but I can't because that would be uncivil! What's the point of the content here? Because someone got a crappy version of a nice car, and they got one that lasted a lot longer from another manufacturer, that they don't have the ability to judge cars? Or make decisions for themselves? Or compare the ownership experiences?

Before you disparage others, do your homework. The CVT trannies are an expensive fix should it bust out of warranty. The number that have gone is more than you would expect for such a major sub-system. Because of it's rarity, it's not really available rebuilt, nor is it really cost effective to rebuild it. If Mini doesn't go halvsies, your screwed to the tune of much more than $4k! No matter how you slice it, that sucks. One could get an extended warranty, but then, that's just an added cost to the car....

There have been more than one owner who's gotten stung by this particular bee. Some leave the marque, some don't. Whatever.

Thanks for the contribution to the thread....

Matt

 

Mini ownership at least with most of the people on this board is a bit like a cult and cult members don't like to have there cult talked down.

 

Oh no my friend it was the Bro.

 

Interesting thread. What I find most interesting is that the original poster has as of yet not replied in this thread once, yet the thread runs four pages. A NAM record?

 

If I had a $6,000 dollar non warranty repair staring me in the face, well I'd be kicking my MINI to the curb too. Sad but true. My hope is I can run my 06 MCS until the warranty runs out. Then I'll buy another one. So far so good, zero problems at 26,000 miles.

 

How interesting that you should mention the supercharger. I just found out yesterday that my SC pulley swap appears to have caused a problem with the SC itself. The pulley now only was seated all the way onto the shaft, but apparently just that little bit too far, so that the pulley has now damaged the bearing dust cover. The only repair option is full SC replacement. That's a $3000 bill right there, not counting any SC found elsewhere that may be available for swap into place.

40,000 miles on the car, finally convinced the wife that a pulley swap is a good thing, and now I have to replace the SC. What timing.

Am I going to swear off MINIs? Hell no! In fact, I just want my car back. It's no fun driving the loaner I have.

 

Sorry, but the Mini isn't perfect. Anyone who feels baited by that statement needs a good dose a maturity. That said, I AM a long time new Mini owner who sticks by the car. But I don't expect others to have to love it, nor do I assume that if others think differently than I do about the Mini that they diserve derision.

What ever happened to good old fashioned manners?

Matt

 

What I find so unusual is that as I contemplate trading in my Mini, I think about what other car I could get for the same money. A Nissan 350z has MUCH more horsepower and MUCH better reliability. Of course, it has no back seat, but at least I'll know that going in. A Volkswagen GTI handles very similarly to a Mini, however I am concerned about reliability there as well. Consumer Reports does not recommend ANY European cars with one exception: The late model year Mini. So while Nissan, Toyota and Honda are exceptionally reliable, the cars are bland as applesauce and have no spirit or personality. The 350z has a little spirit and I've yet to drive a Civic Si, but it seems you can pick two: performance, reliability or spirit. But not have all three.

I've spoken with many 350z owners who were torn beween the 350z and a Mini. In most cases, they (being typical Americans) wanted it NOW, and therefore went with the 350z. And many of them have had their cars a couple years and are still happy with their decision.

I can't say the same about my decision to purchase the Mini.

 

Well Matt my friend. I'm afraid they went away just like the Dodo bird. People on NAM exhibit more manners that the majority of car forums. Although I have been noticing a disturbing trend towards bashing those who hold a different view.

 

Let me put how I feel another way using an analogy that might better communicate the situation:

It's like I met the perfect woman. Beautiful, smart, funny, sexy...everything I ever wanted in a woman. We both fall head over heels in love. Crazy, obsessive, co-dependant, complete infatuation. We get married and I've never been this happy in my life. But after about two years of marital bliss she starts having severe medical problems, she may not live much longer without expensive treatments not covered by insurance and the reason is because she USED TO BE A MAN!

That is how hurt and betrayed I feel about Mini. It doesn't help the situation when my friends console me by saying, "Dude, you shoulda done some research first..."

I WAS IN LOVE, MAN!

And now my dilemma is deciding if I can recover from this major emotional truama and stay in the marriage or if all trust has deteriorated beyond repair and things will never again be the same between us.

That's the decision I am trying to make right now.

If I didn't care so much about the car, it would be a much easier decision and my blood pressure and heart would probably be in better condition right now. That's how dramatic this feels, emotionally, to me right now.

 

If they offer you any Kool-Aid, what ever you do, DO NOT DRINK IT!

 

Carey - what an imagination! Love it!

 

I agree that "in general", buyers of the first year of a car model are the guinea pigs for later buyers. Agreed. However, since you live "in reality", the fact remains the "masses" do not do research, may not know that, and probably don't do much more than walk into a dealer and kick the tires, literally. Then they ask for the red car on the lot.

The NAM demographics tend to lean to auto enthusiasts, which is cool, but that by no way implies that the current crop of new buyers of R56s are "enthusiasts". Further, the full set of MINI owners ... I'm betting the VAST majority are not auto enthusiasts but just regular car owners.

What I deserve is a good car for good money.

Agreed. You deserve the service, quality and reliability of a $18K to $21K car (the fact that your out the door price might be double that is not relevant. Nobody forces people to buy "options" that are by definition "optional"). I don't know what that really means and the fact that some cheaper cars are more reliable, well they are more boring so maybe it comes out in the wash. Can you put a quanitive measurement on what a "good car" is for $21K?

I deserve improvements to actually be improvements.

Agreed. You deserve the improvements associated with a $18K - $21K car.

I deserve a company that stands behind it's product.

Companies are out to make money. If they want repeat customers, they may cater to you. Then again, you got to look at the demographics. If you got a huge base of potential customers and people queuing to buy the product, quirks and all, maybe you dont have to stand behind the product. After all, why bother? You can't make them faster enough. OTH, if your struggling, then maybe you better have better customer service.

I think this falls more in line with "What is the current Business Strategy" of the company? IMO, they don't owe anything. You bought it. The transaction is over. They don't owe you anything more than the company that made your furniture or sold you a TV.

I should not have to buy a warranty to ensure I get what I should get to begin with.

You already bought a warranty. You didn't think that 4 year warranty on your new car was free, did you? Obviously, its buried in that $18K - $21K base price of the car.

Sad isn't it? Sometimes you got to look outside of the box your in.

 

I agree. Shouldve bought a manual like a real man anyway

 

When Chows and I agree, it's been said that it's a sign of the Apocolyps!

Start praying!

Matt

 

This is a healthy dialogue, and there are a lot of us having the same inklings about our Euro cars...

I bought a SAAB Viggen in '99, 400 of them in the US at the time, took it the owner's convention and it was like the geek bringing the homecoming queen. Had a LOT of problems with it, sold it the month/1K miles before it went out of warranty--carefully calibrated. The Saab guys were shocked I didn't buy a vintage one to go with the modern one, and start building my collection as many of them do.

Well, the MINI is heading the same way for the most part. Left the Viggen bone stock, have done a variety of mods to the MINI, having a lot more fun in the MINI even though it's a vanilla example--the people are friendlier and more fun--no offense to Saabophiles, just my experience.

So...enjoy your car while you have it, build friendships you can enjoy long after the car's gone, and accept not everybody is going to share your adoration. Sometimes, it really is just a fun car to own for a while.

a) I "love" my MINI, I really do. b) When does that 1-series get here? c) Maybe my wife was right, I should accept the torque curve and buy an S2K!

 

Interesting thread. My question is this... if everyone is worried about the cars breaking down and having very costly repairs as the waranty runs out, how are the resale of older Mini's remaining so high? I would figure if you buy a used Mini, and it is close to that 50K warranty, the resale would nosedive but I don't see it happening, yet. I guess, based on everyones posts here, the resales will start diving on used Mini's very soon, especially as there are more and more of them for sale in the aftermarket.
One other thing, I would never, never, never, ever buy a used Mini.

 

I'm the original owner of a 2003 MCS with 72K on the odo and it's the best car I've ever owned. I've driven it on 5 solo cross-country road trips and had no problems...feel completely safe in it. Please keep in mind that more people will share their problems on forums such as this, than come on and say "my MINI is great!"

I wouldn't say that buying a used MINI is a bad idea. Taking one to a respected independent mechanic to rule out problems, buying a warranty, etc., would make it a good option for many people who can't or don't want to buy new.

To reiterate what I said on the first page of this thread, it's a shame that Jerry didn't join NAM sooner to discuss his CVT issues. Best wishes to him with his new Vue.

 

I made this post when the server went down, so here it is again.

Hmmm I had a 2003 Cooper 5 speed with 63,000 miles. First tranny died under warranty at 43,000 miles. I'd heard of others with 80,000 miles and on their 3rd or 4th trannies. I had relatively few problems---just the fear of the tranny dying out of warranty.

So I bought a broken 2005 MCS. Despite a number of bugs and gremlins that appear once in awhile, the car is now running the strongest ever. The last stumbling/detonation issues I suffered with for some 10,000 miles was all due to lousy spark plugs. I changed them, and like a miracle, the MINI has been running fabulously.

$30 worth of plugs solved months of headaches and concerns that I needed to spend thousands more to get it going.

When I had my Cooper, I didn't need an OBD II reader as I never had any SES warnings. Not having the reader for my MCS would have cost a fortune in visits to the dealership plus major concern about why it was triggered--so I keep it in my glove box and provides immediate peace of mind when the light is triggered.

Bar10girl here on NAM has totally rebuilt her 2005 MCS tranny. She has gone further with the tranny innards than any of the dealerships all thanks to a broken tranny suffered at the hands of another driver she temporarily loaned her MINI too. She even put straight cut gears in the tranny.

I've heard the factory LSD has a limited life and will need expensive replacement in the near future--I'm certainly not looking forward to that at all.

What's the point of all of this? I've found that living with a MINI is a lot like going to the doctor. If you educate yourself, you put the power in your hands instead of the doctor that sees you for 2 minutes. Put your trust in every doctor that sees you to treat an illness and you may end up having 10 conflicting diagnosis about what ails you. If instead you learn a bit about your car, you can eliminate the potential possibilities yourself and you will feel a lot better knowing what may be causing your problems, to maybe even solving them.

Why should you even be responsible for this? You don't have to, but as an enthusiast, you are likely to want to know more about how your car runs than the average Joe. And doing so has many rewards even beyond financial reasons.

If a dealer told me I needed to shell out $6,000 for a new tranny--there are ways around it. Maybe if the miles are close enough to being just out of warranty that the dealer could be convinced that it was a factory defect and maybe they could share the cost. I've seen it happen before on engine replacements. The dealer submits the tranny as defective to MINIUSA and you pay the labor. Everyone wins.

Or if you're way past warranty, consult a reputable shop like Central Coast Coopers. Do a little research and maybe you'll get lucky to find a wrecked MC with a CVT in place that can be utilized. Bar10girl got a new tranny off a MINI that caught fire on the delivery truck. The tranny had 0 miles on it and was in perfect condition.

Complaining is so easy to do, and we've all said it before--MINI's aren't for everyone. Educate yourself a bit about your car, and you'll be so much happier!

Just my 2 cents.

Richard

 

The symptom of the CVT failure IS the failure. The belt just snaps and you stop going. There's no preventitive measure for this. If the tranny could have been bought rebuilt/used, then it would be a $2k "aw crap!" moment, but getting hit for $6k on a car that's worth between $15k and $25k (mileage and option dependant) sure is a high percentage of the value of the car, and that sucks. FWIW, that the same price ($6k) that my neighbor paid to replace the hydrolic pump on his F355 F1. But that car is still worth about $100k so statistically, that's periodic maintenance!

I just did a bunch of research on Mini problems and problem frequency (that you can read all about in the current issue of MC Squared! I think it's in the mail or about to be). There are about 5 expensive areas that can fail in our cars, but the frequency is very low. Statistically, each one adds a "virtual cost" of about $20 to a car.... But if yours is the one that fails, you get a very real bill for much more.

Matt

 

Well I think if you check any forum on any make of car you are going to see the same kind of complaints. When you think of the number of minis on the road and the number who acutally post on here and even further the ones who post on here with serious problems, I think it is a small number. I have owned quite a few cars in my past and I know that problems can plague any vehicle. I had a ford escort blow a hole through a piston 1 month out of warranty and my ex had a dodge ram transmission go out in week 2. I had a friends who's Saturn blew an engine 6 months out of warranty and so on and so on and so on. I have no doubts he is angry, who wouldnt be. But you just have to mark it up to bad luck and move on. Changing makes doesnt guarantee you anything.

 

I have less than 2,000 miles left on my warranty.

I recently test drove an R56.

Yesterday was my birthday.

Then I see this thread.

(You can see I am in the process of collecting excuses to trade in to a new MINI).

 

If that was my car I'd be R56 shopping right now. That's just me. Other folks mileage may vary as "they say".

 

Not necessarily. I know in the toyota forum I read, there are some complaints but anything is rapidly fixed. TSBs are issued and posted. Nothing remotely like mushrooming, rust, trannys failing, car fires. Mostly electronic components, bad electronics board, bad HU. In another car maker forum, the complaints are about things like: where is the iPod adopter or the stereo is lousy. Again, nothing like "going into limp mode on the highway". That does not mean ancedotal info does not exist. As to the "masses" who dont frequent forums, that means nothing since you have no idea what problems thay may or may not have.

I suspect MINIs reliability ratings are probably right inline with JD Power ratings.

 

As a new mini owner I have to chime in on this topic. I did research on this site before buying my 02 mc I new of all the problems and still chose to buy the car even thow it was used and on top of that had a new engine put in at 35000 miles. Ive only had for a month and had some minnor problems but Ive always been a fan of the car. I hope my tranny holds out but if it doesnt I wont be supprized. I still feel sorry for the guy but I dont think he has the same passion for the car that I do. By the way is the warranty transferrable with a engine swop??? Thanks all.. Its a cvt also.