I still wanted a fun car to drive since I spend quite a bit on time on the road. My wife asked if I was going to get a more family friendly car, but I didn't want a boring daily driver. I asked my wife for some input, and when my wife finally gave it up that she wouldn't mind if I got a convertible,,,, well I went and got an 08' mustang GT convertible. I do drive in the winter and that was a concern. But a good friend of mine has a 350Z which are notoriously bad in the snow. He had snow tires (not all season) put on his car this winter and it drives fine now (I even drove it in the snow and it was great). If the weather gets particularly nasty I can always take the wife's Suburban. She's a school teacher and if the weather is that bad it's most likely that they'll cancel school and she won't have to drive the mile and a half to work. I love performance cars and I really did have a lot of fun in my Mini. The mustang definitely is not as agile as the MCS but it's fun in other ways. Now I'm just waiting for this eternal Chicago winter to end so that I can put the top down and enjoy a nice warm breeze on my face. I still like checking out other peoples Mini's to see what they've done to them. If your a auto enthusiast, it's hard to not like the Mini's! I don't know if mine was a lemon but it was definitely pushing me to not like it's reliability. I will miss the time I got to drive the MCS on the dragon. The car was definitely built for roads like that. Good luck to all of you and I hope to see you guys on the road

 

My other car is an 05 GTO so I understand. It's too bad you couldn't have kept both. When I have the need for stoplight to stoplight speed I drive the goat. When I want to drive a go cart I drive the MINI.

At least you didn't buy a Kia or Yaris.

Good luck and be safe in that Stang. It's a whole lot different than the MINI.

Regards,

Pat

 

I feel your pain Mark, I've been following your thread for a while. You've already done this, but maybe you should try again and have a heart to heart with the local dealer. Maybe even a MINI rep could be there, just keep the conversation calm and pointed toward the goal of fixing your MINI. Keep a positive attitude and remember that not all items maybe fixable yet. As long as they have the problems noted down and the major items fixed you should be back on the road enjoying your MINI! When a solution is found they should be willing to fix it regardless of your warranty! Pulling for ya!

 

Yeah, I don't think my wife would have gone along with me keeping the MCS and buying the Mustang. I will definitely miss the handling and fling-ability of the Cooper. I've driven lots of other high performance cars in the past so the Mustang isn't my first drive in a high hp ride. I was considering a Goat as I've heard lots of good things said about them (by Goat owners). In fact I did test drive an 06' GTO before I bought the MCS. The dealer wouldn't come down from $32k so I walked out the door. One good thing about the Mustang is I live in the Chicago area and it's not like there's a ton of twisties out here.

The one thing I will say is that my Mini dealer was fine and up front about fixes and the lack of some fixes. They never treated me unfairly and I would definitely consider buying a car from them again. I hope Orangecrush and all the rest of you get some resolutions to your problems. I may buy another Mini but it will be a base version and it will be for my oldest daughter. She's only 11 now so I've got a few years to go yet. She definitely won't be getting the Mustang or an MCS! Too much power for an inexperienced driver. Take it easy and I'll see you on the asphalt

 

Just curious if you've tried contacting corporate?

Jim McDowell
Vice President, MINI USA
c/o BMW North America
300 Chestnut Ridge Rd
Woodcliff Lake, NJ 07677

Always worth a shot to get the big guy's attention.

 

I just got out of court with a lemon law case last Thursday. I totally understand trying to get things fixed!

 

I have met and spoken to Jim personally. He is a great guy and extremely receptive.

 

No, I haven't but that is a fantastic idea. I REALLY appreciate the advice.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Thanks,
Mark

 

from the guy who ran US Saab when the 900 turbo came out. They were oil cooled and had horrible problems with coking and the turbo bearings going out. Most dealers didn't flush the cooling oil loop, and the replacement turbos would go out in 3-6 months....

Anyway, the guy who ran all of Saab in the US had EVERY service report send to his office every week, and he'd sample them. He'd ask the SAAB equivalent of the SAs how some of the repairs were handled and he called many many customer personally. This did two things: the SAs were scared shiitless that the big guy was watching so they didn't screw the customers, and the customers felt like SAAB cared! One guy I know owned a few SAABs of that vintage, and had a 900 turbo that needed to be fixed a couple times. He remembers the calls, and even though there were times his car was in for repairs several times, he still swears by the brand because of the service and support.

SAAB worked through the education of the service team, the new turbo technology and the owner education and grew through what could have been corporate death.

There is a lesson there for MINI....

Matt

 

+1. And the toughest customers can be your best learning tools.

And I really appreciate the info (published articles) you posted on your website especially the one on the intercooler. Great job Matt.

 

Glad you liked it! Now go buy a ProShift!

Matt

 

Any more info on this fix? When using the heated seats, even the lowest setting gets unbearably hot after a minute or two.