WE love our new Mini Cooper S, and have had it since mid-May. Since that time it has 2 major problems that resulted in it being towed....with the last one happening this past weekend.

Here were the problems:

1) One week after we got the car, the supercharger pulley cracked, the belt came off, knocked against the engine, and cut off fuel. This all happened while driving in the fast lane at rush hour in LA. Towed to MINI dealer, replaced pulley.

2) This one was a little more hair-raising. The tie rod that connects the front wheels separated from the right wheel completely while driving!!! MINI dealer just called today and said that the nut that holds things together had fallen off and obviously was not tightened/torqued correctly at the factory. Luckily I was on a street that wasn't filled with cars, or I would have smacked into one of them. We will be writing MINI USA on this one, as only 30 minutes earlier I was driving on Angeles Crest Hwy near LA.......and if it would have happened then I would have skidded right off the edge of the mountain. Make sure and have your dealers check this out so it doesn't happen to you!

 

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The present Neon and base level Eclipse do not share a common motor with the MINI. Currently the only car the motor in the MINI is being used in is the MINI. Chrysler has plans to use the MINI motor in Non-North American Neons and PT Cruisers in the future. :evil: I repeat the Neon and the MINI DO NOT SHARE A MOTOR!.

Sorry, I'm just getting tired of hearing that.

 

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>>WE love our new Mini Cooper S, and have had it since mid-May. Since that time it has 2 major problems that resulted in it being towed....with the last one happening this past weekend.
>>
>>Here were the problems:
>>
>>1) One week after we got the car, the supercharger pulley cracked, the belt came off, knocked against the engine, and cut off fuel. This all happened while driving in the fast lane at rush hour in LA. Towed to MINI dealer, replaced pulley.
>>
>>2) This one was a little more hair-raising. The tie rod that connects the front wheels separated from the right wheel completely while driving!!! MINI dealer just called today and said that the nut that holds things together had fallen off and obviously was not tightened/torqued correctly at the factory. Luckily I was on a street that wasn't filled with cars, or I would have smacked into one of them. We will be writing MINI USA on this one, as only 30 minutes earlier I was driving on Angeles Crest Hwy near LA.......and if it would have happened then I would have skidded right off the edge of the mountain. Make sure and have your dealers check this out so it doesn't happen to you!


Sorry to hear about your troubles with the car. I have heard about a couple of people that have had trouble with the supercharger/pulley. The second problem just sounds like a fluke. You are the first person that I have seen post anything like that happening to them. Glad that you made it safely.

 

I have seen several cars lose the bolt that holds the tie rod to the wheel. This is the first time I have ever heard it happening on a MINI but it does not surprise me that much. I have seen the same thing happen on several other cars of all types import, domestic, economy, luxury, sporty and so on. Of the half a dozen cars I have seen it happen they have all either been very new cars or very old. None of them have been in between. The new cars the bolt most likely came off because it was not torqued down to spec at the factory. When a company makes 30,000 50,000, 100,000(ford makes more then 500,000 F-series trucks a year and given fords quality i am sure thousands if not tens of thousands of serious problems slip through) or more cars a year cases like this are going to creep up. Quality control is going to catch most of them but a fraction of a percent of them will slip all the way through to the customer.

Thats why we have warranties

The really old cars have the problem a lot of times because of rust and/or metal fatigue. The bolt has been on their for 15 or 20 plus years and just snaps from all the stress.