EDIT: This is a 2011 MINI.

Hey guys, I've been a lurker for a while here and finally signed up to see if I can some brotherly love here. Ha ha!

I have a beautiful 2011 MINI S coupe in British Racing Green II 6 spd manual, with a good amount of options on it. I'm really sad to say that my experience has been quite bad so far. In the 7437 miles I've put so far on my Green Monster I've had to have the HPFP replaced, a new clutch put in, the sunroof reinstalled, and have had about 5 different loud interior rattles fixed. This is really disappointing for a new car. I knew going in that MINIs take more work than the average car, but you don't want so much stuff to start going out so soon! I was ready for a little more maintenance etc., but damn.

Can someone give me any shred of hope that things will settle down/get any better? I resent the car more than I enjoy it because of the amount of times it's already been in the shop and I am honestly considering selling it.

The lemon law in California unfortunately does not apply to me since these are all different problems (I looked into it, believe me!), and these are all problems consistent with what I've been reading on this and other message boards.

 

2011. Owner here...
Sorry to hear about your MINI, but my Clubman S is flawless so far... Not a single visit to a dealer for any issue... No rattles of any kind ( speaking of rattles, I never had any on my 2008 Clubman S or 2006 R50 either...).
Car is running nice and tight, the only thing Is I have to restrain my self using sport button in my area not to scare elderly and children with "pop and burble" ( that is increased even more with JCW exhaust I installed)...

 

Sorry to hear things aren't going smoothly! On the bright side, the HPFP is pretty common and hopefully will be problem free now. The rattles, while annoying, are par for the course with the MINI brand, and won't ever leave you stranded. I assume this was all done under warranty, and if you have no more big issues over the next few years, you can probably feel secure in holding onto the car. If it continues to give you grief, you can get rid of it before the warranty runs out.

 

You probably got a car built on Monday and a few of the workers were hung over. Once the assembly glitches are sorted, it should be good. I had similar problems with an Acura. Once the build issues were fixed, it was fine, and is still going strong after 20 years.

 

Hey GreenMINIMonster, sorry to hear about all the difficulty your new car has been giving you... I am honestly baffled sometimes to hear about some of these stories with newer MINI's these days. I have an '09 with about 13000k miles on it, absolutely no problems yet except for 1 or 2 creaks in the interior. I hope you get your build issues (that does seem like what it is) sorted out soon and can move on with your MINI.

 

Hey man, welcome to the forums. I've had similar bad experiences with my car. I've had the car for going on my fourth week now, and so far had to have the timing chain tensioner fixed and am now going to be fixing the coolant pump. The car is at 41,XXX miles so far, nothing too high to necessitate such repairs. The car can be annoying, but don't give up hope. I had an 03 R53 MCS before this one (the one pictured in my sig) and it had a few problems, but nothing major. Realistically, I'd highly recommend just sticking it out. You have a warranty and don't have the worry about having to pay for anything so just ride out the car (I'm not in that situation, the repairs for my car all are coming out of pocket). Don't worry about little things like creaks and rattles, they're pretty prominent in this car since everything is such a tight fit. As the body warps from use (transportation from England to your home, weather fluctuations, pot holes, tight/fast turns and such), those fits end up coming loose and will eventually being to make themselves known. You can't fix them all.

As for the clutch, I have no idea what could have happened. I've had two Mini's and never had issues with the clutch going out. Do you have proper manual technique? Or maybe you're riding the clutch too much, or live in an area of the city with heavy traffic volume? Are there a lot of slopes near you? Those are the only things I can think of.

Otherwise, enjoy the car and take it easy. The car is still breaking in, hopefully you weren't flooring it around in the first 5,000 miles as it was breaking in. Doing so can indeed damage the car. But you bought it new so I'm assuming this isn't your first rodeo.

 

Sorry to hear about all your troubles. I will say that my 2011 MCS has been trouble free so far and I have close to 13K on her.

 

Hang in there. Who knows why certain vehicles are prone to more issues than others. I've taken mine in once since December.

I can understand you feeling resentful, the folks at the dealership seem to be spending more time with it than you are.

Perhaps a talk with the sales, service manager to let them both know about the overall experience so far.

Oh yes, you've chosen a great color combo too.

 

At about 5,000 miles my 2011 MCS has pretty much been the most trouble free car I've owned. (This is coming off a 07 BMW 335 that had many significant problems in its first 20,000 miles.) Hopefully they will sort your issues out quickly and that will be the end of it. Good luck.

 

hey bud.. what were Your symptoms on HFPF pump going bad? I have 2011 MCS as well..

so far had engine light 400 miles after purchasing car.. sunroof reinstalled, weeping washer nozzles, AC noise.. now I have this strange clutch feeling.. there is a squeaking noise coming from clutch and there is also some type of "knock" ... it is more noticeable as a feeling than noise.. called dealer and may bring it in.. just have to plan the entire trip (200 miles round trip).. SUCKS.

 

Thanks guys. I feel a little better after reading some of the encouragement here, and hope that I'll be good for a while. Of course, I knew going into it that MINIs are most definitely not the most reliable cars out there, but was hoping I'd get a "good one". And it's maddening to have these problems with a brand new car, especially problems that just seem to be due to a sloppy, poor assembly line and bad QC. For this kind of dough I had hoped my only problems would be possible mechanical issues LATER in the life of the car, not under the first 10k miles. It just doesn't make me feel good about the MINI brand or my car, you know?

cub4bearindiana: The HPFP issue was the engine light going and then the car going into limp mode. Had it towed right in and they replaced it. So far my car has been in the shop for 5 days total (2 for the HPFP, 1 for the clutch, 1 for the sunroof, and 1 to fix the rattles -- they said they tried but 2 of the rattles are still there) in the first 5 months of ownership.

 

Hey there,

I, have a 2010 BRG Clubman S with a manual tranny, and I have had loads of fit and finish problems and a few other little mechanical glitches (knocks from the front suspension over some bumps -- they can't figure out what the problem is there, A/C noise, etc.).

No one can understand unless they've been through it themselves, and I totally relate to your feeling of resentment and dissatisfaction with the brand. It's a little frustrating to me when people only post about how their cars are perfect on threads like this - that's awesome for you, but just doesn't help the situation. Like you yourself said, MINI is not known for its stellar reliability (overall -- some people are lucky and have no problems), but we didn't expect to have so many problems early on in the lives of our cars. I say stick with it, and if things continue to get worse just sell it to save yourself the pain -- that's my plan, anyway. I personally will not keep mine a day past the warranty expiration.

We can all hope that MINI will some day soon get its act together in the quality control and consistency department, because there's clearly a disconnect there.

Again: Sorry to hear about your difficulties. Having two major mechanical issues like the clutch (was it the disk?) and the HPFP in less than less than 8k would be a total drag.

 

Sorry you are having so many problems. Hopefully this is just a little speed bump and all will be smooth form now on.

 

I have not had one problem with mine and I have over 7,000miles. Sorry to hear that yours is not doing as well

 

my clutch started squeaking also within the first 2k miles - a squeak i could "feel" through my foot that drove me nuts. i took it in and they lubed the clutch spring assembly and it's been fine since. 2011 BRGII MCS.

 

Mine does it too, with 10k on the clock. Haven't made an appointment yet but I'll get to it LOL.

 

Looks like this might be a 2011 MCS thing.

 

It's quite possible. The clutch was updated as part of the 2011 refresh. It was supposed to improve clutch feel, and in his reviews Gabe of MotoringFile said it does. However they could have unexpected issues to work out when introducing a new part.

 

Give it some time and miles. The car will need 2 hpfp or 3 chains before you know it. If you car is still not fix 100%.. 100% after 4 times or in the shop for 30 days you have the ability to seek Buyback/Refund/Replacement.

CA LL
1)Multiple problems in the first 18months or 18k miles
2)4 times on same issue
3)Cumulative of 30 days in dealer

You have to have had at least 1 or 3 by now. Add it up, seek free legal counsel.

http://ag.ca.gov/consumers/general/lemon.php

 

Sorry to hear about problems with your car. It would be a real pain to have problems with mine since the closest dealership is 4 hours away, luckly, my 2011 MCS has 3k miles on it, had her for 4 months. NO problems.

 

Keep on 'em about the squeaks and rattles. "We tried" isn't good enough. I had a rattle in the top of the dash when I first got the car. The dealer took off the top and said they put foam tape everywhere they could, even places that didn't need it at the time. I haven't had a rattle since, and that's four years and 50k miles. I hear the sunroof cars are more problematic, though...

 

SELL IT NOW!!!!

You are in for a world of hurt. My 2007 just blew up with 54k miles on it. (Vacuum Pump Locked Up) While the car was under warranty there were a ton of issues. Now that the warranty is done, and Mini said they would not assist in any way, the engine is gone. The only good news is that the car has been put out of my misery.

I was going to buy a new engine for 5k and put it in myself but then I decided to spend the money on my race car to cheer me up.

Seriously get rid of it.... I warned you

 

Sorry to hear about your problems!!

 

I know this is not always the case, but I'm hearing a lot of "jeez, i beat the hell out of my mini, run it to the redline every shift, drive it like it's stolen, and i have no idea why i have so many problems with this piece of junk. now mini won't honor my warranty."
i mean come on, what do you expect? do you also abuse your home, appliances, phones, other mechanical devices like this? do they still work as intended without problems? does your iphone still work after being dropped on a concrete driveway? is apple responsible for fixing that too? I mean come on, this is tiring.

 

I have been looking through this forum and reading about the engine failures myself and only saw one post about someone hitting the rev limiter. My Mini failed while being driven by my wife. She does not "beat" on the car in any way. I don't believe for a moment that anyone could argue the point that Mini has engineering flaws in their engine design. Although I never drove the Mini in the way you describe, I do however drive my Spec Miata race car that way. It has a stock Mazda engine. When I say that I abuse that car, you have no idea. It runs just fine. I also pound my Corvette. No problems there either and it is highly modified. I think you are mistaken on two points. Most people that own the Minis and are posting problems are not beating on their cars. Also, the Mini engine should be able to be driven to the rev limiter without dying.

Please point out all the posts you are reading about people abusing their cars. It is very easy for you to prove me wrong. Just back up your statement with some facts. If you show me post after post of what you are claiming, I will opening admit I was wrong about the numbers of people abusing their cars.

BTW: The op does not sound as if they are abusing their car.