Driving back from Big Bear today. Thank God we were just off the mountain when it happened... 65-70 on the freeway, suddenly an icon flashed up that looked like a car raised up on an inspection lift then all power cut off.

There was no shoulder, the closest thing was the gap between the main freeway traffic and a lane merging on to our right. Not even close to a safe spot to stop... but the best we had open to us at the time.

The engine did restart immediately... popping up an error code cc-id 354 which promptly cleared. Still, with no idea if it was about to lose power on us again, as we crossed that merge lane, we figured a fast answer from Mini was the smarter option.

BAD MOVE.

Long Beach Mini, where we bought it from, couldn't get their service department to pick up the phone. Well, that's not entirely true, despite being told it was a Mini issue, the receptionist first sent us to their BMW service department. After five minutes of trying - and our fast regretting the $500 cheaper price they'd offered - she gave up and transferred us to Mini Roadside Assistance.

From dumb to dubber...

Wow. I've never had to call Mini Roadside Assistance before so I'd never realized just how moronic it was possible to be. Now I've done it once, I'll never, ever, do it again. Tripple A are a FAR wiser bet.

After explaining we were in a dangerous location but unsure whether we'd be in more danger trying to move it... our helpful moron proceeded to ask us for our VIN number. Then to clarify it. Then to tell us he couldn't find us in the system (the car's 14 months old, not so long it's out of warranty, not so short they wouldn't have got paperwork yet). Genius' best answer to this was to keep asking us to repeat the VIN number while we got rocked by passing big rigs.

Eventually my wife lost all patience with him. She told him we really didn't care about whether our VIN is in the system... All we needed to know was whether cc-id 354 was something that was likely to repeat on us or if we were safe to try moving to somewhere a little less dangerous. He responded that they don't actually have any technical information at Mini Roadside Assistance. She hung up in disgust.

Next step was Brecht where we get most servicing done. We got Service fairly quickly though they had little interest in giving us any information on what 354 actually meant... just that we shouldn't try driving it. At this point, getting rocked with every passing car, we ignored them, took the chance, and pulled off the freeway to somewhere safer.

No amount of googling has told me what 354 means yet. I get that Mini likes keeping their error codes a closely guarded secret so they can over charge for service but, when it comes to giving someone a straight answer so they can get out of a potentially life threatening situation, the time has long since passed to gain a little transparency.

The car'll be in the service center at Brecht tomorrow. We'll see if I can force an answer out of them then.

In the mean time, I've learned an important lesson. We'll be buying a handgun to keep in the glove box for future breakdowns. Shooting ourselves in the foot will be less painful and a whole lot quicker in an emergency than asking Mini for help.

Tech details: '08 stock MCS, up to date on all services, 25,400 miles. Had just had the front left tire changed out at a non Mini dealership (Big Bear has no Mini options) after finding a bubble in the side wall of the non run flat 17. Watched the wheel change - they touched nothing beyond the wheel itself, jacked it on the correct point.

 

I was under the impression that Mini Roadside Assistance was actually sub contracted AAA. Anyone have info on this?

 

Wow... did you loose all functions? Break assist, power stearing, engine power etc, or just dash gauges, lights and radio?

 

I really am sorry for your difficulty.

I had to quote the above b/c after reading your story, i literally laughed out loud reading that.

straight to the point.