I'm guessing not, since they have different names and work in different departments. Then again, I'm not having clutch problems - hope I don't! The dealership is a 2.5 hour drive away from here!

 

MINI USA knows about these clutch "issues" that are apparently not considered actual problems. Rather they are responding to premature clutch failures on a customer by customer basis. Wish they would be more proactive and replace failing clutches with heavier duty components.

 

Just curious...were your windows open or closed?

 

Don't know why but i even notice a smell of windshield fluid everytime I squirt to clean the windshield while driving (windows closed) So, I'm not surprised...

 

Seems like this clutch issue is a real thing.

 

Within the first 150 miles I have smelled burning clutch!!!

 

What you are smelling could also be the car breaking in... you know how it gets that burning smell? I remember my dad took my CMS4 out when it was brandy new and said the clutch is burning when it was really the car breaking in..... The smell is slightly different but close enough to be confused.

 

Zero smell and excellent, smooth clutch action from mine. 650 miles total, zero stalls from two drivers.

 

I'm not so sure. I do smell the "new car break in" but, then every once and a while I get that distinctive burning clutch smell as well!

 

I smell what the rock is cooking

 

Finding this post is bittersweet for me: on the one hand I'm sad to hear that this is happening to other people and, on the other hand, I'm glad it's not just me. My 2011 Countryman, All-4, S with 6,514 miles on the odometer was towed to the dealership this past Saturday with a blown (fried, snapped, broken, etc...) clutch.

This all started about four weeks ago when I started to notice an odd, and pungent, burning smell. Like others, this smell appeared mostly during stints in stop-and-go traffic and would occasionally linger in my 2-car garage well into the following morning. My CM showed approximately 5,900 miles on its odo when this started happening. For the following weeks the smell would continue, though be intermittent, and various google searches turned up nothing more than people thinking/hoping that it was "...the regeneration of the particulate filter". I have no idea what a particulate filter is, nor why it would make a burning smell, so I just went with that as the cause of my burning smell. I think I was wrong.

About a week and a half ago I stepped on my accelerator to pass a car when the strangest thing happened...nothing, nothing at all. My engine revved, the tach needle jumped but the car did not increase in speed. After several seconds it began to slowly accelerate but it was sluggish at best. This started intermittently at first, but became a regular occurrence about a week ago. In conjunction with the inability to accelerate, I gained the ability to start off-the-line in 5th gear

I swung by the local dealership this past Friday, on my way home from work, to schedule an appointment to have this dealt with. After scheduling for the following Tuesday all was well...until I got about 6 miles from the dealership. While approaching a red light, I depressed the clutch pedal and two things happened simultaneously: there was a subdued snapping sound and my clutch pedal remained jammed against the floor. Of course, Murphy's Law being what it is, this was during rush hour.

First tow truck:



My still-sort-of-new Countryman was towed to my house for the evening (the dealership had closed by the time the tow truck had arrived) and then towed again the following morning to the dealer.

Second tow truck:


Someone above made a comment about driving a "glass mini" and, while I don't have my CM back, I do already agree and I'm not liking that feeling one bit. I have a loaner Clubman, automatic, non-S and I'm giving serious consideration to talking to the dealer about trying to even-trade my manual CM for an automatic Clubman as I don't currently have the cash on-hand to just get out of my CM...that's how disappointed I am.

I love the Mini brand and I love the utility and size of the CM, but to think about having to go through this type of experience every 5K-6K miles? No thank you. And, to read that Mini may not back more than one clutch change? But even more than those things is the erosion of my confidence in my car, which I know sounds silly, but has appeared none the less.

Upside to all this? Mini Roadside Assistance was awesome, both times I had to call them. Having access to that really did take some of the sting out of this experience. Also, the dealership (Mini of Chicago) was super accommodating and couldn't have been nicer.

I apologize for the long post, but I wanted to detail my experiences in the hopes that someone may benefit from it.

 

i would think mini would investigate and replace/update a defective part until a recall is needed. like they did the body trim or the water pumps. dont give up, im sure clubmans have problem to.

 

It's interesting to me, 2 years ago when I ordered my R56 I was reading the EXACT same complaints on this forum about the R56. It completely freaked me out!! Almost 50k miles later the clutch is still fine of course. But that isn't stopping me from completely freaking myself out again now that I've ordered my CMS. RAWR.

 

We ordered our CM less than a week ago, and were not aware of all this beforehand. I stalled the demonstrator car when I drove it, and thought it was just me getting used to the clutch. I have to say I'm very worried that we have made a huge, difficult to resolve mistake. BMW has made some design blunders with the Mini before before (we currently have a 2003 MCS that came with one of the defectively designed power steering pumps that we had to replace at our expense after BMW redesigned the part), and from the parts diagrams it appears that the CM uses the same clutch as an MCS, even in the All4 version. I'm absolutely shocked that they are not using a beefier clutch in a car that's 600 to 700 lbs. heavier with all wheel drive. Sounds like they decided to cut a corner, now it's coming back to bite them, and they are just going to deny there's a problem just like they did with the power steering pumps (at least the Canadian government recently forced them to recall the cars there for the steering issue, while NHTSA has done nothing for us in the U.S.). It's notable that the press release for the upcoming JCW model mentions a beefier clutch. So what does this mean for us? That we will have to foot the bill to have the JCW clutch installed? Based on what it cost us to replace the clutch in the MCS I assume this would cost $2500 to $3000! Sounds like the power steering pump issue all over again. We are absolutely sick about this. We do like Minis, but hate the fact that BMW uses every opportunity to not stand behind their cars. The dealer has our non-refundable $2500 deposit, and we don't want an automatic transmission. The availability of the stick was a major reason we ordered the car.

 

I will say that there is a somewhat similar issue with our 2003 MCS. I realize it's a very different car with a very different motor, but with the A/C turned on the engine has little power coming off idle. It's always been far more difficult to smoothly "launch" the car with the A/C on versus when it's off. The fact that the sport button seems to make launching the CM easier for some makes me wonder if turning off the A/C button also helps. I would be very interested in hearing from any CMSA4 owners whether or not turning off the A/C makes working with the clutch less of a chore. Thanks.

 

The other day I was practicing my shifting, learning how to get off the line faster and shift fast. Some shifts weren't pretty. 1-2, 2-3, 3-stop. Over and over. I repeated this 20 times, maybe more, on an empty street. When I parked the car back in my garage the radiator fan kicked in to cool the turbo, as the car was very hot. I didn't smell any burning clutch, just the hot engine smell. If there was any clutch smell, it was only a faint hint, mixed in with everything else. Seems ok. Yeah, I wish it was a bit beefier, so maybe the JCW clutch is in order if this one ever goes.

 

This is off topic, but the fan does not cool your turbo. It's cooled by engine oil. You should not shut off your engine immediately after running your engine hard as the oil within the turbo stops circulating but continues to be heated by the turbo. I don't recall the technical terms. but the oil can be heated to the point that it solidifies and blocks the passages in the turbo that are designed to circulate the oil. The next step is a ruined turbo that needs replacement...not cheap. After running a turbo engine hard, you should let the engine idle or drive at a more normal pace for a few minutes to allow the turbo to cool before shutting the engine down.

 

I read about the too-small clutch and was a little apprehensive when I took possession of my All4 manual a week ago. And while I've driven lighter, more powerful cars in the past, I'm happy to report that the clutch has not been a problem for me so far.

What I am experiencing/imagining is a bit of turbo-lag getting the rpms up off the start, which has caused me to hold back a bit on the clutch release. The issue only arises in 1st gear, and only on a hill. Not a big deal, but perhaps that will add to the wear on the clutch.

Only 1 stall so far, backing out of a steep driveway here in San Francisco.

No smell of clutch for me, but then again, I don't push the car very hard.

The hill-hold will probably add back whatever the (so called) too-small clutch takes off, in terms of life expectancy (of the clutch that is).

 

Thanks, does pressing the Sport button and/or turning off the A/C button help?

 

Also OT - on our car we come up a very steep hill on one approach to our garage. Scangauge shows positive turbo boost during the hill climb. The fan comes on for a while after the car is shut down in the garage, then the fan stops and one can hear the auxiliary water pump running which directs coolant around the turbo bearing. After a few more minutes this also stops. When we approach from the flat road direction, 25 mph and no boost, then park in the garage, none of this happens. Hopefully this system will extend the turbo bearing life.

We haven't used AC yet so can't comment on what affect it has on launching with the clutch. I know it did have some negative effects on my R53. Without AC and Sport OFF so far no smell and no problems with clutch. Looks like warm weather in the next few days so I'll try AC on when launching and report back.

 

I did try the sport mode a couple of times, but seeing that it has to always be turned on at startup, I figured I would be better of just learning how to build the rpms "manually". That said, I do believe that the gas pedal did become more sensitive in sport mode and that it would help (too bad it doesn't stay on permanently - I would just leave it on when driving in town).

Haven't used the a/c yet.... waiting for our first heat wave.

I'll report back after I've climbed the Divisadero hill from the Marina at some point. If that doesn't shred the clutch then I believe I'll be able to sound the "all clear".

 

Yes, that street is a good test! Done it quite a few times in our VW TDI manual and R53 Mini; it is a challenge...

 

I did not know that this car cools the turbo with coolant, but I do see the pump in the parts diagram. What an excellent idea, should definitely extend the life of the turbo.

 

all deposits are refundable. but i also wouldn't sweat the clutch going inside of 10k miles either. Personally I purchased the 100k maintenance, so if it goes it'll be covered, along with brakes and everything else. Even with a new clutch out of your own pocket its still cheaper than the auto

 

Unfortunately in our case the Sales Order explicitly states the deposit is not refundable. The dealer refused to special order a car for us without this provision. At least in New Jersey the provision of a non refundable deposit on specially ordered new cars is typical. And while the clutch may technically be under warranty, you can see that there are numerous other posts showing that BMW's standard response is that clutch issues are a result of driver abuse. There was even an owner who posted who said that's the response he/she received on a car with only 1700 miles on it. While I guess one could sue them to enforce the warranty (I would take the position that the fact that they did not even make a serious attempt to determine the cause of the problem shows bad faith), who wants to go through that sort of effort? And after reading all the posts I'm not confident that BMW even knows how to fix the problem, at least for now. Again, sounds like it's a design issue that would be wildly expensive to rectify, so they are just going to deny there's an issue when there clearly is one. After living through the power steering pump issue on our current Mini, and hearing what other owners are going through, my GF is sick over this and wants to just tell the dealer to keep the $2500 and the car, and be done with BMW forever. I'm hoping that this turns out to be an assembly related issue with some of the early cars that's been resolved, and that once we have the car we will be delighted with it. But assuming we do take the car, I'll be back at the dealer at the first hint of any problem so I have reciepts to show early it started in case I do get involved in one sort of lawsuit or another (potential class action?) Geez, I've been disappointed by new cars before, but never before I even drove it :-)