Hi- My wife and I finally got a 2005 Mini Cooper S we have been wanting forever. Our family has had 60's original mini's and loved them all so we thought we would try a new one. The car has 30,000 miles on it and we bought it from Carmax....which was a mistake. We got it 3 weeks ago and it has had so many problems we are thinking of taking it back and going with a Mazda RX-8 instead. It has had both fog lights go out, windshield wipers quit, seat wont recline and is stuck, tire pressure system keeps setting off, while turning tires make a rubbing noise, back tires make a loud whooping noise, and today i just found out it appears to have some early mushrooming. Its been in the shop for over two weeks, we just got it back and still has some of the same problems again. We love the car and history but we are so turned off by it already..are these problems common with anybody else? Do you think we should dump it and look else where or stay with the repairs and keep it? Thanks a ton for any help

 

Fog lights - bulbs, or something else? Not common
Wipers - motor died or something else? Not common
Seat - common - the fix is posted here somewhere, will post a link later
Tire pressure sensor - should be an easy warranty fix
tire rubbing noise - goodyears will make a grinding sound
whooping noise - are they cupped? did they make the noise when you bought it? - Not common, but YMMV
Mushrooming - not uncommon

Are the repairs being done by a MINI dealership - most of what you posted should be covered by warranty. The '05s are pretty sorted out, but there are lemons out there. Before you go RX-8, do some reading - they have their own issues.

 

yah like massive oil consumption...