All I can say is WTF? Mini I know you are watching this thread and you need to do the right thing here. Fix the car or shred it and get this owner a WORKING new coupe that he can drive normally without worrying about a check engine light. Just so you know Mini USA my wife is in love with and wants one of these new coupes but I will be damned if we purchase a coupe if problems like this keep popping up in these cars without them being fixed in a timely manner. Because I will be the one driving it back and forth to service and taking care of any issues.

tcassa-after this round of -duh we don't know whats wrong duh- inform the dealer and mini usa that you want a new car or a full refund under the lemon law. Its just that simple. My feelings on your car is that it needs to spend some time-out time with mini usa engineers as the dealership seems to be limited in what they can do. You know that the dealer will honor the warranty you just want them to honor the fact that this car can be used and driven like a normal car should be.

LOL hell your situation is frustrating me LOL. I hope it get resolved quick

 

Interested in the resolution!
Good luck and come on Mini USA this doesn't look good!

 

Just posting an update to the ongoing saga. At the time of my last post, my service dept. had sent the information to the Mini engineers who told them to replace the O2 sensor. My thoughts at the time were "okay, probably not the problem, but you are the engineers". The service department got the O2 sensor installed and wouldn't you know....... It threw another CEL. Luckily (I guess) I hadn't taken possession of the coupe yet. So they put the coupe back on the diagnostics computer and they "think" they have found the issue (once again). They said that there is a valve in the turbo charger that isn't closing and is allowing a flood of air into the engine which is leading to the lean mixture error that they are seeing. They will be holding onto the coupe until next wednesday. They have to submit a case to the mini engineers detailing what they found, have the replacement part overnighted (can't remember the name of the part), have it installed and tested. Then hopefully turned over to me by Wed.

For those keeping score, that will be 21 days solid that it has been at the dealership and about 4 other days of dropping it off in the AM and picking it up at the end of the day. My MA is working with Miniusa to get some compensation from them. I told my MA that at the very least Mini should give me the extended warranty to restore some confidence in their cars. He said he would see what he could do but did ask what my monthly payments are. So he may be pushing to get reimbursed on a car payment or two. Guess we shall see.

 

Good Luck. I hope it's resolved to your satisfaction and that you will get to enjoy your new coupe for a long trouble-free time...

 

Man, I hope all this bs works out for you in the end.

 

It sounds like they are at least trying. Hopefully, this will be over for you soon! I would want the extended warranty and 2 months of car payments for this!

 

Its probably a bad ecu or grounding issues.

 

Spoke with the service department yesterday. They got the new part in. The plan was to install the part last night and this morning, run tests, and have me pick it up this afternoon. So I am under the impression I would go to the dealership on my lunch and pick up my fixed coupe. 2 o'clock and no call, 3.........4.........now I am thinking that this cannot be good news. I hit up my MA at 5 before I head home to see if he has any news. He hasn't heard anything and then two minutes later, the service department calls. "yeah, so the part we thought was causing the problem and that we replaced, didn't fix it. The tech worked on it all day but couldn't figure it out." So, I keep my calm, say okay call me tomorrow. I hang up with service, call my MA, and politely tell him I am done with this car. I told him he needs to start the process of a dealer buy back. He is going to speak with the sales mgr. tomorrow and discuss our next steps. As far as I am concerned, this coupe has officially become a lemon and the only steps I want are a buy back. Then I will decide after the holidays if I will purchase another Mini. So, it looks like this saga might be coming to an end. Unless the sales mgr. decides to test my patience. Anything other than a buy back and I will be speaking to a lawyer.

 

hi,i pick up my new coupe saturday!i feel for you and i agree a buy back is the answer.i am trading am 2009 clubman s that had a fuel pump replaced but that was a general problem with many and easy to find.good luck sir.

 

Thanks for keeping us updated. Not that it will change your situation, but you and your situation have been in my thoughts. I hope for the best.

 

Good luck with the buy back process. I agree they should step up and take it back....if I bought a brand new car and they molested it as much as they have I wouldn't want it anymore. Keep us updated on the process.

 

Hope they come through for you. But if you haven't met the letter of the law in your state for the lemon law process, I bet they'll push back. People who have been through the process say it is not a picnic.

- Mark

 

I don't blame you at all for insisting on a buy back. You've have had much more patience through this ordeal than I would have had, I can tell you that. I wish you luck, but as Markjenn said, it will probably come down to whether you meet the requirements of the lemon law in Utah. Then again, maybe MINI and your dealer will step up and do the right thing here. Keep us posted.

 

Good for you! It sounds like from earlier posts you have met the letter of the law. Mini should fess up and not drag this out and just take the car back.

 

Yeah, I must admit that IMO they should take it off your hands now. And if they do and if you really liked the car to drive (you did get to drive it a little bit lol) I'd consider getting another one. The chances of getting another bombmobile are pretty slim, and the dealership will probably send a limo for you from now on. But if they give you any s*#t about taking it back I'd unload on them. They've had it for weeks, taken it apart and can't figure it out. Send it back and stick a new motor in it and sell it as "slightly used" .

 

Yes, Tim, it is the time to do the buyback. You obviously have a lemon. And you have a complete case. Good luck! We are all in YOUR corner. If you need help, i know a guy who just lemoned his 2010 BMW and he has all the steps that need to be done. he also re-ordered another! PM me if you need info.

Good luck to you!

PS You need to write down the VIN and after your buyback is completed, you can disclose the VIN so others DO NOT buy the car. BMW/MINI will require you to not reveal any details of the transaction until it is complete and then, it is up to you to reveal it. They WILL wholesale it and resell it to some unsuspecting chump and yes, the buyback will show up on the carfax. It'll probably end up on a non-MINI lot.

 

You've been through enough, time for Mini to do the right thing.

 

Hate to hear it but if I had all the trouble you've had there is no way I'd buy another one.. Everytime you think it "skipped" or if it does throw a code you will be instantly pissed at your new one as well, even if it's months down the road.. Time to look at other cars.

 

Hope this works out well.

 

My MA has Thursdays off so I haven't been able to speak with him or his Regional Manager concerning the buy back of my car which has spent 27 of the first 42 days of ownership in the service department. Last I had heard, the service department tried to replace the DME (a control module for the turbo charger valve?) but it didn't fix the problem. Well, got a call from the service department today saying that the coupe was "fixed". I ask them what they did and he tells me "Replaced the DME component and programed it." Well, isn't that what you did on Tuesday which did not fix the problem. "Yep, but we tried a new one" So did they use an old one before or is it just really bad luck that the first replacement part was bad as well? I talk to my MA (even though it is his day off) and told him I am not comfortable with taking the car before I have a chance to speak with him and his regional mgr. The fact that they "think" they have it fixed does not restore confidence in the car, nor does it eliminate the fact that they have torn into the engine on five seperate occassion and every incident is now part of the vehicle's record. Anybody know what that would do to a vehicles resale value? So I told the service department that I will need to speak with my MA and his manager before/if I decide to sign off on the coupe. Guess I will push the issue tomorrow and make sure they know I have serious reservations about the car and see what they are willing to do.

 

I hope they do have it fixed but I certainly understand your concerns about the repair history having a negative affect on the long term value of the car. I have to think that as time goes on the negative effect, whatever that is, will gradually lesson just by the lack of further repairs done on the car and just plain age. Eventually they will cross the thresh hold were the negative value of the repair will be offset by the age and natural depreciation of the car.

If you were to sell the car in a short period of time it may hurt you but long term I think you would do ok. However this does nothing for your lack of confidence in the car.

 

If you've met the letter of the law for the lemon law, then it is within your rights now to refuse the car - its all legal proceedings from this point forward. But if you haven't and they say they have fixed your car, then it makes little sense at this point to stick your head in the sand and refuse the car.

You really need to know where you stand legally at this point. Unless you're on very solid ground and are ready/willing to go through the lemon law process (which can take months), I'd strongly urge you to at least take the car back and see if it is fixed.

I'm a little unclear why you have your MA involved. This is a service issue, not a sales issue, and sales people seldom have any authority to do anything in this process. You need to be dealing directly with the head service manager, the zone rep at Mini, and the ownership of the dealership.

Mini's warranty specifically excludes claims for things like "diminished value", so anything you can get here will have to be negotiated on some kind of goodwill basis - a free extended warranty for your troubles, for example.

It is important to keep your eye on the ball here - although this experience has tainted your ownership of the car so far, it is most likely there there is some very odd and hard to diagnose problem with your car that once fixed, will leave the car about as reliable and any other new Mini. If there is a way out of this that gives you a car that runs properly, I'd take it. Don't make this a crusade if you don't have to.

- Mark

 

Ironic they should all of a sudden find a fix for the car when you want them to do the buy back. I'm interested in how this ends.

 

The part that caught my eye above was 'reprogrammed it'. I didn't read that when they replaced the valve above. Is this the first time they tried reprogramming? Did they do it the last time they replaced the valve? It made me wonder if your problem wasn't corrupted firmware. It happens.

 

I agree with markjenn's post above (#122). I'd make 'em extend the warranty, which is pretty cheap for them to do and they do the work on it anyway, just forego the potential profits they may glean from you after the manufacurer's warranty is up.