Mini is Super Cool BUT....
 

Yes, my wife and I have a manual-drive mini Clubman, S version. We have had it for 17 months now and what a blast to drive. We were very impressed and loved the whole being-part-of-Mini thing. So far we have about 17K miles on it. About 2 weeks ago we noticed the clutch started to slip. We have alwas brought our mini in for the regualrly scheduled sevices, the last being in November 2009. The other day the clutch would not work at all and our mini had to be towed to Mini USA in San Francisco. We were informed that he clutch was fried and that it is not covered under warranty. We found that very disturbing since we were told by the salesman at the time of purhcase that "the entire car, bumper to bumper is completely covered during your lease - even the oil changes". Wow! that sounded great and was a huge selling point. Needless to say how disappointed we were to be charged $2800 for a new clutch. We can't understand why we were never told, as rcently as November 2009, that the clutch was heavily worn as it must have been to burn out completely by January 2010. The extremely suspicious part is that when we got our mini back with the new clutch it felt completely different than the 1st clutch ever felt. It was soft and smooth, not resistant like the original clutch was from the day we picked up the car. Given this episode, although we do love the feel and drive of the mini, there is no way we can ever do business with mini again nor can I recommend them as I so enthusiastically had up until our problem and how mini responded to it.

did you voice the troubles to mini usa ??? I've known several to get a goodwill new clutch

Yes we did. We explained our story to the mechanics at Mini in San Francisco and were told "we live in the hilly Bay, this doesn't happen in Iowa". Yes, that was the repsonse. We have also tried to explain our story to higher ups in the company and were told someone would look into it. That was last week and so far no response. No one at Mini has addressed the fact that we were promised "bumper to bumper coverage" from the salesman. Nor was the fact that we had just brought the car in for service 6 weeks ago and the clutch was not mentioned at that time. I work with clients and client satisfaction and am shocked at the response and lack of response from Mini. Hopefully we will get some satisfaction so that Mini's managemenet doesn't completely ruin the good feeling the car had given us up to this point.

Funny thing I had a motoring advisor TELL me that Mini would pay for one clutch replacement in warranty. to bring it in and say it's slipping before the warranty ran out

Escalation Team Response
 

We received the repsonse from Mini's "Escalation Team" who reviewed our complaint. They have refused to do anything for us regarding our clutch problem. We heard "we understand your position" immediately followed by "but there's nothing else we can do for you". Not only can they do something but Mini SHOULD do something to address this.

Thank you Mini for proving yourself to be all flash and no substance. The whole "Mini-family" approach you sell is just another marketing ploy that has proven to be just that - a ploy. Mini's obvious lack of care for their customers ad permitting their salepeople to say anything for the sale and not standing behind it will catch up with them. Personally my wife and I have been praising our Clubman to all of the people who ask about it but now will have to warn them against buying anything Mini. Apparently Mini is run by bean-counters and not by professional businesspeople who respect their customers. Adios Mini.