I am new to posting so bear with me please. I have read some of the reports of transmission failures in both the cooper and cooper s. Here is my story and any feedback would be appreciated. Sorry if this has been discussed before... I am the second owner of a 2002 Mini Cooper which obviously is now past its 3/36k warranty. My car has 8,456 total miles on it (I've only driven it about 800 miles). As I have read on several reports I am not alone in this failure of my 5 speed manual transmission (Midlands). I live in Pittsburgh, PA and drive on very hilly roadways. I noticed a strange shudder when I started out in first gear. I thought at first that maybe I had let the clutch out too fast and the wheels had spun but there was no squealing of the tires, just the odd shudder. This happened a couple of times over the next two trips to work. I called P & W Mini in Pittsburgh and was told that I could make an appointment to have it checked...4 weeks from then...or I could drop it off and they would try to get to it within a week. I drove it there and left it with them...they were too busy to even go on a 2 minute test drive. 5 days later they called me to say that there was an internal failure in the transmission and I would need a new one to cost $2,900 and another $700 for the clutch plus tax. When I questioned how they diagnosed this...they did not open anything up...they said that it was their technicians experience. I researched the web and found numerous other failures described the exact same way. Most were with much higher mileages though. As with most all Automotive Dealerships, they do not do any repairs or diagnosis of the actual problem, they just make a complete replacement which is fine when you still have a warranty. Since I did not have one, I had the mini towed to a transmission repair facility to find out what actually failed and what my options would be to correct it. At first they said it sounded like it was a clutch problem but after opening it up they found (technical and over my head) "the final drive or ring gear...which is usually bolted together...Mini (Midlands) possibly to save space and expense...pressed them together and this is what was stripped out. My options for repair are as follows: Rebuild the transmission with new Mini parts and a new clutch for $2,200 or Replace the transmission with a Rebuilt unit from Mini and a new clutch for $2,850. I am opting for them to rebuild the transmission, only because I know that mine only has 8,500 miles on it and the unknown rebuild most likely has much more.
Obviously Mini and BMW knows that there are problems with this transmission, although when you talk to them they act like this is the first time them have ever had a failure. How can anybody think that it is normal for a transmission to fail with only 8,500 miles on it? I understand the CVT is even worse with repairs upwards of $7,000. I hope that newer models with the Getrag transmission are more reliable...I was told I could not upgrade to the Getrag due to other changes in cables etc. Although when I talked to Mini of North America the lady told me that it would be no problem at all. Well, this is my story. I would appreciate any advice or feedback. I hope you all have better experiences with your Mini.

 

Wow !

That sounds crazy !

I've got a 2002 Cooper with 60K and i've had no problems with the trasmission.

I DON"T do burnouts or Hard starts - but once it's rolling !

That just make no sense to be for a 8000 mile car !

 

What did the previous owner do to it? If the lady at MINI said you could retrofit a Getrag, pursue that option.

 

I just purchased a 2002 mini cooper manual transmission with 74K miles on it a WA car. feeling shutter from 2nd to 3rd gear and reverse gear makes tick tac noise and as I speed up it gives me faster tick tac noise.

I hope, I am not going to have THE transmission issue. Basterd BMW manufacturers....not sure how they won the case against the law suit.