The lease on my BMW 1 series is ending, car has been completely rock solid reliable and trouble free! I need a "larger" car so Ive decided to come back to MINI brand after 7 years and order a Countryman S All4. BUT Im looking into the reliability hoping MINI has gotten better over the years and its horrifying what Im seeing about these cars, ESPECIALLY the engine (most important part of a car).

Ive been considering a Subaru Crosstrek instead but it wont come close to the driving enjoyment of the MINI. I know the typical response is "this is a MINI not a Honda, all cars have their issue bla bla bla" but for $34000 I want a car thats not going to be troublesome, especially the engine. Im seriously reconsidering my order and would love to hear from actual Countryman owners (especially 2013-2014) on their experience with reliability. I need it to get me across states at night, I need to not have to take off workdays to get it serviced, and be able to expect 100,000+ miles with good maintenance. Thank you

 

ordered my all4 feb 17 2012 and drove it home march 31 2012

zero problems

 

Just started my 3rd year and the only issue was I got caught up in the oil sensor recall. Local dealer fixed it and was back on the road the next day (gave me a loaner).

No other issues and I've enjoyed the hell out of it.

Good luck.

 

Most people don't come on internet forums to specifically sing the praise of a particular car. It seems more likely that they post when they have issues. I've only had mine a short while so can't add too much. Broken lumbar support only issue so far.

Having said that, my wife's 2013 Golf TDI beats the pants off of the CM in almost any category I can think of. Doesn't have 4 WD, but beyond that. . .

 

I've had an 09 mcs and now a 12 countryman s. The clutch went at 48000 miles and the timing chain assembly had to be replaced on the 09. So far the 12 has had piddly lil things here and there. Nothin I would call a reason for me to hate it or sell it. I've also owned an 05 S2000 that had to have $4500 in transmission work and a civic si that had to have 3rd gear replaced, stereo head unit replaced, and a few other things I can't remember. My mom's civis constantly has issues. My familys toyotas have been the only thing thats truely been trouble free.
Don't not buy because of what you read here. Go to any forum and its gonna be the same scary stories. Thats what these forums are for. To get help and advice.

 

Have had my 2014 CM for12 months, 8000 miles and have had no issues of any kind except I have to put gas in it.

 

That's the same issue that we all have!

 

Asking any European car to do a 100000 trouble free mile is a tall order. We bought our 2015 CM knowing full well that in general, it is less reliable than its Japanese counterpart. The key words here is "in general". I had Japanese cars that were pretty unreliable as well. Most of the time, its the luck of the draw. If reliability is a big concern, I would stay with Japanese cars.

 

Thank you all for the great feedback so far! Ive actually been stopping people i randomly run into that are driving Countrymans and none of them have had issues yet, and all love the car. Ive decided to get it!

My main concern stems from, performance aside, what feels like not a very robust engine in turbo form. It appears to be the the weak spot of the car when the engine arguably should be the most important. I can deal with little things cropping up, but can anybody explain all the posts and reviews on the engines failing to the point of stranding people?

 

I have had the ALL4 S for about a year and put 25k on it. Zero problems even with all the mods.

 

My wife bought a 2014 Countryman S last December. So, 10 months and about 10,000mi. It fits your criteria but is so young that nothing has gone wrong yet. :-)

Will it hit 100k? Sure. Probably with a similar problem rate to your BMW 1-series. After all, it's designed by the same company's engineers.

All turbo countrymen have the updated N18 engines which don't have the idiot problems of the earlier N14. (I live with an N14 in my 2009 Clubman.) The early clutch problems in the 2011-12 model Countryman seem to have been fixed. Aside from that there seem to be no real endemic problems in the Countryman — which is one of the reasons I felt comfortable with my wife buying one.

It's a BMW. I expect to have no fewer issues than any other BMW.

 

I have a 2012 CMS. I've had the oil and temp sensors replaced under warranty. No issues other than that and my own weakness regarding multiple "youifications".

 

I'm liking what I'm hearing!

Just be to clear, my 128i has the bulletproof inline NA6 in it...there is no way, no chance, no how the MINI engine will outlive that...and thats ok, different engines. But things sound promising from what Im hearing on this thread!

 

I've got a 2011 ALL4, had the clutch replaced under warranty and some other replacements (first model year - no surprise) but otherwise the car has been
very good about being available. It's way more fun that the other 13 cars in my selection pool - the best of which were very functional but terminally boring. Lots of room, balanced handling, and fun.

 

I have a 2014 All4 that I picked up last August...32k miles later and still no problems! Love my MINI!

 

2014 Countryman S All4, 8000 miles, not one single issue.

My 2003 rx8 was in the shop all of the time for warranty work.
My wife's old cobalt ss was as well.

I am pleasantly surprised with the Mini.

 

Purchased 2013 Countryman Cooper S in June 2013---At 16k without an issue
Added ECS Tuning crossdrilled and slotted rotors 4 months ago without incident

 

Do the rotors show (significantly) less surface rust than the stock rotors? Mine are looking nasty (and my car in garage kept).

 

Etidd01----Rotors look beautiful. ECS claims they are treated with a Geo-met coating. Not sure what exactly that is but it works. Original rotors already had some surface rust around the hub. No big deal but they looked a little ratty thru the wheels. The ECS units look great and stop hard. You definitely feel more stopping power with them. They make a slight whooshing sound while breaking but other than that--I highly recommend them. Also had them installed by the dealer with no issues. I love driving my Countryman!

 

Did you change pads at same time and if so which did you go with? Mine are almost due to be changed. TIA

 

Did not change pads at same time, only 10 k on them. Kept stock pads on---no measurable change in wear rate

 

Owners of 2011's have had widespread problems. Sure there are some owners who have had no problems...thankfully the failure rates never approached 100%. If someone tries to dispute that, all you have to do is go back to the posts on this forum during that timeframe and you can clearly see it. Or just take a lot at the results of the 2011 owner surveys by JD Power and Consumer Reports. The results were nothing short of horrible.

But the good news is that the situation has seemed to improve with each subsequent model year, especially starting with 2013 when BMW made a bunch of updates to the CM.

We had a 2012 that had kept blowing fuel pump and fuel injection fuses. The car had to be towed to the dealer multiple times. The dealer could never figure out what the cause was. We finally started carrying spare fuses...a laughable solution, eh?

Only after we started a lemon law action was there discussion about replacing the car, and it took far too long for the dealer to get the formal approvals from BMWUSA to complete the transaction. They left us in limbo for months. It was clear to us that they were far more interested in protecting themselves from a lawsuit versus helping us.

The good news is that our experience with the replacement 2013 (now over 30k miles) has been far better, although not perfect. After owning the two cars back to back, it seems to be very obvious that the build quality substantially improved in 2013 with the changes they made to the car (it's obvious in things even like the switchgear).

With the 2013, at 8k miles there was a noise coming from the front axle that turned out to be a cracked wheel bearing, and the drivers lumbar broke at 18k miles. The lumbar seems to be a common problem as several others here have reported it, and the fact that the dealer would keep these parts in stock seems to be another indication that the problem is common.

We have also had an ongoing issue (started at 6k miles, the car now has over 30k) on the 2013 with the engine idling very rough. Apparently BMW's standard response on the issue is that it's a fuel problem for which they are not responsible. The dealer Service Manager said that there was nothing he could do other than suggest we use a fuel additive. Even though we have always used Top Tier fuel as specified by BMW, we have to add a bottle of Techron (about $7 a bottle) to the fuel tank every 1000 miles or so, or the engine will start to idle very rough. Interestingly, we did not experience this issue on the 2012, and few people on this forum have reported this issue...does not seem to be that common. It's a bit of a pain to remember to add the Techron, and we don't think the $100 a year or so should be coming out of our pocket, but at least we have a viable solution.

Finally, we have had an ongoing issue with the engine "stumbling" under moderate to hard acceleration. It feels as if the engine shuts off for a split second several times in quick succession. The episode is always over within 2 or 3 seconds, and then everything returns to normal, but it's scary when you are pulling out into traffic and need to accelerate fast. Fortunately it does not happen often (once every few weeks). We had the dealer look at it, but they could not duplicate the issues and no trouble codes were stored.

 

We have a leased 2012 that we will be turning in to mini in dec. it is our 4th mini, and we have had more problems with this one in 27k miles than we have had with the others (05, 06, 13...all MCS hard tops) I don't take it lightly that our ALL4 is a second year, and the others were last (or close to it) of their generation.

The most recent dramas were a blown alternator and transfer case (the rear). It also had some sort of trans oil pump issue early on, as well as a host of other small issues.

I agree with the OP...for $35k-ish, I want something I can trust, not something I expect to ditch in 30k miles. I have been racking my brain about what else to get, and I agree as well....nothing is as fun. Closest thing I can get would be a WRX.

So, yeah, I will probably lease another one, and if we have better luck with it, maybe I'll buy that one out at the end. I guess you have to pay to play!

 

I've never seen any evidence, not has it been my experience, that there is a significant correlation between the price of a vehicle and how much trouble you can expect to have with it. With the possible exception of an early 1980's Yugo ($7990), for which many of the younger forum members may not have any familiarity with. The New York Times said the reason the Yugo was equipped with a rear window defroster was to keep your hands warm when you were pushing the car.

 

Agreed. And the Yugos were assembled in Yugoslavia, when it was part of the Soviet eastern bloc. They had the quality control of something that was assembled at gunpoint, which they probably were.