Last evening I was on the freeway in our '12 CM All4 (has only 8000 miles on it), and the engine suddenly shut off without warning. Lucky traffic was light and I was able to coast to the side of the road. The starter would crank but the engine would not restart. Mini dispatched a tow truck but I had to sit there in the dark for 2 hours waiting for them. They flatbeded the car to the dealer.

I searched the forum to see if this has happened to anyone else, but could not find anything at all. Lots of people with problems with their cars, but it looks like actually getting stranded is rare.

Any ideas as to what might be wrong with the car? Pretty certain I did not run out of gas as the fuel gauge reads about 3/4 of the tank. Needless to say I'm very upset that this would happen to a car with only 8000 miles on it. We have had our '03 MCS for more than 10 years, and while the car has had it's share of problems, it never once left us stranded.

 

Our 2012 had to be towed in several times because various fuses related to the engine (and the fuel pump, too, if I recall correctly) kept blowing. The dealer was never able to figure out what was happening, and we actually started carrying spare fuses and the tool to remove the blown ones! To make a long story short, when we filed a Lemon Law Claim they agreed to replace the car, but getting the formal approvals from BMW corporate took far too long, although they eventually came through.

I suppose the issue with your car could be one of many dozen things, and I hope you do not have to go through what we did! Good luck.

 

The dealer called. They said the car started right up this morning with no problems. They cannot find anything wrong, and said they drove it for 45 minutes with no problems. There was an inference that I did something wrong that caused this, and I don't like that at all. I was just driving along at a steady 65 mph and the engine shut off. They are going to run some more tests.

 

Hogan, I could not believe it when I just read your post.

When our car was only two days old, the same thing happened, although I was on a local road doing only about 50 mph. Could not get the car re-started, but I have AAA and they towed it to the dealer for me. The next morning I went back to the dealer to retrieve some personal things from the car, and they were driving the car around their parking lot and they said they had no trouble starting it. They kept the car three days, only to end up telling me they could not duplicate the problem and that there was nothing wrong.

Three days later it happened again. This time they kept the car 4 days, and I was relieved when they said they had discovered the problem, a fuel pump that was intermittently cutting out.

I picked up the car Friday night, and it was fine over the weekend, but today when I left the office to go get lunch, I made it only a few hundred years before it happened again!

I'm just totally disgusted. I am a absolute fool for buying one of these after reading about all the negative ownership experiences on this website. But two people I work with bought 2013's and have had just a couple of minor problems, and the Mini salesman swore up and down that all the problems with the '11's and '12's were gone. And the X3 I traded in had only minor issues in 48,000 miles, so I felt OK about buying another BMW product.

This car is only 12 days old (of which I have been able to use for only 5 days) and has already broken down 3 times in less than 200 miles! As of Friday my X3 was still in the used car section of their lot. I left a message for the salesman and am waiting for him to call me back. They can keep this POS car, and I want my money and my X3 back!

 

Minime, thank you so much for posting. I called the dealer and told them that I met someone whose car had the same symptoms, and asked them to check the fuel pump. They said it's not an uncommon problem and that is one of the things they are checking.

 

I spoke with my salesperson, his boss, and then the dealership general manager. While they all apologized, they said the car is now fixed and they re-sold my X3 on Saturday.

They said the latest problem was a blown fuse that has to do with the fuel injection system, and it is completely unrelated to last week's fuel pump replacement, and just total coincidence. They think it was nothing more than a defective fuse, but they are driving the car and running some more tests today.

The general manager told me they want to make sure the car is 100% before they give it back to me, and that if the problems with the car continue he will speak to Mini about replacing it.

 

The update from my dealer is that they are replacing the fuel pump.

 

Picked up the car from the dealer and made it home OK, but after having to have a brand new car towed in 3 times in the first two weeks, next week do I dare drive it to Des Moines IA for Thanksgiving as I had planned? We were planning to leave early Thanksgiving morning, but what happens if it breaks down in the middle of no where? It's a 5 hour trip, there's no Mini dealers en route (I checked), and they would not be open on Thanksgiving anyway. Still feeling very foolish about buying this car after being forewarned here, and I guess it would be foolish again for me to try to drive it to Iowa?

 

Just returned from picking up the car. It seems to be running fine, but like Minime I'm concerned about it happening again. After speaking to several different people in the service department, including the tech that worked on my car, it sounds like they could not find the problem, and replaced the fuel pump merely because it was the "likely culprit" given that they commonly fail, and just wanted to get the car out of their shop. I guess we will see...

 

You have the patience of a Saint. If I had a brand new $35,000 car that had to be towed in to the dealer 3 times, on the 4th tow job I would be driving it through their front window.

 

Thanks. Except in that case I would have to push it rather than drive it

I have been driving the CM to and from work, and everything is ok so far, but I decided not to take any long trips with it for now. I already made one big mistake (buying the car after being repeatedly warned about the problems), and I don't need to make another. I have an old Ford Explorer that I will take on the trip. It uses a lot more fuel, but even with 185,000 miles it is far more reliable than this car!

What really irks me is being lied to. Like Hogan said, the service people are fully aware of what's problematic with these cars, and of course the salesman who sits 100 feet away knows too, despite his denials.

Hogan, how is your car?

 

OK so far, but like you I'm not going to venture far from home with it.

 

Everything was fine for a full month, but would you believe my engine stopped again this morning, and my car had to be towed to the dealer FOR THE 4TH TIME! I'm completely fed up with this car!

 

I sense a lemon law injunction!!!
DEMAND to speak to the district service manager and demand to speak to their legal department. Look up the lemon laws. You are in perfect right to have your money refunded.

 

Rather than threatening everyone or driving the car thru the front window (which might get you charged by police along being responsible for the cleanup & cost of their window because your insurance wont pay for intentional acts), you said you had an assurance from the general manager that if problems continued they would discuss replacement with MINI. Why dont you take that avenue first and see where it leads?

 

Ditto this. Or, perhaps during the conversation you can discuss how you don't feel comfortable driving your brand new car more than 20 miles away from home in case it dies again. With a brand new car you should feel comfortable driving it across the country without worrying about anything going wrong...let alone to a neighboring state or two. Perhaps you can have your money refunded or the dealership will buy it back to save MINI some negative reviews and you can hop into something more reliable....(ahem civic si ahem )

 

The car seems to be OK now. They think they finally found the problem, a bad ground. I'm thinking there were actually multiple related problems (or the bad ground was the root cause of other issues), and my gut tells me the issue is permanently resolved. I understand electrical gremlins can be difficult to resolve, so I guess you could say I cut them some slack. I did consult a lemon law attorney, and he told me if my car is now fixed, I no longer have a cause for action, but if something else happens to call him.

 

I find it very sad that such an amazing little car has stupid little gremlins. LOVE my '03 and what I've done with it.
All generations are so unique, with amazing handling, fuel economy and use of space, no other marque can compare.

 

I know enough about electronics to understand that a bad ground (especially an intermittent problem) can make electrically powered components do wacky things, and that it can make diagnosing the problem absolutely maddening. I assume someone at the factory simply did not make the one of the electrical connections quite correctly.

 

Minime, glad to hear this seems to be permanently resolved. The new fuel pump did seem to be the correct fix for mine. It's been about 6 weeks with no more issues. We even took the car to northern Maine for a ski trip. One morning it was 28 below zero and and it started right up when most of the other vehicles there that lacked engine block heaters would not start until later in the day when it warmed up.

 

Good to hear Hogan! I think we are now back to permanently enjoying our CM's

I remember being in Steamboat Springs CO when it was 40 below. Not only would few cars start, on many cars if you opened a door it would not shut because the latch mechanisms stopped working at that temperature.