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I just had a chance to go down to the dealer- they had some bad news. The flywheel is totally discolored from being heated up, the prior owner totally trashed it He does not feel that he can repair the car under warranty in good faith (understandable) and is looking in the neighborhood of 3100 dollars.
The dealership I purchased from is standing behind the auto and will cover repairs fully
They will also allow me to return the car for a complete refund
I know the car was purchased in Boston (by someone named William) and certainly appears to have been loved. The tires are great, no signs of wear on the edges.
The car was driven to San Francisco (Pine Street, near the financial district) almost immediately (3,100 miles) and has 5400 on it now.
My "guess" is that someone that is somewhat unexperienced with a manual drove the car about 2000 miles in downtown SF. For those that have not done this- the hills are insane. It would be possible for someone to kill it by slipping it on the hills.
I will be talking to the dealership today (Beepi), (they have been exceptional BTW) to explore next steps. The car is very nice and optioned just the way I would want. Any advice is welcome!
I just had a chance to go down to the dealer- they had some bad news. The flywheel is totally discolored from being heated up, the prior owner totally trashed it He does not feel that he can repair the car under warranty in good faith (understandable) and is looking in the neighborhood of 3100 dollars.
The dealership I purchased from is standing behind the auto and will cover repairs fully
They will also allow me to return the car for a complete refund
I know the car was purchased in Boston (by someone named William) and certainly appears to have been loved. The tires are great, no signs of wear on the edges.
The car was driven to San Francisco (Pine Street, near the financial district) almost immediately (3,100 miles) and has 5400 on it now.
My "guess" is that someone that is somewhat unexperienced with a manual drove the car about 2000 miles in downtown SF. For those that have not done this- the hills are insane. It would be possible for someone to kill it by slipping it on the hills.
I will be talking to the dealership today (Beepi), (they have been exceptional BTW) to explore next steps. The car is very nice and optioned just the way I would want. Any advice is welcome!
I just had a chance to go down to the dealer- they had some bad news. The flywheel is totally discolored from being heated up, the prior owner totally trashed it He does not feel that he can repair the car under warranty in good faith (understandable) and is looking in the neighborhood of 3100 dollars.
The dealership I purchased from is standing behind the auto and will cover repairs fully
They will also allow me to return the car for a complete refund
I know the car was purchased in Boston (by someone named William) and certainly appears to have been loved. The tires are great, no signs of wear on the edges.
The car was driven to San Francisco (Pine Street, near the financial district) almost immediately (3,100 miles) and has 5400 on it now.
My "guess" is that someone that is somewhat unexperienced with a manual drove the car about 2000 miles in downtown SF. For those that have not done this- the hills are insane. It would be possible for someone to kill it by slipping it on the hills.
I will be talking to the dealership today (Beepi), (they have been exceptional BTW) to explore next steps. The car is very nice and optioned just the way I would want. Any advice is welcome!
Yep, someone in the transfer said ," ah this is a cool MINI, lets do some smoky burn outs "
I am sorry to hear this but I figured it was maybe beat on a little, to have it happen that early. Hope they can take care of it. And I know you will baby it in the future.
SF will easily cook a clutch if combined with an inexperienced manual driver. Stops are frequent on cross streets and you launch your car from zero at incredibly steep angles. Try it with a 1979 (in 1979) Golf diesel 5 speed, loaded for a 36 day camping trip around the entire USA. Yes, I was worried.
If the dealership is willing to fix it... keep it. Tough to find a low miles Roadster example... especially if it's otherwise in good shape. Don't let it go!
Last edited by MiniRoadstah; 02-21-2016 at 07:00 AM.
Reason: Yikes! Wrong years by 10!!
I have lived in San Francisco for more than 20 years and have owned 3 cars with manual transmissions and driven them all around the city: a 1993 Honda Civic hatch, a PT Cruiser, and my current MINI Coupe.
Most of the hills, even at stop signs, aren't that big of a deal (unless you're a whiny bicyclist). Some of the worst are southbound on Gough heading up from Broadway. I learned the ol' parking brake trick a long, long time ago, but the MINI technology is sure a big help. Then again, I've never been a jackrabbit start kinda guy, so......
Originally Posted by MiniRoadstah
SF will easily cook a clutch if combined with an inexperienced manual driver. Stops are frequent on cross streets and you launch your car from zero at incredibly steep angles. Try it with a 1989 (in 1989) Golf diesel 5 speed, loaded for a 36 day camping trip around the entire USA. Yes, I was worried.
If the dealership is willing to fix it... keep it. Tough to find a low miles Roadster example... especially if it's otherwise in good shape. Don't let it go!
I have lived in San Francisco for more than 20 years and have owned 3 cars with manual transmissions and driven them all around the city: a 1993 Honda Civic hatch, a PT Cruiser, and my current MINI Coupe.
Most of the hills, even at stop signs, aren't that big of a deal (unless you're a whiny bicyclist). Some of the worst are southbound on Gough heading up from Broadway. I learned the ol' parking brake trick a long, long time ago, but the MINI technology is sure a big help. Then again, I've never been a jackrabbit start kinda guy, so......
Yep, not saying an experienced manual driver in SF. Was thinking more of someone not experienced in hill launches on some of the steeper streets in San Francisco. That kind of driver might be able to toast a clutch on their first try up one of the "Snob Hill" streets or any of the other steeper 30+ degrees sloped areas below stop signs a few cars back from the actual intersection.
I could have launched up one of those hills more easily on my bicycle than in our fully loaded Golf. It was loaded with enough gear aboard to sustain a 36 day camping trip for 2 around the entire us and part of Canada.
The Golf we drove on the trip had a monster 57-59 HP diesel . Fair torque, but it struggled up the steeper hills we explored as tourists in SF for a couple of days that August in 1979 with that load aboard. We even got stuck behind a small truck loaded with some furniture that stalled trying to get going. He was toasting more than his clutch that day. That was on Chestnut, heading up to Hyde to get over to Lombard. Traffic was bad and we had to turn around on Hyde to actually drive down Lombard anyway.
This trip was well before GPS... we had a couple of book maps, one for the U.S and one to navigate bigger cities we drifted in and out of on our nearly epic trip. Needless to say we got lost in SF a couple of times, but that was just part of the fun there.
The clutch on that little diesel Golf lasted us over 100,000 miles. We had moved from Tampa to Phoenix and the next person to own it put another 60,000+ miles on it before we moved away from the Valley of the Sun to Northwest Montana and lost track of the owner and car. Pre-internet days... it was easy to lose touch back then.
She is all better now. First off- apologies for the dirty car pictures. I took a quick run to Tahoe from my house yesterday and the melting snowpack caused a lot of wet spots.
The car is a hoot, it is so hard to break in the new clutch.
Anyone notice anything unusual about my exhaust? Popped a quicksilver on there alone with an Alta intake- really adds some great sounds.
She is all better now. First off- apologies for the dirty car pictures. I took a quick run to Tahoe from my house yesterday and the melting snowpack caused a lot of wet spots.
The car is a hoot, it is so hard to break in the new clutch.
Anyone notice anything unusual about my exhaust? Popped a quicksilver on there alone with an Alta intake- really adds some great sounds.
She is all better now. First off- apologies for the dirty car pictures. I took a quick run to Tahoe from my house yesterday and the melting snowpack caused a lot of wet spots.
The car is a hoot, it is so hard to break in the new clutch.
Anyone notice anything unusual about my exhaust? Popped a quicksilver on there alone with an Alta intake- really adds some great sounds.
Dang the BRG on the R59 looks nice, very very nice!
Top colors for my picks on the R58 / R59 ,, BRG.... spice orange ... and chili red. I also like Kite Blue . but very hard to find in the JCW model.
02-19-2016, 09:14 AM
. Fair torque, but it struggled up the steeper hills we explored as tourists in SF for a couple of days that August in 1979 with that load aboard. We even got stuck behind a small truck loaded with some furniture that stalled trying to get going. He was toasting more than his clutch that day. That was on Chestnut, heading up to Hyde to get over to Lombard. Traffic was bad and we had to turn around on Hyde to actually drive down Lombard anyway.
