BMW's Mini Coopers labelled 'junk' as owner hit with $10K engine repairs

CBC News ^ | Feb 09, 2015 | Rosa Marchitelli

[gorush]

[Charles Martel]

Nope, it's really the vacuum pump. Something to do with the Mini's brake booster system.

BMW has been aware of this flaw for years. People in the Mini forums have been screaming about it for a long time.

[SixIron]

Anyone who drives a Mini Cooper deserves everything that happens to them.

I have a 2014 Cooper S, and it’s a terrific car. The S Model has the well-respected BMW 4 banger engine, and it’s fun to drive. Nothing wrong with this 4th gen MINI.

[Joe 6-pack]

Brian Williams designed that bike and built the first prototype with his bare hands from downed helicopter parts.

[Tijeras_Slim]

Old School!

[gorush]

I resemble that!

[nodumbblonde]

Don’t buy anything with a CVT. The odds of you being angry and broke are enormous.

[dila813]

whoa, glad I didn’t buy one, they are really attractive cars

[petercooper]

I think all Mini models, with the exception of the Countryman, now come with the BMW engines.

[frithguild]

Brian Williams owns part of the timing chain of this vehicle.

[wally_bert]

Those chopper parts he got from old bell 47s left for scrap when 4077th was under heavy artillery attack from both sides.

[wally_bert]

Timing belts are even worse no matter the make.

[mcshot]

Ours cost $900. to replace and they never showed us the belt. Thing is we scheduled the timing belt replacement per manual when we were having the oil changed. Two weeks later they changed(?) belt and charged us for another oil change ($64.) Never once did they tell us that we would need another oil change. That dealership milked us at every opportunity. For example, the ERG(?) valve plugged up often and they just told us to have it towed to them. In reality they is a switch that will allow you start and drive the car. They never told us about that and smilingly bilked us for multiple cleanings. If we still had that car I would changed the ERG pipe for after market unit that is maintenance free. Good forum on TDIs with plenty of anal yet nice folk.

[az_gila]

This car only had around 40,000 miles, still within warranty.

Something’s being left out of the story.

Entry level luxury cars are cheaper to buy, not cheaper to maintain.

---

Depends on the warranty.

Might have been low mileage, but it was over 4 years old.

[anoldafvet]

My family has owned 11 Hondas. We currently own 4. Never had a problem with any of them. The timing belt change on my 05 Odyssey was pricy but the Civics and Accords were reasonable. My son’s 02 Civic gets between 35 and 41 MPG.

[woodbutcher1963]

Do people not read Consumer Reports before buying a used car? These Minis’ automobiles problems are very well known. If you read anything about them before purchasing, it would dissuade you from buying this model.
Every year Consumer Reports sends a survey to all of the subscribers to their magazine. Their collected data is very accurate because of the large sample they take. In addition there is so much information about everything on the internet today it amazes me that some people actually buy this type of junk. That is why my last five autos have all been Ford, Honda and Toyota.

[nascarnation]

You need high compression to get fuel efficiency.
That means not much piston to valve clearance, eg the “interference” engine.
I think that’s pretty much the norm these days.

[jjotto]

FR’s experts really dislike CR because of its preference for faux green vehicles.

Those small luxury vehicles are all expensive to maintain, even the reliable ones like Acura and Lexus. Except for Acura and Lexus, they’re mostly bad deals as used cars.

Auto personality has a price.

[nascarnation]

How do they get the compression for needed fuel efficiency without being an interference engine? The Camry 4 cyl is 10.4:1 compression.

[glasseye]

The automatic transmissions in Minis have been well known as a problem for years.

Just try and have one rebuilt...dealers just replace them.