Ford can build a 3.6 liter turbo charged gas engine that can work in a heavy pickup truck and pull a heavy trailer up and down hills, off road whatever, and easily run well over 200,000 miles with little or no engine and transmission problems.
Why can't BMW ( MINI ) build a 2 liter engine with 200hp and a transmission that could be dependable for at least a 100,000 miles in a 2800lb MINI?
By the way I am on my third MINI ( '15S Hardtop ) and enjoy driving it, but question the durability issues of the MINI drivetrain. People drive many other brands for these kinds of miles and are not maintenance fanatics.
I have read on this forum that the MINI is a high performance car, but the power output of the current engine in today's world is pretty moderate for it's displacement.

 

To pile on.... Because the combination of Germans and Brits building a car leads to the same conclusion. Arrogance by all aspects of the company. They know that poor brainwashed saps like us are loyal, in spite of their zeal for profits at all cost. Especially at the expense of quality. BMW and Mini would never be able to sell over 1,000,000 single model vehicles in one year, just in America (Ford F series). Why? Their lack of quality, insane repair costs, lack of honoring free repairing defective designs, are deep undercurrents. Why BMW brand is marketed only to the vain consumer. I am a newer owner of a F56S. Optioned to the hilt. Picked her up with under 50mi. So far so good.. Certainly not at the same quality of our F350 King Ranch. Also another family member bought a current year F56 with the 3cylinder.

Oh, remember those first ads when the TT 3.5 came out? One truck became a logger hauling logs around, then went 24/7 towing over 20k lbs at Talledaga. Move to more hailing and full load activities. After over 225k mi of hard abuse, the truck was within new specs. They then yank the engine, put it on a stress stand, ran it full throttle for equivalent of 150k more miles. From there went back in the truck. Last seen the truck has over 500k of use. All original, no repairs. Only routine inexpensive service.

I hear you.. However, both the MINI products we have are a total blast. I use mine for business. The other used for personal. Brings a smile to our faces.. I hope we do not repeat your long term experiences. Will not be a repeat buyer if either of these two more into a 1970s Vega quality story.

 

they did, the first gen. Now they suffer with bmw designs like plastic electric waterpumps, environmentally friendly plastic/glue, and all the teething issues with direct injection.

I hope they figure it out soon I'm not buying another new bmw or mini until they do, I went back to a used R53 and I'm keeping my E82 I bought new.

 

I have been thinking planned obsolescence, at least partly, The thing is Euro cars tend to push new production tech and rely heavily on the suppliers for a lot of the engineering and innovation, and if you look at Bosch they are more in control in many ways than the manufacturers. So why not just perfect reliability, I think its that they could but without obsolescence you would be able to keep the car you have and like. A big clue here is parts prices for popular cars, they should get less but dont, often going up instead. Design is another clue if you were designing your car you would want it repairable and while thats not super easy its way more possible than what we get. So the goal is sell new as better and put some barriers in the way of keeping the old. quite sad. I was thinking of an i3, but I dont quite trust BMW to stand behind the thing when its time for new batteries Im sure they will cost about 40% of the new price at the point when I need them.

 

You all can say what you want but the new MINI is light years ahead of the gen 1 & 2 MINIs, especially the new twin scroll turbocharged engine! And it's an all-BMW design/build, not an accumulation of parts from various outsourcing places. It's in a class all its own imo....you can't compare it to anything really because it really is a unique brand! Is it perfect?...no but no car or truck is perfect! My '15 JCW has been flawless and I couldn't be happier with it....even in bone stock form! If I wanted something to drive that didn't make me smile & looked like just about every other car on the road I probably wouldn't have bought my MINI or anything except maybe a Jeep!

 

OH Well,,,, I was working on a cylinder head,,,, but was just thinking about this..... If you look at the R56 thermostat it could use an aluminum housing a standard O-ring and not combine two wear parts that are not changeable. But does BMW make a stink, no, they accept getting locked into the part knowing it will cost a bit to fix but thats ok because it will help you to decide to get a new car with the latest greatest part that cant be easly repaired. If I go through the whole car I could say the same thing about half the parts.


But SO!!!!! WHY------ does my drop wrench style mechanics not defeat BMW oil fouled intakes style,,,, So diabolical....... If only the master had taught me the obsolescence defeating secret style before he was killed. Ahhhhhhhhhh much sweaty practice is needed.

 

All BMW's follow the same model and group of parts suppliers, give it time the shark is lurking. PS... R56 is one of the first DI engines from Bosch, verrrry innovative and diabolical thats why I like matching wits with it.

 

Light years ahead at what? It sure throttle response or feel

 

Relying on my mechanic & based on my research....it's a better all around engine! I suppose longevity is yet to be determined, but I was advised to stay away from earlier gens because of engine problems, especially gen 2. Gen 1 supercharged engines are to my liking but try & find a good used one now! Superchargers don't last forever either. Better technology in the new MINIs too. Overall build quality is superior in the gen 3. That's what I meant about light years ahead.

 

They did a good job with the 1.5 3 cylinder. So far I have had no problems at all. I saw an article recently where all the Mini engines are to be heavily updated for next year.

 

My '15S Hardtop has been flawless at just under 30k miles.
I just brought the subject up because in my mind, quality should include durability while maintaining the vehicle to BMW's requirements.

 

Just got rid of our last r56 and
I just bought two gen1,. One is a factory Jcw hardtop, easy to find then

 

Yes Gen 1s are nice, The 3 cylinder Engine lay out is great, I do hope they get popular so I can build one, but direct injection is still direct injection, I would have added a port nozzle for cleaning and dry sump oiling, and these have all the same types of systems. It would be nice if the parts makers were really given a good talking to, but I think the system of suppliers is the same, and this is where the troubles starts, If a part is not good enough or not supplied as a replacement, little is done other than some odd sad fix, the commitment to us and the resources used is set aside because BMW is onto the next car they want to sell you. I think they would like about 100,000 max, then new car time, so sometimes they get a part thats not quite there because its hard to design in perfect obsolescence die on command parts. When I like a car it gets driven hard and often, 100,000 is just starters and I need parts that work, and are replaceable and available at good prices. I am not a fan of throw it out car building. I was super interested in the Ford Focus RS but the thought of building one of the fancy rear drive units put an end to that.

PS look down the intakes of a decent port injection engine at 60k, clean, now look down any direct injection engine at 60k, and black, thats not the end look at the pistons and rings and the down pipe cat and the oil sludge build up. Still Di gives great advantages in power especially torque so I keep at it. They could fix this but rather manage it and live with shorter parts life. Why

 

PS PS I was looking at the parts manufacturers specs for a part that ended up in one of my cars..... It had a line about the life expectancy being about 60,000 miles, I know these parts last much longer but its an example of the way in which the system works. OH I do have parts makers I think are super,
IWIS is one, timing chains seem simple until you try and perfect them and build a business meant to last.

 

Yet, the early Ecoboost 3.5L engines were eating ignition coils left and right because Ford improperly cooled the area around the head covers. I know an engineer that worked with the issue. In short, don't believe their advertising because there is nothing saying they didn't do extra things to baby that engine or build everything to nominal specs. I'd be more impressed if a guy off the street bought one off the street and did all that. Being an engineer myself, I know that you can set up the perfect conditions relatively easily but that doesn't account for the variance that the parts and processes will see in mass production.

Ford is also the company that didn't put the crash bars in the regular and extended cab aluminum F150s because they knew that the IIHS would only test the crew cab (IIHS's policy is to only test the configuration that sells the highest.)

http://www.autonews.com/article/2015...new-crash-test

Back to MINI: while the 189hp rating on our Clubman S is underwhelming compared to the $35k sticker, BMW typically underrates their power. The car feels quick and drives on par with what I'd expect out of a GTI with 400 more lbs. As far as durability, we were very pleased with our 2005 Cooper S for the 11 years we had it. They covered a major steering rack failure at 10 years in and we didn't pay a penny. That said, I've fully planned to cut and run before the warranty is up if this Clubman gives us problems.

I think that BMW has made some engineering decisions that *should* help the durability. Now that the F56/55/54 chassis cars share their platform with the future Countryman and the X1, we should see the R&D money spent on the platform improve the durability all around. The engines, likewise, are going to get that R&D money amortized across all the models where the old ones were more of a one-off. This *should* improve the long term durability. The new 4cylinders have 8 injectors that should stave off the carbon coking issues, for example. Fingers crossed.

 

Good post Quentin. I wholeheartedly agree with your last statement.

 

2 sets of injectors if the set up is set for cleaning then great, and I would be happy to see development actually perfect something, If any BMW people come across this that means wanting to redesign something if it can be better and compatible with earlier versions. Also why not a flexible hybrid with E only run time,,,, an electric rear drive unit..... it could be compatible across platforms, even a retrofit..... 3 cylinder development...... with a good crank rods and cylinder sleeve, boost is all you need. A setup like that would be a good step towards E only

 

Get all that. Was having a bit of fun adding to the post prior. We will be very excited to experience high levels of reliability with the Coopers. If not, move on, do not look back, and be happy to remember the driving fun.

For now, will be adding the JCW factory pwr upgrade (and aftermarket rear sway bar). A BMW/MINI repair shop nearby is Dinan certified. Suggested that is better and more bang for buck. Anyone know? Will be doing research this week. In the meantime, trolling to see if anyone has worked with a great price dealer JCW price this month.

 

Where can I find the article?

TIA

 

There is a thread on this on the forum somewhere but this is the article about the updates.


http://www.motoringfile.com/2016/07/...amily-engines/

 

Well, the article speculates that the new engines could show up during the 2017 model change over. My 2017 JCW has a B480 like the others. Maybe someone with an S can check theirs? I know the JCWs lagged behind with the N14 for a couple years after the S got the N18, so it is possible that something like that happened again.

--Matt

 

I can attest that my 2017 Cooper S Clubman ALL4 lists and has the new B46M Engine.

 

the new engine Hmm Its even more fussy, and overly integrated, Look at the nissan three cylinder in comparison. Why 4 and 3 cylinder choose a way forward in the end, integrated turbo hope not? does anyone actually work on cars, turbo seals and gaskets need getting at who placed that cat. still the same oil cooler. NO NO NO

They need to send every one back to design school.

 

I saw a quote from a BMW engineer that they may eventually replace all 4 cylinder engines with 3 cylinder engines.

 

Perhaps its taping up 16 valve seats, Ive always wanted a v12, but Im even more grumpy after having looked at it a bit longer...... That turbo is tucked in too tightly, they are trying to get better use of the exhaust gas but that means an even hotter turbo and engine, which means tolerances are a bit less predictable....... and they say they have lightened things....... can you guess my thought...... Warping....... Production means managing wear on tooling and some variability of materials ....... Im sure testing went fine with the engineers watching...... Add a new complicated cooling setup to a lighter hotter engine....

OK the word is rugged, yes thats whats missing, a bit of built in forgiveness because roads are rough and dusty and cooling fins get filled with hoppers after a late night run through the desert at full throttle, or a branch in the road on a stormy night gets a cooling line,,,,

And why no hybrid mini option, If MINI isnt a priority then what is it ?????