As reported by www.motoringfile.com:

http://motoringfile.com/2006/12/25/m...duction-delay/

 

And so it begins ....

First year car

 

yay for random troll

 

WOW am i glad i didn't order an 07.

 

Why? So you'd have a reason to come on here and troll?

Listen, there's nothing saying there's going to be any delays for the US market in all this...there's 7+ weeks until launch here...I for one would MUCH rather have a car that they've identified and resolved a problem in than one that I get and later have to take in...

 

Exactly, it's almost like the euro market is the testing ground and we in the states will get a more finished product. I'm even more blessed in that I'm waiting until march for the audio package and even more refinement will be done by then.

 

I was wondering how long it would take for this to make it to NAM.
Now, if everyone will pitch in, we can turn this into a complete and total waste of time with huge amounts of speculation about how bad the new MINI will be.
If you don't have an 07 on order and don't plan on ordering one, why would you even care?

 

It's not a big deal. In the days long ago before the interweb such a thing would never have been known & life would've gone on without worry about such a trivial thing.

 

So true. People now think that because information travels so fast that we are entitled to it.

Bottom line is that they found a problem and decided to fix it at the manufacturing end and not wait until there are problems once they are delivered.

 

Your all missing the whole point. It has nothing to do with delayed deliveries. It has to do with QC. They started production and already found problems. That is not a real good sign ... history tends to repeat itself

 

name 1 car that doesn't have any recallls.

 

Quote: "Your all missing the whole point. It has nothing to do with delayed deliveries. It has to do with QC. They started production and already found problems. That is not a real good sign ... history tends to repeat itself.

True! In my experience, British car manufacturers don't have the best reputation for quality control but their cars have character and are fun to drive. Some German car manufacturers will allow a serious known problem to dwell in the field 'til the groundswell of complaints finally results in action by the manufacturer. But these cars too have character, and, for the most part, they're superb driving machines.

Those who get upset about these kinds of European car issues should really consider a Japanese car. They're reliable; they may very well bore you to death, but boy are they reliable. You want the best quality control? Buy Japanese. Join the masses.

 

Oh, I don't know about that... have you heard about Nissan's issues lately?

In the world on corporate conglomorates though, it's getting difficult to distinguish the production quality of a vehicle just my nation of origin. MINI is now a German car and has pretty much severed most, if not all, ties to it's recent Rover (and Chrysler) heritage. Volvo is now owned by PAG (Ford)... as is Land Rover, Jaguar and others. The list goes on and on, but you get my point.

I will say though, that I will drive with more peace of mind having MORE BMW and LESS Rover influence in the R56... initial production niggles aside.

 

I have an early 02 MC and never have had any problems. So I'm not worried at all about ordering my 07.

 

Yep things like this happen. No BFD!

 

While Chows may have the countenance of a troll - he is no troll when it comes to posting. After all, 11K posts doth not a troll make.

"Random Post *****" is more apt.

 

Acutally, it's a good sign.

It appears that there will be no unexplained car fires in the R56.

 

Yeah, good idea

But of course my point was simple. Car goes into production. Production stopped.

Do other cars have recalls? Of course. Has MINI had any recalls? I dont remember any. TSBs? Sure. They just let the fires happen

I just see a continuing trend and hope they are fixed by the time the convertable come out

And *****? Dont be dissing ****** ... Its the worlds oldest profession

 

No company recalls cars voluntarily. They only do so they are forced to. Period! MINI just hasn't been forced to. Stopping production is a smart move on BMW's part. It may well save them millions in a future recall. Not to mention the bad press & stigma of a recall.

Car companies are very content with TSB's. If you don't know about them then they won't fix the problem. They will rarely tell a customer about them unless it's safety related. In the old days TSB's were referred to as silent recalls.

 

Naturally, the R56 will have to prove itself in the first year of production. I'm not worried about mine, though. We've had two BMWs that were in their first year, and neither of them had any unusual or numerous bugs--just the usual new-car issues typical of any year.

Let's hope the BMW influence works here, too!

 

MINI2 members who ordered there R56's are beginning to all of a sudden receive them right at the new year.. So it seems like they held them back and are now shooting them all off at once after the fix. The longest delay reported was 2 weeks.

Seeing how US productuon has just started or won't start for the next few weeks there won't really be much of a delay for us.. Even Gabe at MotoringFile said the delay doesn't affect US production in the comments on his article.

 

I have been advised that the Sirius and HD Radio options are also being delayed at the factory level and right now are not available for March productions. (This effects the Audio package, of course.) He also said that could be as small as a licensing issue and resolved next week, or it could drag on indefinitely. Basically, he didn't know what was up. Does anyone on here?

 

Are we sure this is an assembly problem? or is it a problem with the fuel pump part itself? Maybe a parts supplier is to blame?

In any case BMW has built a reputation of being a company that stands by the quality of their products. Here are a few examples:

In the past I owned a 2002 M Coupe which had the S54 engine. (315hp in the M Coupe, and 333hp in the E46 M3) Initially there were many issues with that engine. BMW was forced to replace hundreds (maybe more) engines in M3s and a few M Coupes. What did bmw do? They voluntarily issued a new 6yr/100k warranty on the entire engine. Did they need to do that? Nope. But they did.

Also there was an issue with the M Coupes ripping out the rear subframe in some cars. Guys who had cars that were well out of warranty got their cars fixed from BMW for free because it was found to be a design/manufacturing flaw in some of the cars.

The point is that BMW stands by its products, and even if there are first year issues with the MINI I am 100% confident BMW will stand by their product and make sure their high level of quality is upheld.

 

Not always, Fjork. BMW knows that the the plastic radiator neck frequently breaks with often catastrophic results--just try getting BMW to admit it! We found out the hard way that it's like pulling teeth to get even partial reimbursement (on a 4 year old car). Not until I started reading forums such as this that we were able to get that. I was able to prove that they knew about the problem, and had known for years.

BTW, I had two cars in the shop at the same time with that problem--one caught in time (older engine), and one not (newer--aluminum--engine).

It is the one thing that concerns me with having the aluminum engine in '07, and only warning lights. Anyone know if there is a plastic radiator neck in the MINI?

 

I think ALL manufacturers switched to plastic radiator tops and bottoms in the 80s. Haven't seen one after that period that wasn't plastic (though I agree that I prefer good ole brass). I guess it cost too much and was heavier, so plastic became the norm. The thing that freaked me out was when BMW and VW started using plastic for their clutch pedal? Seems to work fine, but not what you'd expect on a $30k luxo car. Manufacturers have to counter all the weight they've added with articulated cup holders, power folding mirrors, and xenon headlights that have self leveling contraptions