I bought my 06 MCS JCW in Feb. Love the car. I had noticed a few little issues that i was going to have them check out when I took the car in for it's first service. I thought that the transmission was a little loud at idle. I also had a pretty loud whine on occaision ( Not the supercharger!) as well as having the Heater go bezerk on me once. Bezerk meaning that the fan went to full and all the lights went on and the temperature indicator went blank and none of the controls would work! The heater returned to normal after I stopped and restarted the car. There were also a few workmanship issues that I felt should be addressed as well. A little hardly noticable paint issue under the spoiler and the mini badge on the steering wheel not being attached.

Well yesterday my exhaust sound doubled in decibles. I called the dealer and made an apppointment for today - ahead of the first service.

It turns out that they will be doing the following work

Replacing the flywheel

They also claim that the tranny sound was due to having the incorrect oil in the limited slip differential. they will replace and retest. they may end up replacing the tranny

Exhaust coupler was defective and cracked. That too will be replaced.
The car will also be going into the paint shop to fix the minor defect on the paint.

They found a service notice on the heater and have added an additional ground strap.

They are replacing the airbag module on the steering wheel.

Sould take about a week all in.

Yikes! I hope this is not indicative of my future with this car!

josh

 

check with chows4us!

 

Welcome to MINI Quality Control, Quirks, and Reliability

Car is sure fun to drive but visits to the dealer ... a cot might be useful

 

^^^

 

Wow, that's terrible! I have a march build 06, and knock on wood, other than a slight buzz coming from the dash, all is well, no issues at all.....hope your problems are not indicitive of future quality!

 

oh you just jinx'ed it now!

 

The heater ground strap notice is a result of BC1 failures. I have a source at the dealer that just told me about this over the weekend. I was questioning BC1 failures and was told the heater system has been causing some problems with BC1s.

 

NO NO NO, I knocked on wood

 

Sorry but whats a BCI ?
Despite all of these issues, I cant wait to drive it again! I was actually amazed that some of things i was reporting were actually issues. Quite honestly I didnt think that the tranny noise was much at all. i just wanted them to really check the car out. I almost didnt say anything about it!

No Loaner. But I am impressed with the dealer taking care of it without hassle (so far)

Josh

 

Yikes! We've had only minor issues with our 06 JCW that we ordered last year and received in Nov. last year. Among them - sticking bypass valve, a pinched vaccuum hose (as a result of the replacement of the bypass valve), CV boot leak/split, CV joint relaced later, master brake cylinder leaking, exhaust pipe mount split...I think that's it.

 

No Loaner! If they have your car for a week, they should have provided you with some wheels.

 

Get used to it. I just turn my stereo up more.

 

They provide a loaner if you bought the car from the dealer. I did not because this dealer charged mega bucks over invoice. I bought from a dealer 380 miles away.

I should double check on the loaner but its not an issue as I have an extra car.

Josh

 

I was just wondering about that myself. I bought mine while I was living in NorCal, and it should be ready for me to take home next week, which I now live in Socal. I hope I don't get flak if I need a loaner from the dealership I take it to.

 

06 here... have been in a handful of times too... oct 21st was 1yr ani...

-Passenger door window motor cause one day it just stopped in the down position. 5 shop days due to upcoming weekend and no motor in stock for the 06.

-Bypass valve, map sensor, throttle sensor and software upgrade due to going into limp mode w/ SES P1688 when giving it the juice on the highway. They did the sensors reported on the SES then did the bypass and software when I came back the next morning with the same issue. about 2 shop days...

-Dual Mass Flywheel & New Clutch at 10K service due to ticking in neutral noise. 1 day in shop... excellent and speedy work on this one I must say!

Non-warranty work done:

-OEM alarm activation after installing of OEM siren, stalk & motion sensor. $103 BMW

-new window (PPG) due to rockchip. $50 and insurance window coverage. Ace Autoglass

-repaint of top due to big dent from big rock flung by a semi on highway. $600. Dent Doctors.

 

Well think of the fireside stories you'll be able to tell the grandkids about your MINI.

Seriously, I have an 3/06 build and it's been 100% defect free with with some MOD's, so hang in there.

 

No problems on my 06 JCW. 3-06 build date.

 

I have an october 2005 build, 2006 JCW checkmate no problems at all.

 

I have 2/06 JCW factory build. Flywheel replaced at 2,000 miles. Currently the car makes two ticking noises. One noise sounds like a catalytic converter cooling the other is a loud ticking noise that has a two-three second pause between ticking sounds and it's loud. I chose this car over another believing the jcw car to be more reliable than my other option.

 

BC1 (not BCI) is the Body Control module. It essentially controls all the activity in the car. When you flip a window switch, that just presses a button that tells the BC1 that you want the window up/down, and the BC1 tells the window motor to do the appropriate action. Same with the heater, etc. You set a temp, BC1 checks target temp with actual temp, then changes things (heat throughput, fan speed) until target temp is met.

 

I'm only having a few small issues on my May build 06 but nothing that can't wait until the 10K service.

A nagging high pitched buzz, sounds like a mosquito in your ear, from the fuel pump beneath the rear seat.

A dash rattle that comes and goes.

On occassion. A squeel/groan combination sound when releasing the clutch to start from a dead stop in first. It's not the LSD groan associated with turning the wheel. If you have listened to WRR. Todd had a similiar situation on his MCS.

Alignment problem for some reason. Makes the car twitchy over bumps and pulls to the left.

I have roughly 4k miles before the service. No need in a special trip as most problems except for alignment are intermittent. And intermittent problems are seldom fixed by my dealer.

 

........ And your Pez dispenser with plenty of Pez for those hungry moments while lounging on the cot.

 

Well, my 2006 MCSa was delivered on October 14th this year. It has been great until last week.

At roughly 2000 miles I heard a loud road noice coming from the front end when I would get to approiximately 30 MPH. The next day when I would be going straight and just touch the steering wheel slightly to the left I heard a loud scrapping noice from the from left side. :impatient

The dealer said he could make an appointment right after christmas, but I could keep driving as the brakes were working fine.

I then decided to look real close to see if I could find anything scraping on it. I found that the brake rotor was wearing real heavy just 3/4 inch in and it was about a 1/2 inch wide at that point. I called the dealer and he took it in right away and gave me a loaner car.

Ended up they were closed on Friday and Monday around Christmas and could not get parts in. They are replacing the complete wheel assembly. I don't know the details yet as they spoke to my wife.

They did not call yesterday saying it was done or if they received the parts. I will be calling today as I would like to take the car to a get together this evening and there will be another MINI owner there who does not yet know that I bought one!

Hopefully this is the only issue with the MINI as I really enjoy driving it!

 

Well here it is, the update from the MINI Service Department.

They informed us today that the BMW parts delivery is closed between Christmas and New Year and our parts will not make it in till sometime next week. It will be at least next Thursday before it can be repaired.

At least I have their loaner car to use. It is a standard non-supercharged. I am having fun with the five speed. Glad that I got the AUTO for full time use.

Maybe next week I'll have the MINI back.