You don't have to dig too deep to find dozens of Mini owners with dead transmissions out of warranty.
After ours failed i researched replacing the cvt with a manual. It seemed that after the cost for the modification, (clutch, cpu, etc) you were in the similar cost range of a new cvt. I found a mechanic that would do it, but said that he had never done it before. We passed.
Another owner and I are collecting names for a class action lawsuit. The attorney has been hired, we are just in the process on collecting names/contact info of mini owners whose CVT has failed. That is the only criteria.
If interested in joining our small but growling list of owners, please submit your contact info to
jamiejoyslovick@yahoo.com and include the year of your car and the approx mileage when the tranny failed.
In the meantime, good luck.