I realize that there's already a "Beneath the Bonnet" forum, but I think that should be used more for general maintenance tips amongst MINIers. Why not start a new forum that is exclusive to MINI problems, most notably the Stumble, the yo yo, the cold start, the cracked windshield, the leaking coolant, the electrical malfunctions, and also actual MINI authorized recalls.

Just my two cents, for what it's worth.

 

Beneath the Bonnet in it's present form is already serving as a clearing house for problems. A brief scan of the posts there include the stumble, shifting and tranny problems,wind shield cracks, rattles, and other comments about coolant and such. So I think it is doing OK. Do we need to perhaps adjust the topic name? rather than start another forum.

So from"Beneath the Bonnet" change to "Problems: Beneath the Bonnet" or maybe "Problems/Fixes: Beneath the Bonnet"

Problems is negative in connotation. At the same time it is easy to find the area if one is interested in reading about problems and fixes. The whole forum should not be limited to "problems" and so if one has comments that pertain to beneath the bonnet not otherwise caught in another forum then it could fall into Beneath the Bonnet.

Personally I was less clear on what was appropriate for this forum compared to MINI Talk which is more inclusive.
I guess since I have had not many problems I have not been visiting this area as much as the others.

 

I think a problems forum is a great idea :smile: I mean, if negative connotation is a concern, you could title it creatively: "special issues" or somesuch euphemism (though I think just naming it "problems" is fine. With good comes bad, it's just a fact).

I'd support a separate thread for a couple reasons:

1. Problems (namely the stumble) are kind of clogging the beneath the bonnet forum, so people just wanting info on *random* problems or the like have to wade through a sea of chronic problems--a separate forum might clean things up a bit.

2. A special "problems" thread would help those with problems more easily find an outlet for information, and maybe newbies would head there to poke around, rather than posting yet another topic on "I'm nervous about purchasing a MINI" in the MINItalk forum.

 

I agree that it is a great idea to have a forum for not small problems that are individual issues, but a forum where the big known, well documented problems are discussed, such as stumble, windshields, AC howl etc...
However, teh important thing would be to avoid people posting all their little problems in here before tehy are acknowledged to be 'common' or big problems. So, I would recommend that the problems forum would be one where more moderation is needed, and where only a moderator could open a new thread, based on suggestions PM'd to a moderator.
Does that sound reasonable and feasible?
The name of the forum could also be discussed to avoid negative connotations, maybe: Issues MINI is working on sorting out
or, 'everything you never wanted to know about your MINI'
However, given the current legal problems surrounding enthusiast sites such as MCO that are not 100% non-commercial, I could see a certain difficulty in adding a special forum dedicated to 'Problem Issues'.
That aside I think it is a great idea! It would be very helpful!
Markus

 

I see. Have something for recalls/ chronic problems and fixes (official and otherwise).
Have something separate for individual problems. Might have to make some judgements about where to draw the line and also make it clear in instructions on the forum what sort of problems belong there.
A bit of work I think. But helpful and could be better than what we have now which are post after post of essentially very similar things-stumble concerns are a good example. (that just reflects a lack of a good fix by the way).

 

Yeah. That's what I'm saying. I would really like to have an area exclusively for the BIG problems listed in the previous posts. I think Beneath the Bonnet would be better for general maintenance concepts or general performance concerns. I like the idea of a heavily moderated forum with a bunch of stickies at the top and not a random 1000 threads in it that must be waded through. It would really be a great resource, I think.