WARNING: This may be a bit long...

Okay...We got this car on April 15th, 2002. Let's just say...we're over it. It's time to trade in for something less problematic. Granted, when we drove it home it had problems--the left headlight was burned out because of the famous rear-hatch problem. Should have turned away then. It's really annoying since we put $10K down and for some reason, still have to pay almost $17K?!?!? WTF??

Anyway, it broke down in July 2002 (that cable linkage thing), that sucked but mostly because the dealership we took it to blows (DO NOT buy your car at Universal City MINI). The doors squeaked, the chairs sucked...but it was fun to drive and did great on my Vegas road trip! I loved the car.

November, my husband was pretty much fed up with it (he wanted to get the WRX instead of the MINI). We had a list of 15 items that needed to be repaired, gave a copy to service and sent a copy to MINI USA. We got the car back only to see that 2 of the things got fixed because they "couldn't duplicate conditions" for everything else.

Fast forward to Dec. I'm driving, light turns green, I shift into first and nothing happens but shuddering. I ease off the clutch, go into neutral, shift into first again then the car goes. This happens about 5000 times until last week, when the car died. Oddly enough, we could drive in reverse. We kept planning on taking the car in for service since we were at the 15K service time, but since we had service at 10K (Nov.) we kept stalling. Literally.

So roadside assistance shows up (2 hrs and 35 min. later) and takes us to our dealership (ASSAEL MINI). Apparently, since MINIs suck to tow NO ONE wanted to tow us Anyhow, we got a rental. We're thinking it's the cable linkage thing again. Next day, I get a call saying that it's the friggin' transmission. Now the person we had to deal with at the dealership is a complete moron (the only idiot that works there, thank God.) He says that metal pieces are just falling off the transmission.

This is where that last straw comes in...My husband is ready to junk the car and take a loss. I mean when does a car less than a year old have transmission problems? If we wanted to deal with tranny issues, we would have bought some more Volkswagens

So, I guess my questions still remains...Have you heard of any tranny problems with a relatively new car?

Helpful comments are welcome. I'm not a regular poster, but I'm not interested in anyone telling me I'm badmouthing my own car either.

fabooj

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British Racing Green in LA!

 

I'm sorry to hear about your tranny problems. There was a MCO member that had some transmission problems with their cooper and bashed their car but after the problem was fixed he liked it again. I havent had any problems with my mini and have had it for 6 months now. And I agree with you Assael Mini is a bad dealer, those people there are rude, arrogant and dont know how to treat customers. I dont know what it is about So Cal mini dealers.

 

Sounds like you got a lemon. Have you looked into lemon law remedies?

FWIW, I've owned a WRX for just over 2 years now, and have had minimal problems, all taken care of by my dealer. However, many have not been so fortunate: http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/foru...amp;forumid=64

Common problems are clutch shudder when cold and a lot of guys have blown their transmissions, although nearly all of them are making more power than stock and drag race their cars.

My point is, every manufacturer makes bad examples of their cars. It sounds like you have one of them. Look into the lemon law before cutting your losses.

 

I have a January 2002 build Cooper and had the linkage fixed. It's frustrating, but MINI did a great job of getting me on the road again.

Other than the initial early model linkage fault, there have been very few severe problems. The only other MINI I've heard of with a more serious tranny problem than just the linkage problem has been antsMINI. He went through similar frustrations, and got in fixed. I believe he even works for MINI now. I would PM him for any insights he may have.

Good luck!

 

FWIW, YES other new cars have tranny problems. A perfect example is the 2001 Mazda Miata. The 6 speed was prone to clutch shuttering until a replacement flywheel and pressure plate were installed under warranty. This was a large problem and many people experienced it. You know that jerking you get when you don't give enough gas and let off the car? Well that was a good launch. I typically would buck and jerk from a start, making it look like I was a complete moron driver.

So don't think that by switching car brands it will be any better. All cars have problems. ALL. That's what warranties are for.

..and what does a rear hatch problem have to do with a blown headlight?!?!?

R

 

I read your posting and felt compelled to write back beacuse I have recently had a transmission problem. Anyway, I have had my MC since 7/02 and had no problems until two weeks ago when I got stuck one evening. It seemed as there was a problem with the clutch. By the way, I waited five hours (no kidding) for tow. The dealer indicated that they had to replace the clutch. I thought this was odd since I only have 7500 miles and do not have a heavy foot. I also thought it was weird because they covered it under the warranty. Well, two days after I picked the car, as I was leaving my house for work, my car made a terrible shaking noise as you described. Later that day, I went to test drive the car during lunch and the car did the same thing as yours. Bascially, I could barely get into first. Needless to say, the car was taken back to the dealer. Three days later, I received a call from the dealer advising that the car went into some sort of a fail safe mode via a sensor which would cause the car to have problems shifting into 1st. I was told that this sensor would come on if there was a transmssion problem so that the person couldn't drive the car and cause serious problems. They did not believe that there was anythong wrong with the transmission, bit told me that they were going to replace the transmission. At this point, I do not know what to think.

 

Wow....this post makes me worried. I have been having transmission troubles since I took ownership of my Oct 2002 build MC back in December. The main troubles I have had are the tranny grinds about twice a week when I shift, and I think that’s mainly due to it not transitioning into the next gear correctly. I’ll go to shift and it will feel like it’s in gear, but then I release the clutch and “grrrrrr”. Not a very enjoyable feeling. Occasionally, I will feel the gears grabbing when I have the clutch completely engaged. It’s very strange. Imagine going under 10 mph, and pushing the clutch all the way in, now move the shifter back and forth from first to second. While I’m doing that, I feel it grinding the gear. How could it be doing this with the clutch all of the way in? That’s the question I have asked to Motor City Mini three times. They don’t have an answer. “Cannot duplicate problem,” they tell me. Now the strangest problem I’ve had, is driving down the road, usually when I am in first or second gear, and the transmission totally pops out of gear. When this happens, it’s VERY forceful, and abouts takes out one of my fingers. I’ve actually had a bruise on my hand from this happening. The good thing about it all is, it is not an everyday problem. This has happened only three times in the four months I’ve owned the car. Still, my issues sound very familiar to what the previous poster has detailed above. I’ve considered looking to see if my car would fall under the lemon law, but I don’t think I have much to go on until the tranny completely fails, which I have a bad feeling that it will. I’m very happy with the car, even though I’ve had to take it in for service three times, and another visit is already scheduled. I’ve had the drivers door adjusted, the servo on the hatch replaced, the felt on the gas tank replaced (twice), and soon to be the blower fan replaced, the recalled strut bolts fixed, and my tranny issues. In my book this is far too many repairs for a brand new car. Nevertheless, I love driving the MINI. It’s a fun car, just has me questioning the reliability. There is one thing for certain; I will not keep it past the warrenty period.

 

That bucking that the MINI does out of first gear isn't normal???? My MINI does this everyday. Yikes. Does anyone else have this happen to them? Is it bad on the car?

 

>>FWIW, YES other new cars have tranny problems. A perfect example is the 2001 Mazda Miata. The 6 speed was prone to clutch shuttering until a replacement flywheel and pressure plate were installed under warranty. This was a large problem and many people experienced it. You know that jerking you get when you don't give enough gas and let off the car? Well that was a good launch. I typically would buck and jerk from a start, making it look like I was a complete moron driver.
>>
>>So don't think that by switching car brands it will be any better. All cars have problems. ALL. That's what warranties are for.
>>
>>..and what does a rear hatch problem have to do with a blown headlight?!?!?
>>
>>R

Ditto on that Mine got its new clutch before winter I still can't drive it right. It works great I am just still trying to compensate for the shutter that is gone now

I bet Dave understands

 

My 02/02 build Cooper bought the very first day they were on sale had to have the entire transmission replaced in December at 9500 miles. The gears disappeared in the course of about thirty miles and I was stuck. It never shifted into second smoothly and I thought it was me. The new trans shifts much smoother. If you are having trouble shifting an early 02 cooper then you are likey to go in for a trans or clutch replacement. It took seven days but I made them give me a rental so it wasn't to bad. Two weeks after that the throttle potentiometer went bad and had to be towed again. Now windshield is cracked. I love the cars but it has been trying!

 

I know I've posted this before, but yes, I've had transmission problems with new cars twice in the past 10 years. My 1993 Nissan SE-R had to have its transmission rebuilt (bad synchros and a damaged reverse fork) under warranty and my 2000 Volvo V70 AWD wagon had its automatic transmission replaced at about 15,000. Also a warranty issue. So, yes, this happens.

fabooj, it sounds like you got a VERY early build MINI. These clearly had more problems than later, more recent, builds. Get your transmission replaced (obviously the dealer will replace it under warranty if "pieces of metal are falling out&quot, address the niggling early build QC issues, and motor on. What you don't say anything about in your post is whether or not you like the car (assuming its problems were fixed). If you do like it, get it fixed and you'll love it. If you are indifferent, then I feel sorry for you since it doesn't sound like you've tried enough to make a lemon law case. Maybe just get it fixed and sell it?