I purchased a used 2005 Mini Cooper S Convertale about 16 months ago. It had 16,000 miles and seemed perfect. To date over $3,000 worth of repairs have gone into this little monster. Upon review of the breakage parts it seems ther are serious design flaws in the construction of varrious elements. the quality of the materials are of a lowwer grade of plastics. The top has poor design construction and can get off skew and cause parts to simply distory themselves. This has happened twice. The center stack is made of very low grade materials causing the stack to easly break at several mounting points. I've had this 4 times. The drivers side door has broken 7 times and has been internally replaced twice. The seats have broken 4 times at varrious points. The arm rest has broken in 4 places and I now have my own system designed to keep it closed. This is a total disaster. Who can I contact at Mini to begin Lenom Law proceedings? I'm at the end of my rope. I can not believe what a rolling disaster this is.

 

Good luck. I have a 2011 and they have not gotten much better. If youo think MINI is going to help you ouot guess again. They back the dealer and run from any responsiblity for the crap they produce. I am so done with MINI and BMW!!!!

 

Also, the lemon law does not cover a used car.

Who did you buy that car from? Did you Car-Fax it?

I would guess the problems are the reason the original owner got rid of it.

The car may have been crashed and stuck back together and that is why the alignment problems with the top and the door etc.

There are many thousands of Mini convertibles running around the world with none of the problems you are having.

I'm sure you are not the cause of these problems but after 16 months I don't think you have any recourse at all unless it was totaled and the insurance company sold it to a body shop that stuck it back together and sold it to a scam used car dealer. Even then you would have to pay a lawyer big bucks to get recourse. (Probably more then you paid for the car)

If it was me, I would go to my Mini dealer and trade it for a new or later model Mini because I just would not trust that something else would go wrong and cost me more $$$$.

Right now is the time to trade in a convertable. (Summer)

Good luck,

 

A+
True & good advise!

 

Sorry to hear about your problems.

Are you planning to just get rid of the car?

 

I have found mine to be rock solid. I know I only have 5500 miles on it, but to date I have had zero problems with construction or engineering. Sorry to hear of your bad experience.

Larry

 

Guess what. This guy isn't telling the whole story. The DA can't even spell.
My guess is it's just a phony trying to get a rise out you guys. 7 times to fix the door? C'mon.

 

Fiat is sending in stealth posters to dissuade potential MINI buyers

 

I'm willing to think he may have legitimate complaints. He's posted about some of the issues before. Why do people on this forum get so defensive?

 

Not only did the car pass all the reports, I found the first owner from a insurance card left in the glove box. I called her and talked to her, talked to the dealer. Got the records on the car from birth. it all checked out. i even had her checked out. This car is full of basic design flaws. I have been told the door problem is common and was corrected in 2008. The plastic is very low grade quality and is subject to failure in repeated hot/cold environments. I froze some already broken parts and warmed them up to find the plactic crumbling without even touching it. The hinge covers on the rear trunk door have booth broken at the connecting points, a total design failure. The ride is harsh due to the sports suspension and the run flat tires. This configuration subjects this already short wheelbase car to a steady blast of jolts which it can not sustain over time. Another major design flaw!!!
This car is full of $$$ short cuts that in the long run make it a platform for failure. A new "S" Convertable with my options tops 40 grand. Really? Never, never, never again.

 

Maybe you should have done your homework before you bought the car. I researched mine for 6 months. Just sayin.....

Sell it and move on, you are not going to convince many of us of anything....

 

Think I have to agree with you He complains about the ride? Did you not test drive the car? It's a Mini, not a Buick, it's supposed to have a taught ride I don't know? Sounds like you should have not even looked at Minis?

 

And strangely, my wife and I both have 2006 'S' convertibles, with none of the problems that the OP is having, even after 55k miles on one of them and 75k miles on the other.

Granted, they've had the typical MINI problems (leaky motor mount and leaky thermostat on both cars), but all of that happened early on - we haven't needed any out-of-warranty repairs on either car yet.

 

All that interior stuff breaking over and over again sounds like he holds frat parties in his car including the I Phelta Thi llama running loose. Bar fights every weekend will do that too. Grain of salt, folks.

 

I hope I don't have these problems with mine but I don't doubt his story. My last car had a bunch of problems like his. I bought it brand new, an 08 saturn sky, and had the rear differential replaced twice, the convertible top replaced twice and when I traded it, the back glass was starting to separate from the fabric, the outer passenger door handle just pulled right off one day, the high pressure fuel pump died, the thermostat and water pump had to be replaced twice, the AC made a horrible grinding noise half the time, the top leaked water and it took numerous dealer visits to finally get it fixed (and after it was fixed, the top had to be replaced for other reasons...), body panels were damaged by the dealer and by goodyear due to improper lifting (the car could only be lifted in a very specific way otherwise the front fenders would crack), the cupholder had to be replaced 3 or 4 times because it kept breaking, etc..etc... All of this on a brand new car and within a 3 year period.

So it's not inconceivable that someone could have a bunch of problems one right after the other on a 2005 car.

 

So you're saying that you bought a five year old car, and it had no problems before you bought it, but started falling apart after you bought it?
Where do you live? There are lots of MINIs in cold environments.
There are definitely some design/spec flaws (motor mount, thermo gasket, window motor, shock towers), but I can't say I've found the interior bits to be sub-par.
To say that a stiff ride is a 'design flaw', well, it is if you don't want a stiff ride, but that's a preference vs. design flaw. There are solutions for that if you want to soften the ride - Koni FSD, conventional tires and a patch kit. It's probably due for shocks at 6+ years old.
You're definitely out of lemon law territory. Sounds like your best solution is to polish it up and sell it. It may be a nightmare, but you can choose to wake up. Bummer experience though.
Craptastic?
Screw-i-fication?

Edit:
Found your original thread. Guess plan b was the better answer.
If they had to replace the front suspension and a wheel at 16K, something definitely happened to the car. Doesn't explain the interior stuff though. Still, I'd say moving on is your best bet.

 

The cows may come and the cows may go, but the bulls#$% stays around forever!

 

I also think this poster is full of crap.

Sorry Ed but there are just way to many of these cars to have so many design flaws as you suggest.

The guy that bought my tires had a 2003 with 132,000 miles on it and it was still running like new. He did maintain his car and did replace tires, Brake pads, ETC. and said he never ever had such a good reliable car.

Any car with "Sport" suspension is going to ride harder then standard suspension.

There are just way to many Mini's running around the world that do not have any problems at all to say the car is crap. My 2009 JCW with Sport Suspension with 20,000 miles on it is still as tight and solid as the day I bought it. I have at least 500 or more miles on this car running around the track at Daytona Speedway. That is at high RPM and before they repaved the speedway it was one bumpy ride. I have not had one single problem and I still have no rattles. 3,000 plus miles going across I-4 to Tampa and back to Daytona on that bumpy crappy interstate and a couple of trips to Maryland without my doors falling off or any rattles at all.

Oh! I did get a chip in my windshield from a high pickup truck slinging a rock or piece of junk into it on I-4 and a couple of dents in my hood at the speedway on the high banks because my car only has a top speed of 148mph and the Porsche's etc. can run 185mph up and pass me like I'm standing still.There is a lot of very hard rubber ball type debris on the track from tires that will hit your car like a bullet. Other then that I have not had one single problem.

Either your car was in a wreck at one time or you are full of crap. (unless the girl you called just plain lied to you)

Cheers

 

+1

 

Sorry to hear a horror story like that. Sounds like a bad example of a MINI. Build quality is usually pretty good and also interior materials seem to be good. Mine is a 2003 with close to 140k and has on rattle and no broken interior parts. There are design flaws I just replaced the stock control arm bushings (wich are junk) with power flex the design appears much better.

 

It's very plausible he's having these problems. However, he seems to be attacking the cars we all love, so naturally, we will defend them.

Appears to me you got the last production vehicle before the employees went home for the weekend.

If everything is true though, that sucks. Don't let one scenario ruin your whole view on the MINI brand.

 

It's a car. Get rid of it. You lost some money. You will get over it. A real disaster would be an incurable health problem you or a loved one has. Look at the big picture here.

 

I am so tired of reading crap like this. I want to read about and see pictures of people driving and modding these awesome cars.

Post pics and how-to's of your interior/exterior, engine and suspension mods. We need more of that here on NAM.

 

To be fair, if you've racked up 140k on a tightly-sprung car like the MINI and only recently replaced the control arm bushings, I don't know if you can call them "flawed" or "junk". I'm due for LCA bushing as well, with only about half your miles, and I still consider that a fair service life.

 

I have an '06 cabriolet, fully optioned with every JCW accessory. Other than the motor mount and thermostat issues, it's been trouble free. And I'm a 6'1" and weigh 265. And I lean on the center arm rest. No parts in the doors or interior have broken and I've only had two problems with the top. One was my fault when I tried to close it with the folded dog kennel sticking up too high. And the other was the usual wear spots on the top. I had the top replaced under warranty and now when it's down, I simply insert a doubled over square of felt between the areas that wear. (The back corners of the top where the sides of the top at the rear of the drivers and passengers window folds into when the top is down.) I love my cabriolet.