>>The point that I think you're missing, though, is that the law limits what Mini can do with its warranty.
>>

Hey, I agree completely with this statement and everything you said in your post. I just think that people need to be a tiny bit honest with themselves when attempting to collect on a warranty. Wear items such as clutches have a myriad ways of going bad, some totally inadvertent....I learned the hard way as a teen ager that you really should not ride the clutch, even if uncounsciously....... I do object to a whole lot of posts with hatred for the car, hatred for the company when the stories being told are, on the face of them, not highly credible.......add to that the fact that in black and white it is written "thou shalt not....."...Give you another example....I have autocrossed PKT RKT and I will also have it on the track this summer. should I blow the engine....would I have the b.lls to attempt to collect from MINI? Of course not! should the engine block suddently crack open and it was obvious that a casting defect was present....of course I would expect a warranty, regardless of the fact that the book says "you race it, your warranty is void".
Anyways.....to those who have MINI's and to those who would like to have one....have a nice day.......blow somebody away on a ramp and chuckle.......

 

I had to get my clutch replaced with only approx 12k miles. The dealer couldn't explain why the clutch went so early on & I didn't understand either becuase I was very easy on my MC. Even though they replaced it at no charge, I seem to recall that that they said they did this for "good will," not because it was covered inder warranty.

 

Here is the most disturbing issue I see about all aspect and I am not sure that anyone has mentioned it.

The Fact that It that cost $1500.00 to replace the clutch in a $20.000 car is is unacceptable in my opinion.


I can not think of any other front drive vehicle at any price that takes 15+ hours labor to simply replace a clutch; when the average price for clutch jobs is $600 with 4-6 hours labor.

This is exactly the kind of service dilemmas that cause the demise of the 3rd Gen. RX 7 and caused residual used car values to fall so low.

If BMW engineered the Mini so poorly with no regard for affordable serviceability then buy all means, all clutches that fail within a reasonable time frame should be replaced regardless under goodwill.

Or did we all buy disposable cars???????


_________________
The enemy of good is better

<IMG SRC="https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...humb.jpg" >

 

>>Here is the most disturbing issue I see about all aspect and I am not sure that anyone has mentioned it.
>>
>>The Fact that It that cost $1500.00 to replace the clutch in a $20.000 car is is unacceptable in my opinion.

 

If my dealership did that to me, I would spend my weekends on the sidewalk outside the dealership handing out (this letter made into) fliers to potential customers.

 

I see everyone shouting about their MF rights ... Mossy Ferguson Act? .... but how if the hell can you do anything to inforce it? Will a small claims court rule on a federal Act via a local dealer? Or do you have to take BMW to court? And then you're paying $10,000 in legal and court fees to fight a $1,200 repair. They got you by the *****. Even though the law is on your side (that's the debate of course) the dealer can say f-u and you gotta tow the thing to a local repair shop who will do the job for $40 an hr. ..... I just can't see where the Moss Act is worth the paper it's written on unless you have deep pockets to hire legal guns. .... Am I wrong? :???:

 

>>>>
>> The beast is FWD, transverse......I am guessing you have to pull the engine out. while six hours might be good for a rwd, pulling and reinstalling an engine ain't gonna be that quick.
>>

I've dropped the tranny on my FWD CRX a few times (a used tranny only runs $250) and I most definitely did not have to pull the engine. If it is engineered as such, it's poorly engineered. It only took a couple of hours, and I was lying on my back (and bench pressing the tranny!)

 

Re: Moss-Magnuson (Magnuson-Moss?) Act...

The act very clearly puts the onus on the dealership. THEY have to prove to YOU that your mods caused the failure. Not the other way around. Certainly they're going to try and avoid it, playing mainly on customer ignorance, but my suspicion is that if you threatened legal action to force them to meet their obligations they would pony up. I don't think you'd actually have to go through with the legal action, though, as that would cost them much more money in the long run. It's all about them trying to intimidate you.

And now back to your regularly scheduled thread...

 

The Moss Act governs the interpretation of the warranty, but the cause of action itself (breach of warranty) can be brought in a state court. In fact, breach of warranty claims are commonly brought in small claims courts. Here's a link from Nolo.

Assuming CoopinginDC is in, well, DC, here are some more links:

Pamphlet from DC Superior Court
DC Bar site re: small claims
Another DC bar site

 

Well I can't wait to hear what happens with my Airbag light issue.

 

This excerpt is from Edmunds long term test and can be found at http://www.edmunds.com/used/2002/min...alpage=page013

In February of 2003, we first started to notice an odd shudder when releasing the clutch in first gear. It didn't affect the performance of the car, but it became annoying in stop-and-go traffic. On our first trip to the dealer, the technicians reported that they were unable to duplicate the problem and therefore couldn't make any repairs. This seemed odd to us considering the fact that just about every passenger who rode in our Mini would inevitably ask, "What's that noise?" every time we accelerated from a stop. A return trip to the dealer yielded a far different diagnosis as we were informed that, after duplicating the problem, they came to the conclusion that a new transmission would be required to fix it. After several days out of service, the Mini returned with a new tranny, but the shudder was still there. We returned to the dealer several weeks later with the same complaint. They replaced the clutch and the problem went away, but a new problem became evident. The shifter was popping out of gear and the gates didn't seem as easy to find as before. Another trip to the dealer resulted in an adjustment that seemed to reduce the instances of the shifter popping out of gear, but the overall feel was never quite the same.

As hard as they are to take apart, how hard hard are they to put back together again or is possible; Humpty Dumpty?

 

Reading this thread simply makes my blood boil. I have had nothing but tranny issues with my early 03/MC. I aquired a lawyer and attempted to lemon the vehicle (he thought it was an open/shut case) and the dealership finally replaced the tranny. The tranny was popping out of gear and was very difficult to find the gate. With the new tranny I still have the "hard to find gate" issue, but it doesn't pop out of gear anymore.

Moving on...I am still having multiple issues with my MC and Mini refuses to buy the car back. We have now filed a lawsuit and are waiting. When I get some more time I'll post the whole story on this, but this thread is just another example of how Mini has made a few poor quality vehicles and refuse to accept responsibilty. When my case is finally resolved I am almost certain an RX-8 is in my future. It's sad because I love the Mini, but I could not deal with another Mini like I have or like the ones we unfortunately read about on NAM from time to time.

 

>>Reading this thread simply makes my blood boil. I have had nothing but tranny issues with my early 03/MC. I aquired a lawyer and attempted to lemon the vehicle (he thought it was an open/shut case) and the dealership finally replaced the tranny. The tranny was popping out of gear and was very difficult to find the gate. With the new tranny I still have the "hard to find gate" issue, but it doesn't pop out of gear anymore.
>>
>>Moving on...I am still having multiple issues with my MC and Mini refuses to buy the car back. We have now filed a lawsuit and are waiting. When I get some more time I'll post the whole story on this, but this thread is just another example of how Mini has made a few poor quality vehicles and refuse to accept responsibilty. When my case is finally resolved I am almost certain an RX-8 is in my future. It's sad because I love the Mini, but I could not deal with another Mini like I have or like the ones we unfortunately read about on NAM from time to time.



'02 Cooper CVT = 23K + troublefreemiles
'04 MCS = 8,500+ troublefreemiles, not once back to the dealer for anything in the 9 months since I took delivery.

Sorry to hear about your negative experience, but not all MINIs are bad. There are good apples out there too.

 

>>
>>Sorry to hear about your negative experience, but not all MINIs are bad. There are good apples out there too.


Except for BRG jobs....they are all awful and people need to stop buying them so that MINI will be forced to discontinue them......

 

>>
>>Sorry to hear about your negative experience, but not all MINIs are bad. There are good apples out there too.


Except for BRG jobs....they are all awful and people need to stop buying them so that MINI will be forced to discontinue them......

 

I'm glad to hear that you have not had any issues with your vehicles. I really wish I was delivered a vehicle like yours. I'm sure others who have posted in this thread feel the same. After having my tranny replaced and seeing my car in the shop for 41 days (not including the 6 repairs I still need done), I am very hesitant about forking over another $21K with the risk that I will be delivered another similar vehicle.

 

people are allowed to f....k me once......I am a terror as a consumer. let me down and you will not see me or mah money ever again......this market only works if we ALL stick to that ethic. Very easily to bankrupt a dishonest company. Everyone stop patronizing them, based on their OWN experiences......

 

I second. Please PLEASE PLEASE stick to your guns on this one. They are trying to screw you in the most humiliating, demoralizing way possible...then they want to charge you for their sh*%y service. *****.

 

I'm in Oz & have had my MCS for about 4 months now with only 3.5k Miles on the clock. While my girlfriend was driving home about a week ago, the gearbox gave in on her. When she got backed I checked it out & the gearstick was complete mush. It was totally loose & couldn't select any gears, shifting it anywhere it would still move side to side as if in neutral.

I had to get it towed to MINI Service the next day & at least got a courtesy car. The next day they called & said that the Gearstick Cable snapped so I had to wait a week or 2 for it to be imported from Germany. I don't have any aftermarket mods on mine so as of yet have not received any negative statements from the dealer saying "it's the driver's fault" or "won't be covered under warranty".

I know in the US the MINI is pretty well priced but here in Oz it's definitely at the top end of it's genre. The amount I paid for my MCS with the current currency conversion is US$37,375. For that amount of money, it's extremely disappointing to have such problems on a new car!

All the best Danny, hope everything is sorted out with your car & dealer attitude. After my problem I did a little research & found a magazine called "The Dog & Lemon Guide", the MINI was in there, I won't list all the problems but it's scary!!!

 

At the very least, try to get Tate to agree to pick up labor if you pick up the parts. That said, I would fight them on it for sure. I mean, it's possible to burn up a clutch in an afternoon if you work at it, but even so, I'd think you'd see signs of wear (slippage, etc) before it failed completely. The MINI doesn't put out that much power that it would kill a clutch like that under normal usage.

Sorry to hear you've had such a time with it. Be reasonable but firm with them...anger doesn't usually get you far with service writers, for whatever that's worth.

 

After reading this, I'll NEVER buy a Mini or BMW product again. Mini's cop-out is totally unethical. They have no idea how much money they have lost on this thread alone.

 

So what happened? Did you pay for it?

 

Any updates?