Before buying, survey the dealership's service department. Talk to the service advisor and introduce yourself to the service manager. Try to shake the hands of the MINI dealer techs. Talk to customers there. Find out if they are happy or not with the services received. You have to walk the walk and do a little homework. Most people don't do any of this and end up marrying a bad dealership.

A responsive dealer service team will be the difference between a good ownership experience or flat out hating the car and the brand.

My dealer, Lauderdale MINI, is FANTASTIC. Been doing business with the for the past 8 years. I know everyone there. I have built relationship of trust between my service advisor, service manager, shop foreman and techs. I am taken care of whenever I have issues. If it weren't for that relationship, I would probably had abandon MINIs years ago.

People concentrate way too much on the sales experience. Reality dictates that you will not be seeing your salesperson every time something goes wrong with your car. Your dealer service team are the folks you'll be dealing with for the next 4+ years. Make sure you are marrying into the correct set of folks.

 

Mine in RED

Nothing wrong with that. There are tradeoffs. I wish my R56 had more gauges.

 

Just in case anyone was curious about the sound coming from my front wheel, the dealership just called and said it was a loose bolt that connects to a sway bar (or something like that). I will get more details when I pick it up tomorrow.

 

I cannot agree more! I love my Mini and I baby the hell out of it. However, the experiences in the service department from my dealership at San Francisco Mini
has been hit or miss at a 50/50 split. When it is good, the service was spot on. However, when it was bad, it was a good migraine headache. My last service visit today covered a great deal of stuff, but the visit was negative and argumentative from the day I brought my Mini in last Thursday. Fast forward to today upon my picking up my car, and how they treated me in dealing with my clutch and door sill rust complaints, I will no longer do business with them. It was to the point where I am questioning whether I should continue to stay with the brand or not. I am going to another dealership, and if my service experience continues to be poor, then Mini, and BMW for that matter, will have forever lost a customer...or more depending on how my friends/family take my experiences into their purchasing considerations. I can put up with the higher than average warranty issues that I have had to deal with, but my service department experiences is a high factor in when the car and brand become a permanent deal breaker.

 

Agree. I was happy with my first warranty issue with my dealership. I dropped my MINI off last night, they gave me a loaner, and I was out of there in 15 minutes. The problem is fixed and I will pick up my S tomorrow. I am feeling a bit more confident about my purchase at this point, but still am hesitant about keeping it after the warranty is up. I may feel totally different in a year or two.

 

im1hapa's Post above, along with ClubmanS's quoted above make important points.

Another factor with the MINI is the distance to the Dealers, hours for many of us.

It's a five hour round trip for me, only made it once, the day I drove her home.

Tenth month now and have had no need to return for service. However,
if I had suffered Warranty Returns, that trip would be getting on my nerves.

I have a Free Service approaching in a few months (Annual Oil Change).

Already did my 1200 mile optional 'post-breakin' Oil/Filter change and it was so easy,
I am considering just doing it again, myself to avoid the five hour drive .

Do love the car and have had no second thoughts about choosing it and its performance and enjoyment has reinforced the decision.

I expect to keep her long past the Warranty!

 

Clubman

Glad to hear Lauderdale Mini service is good, because that is the dealership I have been visiting. I have been completely underwhelmed with the sales staff's knowledge of the cars and the options (at their BMW and Mini dealers), which is why I have hit these forums. I test drove the Clubman JCW they had out front and liked it a bunch. They didn't offer me enough for my trade (which I don't blame them for, it is the market) so I couldn't do anything with them at the time. Still have to sell my Box. The other car I am seriously considering is in the price range and will be a lot of fun to drive as well, and comes with its own list of quirks and dealer/warranty issues.

 

Sandia MINI, Albuquerque

 

I am always up for a road trip, but Albaquerque is a bit of a hike from Ft. Lauderdale

 

Good. I was thinking maybe CV joint or axle housing. Went thru 3 of them on my R53.

 

If something bigger than Ike comes to Houston, Hilla is going to be a MEP (MINI Escape Pod)! ( Our babies are fixed!)

I've been checking on Bentley regularly, but so far they don't have a manual for the second generation MINI. I did send them an e-mail, encouraging them to icnclude the 2009 JCW in their future manual. Maybe more second generation MINI owners need to register on their site and let them know we want a manual!

 

Wow, tazio! Good to know I could have a surfing MINI!

 

Another thing a lot of people don't realize....is the difference between NORMAL idle noise in a Mini, and excessive noise. The car sounds like a diesel at idle...that's just the design of the direct injection. The cold start clatter is VERY different sounding. Listen to some of the sound clips in the threads of people that have posted it, it's a very specific/different sound than the normal but odd Mini idle.

 

I remember the small French engines from the 60's and 70's, most had a slight diesel sound at idle. It was considered normal for French designed engines. You're right the key is when is it really the cold start clatter and not a normal idle engine sound.

 

Haha, I know, I have relatives in Sarasota and I always fly to see them. It would be a nice road trip, maybe some day.

 

I agree absolutely. When I mentioned to a local MA that I'd heard the clatter on a used one, he must have thought I was over-reacting to the regular R56 MCS idle, because he resorted to the "oh, that's normal" line. Once you've heard them both, however, the difference is very obvious. Let's hope a permanent fix can be found.

 

someone mentioned about how much longer, content wise, the problems and fixes subforum for the first gen cars was, compared to the same one for 2nd gen. Well, here's the data, as of 1925 pm 2/6/09:

First gen, 6,754 threads containing 75,284 posts

Sec Gen, a mere 961 threads containing 15,828 posts

one can argue that yeah there may be more first gen cars out there, but one could counter that the second gen is catching up due to Clubman and higher annual production quotas. I dont have that data, but it'd be interesting to compare.

 

Well, the fact that the 1st Gen'ers were the only posters on NAM for ~ the first FIVE YEARS might have a little to do with it too...

 

Also, the number of posts probably get incrementally more as time goes on. It wouldn't be as simple as dividing by 5 the number of posts for 1st Gen and by 2 the number of posts for 2nd Gen.

 

Well, if you scroll way, way down, this link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mini it says:
On 3rd April, 2007, the one millionth MINI rolled out of the Oxford Plant after six years of production[62] - just one month longer than it took the classic Mini to reach the same total in March 1965.


I think I read the BMW produces about 250k Minis per year now, but cannot find the source. Accordingly, there are probably between 400k and 500k 2nd gens produced to date. Nonetheless, problems show up more over time, so the better analysis would be comparing the number of threads and posts at similar points in their life. So sometime in early 2015 check back and post the 2nd gen numbers and see how it compares to the first gen numbers you posted!

 

Well I just purchased a USED Mini Cooper S 2002 built 06/02 Chili Red/Blk 6spd...etc etc...has auto AC and 74,000 km (approx 43K miles) on the odo.

I did check this forum and others. I looked at Audi TT, Mazda RX-8, BMW Z4 etc. I need to drive to work commuting each day. I was looking at getting another NEW car, but the costs seemed a little steep these days. I have had several NEW cars...lots of loss in depreciation and the warranty many times unless major parts is not covered. I may look at another new car in the future, but for now used was the way to go.

My point in all this is this. I know the issues that MKI's have in some cases. I looked at quite a few used 02-06 cars . I ruled out the Mazda RX-8 due to one the quality of the ones on the market for sale. I also spoke to many owners (in person) about there cars and issues they'd had. The # 1 question was would you purchase one again? I followed up with why and if it was due to wanting something different didn't give it much weight.

I also did this for Mini and Audi TT.

Audi got mixed reviews in this case. Many said YES but due to the NEW model they liked the look of..most wanted an R8 (who don't!!!)
Mini over the others (and there are a lot in the GTA and specifically in North York) (Toronto Canada) got the best rating. A CULT following.
Just like the original did!!! like my MIATA has...like my JEEP had...like my wife's BEETLE has...Harley Davidson has it too!!! WHY do you think so many buy them...best quality...best price!!! HA HA HA!!!!
If you don't get it..fine..no problem...I understand your opinion.
I can respect your position. But if you want ultra relieable daily driver. Well buy a Camry or Corolla. Make sure it's vanilla beige too...don't want any of flash stuff!!! I'm only kidding. But for sure all cars, trucks, SUV's bike's Segway's have there issues. Nothing is for sure, nothing is trouble free all the time!!! Others mentioned the fact that a very few of the total number post on forums at all. Less than 1 %
Now statistically that rate of sampling is TOO little to come to the conclusion you have. I say...fwiw, buy what you LIKE and can feel comfortable with.
If it's not a MINI, that's cool, just don't think that there are not relieable Mini's being driven to this day with little or no MAJOR issues..just like all other car's and car companies.

Hope what ever you buy your happy with it..and it NEVER gives you any REAL grief!!!!

And that goes for everyone on here too!!!


Regards

Scott.

 

Scott, I appreciate your post, and very much appreciate the tone and tenor of it as well . It raises a couple of points I have seen from various folks throughout this thread, so I will use your post to raise them, but I am not focusing on you at all.

First, several folks say buy a Camry/Accord/whatever (go ahead and be dull, drab, boring!). I can only see those as dismissive or insults because a Camry et al is not at all the same type of car as a Clubman. I don't know about you, but I look for cars based on my transportation needs, fairly well defined. Telling me to go get a Camry is like telling someone looking at a Prius to go buy a Land Rover. They just don't equate; all cars are not substitutes for other cars. So either get more clever in your insults, or realize not everybody finds an identity from their car.

Posters often say the forums are not representative, too small a sample size, etc. Very true, but we all have to make decisions on the information we can obtain. Info is NEVER perfect, even with statistical samples. The key is applying the information you can obtain and using judgment. My judgment may be different than yours using the same information.

Another common theme has been that all cars have problems, nothing is perfect. True. And while you are playing the lottery when you buy any car to a degree, when you go to Vegas you probably don't seek out the worst bet do you? The facts are there are some serious issues that have arisen with some (unknown) number of Minis and in Peugots using the same engine. As important if not more so, is that Mini and Peugot to date has been unable to diagnose and resolve the problems, even though they have been working on it for some time. Most folks who have the engine problems are pretty distressed about it. Why not wait for some resolution? What is 6 to 12 to 18 months in the scheme of things?

Again Scott, this was not directed at you. Your post was fine but happened to pick up on several themes that have recurred (and it is late, I have had a few to drink - Guinness, no less)

 

Well I like Guinness as well we have that in common. Hope it's ingested at room temperature

As for my comment (not speaking of others) about buying a Camry etc.. it was an EXTREME from one to the other...meaning if we focus on relieability as the main concern then this would be what we all would drive, a box on wheels for lack of a better explanation. It (in my case) was not a slam on yourself but trying to make a point.

As for engine/fuel system issues, it maybe that they can not find the problem due to it being an item that is caused specifically to these vehicles. Not readily able to be reproduced in a lab enviornment. As any computer troubleshooter of software issues. Lots of times it's the interaction of many factors and interplay that may cause the issue. I'm not saying that is the case. But you also don't throw the baby out with the bath water!!! If a dealer can't locate the problem? Then it maybe something deeper!! Most troubleshooting at the dealer level is not very well done these days. Sorry if this offends anyone but most modern "Mechanics" are parts changers as this makes the dealerships more money. Time spent diagnosing a problem is not billable for most cases. To either the warranty via the manufacturer or to the vehicle owner. So they make a guess and replace a part. It happens lots..and again as stated above the manufacturer can't reproduce it without the car in question which I doubt they rarely see!!!

They could simply source parts from different suppliers and be done with it in newer units. This can in some cases be like using a sledge hammer to kill a bug!!! And would cause a host of other issues. Also if it's a small percentage that have the problem (on a global scale) it's not in the companies interest to fix these (in there opinion) issues as it's not cost effective.

My point in all this is that YES some have issues. YES you have to look at the information you find.
But you also as others suggest find a dealer you can trust (for any model) and hope that when and IF you have problems they deal with you in a timely manner.

I would have repurchased a NEW MAZDA this spring, but I don't live anywhere near my old dealer in Belleville (BAY MAZDA) and the one close to me here...ain't worth a pinch of C#$!%# S#!@#% IMHO.

So Mazda for me (atleast a new one) is out of the running. I don't like much else on the market. A new Mini..well...right now..too expensive!!! for what I would want. Hence the 02 and has all I want..and in the price range willing to pay since I do have other vehicles as well.
Also since I do my own maintenance I save a lot and don't take to a dealer for repair unless it's VERY involved!!

These cars are fun. I have a few friends that have had them or have relatives that do and all there experiences so far have been positive.

Good luck in your search for whatever your looking for.

You can always wait till they bring there SUVMINI to market (if they do?)

Being a 3rd GEN it should have all the ugly repair gremlins removed ???

Regards

Scott

 

Any one person's experience is anecdotal. The only real scientific data we have says that in general, they very much still are. Of course that doesn't mean there aren't some japanese cars with problems and vice versa. But if you're playing the odds and you value reliability above all else, you'll probably want to get a Japanese car.

- Mark

 

Ah, this might have something to do with the 1st gen cars being 3-7 years old vs. 1-2 years old for the 2nd gen. And that there are probably 2x or 3x more people on here with 1st gen cars vs. 2nd gen cars.

If you're going to use a statistical measure to make a conclusion, you've got to normalize the data!

- Mark