It sucks to have any problems with a new car whether it's $34K or $10K, you may feel cheated and venting may make you feel better...I get that.

However, I don't get your quote above. Who exactly was supposed to give you that "quick dissertation" (kind of an oxymoron IMHO) on the potential problems? Certainly not the sales person who's job it is to sell you the car. And the truth is the mere possibility of severe mechanical issues exists with any car, there's always going to be a few lemons in the bunch. Doesn't make it right or make you feel better, but it's true. No car manufacturer is perfect (especially MINI it seems ala the widespread chrome disease ), although I think everyone wishes they were. No one's going to give you the kind of warning you wish you had before purchasing the car as quoted above, it's unrealistic.

Anyway, hope things work out for you and either MINI or your dealer fixes the problems or makes it right some other way. Good luck.

 

I think you are not alone with the new car issues. Many of the sub forums on this site have numerous complaints about new car issues such as (fuel pump failures, oil gasket leaks/explosions, thermostat failures, the infamous TPSM light, sunroof leaks and rattles, rear hatch leaks and the list goes on and on...)
I have been a member for quite a few years and I hope my observation of these issues/failures is credited with at least an ounce of validity,(sarcasm). I love my mini Cooper s but hate the amount of time I have spent at the dealership with issues (warped clutch plates, dry throwing bearings, etc, etc.) when I bought my new Mini it was not the first year model (2006) but I did spend more time at the dealership than I did driving the car. So I can sympathize with your frustration and understand why you have a bad taste in your mouth. Hope you get things worked out soon.

 

Whatever you do, NEVER be critical of a Mini Cooper on this site. You'll never hear the end of it. I vented on here once about my 2006 and was basically run out of town on a rail. As a matter of fact, this is the first time I've posted in a long time because of it. I'm still throwing money at our Cooper S (AC compressor seized this time). Another $1000 down the drain but I can't afford to buy a new car right now.

 

If you can afford to throw $1000 at your car to make sure you have A/C at the end of summer, you can afford to sell the Cooper S (an '06 might go for $10,000 or more, depending on options) and get into an '05 Civic or something equivalent that will cost you less.

Sorry people were rude about your bad experience with your MINI. Disagreement with what you say is no reason to be rude about you as a person.

 

im glad you still are posting, i agree that some member on this site are not happy at all hearing about problems with minis and seem to want to retaliate. remember opinions are like a-holes, everyone has one.

 

Jax,

One thing troubles me, I don't see where you have contacted MINI to bring them up to speed on the situation. They are the ultimate decision makers. Once you do that the proper action will be taken and it can be done amicably. Posting here by stating that no one should buy a CM doesn't help anybody especially yourself . You attract more bees with honey than you do with vinegar.

 

I don't know exactly what your experience has been, but mine has been the the exact opposite thus far. I've seen plenty of people criticize MINI and the countryman in these forums regarding runflats, chrome trim, turbo lag, the clutch, suspension, that the countryman is underpowered, the mickey mouse speedo, the price, etc. Sure, there are disagreements, but I don't see anyone jumping down anyone's throat and running them out of town on a rail.

Jax wanted to vent? Not a problem, if you go back and look, the responses to his post were mostly supportive, helpful and positive. It was Jax that was being kind of a prig to everyone else.

 

Several months ago, I made a post on the Cooper S forum about my frustrations with our 2006. At the time it was the S/C that I was spending money on because of the crappy design. This after numerous other nagging problems that plague these cars. I simply asked why the quality and design of the Cooper is so bad (in this case the design of the S/C). At any rate, I got slammed *non stop*. There were members actually taking the time to research all of my past posts and bagging on me for those. I was accused of being a "troll" etc etc. It went on and on to the point where I finally just stayed away from this forum. I still check it when something else breaks on our car and I always find the issue listed here, sometimes dozens of times. We've owned two Coopers and they've both been junk. My wife loves the car so trying to convince her to buy something more reliable is a waste of time. It's her car, so I gotta make the wife happy. If it was up to me, I would have sold the piece of junk a long time ago and not looked back.

 

I had to check on this, because I hate it when someone is personally attacked on a forum, and wondered why the moderators here would allow that behavior. Only this is not 100% true, it misstates the facts. You did not "simply ask why the quality and design .. was so bad." The title of your thread was "Why are Mini Coopers still junk?" In the body of the thread you said "My 06 S has become a POS at 67K miles" and "I've come to the conclusion that these things are just junk."

This is an "enthusiasts" forum. If you go to a Justin Bieber fan site and express your opinion that he is a talentless horror, you could expect a negative response from the fans. Same thing here.

I read the whole thread. I think by far my favorite response was "I don't condone someone figuratively coming into the room, farting, and then being taken aback when others react to the stink."

 

This thread should be titled "Never Buy MY Countryman"...

Pick any manfucturer, and I'll google search and find someone who wanted to light theirs on fire after mere weeks of ownership because of problems they encountered. That why lemon laws exist - because lemons exist.

Thats not to say its not very unfortunate that you received one, because it is. And I hope that someone works hard to make your situation right. If MINI and the Dealership fail to do so, you'll be entitled to much more anger.

You asked someone how they would feel if they had a car that was in the shop every 20 days. Every 20 days for 5 years? Or every 20 days for...40 days? The two situations result in very different answers - at least for myself.

This was actually the argument that I was going to make, and it was done for me. How could she possibly LOVE something that is such a piece of junk? What's more - what made you buy a second one?

Questioning qualtiy/service/value of any product is a good thing, but thats not what you are doing. You are labelling the entire brand (and model)because of your experience, which is no different than another person who bought a freak and drove it to 400,000 miles without putting a penny into it. The reality is that neither are reasonable expectations for potential buyers.

I hope your situation improves - whatever vehicle you end up with.

 

Neitherfanboy,

Touche

You hit it right on the head.

 

PS My boss had a $85k Mercedes that was a lemon. I've also known people who have had Toyota Camrys that were lemons. It happens, every model... That's why they have laws for it.

 

He has a right to his opinion. He was sold a piece of 34K gargage. I would be furious as well and would take every opportunity to let the world know. My mini dealer (Otto's in West Chester, PA) is a rip off specialist as well. Kinda goes with the Mini territory I guess, fun to drive but not very reliable and the dealers take advantage of you.

 

I agree but your anger should be vented on the Manufacturer. If thie vehicle was a vehicle that had excessive problems then I would post as well. But it's not. Every manufacturer has it's issues and a forum for enthusiasts is not a place to vent especially when you are leaving out key facts.

 

If you really believe the dealer has sold you a piece of junk, or that you are not being treated fairly, why not try filling out a Consumer Affairs complaint? (https://www.consumeraffairs.com/php/a_report.php) Or contacting the Better Business Bureau? See if there is a news organization in your area that reports on consumer complaints. Complaining in a forum for enthusiasts of the brand is not going to accomplish much.

 

Why does she love it? Because she doesn't have to do anything but drive it and put gas in the thing. I pay for repairs, I run around trying to find parts, I have to call my friends to have them help me repair stuff on it since I have limited mechanical ability.

Any yes, I did post "why are Coopers such junk?" because at the time our 06 MCS was sitting in a friend's driveway with the entire front end off while the crappy SC was being rebuilt. This was a car that just 3 years prior was ordered by my wife and I. We were excited to get it. It was built "just for us". It was sitting in the showroom in all it's glory and now there it sat...parts all over the place, front end gone, SC being shipped back east to be rebuilt with quality parts that should have been installed at the factory. In this day and age of quality control where Kia and Hyndai have become top quality cars, Mini needs to step back and look at what kind of a product they're producing. While I love they way they look and drive, the design and quality of some of their components is severely lacking.

Oh, and why did we buy two? Because I thought the first one was just "one of those things...they call can't be that bad". Well I was wrong and after reading this board for almost 6 years, I can see that I'm not the only one that feels this way.

 

old post, but i wanted to comment

i ordered and bought a 2012 Countryman s all4 and after 3 rides in my car, my 91 year old dad bought one too, his "off the lot", another 2012 all4

mine is manual, his is auto

combined we have over 10,000 miles and neither has been to the dealer, except on saturday mornings for the free wash and vacuum the dealer provides

maybe the thread should be titled "never buy a first year production"?

scott

 

So I wonder what eventually happened to the OP. Hopefully all the problems got sorted out, he is now completely happy with his car, and saw no reason to post any further. To come on to the website for the first time and boldly proclaim "never buy a cm" sounded like his agenda was merely looking to get revenge for his unfortunate experience by disuading potential buyers, rather than actually adding to the value of this forum. Guess he realized he came to the wrong place But it would be interesting to hear what the end result was.

 

He bought a Honda.

 

I'm not the original poster but you can addd my Countryman All4 s to the list of cars that should be crushed.

Follow my struggle in these forums. I have had our car in the shop for 24 days this year. Actually in 4 months of this year.

I don't particularly care for people who want to exonorate Mini when they have no idea what they are talking about. Read "fan boy" here.

This car has had so many problems it is embarrassing. I am literally embarrassed when I show up at work with another loaner ever time my car breaks.

I agree that all cars are mechanical and things can go wrong. But when so many things fail, and then are replaced with more components that fail? It is pretty upsetting. Add to it the fact that I have a 8 month old child and the reliability and safety concerns build up quite fast.

It's a good thing I have my Dodge Challenger SRT8 to rely on when my Countryman breaks.

 

I would not be happy either. If it's still not fixed you might want to consider the Lemon Law. Like you, I'm also in New Jersey, and the procedure is quite painless. The state has an on line brochure that explains it well. I've gone through the process twice (with two Jeep Grand Cherokees in the 90's), and I would be glad to answer any questions you might have.

 

I think the issue is that "I got a lemon" or "my dealership can't effectively repair my car" do not automatically translate to "this model has problems at a higher rate than other models."

Lots of us have reliable Countryman, and I don't know of any numbers that say any given Countryman is statistically more likely to turn out to be a lemon or to have mechanical problems at higher rates than other MINI models. It will probably have a few more issues simply because it's new, but I don't know that it's a fair assumption that there are more CM lemons out there than lemons of any other model.

So "the CM sucks" threads posted in the CM enthusiasts forum are sort of odd, especially since your real point is "my CM sucks."

 

I agree the OP should in all fairness name the post my CM is bad or has dissappointed but I also understand his grief as I am going thru a similar scenario with the same car.
Cut the guy some slack. He paid a really high price for a car that is not showing him any love.
I find it annoying that people will suggest that he or I should accept all of the faults of the car with the "first year of production you should know better" arguement. That is really idiotic.
I actually haven't started my own thread but really should.

I believe we all come to these forums to discover the good and bad in our cars. Some have more positive experiences and some have more negative. The point is too make each account represented so that people who are considering a future purchase can make a resonable decision.

Nothing is perfect. I actually love how well my car gets me thru city traffic. I just have issues with stalling, lurching, weak ac, fuel mileage, multiple latches going bad, vanity mirror cracking, fuel pumps being replaced, two thermostats, oil pan replaced for leaking twice, excessive bump steer etc....

It's my opinion that I am not alone and these forums helped me to recognize that some of these issues are known problems.
We, my wife and I, also owned a Mini Cooper before this. We know they are expensive to maintain and have some issues in general. That one got great mileage. This one is pretty pathetic at best.

In the end I hope someone has at least had a chance to see how my experience has been with the Countryman.

Here is a review from Motor Trend in which they have some similar problems

http://www.motortrend.com/roadtests/...all4_update_5/

 

Knownman, where did you buy your Countryman from and who do you take it to for repairs?

 

Mini of Morristown was where we bought it from.

Prestige Mini for service.

I'm kind of neutral in my feeling about either dealer. They are what they are. I think they have to conform to MINI's rules and that plays havoc on trying to keep the customers happy.

My only real complaint with the dealers are that they will automatically dismiss any concerns that are raised about the car.
On more than one occasion I have been told "mileage will vary" or "that is normal" when I have discribed the 22.5 average miles per gallon or car almost stalling in traffic!
This happened on every repair which eventually ended up being the main reason why I would have to take another half day of work off to return the car to fix the same thing that I brought it in to have it fixed for the last time.

I have yet to go in for service and have less than four items that need to be addressed.

Apparently there is a belief that my time away from work is not worth anything. My boss and wife tend to disagree with this.


I did like the former service manager but apparently he found greener pastures at Honda i think. Jury is out on the new guy.