Man, you guys are having dealer issues more than car issues, I think (not necessarily the first case, though, 48 repairs is insane, even for an 03 MINI). I had an issue on my very first (and only, except for the re-do of what the first dealer messed up) repair on my MINI.

My steering column had a knuckle joint failure. I knew what was wrong when I took it in to MoMV. It was very obvious.

MoMV took one look at the car, and told me it was because I had strut tower plates. They said they "adjusted" the plates, and now everything was fine.

Whatever, as I drove it home and pulled into my driveway, it still did the same thing. So I made an appointment at the next closest dealership, where I actually bought the car (EBM). I showed up, told my SA what was going on, told him my suspicion, he had me drive around the block with a tech, who agreed with my diagnosis, and they replaced the entire steering column that day and I had my car back 4 hours later. As I was checking out, I told them what the folks at MoMV had said, and they literally laughed.

So there are good employees no matter where you go. Maybe in these cases, you just need an alternative to the dealer you have (if there's one close enough, I'm lucky enough to be in decent range of 4 or 5).

 

Yeah, some turds don't polish too well.

 

04....not an 03 only 40,000 miles even now but repairs started at 8,000 miles!

haha strut plates CAUSED THE PROBLEM??? they would significantly help it... BMW/MINI is a joke.

 

Oh No, and I just put strut plates on.

 

Hey guys, latest update on my problem child. It shorted out today in the rain. Any more news on your end?

 

Just a suggestion... over the top...

Take the Mini back to the dealership and trade it in for a new one. (There are no "problems" with the Mini so you should get great resale value)

Sorry to hear about your problems. I have had to deal with two dealerships that have been great. (Hendrick in Charlotte, and Jack Cooper in OK City).

A couple of little problems fixed first time.

 

Greg,

Just a suggestion, but try taking your car to MINI of Universal City. I've always had great luck with their service department, Kelly is my SA. The last time we took it in recently for a brake job, worn out at 29,000, they discovered that the water pump had failed. Called my wife at Universal Studios, where they drop her and the kids off ever time we bring the car in, and set up a loaner to be ready whenever they were done. After picking her and the kids up they took her to the rental car place across the street for the loaner. When the guy at the rental saw the two kids he just upgraded my wife to a new RAV4 instead of the PT Cruiser they were going to loan for nothing more. I've got to go back down on Wednesady because the remote portion of my car had failed and they had to order a new key for it, this was taken care of under warranty as well. So far I'm very happy with their service and we plan to keep the car right up until the end of the warranty and then it will be sold for something more reliable, probably not as fun but less problems.

 

As many have already mentioned here, there are good dealers who will do almost anything you ask. And then there are the bad ones who leave you feeling irritated and violated
Your car does have issues, you probably do have a lemon, you are taking the only steps (arbitration) left to you other than Selling the car. Sell it at another dealership and go live happily ever after. Your mileage is perfect for trade and should serve you well, even at a non-Mini dealership. i'd leave out the details about how you think the car is going to die at any monent , but the good side is.... if the new owner has problems, the dealer service history/records will be fairly benign .

Life is too short, get a new car and/or a new dealer.

FWIW- i've had a couple of simple things fixed at the Dealership in Mass. {3.25 hours away!} Thankfully I haven't had any major issues and i've driven this car on TWO 2,500+ mile trips- once to Florida and once to Labrador (in February ) with NO problems.

 

Makes issues like this stand out like a really, really sore thumb. It's too bad that BMW/Mini/MiniUSA really doesn't hammer the poor service dealerships harder. If there are so few franchises, they could put in pretty onerous satisfaction requirements into the franchise agreement. That would put some of the power back in corporate hands, if they chose to wield it.

While areas like the SF Bay Area, LA, and a couple other regions in the country have the option of several dealers, most of the nation doesn't really, and a bad dealer can really ruin the ownership experience for large amounts of geographic area...

Matt

 

There are supposed to be quite a few new dealerships added to the US market this year, and I have heard rumor that MINI may have a few stand-alone dealerships. I hope the rumor is true!

 

i have 13 repairs in my 07 in 8 months no:

 

CRIKEY!!!!!!

Is this a Cabrio or the hardtop?

 

hardtop.. but my point is..

if you have 43 repairs in 03 mini. i think you buy it new. 4- 5 years of ownership and you have 43 repairs.. for me and my experience with my mini this car is reliable :impatient

I am going to buy a second car.

 

OK, I'm lost...where did the 43 repairs in an '03 come from? In your previous post it was 13 repairs in an '07 you've had 8 months. This is why I was asking if it were a Cabrio or hardtop...the Cabrio is the same as the 05 and 06, the hardtop is the R56 design.

You're changing your story here.

 

He's not saying that he now has 43 repairs.... he was illustrating the point w/ the OP.


-L

 

I've had a bunch of repairs, well over the price I paid for the car in parts alone. I must say the warranty (and my dealer) are good. I will try to list all.
Before I owned the car : seat would not tilt forward, them would not lock in the upright position. There may be more but I don't know. I do know it was a lease.
Bought car with a clicking axle in florida @ 16500k. Added 3 quarts of oil after filling up, discovering the dipstick was dry.
immediately went in for service as soon as I drove it home, just under 18K

Left axle.

20k. Next I went in because my car would intermittently lose electrical power. I knew it was a loose battery terminal so I did not complain about how much my Mini sucks. They told me they would perform an oil service, as it was indicated by my key reader.

Oil service, Dome light (buttons fell out) and power steering pump replaced. Battery terminal repaired.

I didn't notice anything leaking or felt anything in the steering, but whatever.

22k mi. Next I went in for a transmission, after the case cracked around the diff housing, and bled gear oil in my friends driveway. There was a struggle with blaming me on bottoming out, showing me the casting marks from the factory, and how I launched on something, causing those 4" grinder marks that the shop foreman insisted was from bottoming out. A week wait before the field engineer okayed that I was right.

New trans, clutch, front right axle, another power steering pump.

Got my car back with my alta light bar power supply disconnected. They fixed it on the spot and also fixed my air box, which wasn't seated right because they stripped the two screws. I think that was done intentional, but didnt bother complaining about it because I put in a K&N drop in prior and they would probably blame that on me.

Never went to that dealer again. On to the next dealer.

28K. New front right strut mount.

Excellent service. They had an issue reading my key, asking if it was the one i normally used, because it was showing 9,000 miles. My key, the one I use all the time, apparently wasnt saving vehicle information. I asked about my passenger seat bolster which was cracked, not in a spot that could have been because of wear. They analyzed it and got back to me later.

32k. Went in to get my bolster repaired. Also by now I had a click in the steering column. Recieved the same question about the key reader not working. Replied with the same answer, which was that its my normal key.

Painted bolster, repaired motor mount causing clicking in the steering column, replaced taillight because of moisture.

37K Door would not open from the inside driver side.

Replaced cable on door latch.

38k. Upon removing my tachometer, I lost all functions of guages, and lost headlights. My fault here but F* it, i will act stupid and let them fix it. I also complained about the steering column still clicking, which I think they forgot about. I state that I hit a pothole and my headlights failed. It took the head tech two days to source a "short" in my K bus harness. He took pictures and repaired the wire. Reset the computer, and replaced a fuse for the headlights. I saw the picture of where he cut the wire insulation with a razor blade, and took a poor quality pic to cover his end on why he took so long to fix it.

Short repaired, key reading function repaired. My *** saved.

Now at 41K, I still have the steering column click, and I have a side marker bulb out. When I have a few more good ones, I will make an appointment to bang them all out at one time with my good dealer. I projected that I will reach 50k by April, when my warranty ends Sept 30, 08. Question here is to extend or not to. I am confident in my cars reliability, however, If another transmission were to fail, I am looking at a $6,000 unit new or a junkyard tranny. Plus my time to swap it. I have also had intermittent window problems with the glass not opening when the door opens, and with the window not working at all. I only noted this to occur on hot days where it could be sticking for some reason. However I did not hear a relay when I hit the toggle switch to lower the window. If it were ongoing I would bring it in, but since I cannot prove anything is broken, I would seem crazy to tell them it sometimes will not open.

My point is here : Minis are hit and miss when it comes to reliability. Before my MC40, I had an 03 s. Not one single problem from 52k to 68k, when i sold it. However it did overheat when I delivered it to jersey from NYC, something it never did before. Perhaps I timed that one just right. Good luck with whatever you decide to do with your lemon.

 

Second to None,

Your experience with th Mini brings back memories of a buddy of mine who used to have a Porsche 928.

He spent more in maint & repairs within the 1st 50,000 miles then what he orginally paid for the car while new. The car had to be trailered to three different dealerships to correct an electrical problem which took a few months of troubleshooting to correct.

 

by the way as people are arguing the date.

Our Mini is a Late `04 model. HT not cabrio

 

God I hate this car, I will NEVER buy another mini until someone else takes Mini over besides BMW. That said I'm not going to buy the New V-8 M3 in a couple years like I was planning. I can get more performance for my dollar anyway, I'm happy to cost them at least one sale. What a pity though.

 

You will be the one missing out on a great driving machine, you haven,t driven a machine until you have driven an M. This from personal experience I have an 03 MINI "THDUKE" great car but my 08 M5 is a driving machine.

 

...but my point is..

I asked if it was a Cabrio or hardtop because the 07 Cabrio still uses the '05 and '06 body/engine/wiring/etc (proven design). The hardtop is an all new design and would explain the problems, just like the R53s had when they came out in 2002. That's why I was asking, I understand you other comment now.

 

My 02 was in the shop 100 days in the first year of ownership. I attribute about half of that to the car being so new and the other half to the fact that the dealership Herb chambers in Boston was incompetent. Now at 140k on the odometer i really do not have any problems besides wear and tear. The smartest thing you can do is go to another dealer. When I started taking my car to Mini in Peabody MA the problems and repeat repairs went away.

 

This has worked and is a good course!! Ever notice on when you Google something.. in the margin are links?? Well google the dealership.. see what comes up!! Then tell them you are a Web site designer, and that you are going to link your site to theirs, and every time some one googles them, you will be there also, and you intend to "Just tell of your experience with names and dates" !! The dealer, being a Dealer , and seeing how everyone that searches him out will also find your story... might come around!!
I had to use this tactic on a Timeshare company... man did they come across with what I wanted and a few more bennie's!! Now that we have the WEB, anyone can put out the word to millions.. with little or no money out lay!! Yes??

Just me............................

Thumper

 

Might just do that. Thumper.

******"You will be the one missing out on a great driving machine, you haven,t driven a machine until you have driven an M. This from personal experience I have an 03 MINI "THDUKE" great car but my 08 M5 is a driving machine."******

As for the M Experience. I'm a previous E46 owner... heavy piece of junk in my opinion. My s2000 stock was more fun. After a turbo Kit I don't even consider the M3 to be worthy of the same track day. I'm more into the ultimate "race machine" then the "Driving machine" Driving is great around town. A new M3 really would pose no threat to me on a track. I'd say BMW is the one missing out. I bought a car that will hand it to them for less money. It includes nav/gps and bluetooth phone connections. I'm comfortable enough. ANDDDDDD its a convertible.

500whp 2600lbs =My S2000 Turbo (stock block 500whp capable!)
280whp 3300lbs =My E46 M3
350whp 3500lbs= New V8 M3

Clearly the S2000 has got numbers on it's side for the dollar.

I can produce this S2000 I owned again for the same money as the Used M3. Sorry the "comfort" of the BMW just isn't worth it. The new M3 is impressive, but still just not what I'm looking for. I want a car that can do it all on a track. I'd love it to be luxurious too but the M3 really wasn't.

 

I've been to more then one dealer with the mini FYI. Of course a terrible dealer is to be expected here and there.