It is with much sadness we have to announce ClubBeast's temporary demise. He is at present on a ramp waiting to be fixed, needing a new clutch and flywheel after 19,000 miles.
Sadly this will not be covered by warranty - it is apparently "wear and tear" caused by "driver style". No matter that we have a 7year old R50 with 90,000 on the clock with original clutch and gearbox and had 35,000 on a JCW Checkmate also with no new clutch.
Before I hear the ranting believe me we have tried to the point of desperation and no-one at MINI UK/ Customer care is interested - we have effectively been told "on yer bike".
So Madam, that will be £1500 to fix or £350 to tow away broken (Obviously to pay for the work they have done.)
I can imagine a great many of you will have a lot to say about this. We have ourselves too, but for now I will remain polite.
But a word of warning to you all. If you have the least issue with your clutch you could well find yourself shafted too.
You know we are MINI mad and have been for some years now. I can't begin to explain how completely gutted and unhappy we are about this, but it is not over yet.
If anyone has any clutch related problems with R56s please pm us as I am trying to gather more evidence. We have a suspicion this is a bigger problem than MINI are letting on as we are not the first to have a prematurely burnt out clutch.

 

Fight the power. I dont know how MINI/UK works, but lots of folks here whose clutches and flywheels fail prematurely fight any dealer that tries to stonewall them into guilt that it was their fault and make them pay, and most of the time, they win, once corporate gets involved. The clutch and flywheel are covered under your 4/50 bumper-to-bumper, and any dealer should replace it the first time NQA as a courtesy.

Clutches and DMFs have always been spotty components on these cars, and it seems to be getting worse. My 05 MCS had so many problems in this area (all warranty repairs) I just gave up and got an automatic; couldnt be happier. At least when Im at the the track I need not worry about frying an already-sketchy clutch and flywheel.

 

Yeah make calls... apparently there seem to be a bit of lemons out there as far as these clutches go.

 

told buy my sa that won't evan consider clutch warranty under 30,000 miles. then will fix under maintenance plan........

 

thats a joke.. I have ssen plenty of Clutches replaced under 30,000 miles. They just suck. How can you PROVE its the drivers poor habits which caused the failure???

 

i agree, i'm just telling you what i heard.

 

well, at least they will fix it.... many dealers are avoiding this at all costs, like their crappy LuK d/t components are never at fault