miles.

 

Well go to Autozone or some other parts place have them run the code for free. Once you find out what it is do a little research on it and see if it is something that is going to be big or some kind of quick fix. Also knowing the code will help you when taking it in to have it fixed because most places won't rerun it. Some will still run but, won't charge you. If you were to take it in and have them run it it can cost around $100. Which make a coder reader a great tool becuase it pays for itself the first time you use it. Also look at your lemon laws of your state there normally is a certain amount of crieria it has to meet before being considered a lemon.

 

Oh yeah and this place has good resources to help you out but, take opinions at face value a lot of them are skewed toward certain brands, people, and places with no good backing other than the basis of that is what they read/heard from some random other person.

 

I love how people complain about having to do repairs on a used car, but didn't spend $100 to have someone check it out before they purchase........

Even tho it's now too late, I'd still have the car looked over by a MINI tech anyway to make sure something that's marginal now doesn't become an expensive issue later. Joe the mechanic at the Firestone store is not going to know all the secret ins and outs of a MINI, the guys who work on them everyday are the ones to have look it over.

You don't say how many miles are on the car and whether it's been serviced by a MINI dealer or not, but if you get on top of things now, the car will probably be very reliable down the road.

My '09 has been absolutely reliable for me, however I do change my own oil and do my own brakes and such.

I don't think MINI repairs are any more expensive than any other European car - my MINI dealer charges $120/hr for labor - that's what's expensive. I don't think it's any less anywhere else around here, regardless of brand....

 

+1

 

Unfortunately MINI's are expensive to maintain. I bought my 02 MCS last June, and I overpaid in the first place. Since, I have spent around $7,000 to replace failed parts, and maintain others. It sucks to get a nice shiny new to you car that cosmetically looks perfect, only to find that underneath that exterior lurks a financial nightmare!
Personally, I have no one to blame but me. I didn't look at any other MINI's, and made my buying decision after seeing a picture. They should have a page in the manual that warns against buying a MINI if your not ready for it.

 

All good comments and thoughts. I don't know about the lemon law, I would suspect it's pretty hard to get on a four year old vehicle.
How many miles, etc. would also be good to know. Whether you had it checked out prior to buying or not. Was it purchased via an individual or a dealership (Mini or non).
I bought mine used and figured I'd need something down the road so as it was stated, I had about $2000 put away for that. Fortunitley, I've only had to sink $900 in mine, not including the couple of grand for upgraded parts, etc.
The vacuum pump thing is NOT common as far as I'm aware. If it's failure was due to infrequent oil changes you may face other issues as well.
If you didn't buy it from a Mini dealer have a mini dealership pull up the VIN and print out the warranty and work record on the car. Then you'll know a little bit of what's been done to it.
Good luck.

 

Improper fuel is a common CEL gremlin. Don't use anything less than 91 octane and avoid ethinol like the plague. The O sensor hates that stuff.

http://pure-gas.org/index.jsp
http://www.toptiergas.com/retailers.html

And another URL everybody should have in their tool box.
http://soopercooperinfo.com/

 

Check the gas cap for tightness, if it's loose it'll give you a check engine light.

 

R56 has a n indicator for loose gas cap.

 

Yeah, check engine light... That's what came on for my loose gas cap. Retightened and good to go...