Comments on: Blog : My MINI misadventure

By: Al

Al — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 19:50:21 +0000

My wife’s car is a 2008 Cooper S, now has 93k on the clock. Generally very good, strangely the paint is not a problem, for a very quick car it returns 40 mpg, handling is fantastic on standard 17 inch alloys. Run flats seem to last well but make the ride very hard. Routine servicing is reasonably priced and if you use an independent specialist like 1320 Mini you don’t have to put up with the main dealer costs. Still looks a million dollars when washed and spruced up? Interior rattles a bit and some trim materials like the cloth used on the seats isn’t wearing very well compared with previous cars I have owned (Ford, Volvo, Saab, Suzuki, BMW, Land Rover, Mazda, Peugeot).
Main problem has been the RAC warranty bought with the car, turns out you might as well make a pile of £10 notes and set fire to them!!! When the engine gave up in a puff of smoke, turned out to be a burnt exhaust valve, a recon head and labour came to four figures, RAC said that although their warranty covered all mechanical components!!! That is verbatim from the front of the document, they refused to honour the claim as an exhaust valve
Is not a mechanical component!!! Always run on V power and fully synthetic oil and not thrashed!!!
Now rebuilt and is fine but she has lost confidence in driving the car so will be sold, with the remainder of the warranty if the new owner wants a laugh!!!

By: Rob Lightbody

Rob Lightbody — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 20:15:13 +0000

I’m a classic Mini lover. I bought a new MINI in 2001 and LOVED it. It was a very, very special car then. But I had lots of problems. So I bought a new 2004 model. It had no problems, but then I lost my job. I sold it at 2 years old and made a MASSIVE loss. I couldn’t sell it privately, even at a bargain price, so I was forced to trade it in at a massive loss.

To get the least depreciation on these overpriced cars, you need to have NO options fitted as they are not taken into account when selling.

By: Jeremy

Jeremy — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 13:50:58 +0000

@ No 91

Sorry, the top gear Kia…I ued to have a company Toyota in my yoof, and it got treated as hard as thier litle kia…and it took it all.

It is funny to watch tho!

ot everything was bad with my mini, it handled well, had a lot of internal space, went like the clappers, got 55-60 to the gallon and was only £20 to tax.

It was just the lack of support and hasstle.

So near and yet so far.

We have all heard this before!

By: The Wolseley Man

The Wolseley Man — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 12:34:48 +0000

I am still sympathising with Jeremy and his mini woes (even though mine’s not put a foot wrong – yet!) but he lost me completely with the Top Gear Ford Focus and Kia reference.
Any one who has seen the show live will know that it is a comedy vehicle for the three guys – every single word having been written by Clarkson – it has as much to with serious motoring as hob nail boots.
Glenn, I think you must be right about the magazines and advertising. There is no mag out there today doing what CAR did in the 60′s and 70′s – they are all far too scared of the bean counters in the add. office.

By: Jeremy

Jeremy — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 08:12:28 +0000

Both of my cousins swifts paint had no problems…never went rusty….and never missed a beat. They were a hell of a lot cheaper too.

Now a proper Mini with an a or A+ engine…fettled into a cooper….a lovely car

By: Martin

Martin — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 00:27:56 +0000

Suzuki Swifts with pretend ‘Cooper’ bonnet stripes always make me smile……However I want a MINI not a Suzuki Swift however reliable they may be but many non MINI/Mini enthusiasts will never understand that thinking…….
In the same way I never wanted a Renault 5 or a Fiat 127 instead of my classic Mini although clearly they were superior in most ways to my outdated, noisy. less reliable 1970′s Mini’s!

By: Glenn Aylett

Glenn Aylett — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 22:39:57 +0000

Jeremy @ 85, I think the badge snobs should try some of these less fashionable cars and be surprised by them. Kias in particular now are way ahead of BMW in quality surveys and are challenging Honda for customer and quality care. Also the new Suzuki Swift is light years ahead of the elderly budget car from ten years ago and since it undercuts the Mini by about a third, but drives as well and is cheaper to service, I can see why local car parks are filling up with them. Don’t be surprised, though, if in two years time, the Dacia Sandero is right up with the big boys as apparently reports from Germany and Italy suggest reliability is excellent.
However, the car magazines, in particular What Car, will continue to lavish praise on anything German as I’m sure German car companies must pay the most in advertising rates and the next time I’ll hear it’s not quite up there with a Volkswagen, I’ll jump off a cliff as a lot of cars are for less money.

By: Jeremy

Jeremy — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 10:39:20 +0000

Merlin,

All Ive ever said is that I have a Japanese car.

Ive had a Toyota made in Derby and it never put a foot wrong.

I did think about an accord estate

All the Nissan models I like (but either cannot afford or afford to run) are not made here.

My own personal experience is that Japanese companies are the fussiest in the important details.

My experience with my current car, Subaru (built in Japan) is astounding. I am very pleased with it and the dealer.

One of my lessons is never ever try a brand new demo car, ask to have a go in one with 20,000+ miles in.

My workforce all have shared taste in cars….Ford Ka/Seat/Ford Ranger/Peugeot/Fiat

I proudly export to Japan!

I do try to buy British, but often it comes back to haunt me.

I am not anti UK manufacturing.

I hope this is OK with you, and that I have not caused offense…I am now off to the shop floor!

By: Merlin Milner

Merlin Milner — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 08:52:21 +0000

Jeremy. I am puzzled why you continue to blame the country of manufacturer rather than the manufacturer. Nissan UK have a fantastic QA record, often their top plant I believe. I understand your woes but to say “Me thinks Japanese (but made in Japan) is the way to go” seems to be based upon the evidence of one manufacturer, not the country.
You state that you run a manufacturing company. Are you about to start making all your products in Japan? Would your workforce like to read about your confidence in their abilities.

By: Jeremy

Jeremy — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 08:52:05 +0000

Glenn,

My cousin has had 2 of these….and preferes them to VW.

She now has a grand vitara…and loves it.

Brand loyalty in action.

I absolutly agree with you, more so on the case where brands are trying to win some loyalty from thier customers…even TopGear mentions the KIA in the same breath as a Ford Focus.

All said and done it is a shame

By: Glenn Aylett

Glenn Aylett — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 23:20:32 +0000

I’d much rather have a Suzuki Swift, a far cheaper rival to a Mini, which is as much fun to drive and the two I’ve driven seem very well put together and I haven’t heard anyone complain about theirs. It seems the East Europeans, who once made the worst cars in Europe, now seem to make some of the best as Skodas seem far more reliable than Volkswagens, the quality of Kias from Slovenia seems excellent and Hungarian and Polish factories producing Suzukis seem to assemble them well. Also locally the Swift, with its VAT free deals and an excellent family dealership, is a must have car and outsells the Mini.

By: Jeremy

Jeremy — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 21:20:04 +0000

Yorkie is my hero!

It gets better…I must have told at least 200 people the tale of woe. They should have spread the word.

It took a tad under 3 months after the threat to even get my car examined…

Yorkie, what do you tool around in???

By: Yorkie

Yorkie — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 21:12:40 +0000

Somebody doesn’t like it when hard evidence about slapdash quality of a so called premium brand is put in front of them.

It’s sorry when a firm such as BMW have to be physically threatened with legal action to get a badly made car sorted. It is very poor showing from them.

And sadly, Jeremy isn’t the only one with Bini woes. The JD Power survey proves it, especially when they fell over 20 places on the 2011 survey, It will be interesting to see how they fare in the Us JD Power survey, as they have serious clout over there.

Unless they stop the penny pinching, and stop pushing the Cowley staff too far, there are going to be a lot more people like Jeremy around, who will never buy the brand again, and no doubt Jeremy will not recommend any BMW brand to his friends or family, after his absolutely disgusting experience.

By: Jeremy

Jeremy — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 19:39:27 +0000

@ 80

You try buring £10K and not cry about it.

I like my super scooby…built properly….doesnt creak and rattle…has a reputation built on trust….and value for money.

I am trying to prevent other gentle people making the same mistake I did.

My brother has an M5…and it doesnt do it for me…my reflexes are too slow!

By: The Wolseley Man

The Wolseley Man — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 19:19:44 +0000

Jeremy, Yorkie – for goodness sake! I know your’e a bit cheesed off right now but there are degrees of sadness past which a stout English fellow should not sink!
On the question of BMW quality – I and a colleague recently rode in a client’s 3 week old 5 Series. The interior was a disgusting orangey tan colour, the bubbly plastic looked like something re-cycled from Toys R Us – it was so horrible it made us both quite nauseous – no, physically ill would be more accurate!

By: Jeremy

Jeremy — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 17:01:39 +0000

Yorkie,

You got it.

Sad.

Me thinks Japanese (but made in Japan) is the way to go

Sadder.

By: Yorkie

Yorkie — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 16:45:08 +0000

I think the bottom line is, they have slack periods in production where they actually build them properly, and then times when demand is bonkers and they rush them together, and if you get a rushed car, it’s going to be trouble, but as you are paying an arm and a leg for one of these, production should be spot on. It doesn’t surprise me that some components are made down to a price, BM are behaving exactly like Merc did, and that was when quality nosedived.

By: Jeremy

Jeremy — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 13:27:08 +0000

At @74

Sorry fella the 1.6 Diesel started off as a PSA lump (which is great…no hasstle) I think I read somewhere that later ones had a BMW unit.

The badge may say “bmw/mini” but its a nice economical French car.

@75

Loose hinges where dealers/factory couldnt be bothered to tighten and use loctite. I would never spend my hard earned with Mini or BMW again. That is ever.

I think the design (space wise) of the clubman is really underated….I have a large dog, and he was very happy in the boot, and I had enough space for me inside.

I think I would rather have something like a KIA who have confidence in thier products and offer a 7 year warranty…and the product is budget to start with.

Sad

By: James Riley

James Riley — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 11:57:50 +0000

On the subject of BMW quality in general, our MINI (2011 model) is pretty spot on, feels well made. However, we had a courtesy car which was a brand new 320 X-Drive a few weeks ago, this was a £25k car, I have to say I was totally unimpressed with it. The material used in the interior were not what I expected of a BMW, not bad, but certainly nothing to support this mythical reputation they have for being the pinnacle of engineering and quality. The engine was lacklustre, unresponsive and hardly sporty and I wasn’t much more impressed with the legendary BMW handling either – frankly I do not know what all the fuss is about/ Spec wise it was also miserly despite being a heavily optioned model. Partner and I concluded we could never justifiably buy a BMW given the cost, the questionnable styline and so-so build quality.

By: The Wolseley Man

The Wolseley Man — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 11:30:49 +0000

It is sad when one of us experience such poor performance from a respected manufacturer. All manufacturer’s, just like us ordinary mortals make mistakes. I’ve heard of owners being hugely disappointed with their Rollers – and there are many stories of dissatisfaction with Lamborghini.
Many manufacturer’s have suffered from basic design problems when releasing a new model – Ford having suffered here several times over the last 50 years – but then so has almost everyone else in manufacturing and component production.
My own experience of buying a three year old Cooper Diesel Clubman now showing 95000 miles is just one of sheer joy. It does everything it sais on the tin – it doesn’t rattle, I get 58 to the gallon, it swallows all my bags and shopping, everything works and nothing is broken or worn out. My only criticism is that the engine is little noisy for a ‘modern’ diesel. I absolutely love the half door – so useful!
All this – with Jeremy’s experience – only proves one thing. None of us are perfect and no manufacturer is going to produce perfect cars 100 percent of the time. Our role is surely to do exactly as Jeremy did – write to the MD and let him get involved – this is the way to get performance improvement. Those of us reading this blog that have that position in any company will know why that is.
Unless your an idiot M.D.