Other than a valve carbon clean at 30K, this has been the most reliable car I have ever owned. It does take a little more preventative maintenance than lets say a toyota, or honda, but this is not the reliability disaster that some people think it is. Like BMWs though, it does go thru brakes fast, and maintenance tends to be expensive.

 

2007 Cooper S had 81,000 on it when it got totaled in an accident. The HpFP issue was the only "serious" thing that went wrong with it and it was replaced under warranty. It failed in my garage, so that was convenient. Annoying but convenient. Just jumped in my other car and went to work that day.

2009 Cooper S has 104,000 on it and has been problem free.
It's had the Timing Chain Tensioner Issue addressed, The HPFP replaced, The Cold Start Idle was addresses and the Water Pump Connector issue was was performed. All under warranty. None left me without the car for more than a day and were done during normal, requested by be, scheduled appointments.

My total outlay for unintended repairs, so far, has been nothing for both cars. I've spent $$$$ at the dealership, but it was for specific reasons that I wanted.

There are thousands and thousands of Mini's on the road everyday throughout the country, being driven in all types of climates and conditions, by all types of drivers. The greater majority, mathematically, are apparently being driven with minimal issues.

 

I have 84,000 miles on my 2007 mcs with my mods and I have only had to replace the water pump and turbo oil line so far.

 

yes ... I had one


my 2007S had one service issue outside of routine maintenance.


In late 2013 I had to replace the thermostat housing ....


A year b4 I'd been invited to the dealer for a 'check' aka what can we sell you ..... and there was NOTHING wrong that they could find.


I did my own brake pads and rotors as needed


timing chain was checked twice and nothing was wrong


recall changed the exhaust tips (stupid)


I sold it for a better handling car at lower cost vs a '14 MINI

 

I haven't had any out of warranty expenses or problems.

 

My 2008 MCS was fine up through about 108k miles. Did have the heat exchanger replaced under warranty right at 50k miles. At 108k had the timing chain cartridge replaced. Had most of the other typical issues come up since then. Nothing unexpected or that left me stranded or without a vehicle. I do have an oil leak at present - just monitoring the oil level until I can figure out what it is. Only an old Jeep Cherokee was more reliable for me.

 

Nice mileage! That's a lot of driving

 

Seen several reliable ones over 100k. What is common to them is those customers change their oil every 5k miles, and use premium fuel, and drive them aggressively.
Also seen many need engines under 100k. Usually bought second hand with no oil change history, or maint history.

 

We have two, a '13 R56S with 26k, and a '08 R56S with 53k. The oil gets changed in both cars at 3-4k, and all we use is basic 5w30 synthetic. We change the transmission oil every 30K, and we use Amsoil Syncromesh fluid. We check the oil once a week in both cars. The '08 is mine, and it gets driven aggressively. It's got the PCV delete, CAI, and Muffler Express catback. The '13 is my wife's, and she's a little easier on it. Hers is stock for now.

All I've done to the '08 is a water outlet, front brakes, license lamp lenses, and a battery. I let Mini work on it one time, for the timing component recall, and they replaced everything covered by the campaign. It has annoying spastic power locks during the cold months, plus the right window has lost initialization, but I haven't done anything with it yet. The '13 has been to Mini five times for heater inop, battery, and rough idle issues; they've replaced the battery, four injectors, and a valve cover.

My car will use a little less than a quart of oil between changes. Hers goes through about a half quart. I will never be convinced to follow the Mini extended mantenance intervals regarding the engine and transmission oil. The service department got a little bit of an attitude with me about this, but they're not the ones that are going to be on the hook if the cars blow up when they're out of warranty.

My opinion of them is they're alright little cars if you don't mind working on them, but the maintenance will bleed you dry if you're not careful. The idea that these cars are somehow reliable or 'low maintenance' is laughable. Mini just sucks to deal with, and we won't be buying anything else from them.

 

Guess it all depends on what you term as reliable. My 08 MCS had a bad front strut replaced early on, timing chain/tensioner replaced, hood release broken/fixed, and chirping serpentine belt replaced. For a Mini I consider that reliable; it never left me stranded anywhere.

 

Regardless of whether or not you've had major issues, I'm sure we can all agree that the R56 definitely takes a lot of upkeep. To me, though, it's worth the extra effort.

I used to have an SVT Focus that just kept having problems, but to me, the car wasn't worth the upkeep because the car didn't seem to deliver what it was supposed to: what with having an open slip differential, no torque, and a traction control button that doesn't actually turn off the traction control (ask any SVT owner about that...)

The Mini does everything I wish my SVT did: it's faster, it's got way more torque, a LSD, traction control that actually turns off, and superior handling. So it's worth it to me to do the extra upkeep with this car.

Just my little rant for the day lol

 

I've had my '13 MCS since March of this year. I'm currently at 2900 miles and today (after seeing this thread) was my first time I checked my oil. Oil level was where it should be so I guess I'm one of the lucky ones that doesn't use any oil?

 

Had an 07 S that I loved loved loved and drove every day trouble free until 86,xxx miles until the engine seized and luckily caught on fire. It was deemed a total loss and was compensated by the insurance company. Will never own a Mini again. Now driving a FRS 86

 

Why did it seize up? There's only two ways I know of that can cause an engine to seize, low oil or complete loss of coolant.

 

Dear Lord!! Good thing your insurance company actually came through! And good choice of replacement

 

^thank you. I have no idea why it seized up. It always needed to be topped off with a quart of oil at around 800 miles since it was 25k miles on the odometer. I always reset my odometer tripmeter every time I put in a quart of oil & it when this happened it read 300 something miles. The Mini was the greatest & first new car I've ever owned and will love forever.

 

Something must have been wrong from the beginning early in its life, did it consume any quantities of oil when new? I suspect the oil pump went south. My MCS consumes about 1 quart of oil every 2000-2500 miles depending on where I drive it (city/highway). I know it's not going past the rings because all my compression tests had great numbers and built up compression fast on each stroke, by the fifth needle jerk it maxed out on all cylinders.