It's finally over
 

dealer bought my 2007 mcs back after 1.5 years. loved the car, but:

• engine would stall after cold starts in cold weather (at and below about 32F) at stop signs (up to 4 times in a row) until engine warmed up, jerky power delivery, stalled sometimes even while running in 2nd gear. dealer did not find any issue with the car and, strangely, was not able to reproduce issue until I had a cold-start test drive together with a tech ("ohhh, it stalled, ohhh, so that is the problem you were talking about..."). later, car stalled several times in a row in dealers workshop while hooked up to diagnostics: "all systems check out ok, must be caused by the bad gas here in upstate NY.."
• cold start rattle. dealer plays ignorant: "yeah, we found a loose plastic cover, its fixed now; yeah, we bled the lifters, its fixed now" (well, that was true until I started the car on the next day..). parking nose down on a slope triggered cold start noise with certainty
• after cold starts warning comes up again and again about insufficient battery charging, car forgets time of day and trip computer calcs. dealer: "car is fine, battery is fine, your commute is too short"
• car was in workshop for a total of 60 days within 1.5 years and 30 days for last repair attempt when I blew a fuse and demanded money back

A week later, when I collected my belongings out of the car, dealer told me that the car now runs just fine (as he did about 5 times before).

Well good for you. Justice has been made.

No one has to put up with an expensive headache, that's for sure.

Probably after this experience, you will not give another MINI the time of day. However, if you ever get the itch for a MINI, I highly recommend the 2005-2006 Cooper S hardtops with the bulletproof TRITEC 1.6L Supercharged engine. We 1st gen users never endured the severe problems some R56 owners in the snow belt are having with their cars.

For the record, our 1 year old 2008 Clubman S auto has been rock solid so far.

What did you get for your car? Did they give you the buying price minus mileage?

Upstate NY? Keeler?

full price. car had less than 12k miles (=lemon law limit for full refund)

Good for you 900mhreplica! I traded my 07 MCS in recently after getting tired of dealing with issues with cold start, intake manifold icing issues, etc, etc, etc... I wish I had bought the supercharged model instead as they seem to have far less problems. Good luck with whatever vehicle you choose!

Well to put your mind at ease I have an 06 MCS which I bought after finding out that was the year (and 05) that was recommended by many folks and online sites and the car is a nightmare, Rattle trap that has has several major parts either removed (engine!) or replaced, (clutch bits), (rims) (windscreen washer bottle) (windscreen) under warrantee and the car still rattles incessantly. Don't be mad at yourself for not buying an 06 as they can give you agro just as well.

My 2005 has been rock solid, FWTW.

Hmmm, replacing a couple clutches is rock solid? See post #17 on this thread:

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...placement.html

What about his signature did you miss?

Two cars: 2008 Clubman (clutch replaced), 2005 (rock solid)

Geez, you searched the guy's posts??? :eek2:

Geez, I don't see anything in his sig about his clutch, just that he has two cars. I had read his posts way back when I was researching reliability issues and remembered so it took a minute to find it again. The referenced post did not identify the car, but if you look a few posts down (20 I believe) it says it was the 05 that had the clutch replaced. So I guess my original point stands.

Yikes! I stand corrected. :sad:

You have a good and accurate memory. Please accept my appology.

glad u got it sorted out,... hope u will back

No problem man. Sometimes an accurate memory is a curse; sometimes relying on a normally accurate memory is a curse. :lol: And sometimes, I just curse.

I'm not going anywhere. I just feel like I jumped on the guy. I went and looked at post 17 and saw the signature, and quickly read into the post the clutch was on the Clubman. Then when I went back after the reply I'm right there with the original post in that replacing a couple of clutches is not exactly rock solid. Now on the other hand, I'm at 5 1/2 months, 6300 miles, and I haven't seen the dealer since buying the car (knocking on wood as I type this).

Anyway, it would take more to chase me from here :wink:

My 07 MCS with automatic has no issues here in beautiful, colorful Colorado

My Clubman S is automatic not manual.

The clutch issues in my '05 have been annyoing, but apart from that, the car has been fairly problem free.