Mini Cooper Reviews

Now I have to fix the alternator as well, which just went out several days ago. Other parts that have needed replacing include an engine temperature sensor (3 times), the bottom plate underneath the car, the battery (twice), power steering, brake pads and bearings. I'm so sick of fixing things on this car! Never have had a car with so many issues.

I emailed Rasmussen Mini people, ten or more times, but not one single answer. They don't seem to care after the warranty is off. If Mini's have trouble with the radiator, they should just come out and say so.

Their computer people are idiots--why would anyone think that they should totally reset my radio settings every time I get out of the car? Insane! The sunroof has no shield. At certain sun angles, the light is blinding--not a thing you can do about it--very dangerous. The instrument panel can be totally unreadable if you wear sunglasses with polarized lenses--totally blanks out your ability to read without removing your glasses. It was utterly stupid, and again, dangerous.

I talked to the service department. I stated that at times it would not start (no noise, nothing when the button was depressed). But since no warning indicators flashed, they were at a loss. Over the next year, the car was towed in 4 times for not starting. The first three times it was okay by the time they got to it. The final time, I picked up the car after a week of being in service. The very next day it failed to start. When I dropped the car off that day, I also left both sets of keys and told them I didn't want the car back. They actually found the faulty wire that time and it has started ever since (almost a year now). Now the problem is leaking. First, the water in the spare tire well, now under the passenger side mats and on the driver side, is causing a soggy seat belt. It has been in twice or more for leaking. I live in CT. It rains. Get over it. Occasionally, I go to the car wash, get over it. And, here's the kicker: I do park outside. This car needs to get over it!

Your Cooper is a fantastic car, if you drive it properly and maintain it regularly. It is a foreign sports car and as such, it's going to cost you a premium to get maintenance done. Parts are generally more expensive than you'll find in a GM or Toyota. You should know that going in. Learn to drive properly and don't beat on it, maintain it regularly and most importantly, find a mechanic who works on minis because most local guys will not understand the car as well.

I think it is unfair for consumers to complain about a company because they made a poor and/or ill-informed decision when buying a car.

On Saturday, 8/27/11 (10:30 pm), the car was sitting in drive. I came home, parked the car and didn't hear or notice anything. On Sunday, 8/28/11 (4:00 pm), a police came knocking on the door. My car was on fire. The plantation fire department was in the process of putting out the fire. The cause was unknown. The fire department guy said, "From the looks of this incident, whats seems to cause this was the electrical fuse." The flames were shooting 8 ft in the air. The car is totaled. There's no engine. There's nothing left besides some of the interior cabin.

Not today, though. I turned off the car and the power steering is still running. I can't get it to shut off. I called Bavarian BMW in Michigan and they said, "Just wait until it burns itself out. There isn't a recall but I can get you in here Monday to fix it for $1200."

Other people have had this issue and their car has caught fire. I'm worried.

I have read up on many occurrences on the same nature of these cars manufactured between 2002-2006 and I was surprised when all they offered to me was either 20% off of a new transmission or $4,000 on a trade.

I will be making my last payment in September and I was excited about the possibility of trading up for a newer model. Instead, I will own a car that is technically negative in value. I have two sisters and a best friend who each own mini Coopers because of my enthusiasm for the car. They know my story and are just as disappointed to hear that the dealership would not even meet their customer's expectation but would rather lose a customer and possibly four. I guess it is out of their hands after they sell the car. In fact, I never even heard from the sales department again after the purchase not even a follow-up call.

In summary, over the five years that I have owned this car, if I were to pay for the repairs it needs now, I would be the proud owner of a Mini Cooper S that has cost me a grand total of $55,000 (this includes the cost of the car and all repairs completed and still needed). Please help. Thank you.

I had three appointments for a window replacement and in all three times, no one showed. Nevertheless, I ended up calling Lauderdale MINI Service. I was informed that they had a window stock. I said, “Fine. I’ll call you back.” When I called back, they told me that they had the wrong part number so the window was not available. I asked if they could order me one. They said, “Sure. It will take a few days.”

So, I continued to drive the car. After a week, my clutch went out and I had to get it towed to a shop. When the mechanic looked at it, they informed me that the hydraulic line base split into two. And when they called MINI, they were told that the part was on back order from Germany. I said, “Wow. You’re kidding.” So I called MINI service about the rental and I was told that it was up to the dealer. I had called and spoke to Jessica about the issue. I informed her that I felt like I shouldn't have to pay for a car rental because it’s not my fault that the part is on back order. She told me to call MINI customer relations and there was nothing she could do. After I told her that I had already spoken with customer relations, I was passed the buck at least five times.

Now, I'm told by the mechanic that my battery is dead when I had just bought it two months ago. I have had a rental for three weeks and my car is going to cost well over $1,000.00. Still, I have no window because it is also coming from Germany. It seems like I am back to square one and I have no windows, no car.

When I called the service department, I spoke to a woman named Ann, who gave me all the information on my window. After a few days, she claimed that she never spoke to me so I’m still getting nowhere. I will never buy a MINI again. They are crooks.

Based on this I will not buy another $28,000 car from MIni who does not care

Our bad is, we own an auto repair shop, but she didn't let her dad check it before she bought it. She left the parking lot and I noticed a puddle under her car. When she came back there was no oil on the stick.

She called on the warranty (that the dealer had her purchase), but because she didn't tow the car 1/2 a mile back to the auto repair shop the warranty will not cover if the engine is knocking or locked up.

After getting it in the shop her dad noticed the oil light had been disabled from the dash and an oil sending gauge had been installed. The car had oil in it when she left or there would not have been a puddle. We were able to fix the oil pump and all the gaskets and sealed that were leaking. It seems to have been running okay; with the exception of mysteriously losing 2 quarts of oil after a week.

He's guessing a rod. So now she has $9000 in car payments, and may need a motor. Biggest piece of junk we have ever experienced.

For the parts to be on the high end (expensive), they sure didn't design a high quality car here.

Within the first month, my power steering pump went out nearly killing me and my wife. I tried to work through Mini USA and I was told to take it to a dealer who preceded to tell me that I had a whopping $3400 in repairs! I told them I just bought the car a month ago from them!

The car needed a P.S. pump ($1400), front control arm bushings, total shot ($900), crank pulley, balancer and belt which were warped ($500) and that the brake fluid and coolant were in terrible shape (remaining cost). Oh, and by the way, the tires were the wrong size. This is the way I was sold the car.

After fighting with the dealer, they replaced the pulley and belt and that's it. They told me "sorry, you bought a used car." Where is honesty? I thought we had a lemon law, it turns out not so much. I removed the p.s. pump and had it sent off and rebuilt for $225 and replaced it 30 minutes total. WHY is MINI so EVIL?

My car is a 2009 with 27,000 miles on it and I did not hit anything to cause the crack. I will have to pick up my plates and let them keep the car. I am 26 years old, still living at home, and I do not have the money to fix this.

I was unhappy to hear about it because I brought it up when I bought the car but since I am not an auto mechanic, I didn't have the technical name of what it did. It also knocked the loudest when the car was cold. What pissed me off is that they acted like I was crazy. The worst part is they accidentally gave me a copy of a service bulletin from Mini corporate that addressed the dual fly-wheel problem from 2006 then revised in 2007 then again in 2009. The long and short of it, they knew about the problem and according to the service bulletin, it allowed for repairs at customer request.

I called Mini corporate and told them my story. They said that they would help but didn't because the car hadn't been brought to the dealer in two years. In the end, nothing was done because the car was over four years old (although under the 50,000 miles limit). I did not know there was a drive train warranty of 4 years/50,000 miles. I assumed it was 3 years/36000 miles. This is the number one reason I didn't go back to the dealer. To add insult to injury, the dealer told me that if I had come before the car was four years old, they would have helped me, but I did, several times. Had I known how inferior Mini cars were, I would have opted for the extended warranty or another manufacturer.

I have owned over ten cars and never had a problem like this. I do not have $3,500 sitting there waiting to fix a transmission on a new car, especially after paying over $30,000 for it. I asked the dealer to get me in touch with the regional person and I'm still waiting three months later. I asked the dealer for something in writing stating that they are not covering it and still waiting on that. The sad thing is that, I have had better experiences with less expensive vehicles by other manufacturers like Toyota, Mazda, Nissan, Chevrolet, GMC, and Mercury.

I just wanted them to honor the service bulletin they knew existed. I just wanted my car fixed for a known defect.

The second time the same thing happened again at 80,000 miles. I was told it's because of the way I drive, which is a bunch of crap. I drove to Florida before this happened and had to have it repaired in Florida, which was a headache and cost me $3,600 dollars to fix. Now my mini is at 160,000 miles. Let's see if this crap happens again. If so, I'm selling it!

While I waited for them to give me the OK, it took a week or so for them to tell me that I drove it in the rain of some sort or the water entered the engine through an intake valve . I could not believe that they called this an act of God and that they do not want to honor the warranty. I never drove the car through any large puddles nor did I do any thing to endanger my car in any way. I argued for weeks on this and now all that BMW (who owns the car) claims is that it's out of their hands.

So I am now stuck holding the bag. The company is BMW on Tarrytown Rd in White Plains, N.Y. I was shocked. Now the only thing to do with this problem is to continue my quest for justice. I am paying off this car and no one cares.

I complained to Mini USA and they were of no help. I had to pay out of my pocket for repairs. I had to replace the power steering fan as well, the alternator went on the car just last year, the mechanic suggested the pulleys be replaced as well as a new belt and the battery needed to be changed as the old one was weak. Now, recently the car is making a rattling noise which my mechanic thinks it may be a timing chain issue which means all of the components associated with it need to be replaced and if this does not solve the issue, the cause of the rattle may be a faulty supercharger, all of which is not under warranty.

All these services and repairs on a car that has 62,000 miles is just horrible. I expected a lot more from BMW,. I am seriously thinking of selling this piece of crap and get whatever I can get for it and I will never buy another car from this company.

I come to find out that there are thousand of people who have experienced the Mini Cooper CVT problem with financial consequences that are devastating. I requested Mini to change the transmission to the new model so I could escape the CVT money trap. They have changed their transmissions and mounts so that the owner of these car that have the CVT are stuck with throwing them away or purchasing the $7500.00 rebuilt transmission.

BMW Mini offers no replacement parts for transmission shop in the USA and because they offer no rebuild parts, the CEO, CFO, and Board Of Directors of BMW Mini Cooper know you are trapped, and have deliberately designed this system because they know of this problem and will not offer the public a way out. By deliberate design, BMW Mini Cooper is committing the largest in your face fraud and is doing it publicly.

Most people don't know that BMW received a two million dollar import tax break when they started importing the Mini Cooper to the USA because it brought the mpg rating up to a specific level. Our US government has given this auto (BMW Mini cooper) maker two million dollar tax break to devastate its citizens. The legislative branch of our government are asleep at the wheel again or have been turning a blind eye to this assault.

I am upside down for $8600 in this car. As much as it make me want to vomit, I am trying to get Mini Cooper to give me the trade in value of the total cost of repairs of $9,100.00 towards a new Mini without the CVT. I can go and put down this kind of money on a new car, but I can't afford two payment and eventually, I would end up defaulting on one of the loans.

I almost lost my home because I live so far from work that without a car, I would lose my job which pay my mortgage. If you need me to testify or sign any affidavits to help you in suing these crooks or you know of any lawyers that have taken action against this corruption, I can help in any way. If any of you want to approach this from a legal matter, or have been notifying your senators or congress person, or need me to testify as to the corrupt business practice that BMW Mini Cooper is clearly demonstrating, please let me stand with you.

They knew then and know now that this transmission is defective and their conduct is reprehensible. If there is a God out there, may He take from the executive of this company in the same porting that they have taken from the average American family.

At least now, I know how to fix it. But it is annoying having to keep a gallon of water in my car and checking the level every day to make sure it isn't low. Overheating can cause all kinds of problems with an engine. I don't, if it's leaking or if the engine runs so hot that it evaporates. But a warning light saying low coolant level never comes on. The car's temperature gauge just overheats when stopped and cools back off while driving over 40 mph--very annoying!

Also, the service engine soon keeps coming on, and mechanics keep telling me it's probably the gas cap but could be other things. Wow. But other than that, it's a nice car. It gets 30 mpg which is great for a supercharged engine, and everything else works fine.

In November 2010, the engine light kept coming on intermittently. I ended up spending almost $1000 on repairs for a variety of problems from belt replacements to fluids. In January 2011, with less than 80,000 miles on the car, I took it in because the engine light kept coming on. One of the pistons was misfiring, which resulted in my having to have the engine retooled costing me more than $2500.

Today, May 2011, I thought I was just buying two new tires. The Mini mechanic said that my fuel pump is leaking and that the bushings are shot which will all cost me another $2500. I don't know about you, but I could be making new car payments for far less than I am paying out in repairs.

I am now afraid to keep my 2005 Mini Cooper for I do not know what else is going to go wrong and how much it is going to cost. I am very disappointed in the lack of quality and the enormous expense associated with the Mini Cooper. It is time for me to part ways with the Mini and time for me to purchase a more reliable automobile. In six months, I have paid out more than $6,000 in repairs on a Mini Cooper that has less than 80,000 miles.

The events of this day are as follows: I was unable to start my 2010 Mini Cooper car due to an ignition problem, and as a result I was forced to leave my car on Boylston Street in Boston, MA. At approximately 7:00 am that morning, I called Mini Roadside Assistance and was told that I had to purchase this service of $99.00 for the year, even though my car was less than 1 year old and under warranty. The woman representative on the phone looked up my car by my VIN number so she should have been aware that I did not need to pay for roadside assistance because I was covered under warranty, but she charged me anyway. This process took about 30 minutes.

I then had to go to work (an hour outside of Boston), and was told I could arrange all this via telephone, and called Mini from work. I was told that they would send out a tow truck and have my car towed to Herb Chambers Mini dealer in Boston (where I purchased my vehicle). I then got a call from Bostonian Towing Co., the company called upon by Mini, and I was told by the man that my car was damaged on three sides and that it was a liability to tow my car unless I signed a waiver, or called Mini and gave them permission. I told him my car was not damaged when I left it, and that is merely parked there. The tow truck person told me I was lying. Please imagine the intense overwhelming stress I am experiencing at this point. An hour from work thinking my car is damaged.

I then call the insurance company to file a claim. I call back MINI and I got a rep on the phone who told me that he cannot tow my car and it won't be covered. He said they will not tow my car because they did not know what the issue was, and if it was the key it would not be covered. I told the person I wanted my $99 dollars refunded and the MINI person yelled at me on the phone. The MINI rep then conceded and called back the man at Bostonian Towing and told him I waived responsibility for any damage. The Bostonian Tow person called me back and said he would go and get my car. At this point in time, it is around 1:00 pm and this ordeal with the MINI started at 7:00 am.

At 2:00 pm the Bostonian tow person called me and told me my car is no longer there, that it must have been stolen or towed by the city. Now I am totally frantic, and I call the Boston tow lots, the police, etc. For two hours, I was calling everywhere and there is no record of my car. The Police said they could not have towed it because its illegal to tow from a metered spot so it must be stolen.

Luckily I was parked outside the Four Seasons Hotel, and the security guard there was nice enough to go outside to see if my car was there. The security guard informed me that not only was my car still parked there safe and sound, but that there was no damage to my car whatsoever. The only thing on my car was a pile of parking tickets! I was and remain horrified.

I called back MINI and try to arrange for a tow at 7:00 pm and I would be there. The MINI person said that they would arrange this and call to confirm the company with me. I said not to use Bostonian towing. By 6:30 pm I had never received a call from MINI saying that I had a tow confirmation, so I called back for the 30th time to discover they never made a call and arranged for a tow at 7:00. Finally at this point, 13 hours later, they set up an appointment and the tow person came at 8:00 pm and finally towed my car.

I have incurred emotional distress and innumerable parking tickets as a result of this event. I filed a complaint and a woman from MINI called me back and said she would send me a check for the parking tickets. I have never received a check or a follow up call. In addition, I have tried to follow up numerous times (from work) and I am kept on hold forever, transferred to the wrong departments, transferred to BMW, and so on not one person has helped me and there is no where to file a complaint.

This is horrendous customer service and completely unacceptable. I should never have endured this emotional distress, expense of tickets and paying for a service that is supposed to be free on a car less than a year old under warranty. To date, nothing has been done to rectify this situation. At the very minimum I would like my tickets reimbursed immediately. This is the minimum, and something should be done for the rest of this ordeal. I have told this story too many times to too many people.

A mail to Gildemesiters management explaining my case for some attention wasn't responded and neither did they bother calling back. A shame that Mini has these problems - both technical and poor customer service - with all the money they spend in marketing and quality. Previously, my first Mini Cooper also suddenly lost power steering, making me almost crash into a curve. That time, the issue was managed by Williamson Balfour and was also resolved in more or less 6 weeks. As you can see, nothing has changed. Service is lousy!

The mechanic has worked on a lot of minis and said he had to switch out the transmissions on 4 in the last 2 months. I only have 45,000 miles on my car. It is going to cost me $3,500-$3,700 to have him rebuild it and frankly I am worried that this will just happen again. He said that we should not be using the synthetic oil because it is too thin. Frankly I am very upset. If there is a class action lawsuit I want to be a part of it. I contacted Mini and the news station but nothing yet. Why isn’t there more information about this?

At this point, I am extremely angry because Mini authorities told me that since I didn't buy the car from a Mini dealership and since I didn't do all of my maintenance at Mini authorized dealerships, that they were not going to take responsibility for their design flaw regarding the timing chain. Keep in mind that Mini sent a technical service bulletin to all its dealerships warning them about faulty timing chains in 2007 S models. It's obvious to me that Mini is clearly ducking responsibility for their design mistake regarding a substandard timing chain box.

If you own a Mini Cooper, you should take your car to a repair shop to have the oil supply line changed, it will plug it's a matter of time. I modified the new oil supply line, I work on aircraft and all engine compartment flammable supply lines have a flame resistance sleeve over the line.I used this same theory and put this protective sleeve to protect the oil supply line from the heat that will cause coking of engine oil inside the line. Looks great and will last forever.

Poor engineering design of oil supply line. Mini Cooper should cover this repair and won't. They have a SI to place a small cover over the area in question after the turbo fails and will cost the consumer 4200.00. The cover cost 18.00.

Roughly two months later, I had to replace the entire steering wheel pump for the same reason. All cost, with labor, at about $1,000. This is nuts. It's definitely a design flaw as the fan & pump are positioned in a vulnerable area. BMW put though into the visual aesthetics of the exterior design but failed to design/engineer the mechanics to weather the elements. For $30K, I expect much more from a car & a company. This isn't acceptable.

I was asked to cough up $300.00 more to determine if the problem was an electronic issue. If I paid $150.00 to have the car placed on the diagnostic system at the dealer, shouldn't it be diagnosed? The car has less than 60,000 and I drive 5 miles to work each day. I was told the island is rough on these cars and that is why there are problems. I was told that the dealership has not heard of any transmission problem in my Mini Cooper S. I bought the car when it had 50,000 from the dealer and feel this car had issues that they new about.

Is there a class action suit on this model? What are my rights when the dealer keeps asking for more money and I still do not know what the problem is? Please help.

I called Mini U.S.A. about this and was basically told" Oh well, these things happen,Sorry". Here's a car with 44,000 miles on it and the transmission goes. Never again Mini Cooper. Buyer beware. My local mechanic told me not to buy it just for this reason. I should have listened to him.

Now at 52,00 highway miles service engine, soon light came on and Mini says I have to replace the head and gaskets to the tune of $4500! They tried to blame me by saying I must have been putting bad gas in it. I have never had a car that was so expensive to maintain and dealer so crappy to deal with. Needless to say, I am out $4500 and will never buy another Mini Cooper and will most likely get rid of this one.

On the drive back to Las Vegas where I live, I had to have it towed back to the dealer because a clamp was not put on correctly. Now, two months later, I get a service engine that soon lights on. I take it to Desert Mini of Las Vegas and it appears the problem has to do with the super charger belt. Possibly a clamp not being put on or done incorrectly. I feel that Mini of Ontario should pay for the labor charges, which I was told was about $300.00, since they did the original work and it was not done right. This car has cost us more than it is worth and I can see more repairs coming. Something should be done about the inferior craftsmanship and someone should be held accountable.

Last night my husband drove it and when he stopped it sounded like a fan was running and he didn’t think a lot about it (he figured it would shut off after it cooled down), but when he came back to the car to leave the battery was dead and he had to have it jumped. He drove back home and turned the car off and it sounded like a fan was still running. He raised the hood and it wasn’t a fan running like he thought, it seemed to be something to do with the power steering and even when the car wasn’t running, it still had power steering. My husband ended up unhooking the battery just to get it to stop running and we are not sure what we should do now.

We also have in the family a 1989 Alfa Romeo Spyder with 54000 miles on the clock. If any car has a delicate clutch, it's the Alfa. The point being that we have a bad car with a company that does not stand behind its product. As long as we were buying Minis and not complaining, we were as good as gold but now that we have a problem, Mini/BMW does not want to know us. In fact they will not even return phone calls. A problem I noticed which is common amongst literally hundreds of other customers whom I have read about on the Internet. In short I will not be recommending the Mini/BMW Brand to anyone in the future nor will we be buying any more of their products.

Lastly, if anyone out there is considering a joint lawsuit, count us in.

I am a 56 year old woman and was stranded on the highway in Kentucky all by myself. I called for roadside assistance. The guy arrived and told me that there was no Mini Cooper dealer for 200 miles and they suggested I have them tow it to Cincinnati. I don't know a soul in Cincinnati and I did not want to go back 200 miles. I called my daughter and she immediately left Atlanta to try to come and rescue me, although it would be hours before she would arrive. She had called her auto mechanic and he told her she could probably tow the Mini with her Ford Explorer. In the meantime, the state police showed up, very, very nice gentleman. I told him that I was not sure what to do and what my daughter had planned. I discussed it with him and the roadside service guys. The trooper told me that they actually thought my daughter might be able to tow it and that there was a U-Haul at the next exit just a little way down the road.

I had the roadside service people tow the car to the U-Haul and waited until 10:00 am for them to open. When they did, they informed me that we could not use a Ford Explorer to tow the Mini, that it was against company policy. Remember when there was all that trouble a few years back with Explorer tires and all of the lawsuits? Well, apparently, U-Haul got pulled into those lawsuits so they will not let you tow one of their trailers with an Explorer. However, they informed me that they could rent me a truck and trailer so I could tow my car myself. They called a 76-year-old guy to come and get my car up on that trailer and he did it with a hand winch all by himself. I was scared to death. I have been driving nothing but small cars for years and now I have a huge truck and trailer with my car on it to tow to Atlanta in 70 mph traffic.

I ended up behind another accident a couple of hours down the road. I had been hanging onto the steering wheel so hard my hands were numb. I went into a convenience store and got the truck filled up. Unfortunately, I could not pull it back out because of the way cars were parked. I wanted to sit on the curb and cry like the girl I still am. I got up and walked around the truck and trailer and could see the only way I was going to get out was to go the wrong way down a one-way exit and that is what I wound up doing. I finally arrived in Atlanta at 9:00 pm at night. I pulled into my daughter's apartment complex and she came running into the parking lot. We both expected that I would not make it. I was literally terrified I would crash that truck and my car.

The roadside people again arrived and towed my little car to my daughter's mechanic. After reading what happened to everybody else with clutch problems on their Mini's, I knew it was futile to even try to get the dealer to do anything and that it would be a $3000.00 job. I have 50,000 miles on my Mini and I am sure, just like everyone else, I would be blamed for that fried clutch. I have been driving cars with manual transmissions for 40 years, since the day I turned sixteen, and I have never ever had to replace a clutch. I did not have $3000.00 to pay Mini to fix the car so I had to trust my daughter's mechanic. I have been in Atlanta for five weeks. The car has turned into the nightmare from hell for our mechanic. He states that he has never had such a difficult repair job. He was working on it again on Friday, when something (I don't know what) gave on the car, hitting him in the head causing a severe concussion.

At this point, I don't know what I am going to do. It cost me $700.00 to tow the car to Atlanta from Lexington. I paid this guy for the parts and the car is still not done. I have not been home or seen my husband in six weeks. I may have to abandon the car and fly home. I may very well end up having to pay for a car for the next three years that I no longer have. I am going to buy another car when I can afford it, but it will never be another BMW product, not ever! I could post another whole long story about my daughter's BMW that would make you cringe at the financial consequences to all of us. I am going to buy a car that can be fixed in any city in the USA. Cute will not be a factor.

I cannot say except where is the value of money and the high expectations you promised me your customer with (safety luxury state of the art car). I am really disappointed as during the whole last year, I did not enjoy this claimed luxury more than a month because of the frequent problems and the frequent visits to the useless service center.

I am counting on your customer centric thoughts of dealing with such complaint. Please find below my requests: 1. MINI international personnel to contact MINI Egypt to investigate the root cause of these problems (they confirmed that this is not a misuse) as I am sure of. 2. Full compensation for the whole period the car in service center. 3. Replacement with the same category during the service period (as my car is in the service center since a week now and I was promised to get it back twice however the service promise was broken). 4. Brand new car same model same color to avoid such problems after warranty period.

The car price in Egypt is around 74K USD which could buy a better car experience beside some court fees. I need someone that can listen as the service center here in Egypt either not capable or not listening, as I am doubting MINI is not a trust car that I can count on in my day to day usages.

He said yes to me again. This is not acceptable! I don't have a garage, I live in SO Florida and there is no such thing as a safe neighborhood. Why can't Mini Cooper fix the module. This is ridiculous. I have never sued anybody and I don't want the aggravation, but most of all, I don't want my car stolen or rained into! It's a 2007, with less than 13,000 miles. I loved it, until now. I can't afford to buy another car. I'm 73 years young, and struggling on my social security.

Physically, it's affecting me. I am not well. I have Lupus and Crohn's (both of which, brings on attacks). I have fibromyalgia, interstitial cystitis, 2 herniated disks,, arthritis, ileostomy from colon cancer, and more. The damage is what I am trying to prevent, and it's just not acceptable that it will, or can happen again. It's not a calming way to live with this at the back of my mind. I have my neighbors checking my car when they go to work. I'm out there at 2 AM, checking on my car. I should not have to go through this. I liked my car, and can't afford another. It is still like new.

This seems excessive expense for a car with only 60,000 miles on it and it is frustrating that there is no alternative or remedy provided by BMW/Mini. I called Mini of Concord and talked to Service Manager and he has no answer why a transmission should go bad at this low mileage. There are so many complaints and I am sure a good attorney can bring a class action suit against this company and win. $8000 to 10,000 to fix a car that is only worth about $10,000 in good working condition.

Also, the power steering causing fires in them (one of the major noises that I complained of) and still no recall? They will not take any responsibility for any of these issues and they are nasty to deal with when it comes to these issues. I need help from someone about this matter. I still hold a loan with a $4,000 balance on a car that doesn't run! I have no transportation to work now. This has become an emotional upheaval in my life and I have wasted over $20,000 on a car that is no longer of any use to me!

My transmission and clutch went last year at the same time. Sometimes, the windows don't open. I'm upset with the fact that BMW makes them and that's how they last. Don't you think you should make a good product to back your name on something. It's unsafe. The door doesn't even open, a safety hazard. What if the car caught on fire? I would be burnt. I think that something needs to be done about this issue.

I can't afford this fee and my only option is to give up my car for which I struggled to pay off once the recession hit. I was very excited to learn about importing my car and having it forever if possible. My question is: Is there any other way to deal with this matter? and why do I have to pay so much for a letter? It seems I pay 500 to 700 dollars for anything I have to do with this car. I really want some advice if you can help.

Now, the driver's door will not unlock with the inside door handle and the passenger side door will not lock or unlock with the electronic switch or remote (it will with the inside door handle-- go figure). I have been living with this and would repair them myself except the door locks are not included in the service manual I have. Yesterday, the service engine soon light came on to indicate a problem with the emissions system and I am just at 67,000 miles. To top it all off, there is a crack spreading across the windshield.

Quite honestly, as much as I enjoy driving the Mini Cooper, I am afraid to take it out of the garage for fear something else will break. If I can ever get everything working for a day, it will be sold. I have a 2003 Ford Focus ZX3, purchased new, with 122,000 miles (mostly commuting on mountain roads) and we have not spent as much on its maintenance in seven years as we have in the Mini in under one. As much as I love to drive the 2003 Mini Cooper, our next car will be either another Ford or a Honda. Every Ford or Honda we have had has lasted for well over 100,000 and over 10 years without this many problems. I paid about $11,000 less than a year ago and it has cost over $4,000 for repairs, so far. I figure at least $1,000 more before I can sell it for, maybe, $10,000. So, it has cost over $500 per month to own a 2003 Mini Cooper.

That was the end of it. The car had to be towed to the local BMW dealer for a repair estimate. To my surprise, the repair bill for the transmission was over $9000, which equals the value of the car. This problem with CVT transmission should be addressed once and for all by the manufacturer. Customers were used as guinea pigs for their new technology, but only at our cost. This is unfair. We all talk bad about Toyota cars, but at least they decided to recall the vehicles and fix them. Why is BMW acting different? Maybe because they build disposable cars, only designed to be used for 2-3 years, traded in and replaced for a new model. It is time for an attorney to take action on behalf of the hundreds if not thousands of people that had severe problems with their Mini Coopers.

Now, in April 2010, after putting 15,000 miles on it, I am looking at 7 to 9 thousand dollars for a new transmission, over half of what I paid for the car and I still owe about 12 thousand on the car and of course I have no warranty. As if living paycheck to paycheck isn't enough, now I have a loan and insurance for a car I cannot afford to fix!

Anybody know if there is a Class Action lawsuit filed in regards to this transmission? Was there a recall? Is anybody taking responsibility? I still love my Mini, only now it's a 12,000 paper weight! Or better yet, perhaps I could cut holes in the floor, throw my dinosaur in the back and Flintstone it to work, yabba dabba dud!

The car handles wonderfully and is fun to drive but requires a lot of disposable income and that you live near a dealer. The car has been a very pretty money pit and that is with many things done free at the L.A. dealer, Universal Mini, who so far, have been very good. I am going to sell it before the 50,000 mile mechanical warranty goes out. Also, because of my internet searches, I am not the only one with the cold start problem.

I spent all day at the dealer in Sacramento, CA finding out the problem was either the fuel pump or carbon build up on the valves, something I knew before I left home in Lake County. Because the dealer could not duplicate the problem, they could not determine which of the two possibilities were the problem so they could not fix the car without my leaving it for another day or two, which I could not do at the time. I asked them to fix both if they were not sure and they replied that BMW would not let them fix both items. I have never owned a newish car to have so many problems nor have parts like tires and brakes wear out so prematurely (and be normal) and I have owned over 50 cars in my lifetime.

I contracted with a local auto body repair shop (Shanahan's Autobody, Sacramento, CA) to fix the damages, but they were unable to fill the transmission with fluid, so they had to tow it to the dealer, Niello BMW. Shanahan only guarantees mechanical repairs for 90 days, stating that sublet work should be guaranteed by those suppliers. Niello BMW replaced the transmission pan and filled the transmission according to the invoice. All seemed well until I started having problems with the transmission again (March 15, 2010), with no indication that the transmission was going bad, i.e. no indicator light came on. As a result, I had to have my car towed to the dealer. The dealer told me that I needed a new transmission. The car only has 43,000 miles on it, and already it is going to need a third transmission.

The dealer tried to reopen the insurance claim from the accident, stating they didn't know if the damaged transmission was a residual of the accident. The insurance company (21st Century Insurance) refused to reopen the claim, stating that replacing the transmission ($6,000-$8,000), plus the cost of the other work ($7,888.70) done on the car as a result of the accident would exceed the market value of the car. They recommended scrapping the car, a car that is in excellent condition, if it were not for the transmission. I understand the insurance company's position to a certain degree.

The question I have is who is responsible for paying for a new transmission? The dealership can't be sure the transmission was damaged during the accident and I can't be sure it was just another faulty transmission to begin with. The Mini Cooper 2005-2006 models are known to have transmission problems. In fact, I was contacted by a group of Mini Cooper owners who want to start a class action law suit. The economic impact is that after the accident, I decided to refinance my car and I also borrowed from the bank to help reduce some credit card debts. I had not had a pay raise in two years and needed a more manageable budget. Now, I have a car that is only good enough for parts, no transportation for work and I can't afford a new transmission. Even if I had the money to buy a new transmission, I'm not sure I'd want to buy another good for two years transmission.

Since November till now the car has shifting problems, like when I brake it kind of skids and jumps or jolts and when picking up speed it does not shift and in order to do that it jumps and then it shifts. It used to do it on the street but now even on the freeway. The other day as I was switching lanes it would not accelerate. I almost got killed by a big truck because my car did not pick up speed. I have taken it to the dealer and they "think" it is the transmission that will cause about $8000 and suggested me to buy a new battery because that can be the problem. I paid almost $300 with labor. That was not the problem. Who knows what the problem is; the mini dealer does not. I don't guess. I do not have money or the time to play the guessing game here.

Someone should take responsibility for these repairs. I thought it was just my car but now I see am not the only one. What it the US government doing to help us the consumers? Look at Toyota. People are risking their lives and they said nothing. How many people have to die to make car companies be liable to repair their bad cars? I love my mini but I can't afford repairs--they are outrageous. I have lost wages, sleep and almost lost my life this time. What about my sanity? I can’t sleep thinking how am I ever going to pay for the repairs. I had to go my doctor. I am so depressed. This car was a gift from my husband for our 10th anniversary and he is no longer with me. This is the only thing he left me. I don't want to trade in for another car but I can't pay for repairs either.

Every time I bring it in, the service guys can't seem to figure out what's wrong with it and I swear, I feel like I'm delusional because they can't find the problem. I've been there 3 times this week because they don't have loaners and I need my car to go to work. I brought my car in with 70 miles left on the gas tank and when it was returned to me, I had 43 miles left on it, service adviser said that they drove around and during traffic. But I know my car, I know that if you have the AC on and drove in traffic you'd use more than 27 miles. So I think they are just giving me the runaround until my car completely fails on me.

It's scary to drive because the last time I drove it during traffic, it revved up 3 or 4 times when I pressed lightly on the gas. I can't imagine what a horrible situation I would have been in if I pressed on the gas normally and zoomed in to the car in front of me or stall in that spot. I'm dreading the work that they'll have to do and how much it'll cost to fix it.

I immediately called the BMW dealership I usually had it serviced at and took it up there. Within a couple of hours, they told me it was low on fluid and was leaking around the transmission. They said it would need to be flat-bedded to the nearest Mini dealership due to the fact that everything on Minis require "special tools". I had it flat-bedded to the Towne Mini dealership in Buffalo, NY on Saturday, Feb. 20th, 2010. I walked into the service center and told the service rep that I was there to drop off my 2003 Mini Cooper for its appointment. He asked me what was wrong and I said "there is a problem with my automatic CVT transmission". As soon as I said that, the rep jumped into a rant about how I shouldn't read online forums, because they only replace 2 automatic transmissions a year at Towne Mini.

They told me a technician would "take a ride with me". I responded that it wasn't a good idea, but they were the technicians so of course we ended up going. We got in the car and it started up fine like it had a thousand times before. But you could hear and feel the transmission under your feet stressing and eating away at itself. The technician popped it into drive slowly and lightly pressed on the gas. The car immediately red-lined and jerked forward into gear. We made it maybe 100 feet to the parking lot's stop sign.

When we went to pull out onto the main driveway, the car jerked again but this time there was nothing on the other end. The car simply revved and would not go into gear. We coasted for a second and then the technician applied the brakes. The technician giggled and said "Well, it’s the tranny," which we already knew was the problem. So, the tech put my car in reverse and backed all the way to the spot I initially had the car. I got out and was told they would call me on Monday with a status report on what exactly was broken.

On Sunday, Feb. 22nd, 2010 with the dealership closed, I decided to research the Automatic CVT transmissions myself and found a staggering number of posts related to the faulty transmission. There were even posts from Mini owners that hadn't even gone over 35,000 miles on their new car, because the transmission needed to be totally replaced. I also found that Mini knows about this problem so the automatic CVT transmission is no longer available with the new Mini Coopers. And Mini currently has a lawsuit against the transmission in Canada. I researched for over 5 hours and printed out over a hundred pages of research on the faulty transmission.

On Monday, Feb 22nd, 2010 I called the dealership around noon to be told that my Mini was in need of a new transmission. I asked how much the transmission would cost and the service rep told me "usually around $6800 for just the transmission". I immediately felt my heart drop. I had nowhere near that amount of money. The service rep said he would give me a call back around 5 to tell me actual prices so I patiently waited.

Around 5pm I received a call to tell me that the transmission was going to be $6,825 and with installation it was going to be $9,380. Knowing that Mini has had troubles with the transmissions, I asked Towne Mini for the Mini-USA number and gave them a call. After telling the customer service representative about everything she told me that she would try to get "Mini Goodwill" to pay for the repairs, she said it would take 3-5 days to figure out whether or not it would be covered.

On Thursday, February 25th, 2010 after a couple of calls and a trip up to get my owner’s manual out of my Mini Cooper, Mini USA decided it would not uphold its obligation to its customers and offered me no support. This leaves me to pay almost $10,000 for a transmission that is faulty. I'm at the point where I do not want them to replace the transmission. I want a full refund for what I paid on the car from Mini.

I brought it to my regular mechanic three times while this was occurring and by the time they were able to tie the problem firmly to the transmission. They also said they couldn't do anything about it. The reason being that it is very difficult (some say almost impossible) to get replacement parts for Mini's CVT transmission in the US or to find anyone aside from a dealer to work on them and in general, the entire unit must be replaced.

But being as there are computer issues it could be, I called my dealer (Towne BMW/Mini in Williamsville, NY) the same day of my last mechanic visit and scheduled to bring it in for diagnostics. Well, after a test drive to show them the problem and an hour and a half in their back room. They gave me back a car that now grinds and stutters and which the RPM may shoot up to 5000 plus at any speed above being stopped or in park. They also gave me an estimate for replacing the transmission and TCU on my Mini (the latter of which they told me they switched with another faulty unit they had around for years that had a 'flutter' to see if the same problem would still occur, but I don't know if they switched it back, as this was supposed to just be to test the TCU) which came to $8267.71! That's more than my car booked at when I checked it's resale value online!

And PS, when I drove it back to Towne BMW/Mini in Williamsville after driving it for a block and complained that the car was now driving much worse than it was when I brought it in, the assistant service manager Mark H told me it was still safe to drive and should get me home and that the stuttering and other problems would stop after about 10 miles when the car's computer 'relearned'. I told him I couldn't go home. I had to go to work, which is past Niagara Falls NY over a forty mile round trip every day.

Mr.H told me it should still be fine for that and that after a bit of driving the car would act just like it did when I brought it in that morning, 2/23/2010, which was yesterday. Well, after a day of driving, it is still exactly the same as when I drove it off their lot, which means much worse than when I drove it in. My car does not seem at all safe to drive, it's unreliable but it is paid in full. My 2003 Mini Cooper is now a paper weight that cost me over $22,000. Seems like a lot of money to buy a car that is for all purposes 'junk' after six and a half years.

That Wednesday of that week, leaving home within 2 blocks my car was not moving so I went back and called Mini to pick it up. They told me engine parts melted and broke off, also the exhaust was damage and some brackets. The adviser Ryan said it could be because I ran the engine while overheating. I told him that I never got a warning light or any smoke from overheating. Then he said I might have missed shift and missed a gear. I advised Ryan I have been driving stick shift for over 10 years. He said he had to send it to Mini to check the computer.

About a week later, he told me the Mini tech told him it's because of downshift and going over the RPM's 6.7 when red line is 6.5 and that's why it won't be covered under my warranty. He advised to call Mini, I did and talked to three representatives. Last one was, Aaron, a regional manager he looked further into it and said the same thing - my fault. I have 39,000 miles, the warranty is 50,000 (4 years). I have read forums where they talk about the same issue and the problem was the cam chain tensioner.

On Wednesday, Jessica from Mini Cooper Concord called me and told me that my new car needs transmission replacement. I called different days and everybody was telling me that they can not help me because it is not their specialty. On Wednesday I went to get a loner car and I spoke with Viki the manager and I told her to replace my car because it broke down only after 3000 miles and she said she can not do that. Sshe told me to call Mini USA, but she doubts that they will replace my car.

So I called Mini USA and I talked with Cody. He was not too much help. After I was with him on the phone for 10 minutes trying to get a new car, he kept saying no because he does not think is a lemon car. I said, ok, then what are you offering me? He asked me what do you want? I told him I want extra 50.000 miles warranty on my car and a car payment; he told me I can not have both, and he will check with different managers to see what he can do.

On Saturday, my car was ready to be picked up when they called me. I told them I will not pick up my car until I have the answer from Mini USA about my extra warranty. So I called Cody 3 times and left him messages until finally he called me back and he told me that because my car was ready in a week and they replaced my transmission and gave a loner car; they don’t think they need to do anything extra for me. He said he talked with Viki from Concord and other manager and that is what they decided.

Their service is bad and the cars are the worst cars ever. I will never buy a Mini Cooper again and I will tell everybody that I know what kind of cars these are. My car had only 3000 miles; just think about it. No help from them. I don’t trust my car anymore. I don’t think I should pay $500 for 5 years for a car that already broke down on me. It is not fair and I told those people from Mini when I bought this new car with zero miles I never thought it will break down only after 7 months from the day I bought it. Mini Cooper is bad.

What I found astounded me. It seems that this supercharger was manufactured with cheap seals. It was also manufactured with two oil check locations that no one knows about. Over time, these cheap seals go bad which causes the oil inside the supercharger to basically "evaporate". The leaks are not visible to the owner. Mini Cooper claims that the supercharger is "unserviceable" by the owner, makes no mention of oil needs and by the time you've heard the noise, it's too late. The only way to check the oil level (if you would be lucky enough to find out you can check it) is to completely remove the supercharger which means a major tear down of the components.

During my research, it has become apparent that this failure is very common. It almost appears as though the supercharger was designed to fail right after the car warranty expires (naturally). The consumer/owner has three choices, buy a new supercharger from Mini for $2,100, a "rebuilt" one for $1,600 or have the original rebuilt with better components for about $1,000. In addition, when the supercharger goes out, the water pump usually goes with it since the water pump is driven by the supercharger. This all adds up to a major repair bill no matter how you slice it. It's not a matter of "if" your supercharger is going to dry out and fry, it's "when". The car is still being repaired, but at this point, the cost (so far) has been about $1,500 and this is through a friend of mine who's a mechanic. This is just for parts. I'm estimating by the time I'm done, it will be over $2,000.

While my car was at the dealership, a large deep scratch (horizontal) happened and nobody will claim responsibility. They wanted me to drive all the way back to SA so they could see the scratch with no guarantee that they would fix it. When you try to go to the next level of management, they block you. Anyone above the local manager (District Manager) are inaccessible! They have very poor customer service and are insulting. They refunded my $125 diagnostic fee to try and make me go away, and stop calling. I will never return to this dealership and do not recommend anyone use them. Thank goodness the new Mini service dealership here in Austin will be open in February of 2010.

The car just ceased to go into gear; obviously, had I been on the freeway on a road trip in the middle of traffic, this could have been really dangerous. I had the car towed to the repair shop. I paid the $7,200 to have the car fixed, rented a car during the repair period. How good is the new transmission? It has a two-year warranty (big deal).

Early on, during the initial three-year car warranty period during which I had many negative experiences with Mini/BMW service, I concluded that I would never buy another BMW. I paid nearly $30,000 for this car. A repair bill of $7,200 at 41,000 miles is unconscionable. The transmission problem, the lack of response, support and responsibility on the part of BMW of North America trashes whatever resale value I might have had in the car. America/Mini bears some kind of responsibility for a transmission in which the metal belt disintegrates at mileage as low as 41,000, especially considering conscientious driving and maintenance. I have some pictures of the opened transmission and metal bits from the disintegrated belt, as well as a reasonable detail from the repair shop.

After I drove back home to TN with the roof up (I didn't want to chance not being able to close it correctly if it were to rain), I immediately called Mini of Nashville. I spoke to Gary, the manager, who said to bring it in, a 3.5-hour drive. He told me it was the switch in the trunk, and I asked him if it could be something different because I already knew about the switch from the manual and it was the latch that wasn't releasing. I felt he should have checked the track that rolls back the top. My Mini only had 28,000 miles on it at that time. I got home and the same thing happened, the latch would not release. I called Gary and he told me I was no longer under warranty and that it would cost $3,000 to fix, all without inspecting it. He told me it was a mechanical problem and I told him the rail that moves the top to open was still working just not enough to release the latch.

I got nowhere with Mini of Nashville. I called Customer Service and emailed and spoke to Trista at least 6 times asking for help. She told me that I'd have to take it to an authorized dealer again which I did. Atlanta was closer and I believe I spoke to Brian, one of the managers. He walked out to the car looked at it and told me it was out of warranty like I already didn't know that. I told him this problem started while in warranty. I got nowhere. He didn't document the visit or reason, same as Gary in Nashville. I contacted Trista and she told me there was nothing they could do due to the fact it was out of warranty and there was no documentation on my records about the faulty top, just a service visit. I would not have driven all those miles for an oil change. Due to the fact neither representatives for Mini never wrote down the problem or what they did, I was out of luck!

I called Trista and insisted to talk to a supervisor and this was in Sept. of 09 one year later. His name was Patrick; I got the same runaround, but he promised to call me in a week. It never happened. I left 2 messages with him without a response. Today, 11-4, I called any and spoke to a different supervisor who turned me over to Patrick. Patrick was "busy" at the time and "promised" to call today - nothing. I don't have $3,000 to fix this car I'm no longer enjoying and will never buy another Mini or BMW. I bought it to save money on gas! If there is anyone who has similar experiences with Mini of Nashville or Atlanta, please contact me. Maybe things can get done in numbers! I just want to get this car fixed and then sell it and buy an American made vehicle.

The car went in for that rattle a few more times and it was never corrected. I was told it was a chain tensioner and I would have to live with it. The car's first check-up coincided with a transmission warning light symbol on my dash. The light wasn't on by the time I got to the dealership, and it wasn't included in the service write up (just now realized that). They replace the chain tensioner because I still complained about the rattle. It still rattles.

On 3/09, I took my car in for a tailpipe recall notice. On 6/09, the car goes in for its 2nd annual routine maintenance and for the transmission warning light again. The car is 2 years old and has 15,700 miles on it. On 7/09, my car starts idling rough, although intermittently, while at stop signs or signals. It feels like a big gust of wind hitting the car, but it's obviously coming from the engine compartment. On 8/09, the car takes four times to start one morning and the rough idling is now more apparent. It goes to the shop and one of the two fuel pumps is faulty and it is replaced.

On 9/09 (17,700 miles on the car), three weeks after the High Pressure Fuel pump is replaced, the car starts idling rough again. Back into the shop, and I tell them to please find the problem because I am going on a 1,500 mile desert road trip in two weeks. The service tech claims that there is nothing wrong the car. I asked them to please check it again because I don't want to become stranded in the desert. I am again told it's fine. Front brakes are replaced at this time.

On 10/09 (18,700 miles on the car), I was about 70 miles away from home when I got into heavy traffic (the shoulder of the road was not wide enough to safely park my car). I took my foot off of the gas and applied the brake. At approximately 20 mph, the car began to shake and by the time the car was completely stopped, it was shaking violently. My head and my passenger's head were hitting the seat. It felt as though it was fuel starved. It was impossible to pull to the side of the road, so I had to put it into neutral and give it gas simultaneously. It really didn't help. I drove like this for at approximately 10 minutes before I could safely pull over, but by that time the road speed increased and the car ran better.

I decided that I would drive home at least as far as the car allowed. The car was fine at freeway speeds, but then shook hard at the toll plaza on the Golden Gate Bridge. I limped all of the way and as soon as I got my car in front of my house, the engine light came on and the car died. This time it had to be towed into the dealership. Luckily for me I didn't go on the desert road trip because I hadn't put the 1,500 miles on the car since the previous complaint. I would have been stranded in the desert. This incident tripped 9 engine codes. An intake valve was "stuck open".

On 12/2/09 (today and 19,300 miles on car maybe) while parking at my job yesterday, the transmission warning light comes on again. My car is spending the night at the dealership tonight. This time it needs its gear shift assembly replaced. If going through all of those major repairs on such a young vehicle isn't bad enough, the dealership is almost 20 miles away and the service staff is mostly apathetic (I had only one professional person) until it comes to asking for a 5 star review for their performances. I could go on, but I will stop here. I loved this car and I wanted it so very badly, but it is turning into a huge disappointment. I'm glad that when I purchased this car, I kept my 15 year old vehicle (with 100,000+ miles on it), otherwise what would I drive when the Mini is inoperable! Good thing I got the extended warranty.

Currently my car is under warranty, but I have brought this car in for various problems multiple times before the problems are corrected. These are all major repair and the mileage on the car is still very low, lower than average for the car's age. I am a couple of months out of the lemon law period, but I want Mini to take this car off my hands. I no longer trust its reliability. I don't know what they will do.

On 3/13/09, the engine was knocking again. On 3/17/09, I called the dealer again and got nowhere talking to **. (I went online and found out that there was an issue with the turbo vehicles having an issue with a cold engine chatter that was noted on many of the Mini Forums. MINI2.com, NorthAmericanMotoring.com, MotoringUnderground.com, MotoringFile.com, etc. It was posted on NAM, northamericanmotoring.com that my dealer wouldn’t do anything). On 3/20/09, in an email, I mentioned my concerns to my salesman ** and received no reply about the issue.

On 4/06/09, I called and left numerous messages with the service manager, **. He never returned my calls. I was later contacted by email from two forum members asking for my VIN and build date. They also wanted copies of all correspondence I had with Mini of Nashville. I declined to give them the information. I called ** again airing my concerns. He said that I could have the vehicle towed in at my expense (his estimate was $600 for the towing). I declined due to the cost and the spermatic knocking. After questioning him about the chain tensioner issues I had heard about on the forums, ** said that my Clubman was not in the build date parameters.

4/29/09-5/03/09, I attended Minis on the Dragon and was starting my car up in the public areas and once more, the car started knocking badly. I was approached by a Mini tech from Alabama and he said “Sounds like you have the Death Knock too”. He also referred to it as the “Cold Start Chatter”. He said that Mini had a fix for it. The Alabama tech found me again, gave me a piece of paper with a PUMA reference ** or ** written on it and said that I should call Mini USA the next time it happens and complain and have the car towed in at no charge using Mini re-unite program.

On 5/18/09, my car once again started to knock badly, so I called roadside assistance. On 5/19/09, the car was towed to your dealer for repairs. It took 2 days for ** to let me know the car had made it to the dealership eventfully excessive engine noise was noted by the tech and the timing chain and all related components were replaced. On 5/27/09, the car was returned to me under the Mini re-unite program at no charge. About 2 weeks after getting my car repaired, I got a postcard stating that my parts were in and to contact the service department to schedule to have them installed. I called ** and he said that he got the same notice and that not to worry about it and throw the card away.

On 9/20/09, I started hearing the knocking again at cold start up. 9/21/09, once again the car was knocking at cold start up. On 9/22/09, I moved it out of the garage for about 2 hours and put it back into the garage with no noise. On 9/23/09, I started the vehicle up and the noise was excessive. Again, I attempted to drive it to get to work and for about 1 mile, the noise didn’t go away. So I returned to my house and I called ** and left a message at 8:00am ET the rest of the day and the next, I did not receive a call. On 9/25/09, I called ** again and left a message. At 9:30am ET. I received a call from ** telling me that it was my fault that no one responded because he left a message on my ** number on 9/23/09, at 4:30pm which I never got.

So, I went online as we were talking and pulled up my account detail with AT&T and I had not had any incoming calls or messages to that number since 9/19/09. So ** was not telling me the truth. ** said my car could not be making a noise because he had already replaced all of the parts. He said that I could leave the car with him but that they wouldn’t find anything wrong it. I inquired about a loaner car since I was told these were available free of charge at the time I purchased the car. ** laughed and said there was no way I was getting a loaner and that if I needed another car, he would give me a number to Hertz.

On 9/25/09, after unsuccessfully talking to **, I went to the Mini of Nashville website to get the email address or phone number of **, the Mini Sales manager to see if he could help. I got a pop up asking if I needed to chat with him. I responded yes and it turned out to be salesman **. I explained I was having a problem with the service department. ** said I need to talk to **. I informed ** that I had already left many unanswered messages with ** and that it is not working. ** said that he would have the General Manager ** call me back. That was last Friday on 9/25/09.

I talked again with ** on Tuesday afternoon of 9/29/09 and he said that we should try another dealership and that he had good luck with ** at Global Imports. I made a call to ** the following morning on 9/30/09 and left a message. I went on Wednesday 9/30/09 and tried to start my Clubman the knocking was so excessive that I got my camera and took a video. On 10/01/09, I posted the video to YouTube and then called and left another message for ** to return my call. ** call me back at 1:32pm on 10/01/09 and we discussed my issues at her request I emailed her a link of the video on YouTube. She said that she would look at it with her tech and talk to the engineer assigned to my case and then get back with me later in the day.

I once more attempted to start the Clubman and it continued to knock and I was unable to drive the car so I returned the car to the garage. On 10/02/09, at 2:45pm, ** with Global Imports called me and asked that I come with the car to Global and meet with the engineer. On 10/03/09, I tried to drive the car with my mother and we returned because of the knocking noise. On 10/04/09, I tried to warm the car and drive around my neighborhood. The car continued to knock so I returned it to my garage. On 10/06/09, I left at 9am for the 3 hour trip to Global Imports to meet with ** (service manager), ** (service tech), ** (engineer) at my 12:30pm appointment. The car knocked all the way to the Hickory Valley and Hwy 58 intersection when I made my left hand turn. By the time I arrived, the car would not knock due to it being warmed up. The meeting was not very productive, but they gave me a loaner Clubman and I got back home about 4:30pm.

On 10/09/09, I received updates from ** the service adviser stating that ** was not able to duplicate the noise. I told them to start the car move it a few feet and shut down for 2 hours. Then start the car and move it again then wait until the next morning and it should do it or park it on a hill with the front of the car point downhill. On Friday afternoon, I was told that none of these worked but they did change my oil, checked the tolerances in the timing chain tensioner and everything was okay. They also replaced a missing door trim piece on the driver’s door. ** asked that I come and pick up the car, so I made arrangements to pick it up the next day.

On 10/10/09, I got up at 5:30am to make the 3 hour drive to Atlanta to pick up the car. I checked in the loaner. With all the trouble I’m having, I asked salesman ** about trading in my car. The Sales Manager gave me a price of $21,000 for my car; $10k under payoff, no deal. The car started with no noise. I proceeded on the 3 hour ride home and stopped off at the store and got home about 1:00pm. Later in the afternoon, I drove 3 miles to the boat dock stayed about 2 hours and returned the car to the garage.

On 10/11/09, we got up to go to breakfast and started the car and the engine started to knock again. We decided to drive the car and see if it would stop, which it did after about 2 miles. We drove the 9 miles to the Cracker Barrel and back home then to the dock and back. On 10/12/09, I got up to go to work and the knocking was so loud that I had to borrow a car to get to work. I called **, left a message at 8:08am. At 8:50, ** returned my call and told me to go home tonight and try the car once more, if it makes the knock again, then to call him either before 5pm or first thing in the morning and they would have a local BMW field tech out to the house to help diagnose it.

On 10/12/09, at 5:50pm, I tried to start the car and it knocked. I took a video. On 10/13/09, 7:10am, I tried to start the car again and it was knocking again. Once again I took a video. Once I got to work, I uploaded the video from Monday night 10/12/09 and Tuesday morning 10/13/09 and emailed 3 videos from Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday to **, the assistant service adviser at Global Imports. And then followed through with a phone call at 8:50am and notified ** that I gave him the links. He said he would pass on to the engineer and get back with me.

On 10/13/09, 5:47pm, I received a call from ** at Global Imports telling me that the local tech has all of my contact numbers and that I will be getting a call from him around the end of the week. So, it looks like I will be borrowing a car for the rest of this week again. So far I have not been able to drive the car for personal use since September 20th. I tried to start the car again tonight and the engine knocked loudly again I took a video of the engine compartment knock and posted on YouTube. This has been going on for over 7 months and BMW is stalling.

This has caused me to borrow cars to get to work resulting in frustration and stress causing my blood pressure to rise to extreme conditions. Towed to Mini of Nashville for repairs 5/19/09-5/27/09 (8 days with no loaner). The noise started again 9/20/09. I stopped driving the car. At Global Imports 10/06/09-10/09/09 (4 days with loaner picked up car on 10/10/09) no diagnosis or repairs were made. Days at dealer: 12 days to date trying to fix the knock. Days that I was unable to drive car: 33 (8 days original repair + 25 days to 9/20/09-10/14/09 = 33). Days that I had to borrow a car 29 (33 days - 4 that I had a loaner = 29).

In reading other issues with Minis, I learn that the entire transmission may also be ready to fail soon, all this without any recourse through BMW to stand behind their product and certainly nothing through the dealer. They did a poor job finding problems I asked about when my car was under warranty and are impolite at best when I say I'm not accustomed to cars having this number of problems with such low mileage. Service is definitely not part of their vocabulary when it comes to sharing the excessive and unreasonable costs of repair on my car. I'm not looking forward to discovering how much this next problem will cost. I routinely own cars for a long time, well over 150,000 miles and I'm now realizing my favorite car of all may not even make it to 100,000. If BMW would admit some responsibility for poor quality in the form of money, I would continue to invest in this fun car - when it's working well!

Six months later, the car overheated again and I had to get it towed which cost $300 and had to get the cooling fan replaced which was $1,200. I ended up paying for the repairs but they also told me that my electrical unit was out which is why my gas light and other warning signals would not turn on and quoted me $1,500 and $500 to fix the passenger side window for the third time which went out again. I neglected both of those offers since I just paid $1,200 for the cooling fan. Three months later my car overheated again. This time it was the radiator that needed to be replaced. Keep in mind the majority of the miles on the car are highway miles. The car is kept in great condition, and I don't drive it hard. The repairs totaled $1,300.

Over the course of the next few months, the car would turn off completely when I was sitting at a stop light. And a few days ago as soon as my car hit 103,000 miles, the car would not drive even though the engine was running. Again, the car was towed to the dealership and they told me that the drive axle seal of the transmission needed to be replaced which is $538 and after they repair that, then the tech can determine if the front drive axle shaft assembly is damaged which would cost $738 to repair. I told them to go ahead with the first repair because I need a car. Today, they called me stating that the clutch packs inside the transmission are blown and needs a new transmission and with the first repair plus the transmission, the total would be $10,741.00 which is double the worth of the car itself.

I am a professional graduate student in optometry school. Although, I have a part time job while being a full time student, I mainly live off of student loans. I bought this car because it was supposed to be a good quality vehicle and gets great gas mileage. After finally paying off my car last year, as soon as the car hit 80,000 miles it fell apart. Not only did I spend $3,000 fixing the cooling fan and radiator this past year, they are telling me I have to pay almost $11,000 to get my car working again.

Obviously being a student living off of loans, I cannot afford to do so. Therefore, I am left with no car that I have spent over $30K for with the repairs and the initial purchase of the car. I cannot get to class, I cannot run errands, and I cannot go to work. Now, I have to request more student loans so I can put a down payment on a car. Furthermore, the dealership is still making me pay for the first repair of $538 even though the car is undrivable. They kept changing what the problem was and then wanted to charge me double what the car is worth.

Sadly, I have lost it. I will not be paying any more car payments to BMW Canada and will be bringing my Mini back to Richmond Mini. I will be returning the car without its plates tomorrow. This will happen after I purchase a brand new Nissan Cube van. I will be taking legal action as well and talking to my MP and MLA. Let me explain why. Given the long service history on my 2007 Mini Cooper, which I did indicate to Mr. Jay ** yesterday that purchasing my 2007 Mini Cooper has been the absolute worst customer experience I've had in my entire life as a consumer, I expected better service. What happened? I arrived at Richmond Mini to discover that the rubber seal was torn from the passenger side of my car and sitting on the passenger seat. In addition, the chrome was hanging loose on both sides of my car. In frustration, I took off the chrome myself, as it was just hanging there loose.

In short, after talking to Mr. **'s assistant for several minutes, it became clear that Richmond Mini was flatly refusing to fix this problem, a problem that was minor in nature (i.e., my car looked almost normal when it arrived for servicing yesterday) and a problem that your service technicians clearly exacerbated, i.e., the rubber was removed and chrome trim was now detached. At that time, your colleague indicated that rubber wasn't covered under the warranty due to a minor dent repair that happened on the other drivers' side of the car. What I cannot figure out is how a small dent repair and a bit of new paint on the driver's side cause damage to the rubber sealer on the passenger side? And why would I have gotten back my car in worse condition than it arrived for servicing? Should it not be the other way around?

Honestly, I am fed up with BMW brand, Mini Canada. I am once again filing a formal complaint. In addition, I have blind cc'd my lawyer and cc'd BMW Canada's director of Corporate Communications, Kevin **. As a former director of corporate communications myself, an ABC and APR designate and organizational communication consultant, I trust Mr. ** will respond appropriately. I know if I was in Mr. **'s shoes, it is necessary to see what really is going on. First, I assume your computer system will have the list of ongoing problems that have occurred with this particular Mini. My VIN number is **. You will note, that I addition to the rubber/chrome problem noted above, my car has now had: (1) a catalytic converter replaced due to a factory recall; (2) a defective sunroof replaced; (3) rear wiper mechanism replaced; (4) defective battery replaced; and (5-12) many reprogramming issues fixed, which included reprogramming the air conditioner that mysteriously and suddenly stuck on high cold during the dead of Alberta's winter and one scary incident while traveling at night through the Rocky Mountains.

In addition to other issues surrounding substandard customer care at Edmonton Mini, I have now received unprofessional service from Richmond Mini. This indicates to me that a systemic problem is happening with BMW's Mini brand. BMW has no quality control mechanisms in place to monitor its entry-level brand, Mini Canada. Sadly, this ongoing level of customer care service has been my experience dealing with all Mini Canada dealerships. As a highly trained communications professional myself, it is clear to me that Mini Canada lacks corporate quality control over its network of dealerships. Internal communications systems at both Edmonton and Richmond Mini dealerships clearly lack the internal checks and audits.

Moreover, BMW corporate audits to ensure its entry-level brand, Mini Canada, maintains the integrity of the Mini brand does not appear to be effective. How can Mini Cooper be a good entry level segue for those seeking to upgrade to a BMW? How can this entry-level marketing strategy benefit BMW when basic tenants of customer care are not adhered to at Mini Canada's dealerships? Albeit separate, these brands are tightly integrated. They often share the same physical car lots and building and have clearly aligned optics, just as Audi has alignment with Volkswagen and Lexus with Toyota. I'm not saying that the customer is always right. Often that is not the case, this I know from experience. What I am saying, however, is that the customer deserves to get their vehicle, not to mention which is still under warranty, back from a dealership’s service department in the exact same if not better condition than when it arrived for servicing.

To arrive yesterday and find my car in worse condition is upsetting to say the least. To find the passenger side rubber sealer on ripped off and lying on my passenger seat of my car and the chrome on both the passenger and driver’s side visibly loosened is not good customer care. It is not a good customer experience. This gets around offices. It makes potential buyers reconsider both Mini and BMW. Me? I was clearly mad. I removed the passenger side chrome in a fit of rage as it was dangling there, flapping about. I had had it with Mini Canada, as this ongoing substandard level of customer care is simply not acceptable, whether it is from Mini Edmonton or Mini Richmond. As such, please take this as formal notice that I am filing a lawsuit. Let me explain why. My problems started the day I bought the Mini at Edmonton BMW/Mini. The new car salesman who sold me the car and after close questioning on my part given that I live in a very cold place and knew I would not have access to heated garages at work or at home insisted that this car has a block heater. He assured me that the 2007 Mini comes with a block heater. I would not have purchased the Mini had I known the truth. I may have even walked across the showroom floor and bought a brand new BMW that had a block heater.

Sadly, however, I discovered several months later when looking for the block heater plug-in cord that my Mini does not have a block heater. How are your salesmen trained? Do they know their product? This does not appear to be the case. When I questioned the service manager at Edmonton Mini, his response was "We don't know what our salesmen say. They're salesmen. They're here to make a sale. They'll say anything for the commission." This is not comforting reassurance to a customer. And I know as a former marketing communications director, I'd be disturbed to hear of such things happening in my organization (i.e. **).

When I bought my Mini, I ordered winter rims and wheels well in advance, only to make the long 100 kilometer commute into Edmonton to discover that the parts were never ordered. Why didn't Edmonton Mini have the courtesy to call me to indicate that the rims and tires had not yet arrived? Edmonton Mini did call to remind me that I had an appointment that day. But why couldn't they connect the dots to determine that the parts, which was the purpose of the servicing and which were ordered long in advance, were not yet in? Again, internal organizational communication issues abound, issues that impact the brand and customer experience with that brand. This is not the only problem.

I have had on numerous occasions where my dashboard warning lights flash to life, looking very much like a scary China syndrome situation. Very poor optics. Within two months of purchasing my brand new 2007 Mini, while driving through the Rocky Mountains, this scenario happened. The transmission warning light started flashing. Scary thing for a female driving alone at night through the Rocky Mountains miles from nowhere. I pulled over. I refer to the manual, but your manual says to park the car when the transmission light comes on and call a dealership immediately for repairs. I called the 1-800 line, but was out of cell phone reach. Timidly I drove on, nervous as hell as it was getting cold and dark and I was miles from nowhere civilized.

The car seemed fine, however, so I called BMW when I got into Revelstoke, BC. I got a recording and left a message to return my call for help. This was never returned. The car seemed fine, despite the dashboard being lit up like a failing nuclear reactor, so I drove the car on to Vancouver to a convention and everything seemed okay mechanically with the transmission. I was attending a convention and everything seemed fine. I was very busy and needed to do my marketing communications for my employer so I kept driving. Oh yeah, that reminds me that requested returned call from Mini Canada roadside assistance never did happen. It happened in early July 2007. What else has happened?

In addition to having a sunroof replaced, the rear window wiper replaced, the car reprogrammed numerous times to eliminate what I indicated above as "The Recurrent China Syndrome Problem" meaning that my transmission lights keep flashing for no apparent reason and having problems with the air conditioner running non-stop in the middle of winter (another programming issue that took two trips into the dealership to fix), then having ongoing problems obtaining replacement parts in a timely manner, i.e., a working air conditioner and wiring harness due to a collision with a coyote (cost 8-9k in damage), I now have this nasty situation on my hands at yet another Mini dealership. Is this a systemic problem with Mini Canada? How is BMW monitoring its entry-level brand? The bottom line is that Richmond Mini has returned my car in much worse condition, damaged condition, than when it arrived yesterday morning. Is this called good customer service? Is it even mediocre customer service? Far from it.

My professional field is organizational communication. Not only do I teach organizational communication, I do it for a living. I am a consultant that helps fix problems like this. But I'm not asking to be hired on contract by BMW Canada. I have enough work. Instead, I will be filing a lawsuit in small claims court, if only to save future customers from the grief and inconvenience I have suffered at the hands of Mini Canada and its network unaudited dealerships. I will also be writing my MLA and MP about possibly launching a "Lemon Law", a law that's a similar to that legislated in the State of California, where a car can only have so many issues (numbering five, I believe) before the dealership must take it back and void the original contract as if it never happened under the contract law doctrine of Mutual Mistake.

PS: My experience of dealing with US-based Mini dealerships, Long Beach Mini, has been far superior to any Canadian Mini dealership. Maybe Mini USA has laws like the lemon law to keep their dealerships on their toes? Or, maybe USA Mini has better internal audits of its dealership chains? I am not sure, but you may wish to look south of the border for clues as to how you can fix a systemic problem with your Mini brand.

On 8/21/09, they stated it was a "possible blown head gasket" in which the estimated cost was $4700. It's more than what I was told my car was worth should I trade it in. Then they told me it would be a minimum of $1000 to "go in and see if that's the problem." At this point, I had already paid for a diagnosis (8/10/09) that proved worthless and a radiator cap that didn't fix the problem, either. I was completely frustrated, felt helpless, and stresses.

I tried talking with the controller, CEO, managers, and lead techs, and no one seemed to be able to give me any clear answers to what was going on. Skeptical of their ability to help and not wanting to keep paying them, I took my car to an independent repair shop and found the problem was a simple one: air in the coolant system. I paid a total of $150 to that repair shop. Not only did I feel I was being taken advantage of, I was completely shocked that the dealership was so incompetent at diagnosing their own cars. I work in a community mental health, and I don't make enough money to keep paying for what they cannot figure out.

All of these alternatives range from a minimum of $5000.00 to $8,000.00. Our mechanic said that BMW has stopped using the transmission that our car uses and it is no longer under warranty. This seems like an excessive expense for a car with so few miles on it, and it is frustrating that there is no alternative or remedy provided by BMW / Mini.

Oh and I forgot, my passenger door does not open and has not opened for some time. The windows always make noise when rolling them up and down, and sometimes they won't roll down at all. Sometimes, I cannot get my car to lock or unlock. And the cover to the mirror on the passenger side mirror fell off. I think that is all, but I could very well be forgetting things. But I am reading here that people are thinking of doing a class action lawsuit, count me in. This is total **!

Now, one year later, I have power steering problems. It's intermittent at first. Then, it became constant. I took it in for new brakes (It's $2000 to replace calipers and rotors.), and now, I was told the power steering will cost at least $1000 and they're not even sure what's causing the problem. The dealer has taken very little responsibility for this faulty product, acting like problems are caused by normal wear and tear and cost of repairs is reasonable. I completely disagree and will never buy another Mini.

This is the most expensive car I have ever purchased and I love my car, but I expected it to last a long time and I don't think 100,000 miles is very long. I have recently been laid off from my job and do not have the funds to repair the car. Now, I'm not only unemployed, but also do not have a car to drive. For a single mom, this has been very stressful. I feel so betrayed by a company whose slogan is "Let's Motor". I think this should be amended to "Let's motor, but not very far".

Besides the inconvenience and cost of missing work to get to and from the repair shop, if my transmission had failed completely while I was driving the car, I could have sustained serious physical harm. Please be assured that I will not be purchasing a Mini Cooper or BMW vehicle ever again.

In Feb. of 09, I had it towed to NW Mini in Tacoma, WA (this is where I live now) and they refused to honor warranty and fix it. They told me that my car had been wrecked and had replacement parts on the suspension and new fuel tank. I was shocked because I have never wrecked my car. I pulled a Carfax and found the car had been wrecked in NJ at 5,000 miles and was certified after the wreck. Flow states because the wreck cost less than 25% of the value of the car, they didn't have to tell me about it. And, they are refusing to honor the warranty they put on the car and fix it.

Because the cambers were off and the back tires weren't aligned correctly from the original repair - my right strut broke, possibly the trailing arm is broken, bent at the very least; the rear end is growling now so bearings are bad and possibly the whole axle will need to be replaced. Because the car fell onto the rear wheels, it has worn them down to the cords. This car has eaten tires since I bought it and from the rust on the replacement parts - my repair shop said that these have been on there for awhile.

I wish I'd had the accident as then I could have dealt with my ins. co. with no problems. Flow has refused to take care of the problems and said it's my fault, that I must have had an accident. There was body work done in the original accident too - I've not had any accidents in my car - I was just driving down the freeway when the strut collapsed. I've contacted several attorneys regarding this issue. I contacted Mini USA and they said they can't help; they aren't responsible either and to hire an attorney. However, they are confused due to the jurisdictional issue and the complications regarding the warranty and work done.

Way to pass the buck! Since I've owned this car I've replaced two tires; it needs a new clutch, gears grind. I replaced a window motor, a speaker and its cover, and one of my rims is bent from the original accident and the tire won't keep a good seal so it continually goes flat. I will say the JCW kit is fast and fun - but the Mini Cooper is definitely not worth the hype or money. If you do the math, they cost as much to own as a more comfortable larger car. My Mini averaged me about eight hundred a month - insane. I'm letting them repossess it as I won't pay the fees to fix - I didn't have the accident. I can't believe that Flow Mini and Mini USA treats their customers like this - it's absolutely appalling.

Princeton Mini in NJ is also part of the problem as they supposedly fixed the vehicle originally. They did piss poor work and the result is that the parts have failed and I'm stuck with a huge loan to pay off (or not, and screwed credit) and no car. This issue has caused serious consequences within my life with my job and just the ability to survive.

The windshield wipers stop working in the winter, they only work when it's warm out (above 70F). The driver airbag light recently turned on, which I can only assume is a computer failure, all other things being equal. I don't understand how an expensive car could get so many problems. I previously owned a Honda Civic for 3 years and never had to go to a garage for repairs. I will never buy another Mini again and will try to sell mine off at the earliest.

I never ever had anymore trouble and they have been fantastic, but now the dreaded power steering is going out. I see many others with the same complaint. I'm still waiting to hear back from them but as I check out the other Mini sites, they all say it is expensive and must give away my granddaughter in order to get a pump. Has anyone gotten one fixed free of charge?

I do know that most Mini dealers have the ability to do a courtesy fix without charging you for them, a nice little PR maneuver and if not, what is the best way to get it done? Thanks for your help, and hey, remember it is a Mini and like all BMWs, you either get a good one or a huge piece of **.

Last summer, our car started overheating and so we had to take it to Mini. $150 right in the door. We finally got someone to talk to us on the phone and set up an appointment. Once they finally looked at the car, they told us the thermostat went out. That was another $200 just for a $50 pump. When we left there, everything seems cool, and now the airbag light is on. We don't know (and hopefully won't have to) if the passenger side airbags work or not. Once in a while, it acknowledges that there is something large enough to warrant the use of the airbags on the passenger side. But 99% of the time, the light just stays on and the no airbag light is lit as well.

We've also just put on another set of brakes (front and back), changed the oil, and bought another set of tires (they're $500, 85,000-mile touring tires, yeah). Also, I would like to mention the incredible stupidity that we're up against with our local dealer. We've had receptionists hang up on us, servicemen who won't call back, people hand us off to other people with no result, and everyone acts all peachy when you walk in like there's nothing wrong. They're like robots with happy faces.

Then, I was told the struts needed replacement to the tune of $1600. My male friends who are mechanically inclined and/or engineers said that one would need to be doing stunts in a car to need that kind of repair at 58K miles. Later, the air conditioning system died which cost $1400 to replace (at 60K miles). Now at 69K, the transmission is going bad. My present mechanic (cheaper and more reliable than dealership) says replacement of transmission and clutch with re-manufactured system will be $4000.

This is an outlandish amount of repair for a car with <70K mileage. I have had 2 previous Hondas that were cheaper than the MINI and never needed a clutch or transmission. My son drove my '95 Honda CVCC until last month and it had 200K miles. I will never buy another MINI, or BMW for that matter, based on this experience. I will be sure to discourage others from buying one. I hope a class action suit is formed.