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Mini Cooper's are POS! #: 545

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Posted: Fri Feb 2nd, 2018 12:28 am

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Tsquare
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Back in 2012 I ordered a loaded Mini Cooper S for my wife. I got the car through military sales and paid about $35k for it (it had a retail of just over $40k). We had a few issues that were mostly electrical while it was in warranty and service at one dealership 30 miles away is good while the new dealership near me are total morons. The warranty ran out last April.

In May it died and would not crank. It was $450 for new spark plugs and another $180 for 2 coil packs and a hour labor. In June the thermostat housing started leaking. Dealer wanted just north of $900 to fix that, I did it for $220 in parts in about 6 hours.

In August the TPS board went tits up. My mechanic trouble shot it for about 10 minutes and came back the board was bad and they die easily and he can get me one for just over $400 (no warranty) or charge me $50 and code it out. In November the water pump spun out, it was plastic and this is another common problem. My mechanic wanted just under $800 and the dealer was $1100. I did it in 8 hours for about $125 parts.

This morning the wife comes running up the stairs freaking out because there is a trans error and it will not start - she took the Fusion. No codes but the Torque app told me solenoid 1 was throwing an error. Checked the easy things and tried a few easy fixes and after screwing with it for over 4 hours I called my mechanic. He is slammed. I spoke with his parts girl and she passed on the info but she said it would be at least two weeks before he can see it.

I disregarded a cardinal rule I leaned back in the 70's. Do not buy cars made in England. They are crap.

Last edited on Fri Feb 2nd, 2018 12:29 am by Tsquare

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Posted: Fri Feb 2nd, 2018 01:14 am

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A good friend bought a brand new Ford Mustang - you can multiply your experience by at least 2 - american cars are crap too.

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Posted: Fri Feb 2nd, 2018 03:00 pm

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Tsquare
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I could understand if I had a teenager driving/abusing it but this is my wife's car, she is a retired school teacher. I don't think she has ever had it above 3500 rpm or more than 5 mph over the posted speed limit and I have made sure that it has been serviced more often than the intensive service schedule. This car has been babied. It is just a crappy design that used sub-par parts with a premium cost.

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Posted: Fri Feb 2nd, 2018 03:08 pm

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Well you can blame BMW for that - they bought out the Mini name - they are not Minis in any sense of the word!

I am pretty fed up with foreign companies buying out UK businesses and if I had my way I'd throw them all out - not just cars but confectionery, pharmaceuticals, fast food, etc. etc.

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Posted: Fri Feb 2nd, 2018 03:45 pm

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And all this time I thought Coopers were Australian! I think I would get the thing fixed and trade it off before it shits out again!

EDIT: And yes, you're gonna loose your butt on the trade, most likely. :(

Last edited on Fri Feb 2nd, 2018 03:46 pm by mhoward

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Posted: Fri Feb 2nd, 2018 03:54 pm

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John Cooper was very much British - he & his Dad set up the Cooper car company - the Australian connection comes with Jack Brabham who designed & drove for them.

They saw the potential in rallying the original Mini and worked on it to make it a world beater.

Since those days Mini Coopers are just tweaked production vehicles - the Cooper's have never even breathed on them!

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Posted: Fri Feb 2nd, 2018 03:58 pm

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Aha! So there WAS an Australian connection there! I feel better now... ;)

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Posted: Fri Feb 2nd, 2018 04:30 pm

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I can make you feel better still - they used to build the Minis out in Oz from knock down kits as well.

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Posted: Fri Feb 2nd, 2018 05:30 pm

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I know I am going to get raped on trading or selling it. The Mini reputation has gone down so resell value drops off quickly.

I also have a 2013 Ford Fusion. It has the same size engine that is configured similarly that puts out almost the same HP. There is a big difference in the gearing and the Fusion is more aerodynamic but weighs about 350 lbs more. The Mini gets 25mpg city and 32 hwy but it is a lot quicker. The Fusion gets 28 mpg city and 37 hwy and it is no slouch if you put your foot in it. My only gripe about the Fusion is everything is plastic and it has the never ending recalls.

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Posted: Fri Feb 2nd, 2018 05:42 pm

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Sorry but funny how some of the Coopers have lot of little problems and some are like tanks.
I have two friends that own them, their only vehicles and they love them. One of them has modified the engine some and upped the turbo to 15% overdrive, (I think), and he thinks it is fast but I drove it, its quick but not FAST. Actually I think my Wife's VW/2.0 turbo Diesel would have blown it off, I didn't have the heart to say anything except NICE ! BUT he has had no major problems that he lets anyone know about !

Sorry to hear you are having troubles, buy the Wife a used Ranger or she might like one of the Car/Truck-Rangers.

What is the MPG on a Cooper ?

Good Luck with it hope it gets better for you and the Cooper.

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Posted: Fri Feb 2nd, 2018 06:31 pm

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Tsquare wrote: Back in 2012 I ordered a loaded Mini Cooper S for my wife. I got the car through military sales and paid about $35k for it (it had a retail of just over $40k). We had a few issues that were mostly electrical while it was in warranty and service at one dealership 30 miles away is good while the new dealership near me are total morons. The warranty ran out last April.

In May it died and would not crank. It was $450 for new spark plugs and another $180 for 2 coil packs and a hour labor. In June the thermostat housing started leaking. Dealer wanted just north of $900 to fix that, I did it for $220 in parts in about 6 hours.

In August the TPS board went tits up. My mechanic trouble shot it for about 10 minutes and came back the board was bad and they die easily and he can get me one for just over $400 (no warranty) or charge me $50 and code it out. In November the water pump spun out, it was plastic and this is another common problem. My mechanic wanted just under $800 and the dealer was $1100. I did it in 8 hours for about $125 parts.

This morning the wife comes running up the stairs freaking out because there is a trans error and it will not start - she took the Fusion. No codes but the Torque app told me solenoid 1 was throwing an error. Checked the easy things and tried a few easy fixes and after screwing with it for over 4 hours I called my mechanic. He is slammed. I spoke with his parts girl and she passed on the info but she said it would be at least two weeks before he can see it.

I disregarded a cardinal rule I leaned back in the 70's. Do not buy cars made in England. They are crap.
Buddy of mine bought one of those Coopers for his college bound son and as you said, they are crap, and yes, the 70's Britt electrical headaches never went away. Problem was solved last summer when he dumped the (constantly breaking) car....and a few months later the new owner called, complaining about how it needed an estimated $800 of electrical work. These cars are best to avoid or dump before the warranty runs out.

Last edited on Fri Feb 2nd, 2018 06:32 pm by CBB9M

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Posted: Fri Feb 2nd, 2018 07:04 pm

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Blame the Germans - not the Brits - the MINI is a BMW car.... probably explains the cost of parts & repairs - the name BMW triples the cost of everything.

Son has a BMW 3 series that had a loose crank pulley - BMW dealer wanted north of £800 to fix - local garage did it for less than £200 and most of that was for the genuine BMW pulley at £130 and that was trade price!

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Posted: Fri Feb 2nd, 2018 07:25 pm

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Lol - just as a matter of curiosity into the cost of the plugs & coil packs for the Cooper - in the UK they are £15 for each plug and £12 each coil pack.

So 4 plugs & 2 coils would be £84 - about $100 and 15 mins to fit.....

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Posted: Fri Feb 2nd, 2018 07:56 pm

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Looks like the Coopers take a pooper. Thanks for the education.

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Posted: Fri Feb 2nd, 2018 10:11 pm

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The reality of it is, you can get a good or bad specimen no matter the make. Buddy has an '14 or '15 Caddy sedan, 4cyl turbo. Small coolant leak from a sensor (so small it never even hit the ground) caused the entire engine bay harness to be replaced.

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Posted: Fri Feb 2nd, 2018 10:54 pm

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I'm glad you stepped in here, Chris, dang, America really weren't told anything about the BMW Mini when they got it....

In case anyone cares, a little expansion on what Chris mentioned;

1) Mini is (was?) the model, not the make. Austin made the Mini, then Rover.

2) Cooper was a trim level, or spec, like Shelby is to the Mustang.

3) There is not a single thing about the current Mini that has anything to do with the English Mini - it's 100% BMW design, parts, concept etc.

4) BMW bought the Model name "Mini" and rights to it's likeness when Rover shutdown around the turn of the century.

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Posted: Fri Feb 2nd, 2018 11:19 pm

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Surprised you hadn't heard this. It was a fairly big deal when it happened.

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Posted: Sat Feb 3rd, 2018 03:15 am

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The current Mini Cooper is owned by BMW. They source parts and sub assemblies for all over Europe and the final assembly point is in England. If memory serves the engine is manufactured in Spain, sub assemblies come from France, Belgium, and Poland.

With the factory tires it would do the quarter mile in the low 14's at 98 mph. If you got rid of the run flats and and put on a decent tire it was in the mid to low 13's at 111 mph. Something about that rotating mass formula - less is better especially if it is more sticky.

The tires were the only mod from stock that the car had on it. The S model came from the factory with a cold air intake and it also came with a very open exaust. I can't validate those numbers but that is what other's were reporting on North America Motoring. I do know it was almost undrivable if you turned the traction control off.

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Posted: Wed Feb 21st, 2018 09:21 pm

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I got the update from my mechanic. He called in help as he from the senior dealership Mini mechanic, neither had never seen anything like this. Something is locked up in either the transmission or engine. I burned out the starter trying various methods to get it stated. The new starter will not spin over the engine.

The procedure to remove the transmission is to remove the torque converter bolts though an access panel. Remove a bolt and rotate the tq converter - it's locked up can't rotate. They have to remove the engine and transmission to take it apart. Minimum 10 hours labor.

Then they will be able to determine if it is a transmission problem or an engine problem. Worst case scenario if it is an engine I could be looking upwards of $6k or if it a tranny issue $7-8K.

I will find out in the next few days.

Last edited on Wed Feb 21st, 2018 09:21 pm by Tsquare

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Posted: Thu Feb 22nd, 2018 12:24 am

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That's horrendous!

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Posted: Sat Sep 8th, 2018 09:22 am

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Latest and final update. The transmission issue turned out to be a blown anti-theft circuit board. Supposedly this is the fist one that has ever needed replacing and they had to order it from England.

My wife has put about 1500 miles on it and a coil pack failed. I replaced that and detailed the car and put it on AutoTrader. I sold it last night for 1/3rd of what I paid for it 6 years ago.

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Posted: Sat Sep 8th, 2018 10:53 am

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WOOHOO! Buy her a ranger.

It's nice when headaches leave the driveway.

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Oh brother. I think you made the right choice, probably a hard one because the wife wanted to like her mini.

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