Just purchased my new/used '07 MC. I have never been a car person. Cars never did it for me. That changed a year ago when I test drove my first MC. Off and on since, I knew I had to get one. I debated the new vs. used yesterday on the lot. Side by side, it was hard to see the difference. I save $5K & bought the 27K mile used. She was well taken care of.

Should I take out the extended warranty? This will not be my everyday car. Don't plan to drive her to work (chemical mfg. and we park right next to the reactors). My primary car is a Pathfinder, and this car has never once given me a problem. How reliable is the MINI?

 

you likely don't have a whole lot of warranty left dependant on purchase date.
Extended warranties vary on what is exactly covered , you should have looked at a certified preowned for increased warranty.
My 05's been daily driven and at 60k has not had any troubles

 

I also have an '07 that has been very problematic since I bought it new in 2007. Granted, mine has 65,000 miles on it, but it has been a MAJOR pain. I've had the turbo replaced twice, the valve cover replaced, high-pressure fuel pump replaced and other minor things, all under warranty. Now it's sitting at the dealer, since I found out this week that it needs a new engine block, to the tune of $6,000. No warranty! The puston rod on #l cylinder warped and caused the piston to scour the cylinder wall. I thought about taking it elsewhere, but then I'd have no car. This way, I have a loaner and I don't have to pay for a rental. I'm going to have it fixed and then get rid of it. This is my third Mini and I'm done with them. I hate to say it, but this experience has really turned me off to Minis. I LOVED THEM!
Good luck, Soldier Mom. You'll probably need it.

 

Wow Marty. Now you're scaring me. The Turbo is the Mini S, right? I didn't get the S. What was your experience with the 2 priors? You said this was your third?

 

My other 2 Minis were basically OK. The 2002 had a bad alterenator when I first bot it, but that was about all. The 2005 had an issue with the Electronic Control Module programming. It was one of the first Mini S's with an automatic transmission and there were some issues with getting the engine and transmission to properly work together.

I found out today that Mini is not going to pay anything towards the replacement of the engine on my 2007. Their reasoning was that there wasn't any record of service being done on the car. Since most of the service was done at a Mini dealer, that's strikes me as a pretty lame excuse. Being that the closest dealer at the time was an hour and a half away, I would get routine maintenance (oil changes) done at local service garages. I also had the brakes and tires replaced elsewhere.

Right now, my only recourse seems to be some well-placed "Mini Lemon" signs on my car. Actually, I have one on the loaner I'm driving now. And there are A LOT of Minis here in Austin! I'm telling everyone I know about the situation.

Believe me; I'm getting rid of it as soon as possible.

 

I would first look online to see what sort of insurance deals you can find, then you will have more info as to weather its a good deal or not (the extended warranty).

 

My warranty has just run out and now the engine has water in it and needs replacing costing upwards of £4000 - has anyone had this problem with their engine ??

 

Personally I would purchase the extended warranty which covers full routine maintenance, oil changes which normally run around $91 including reseting of onboard diagnostics and even covers brakes and rotors - which can run at $900 just for the front pads and rotors outside of warranty at a dealership.

The extended warranty by MINI is a fixed 1595.00 upgrade according to Mini, although is also price dependent on weather you are still within the factory coverage of 3 years or 36,000 miles. You can extend to a 72 months or 100,000 miles for $1795.00. If you are outside the factory coverage of the 36 months or 36,000 miles, the price is $1995.00.

Good Luck.

 

My dealership do not have loaner cars??? I have just hired a car for two weeks out of pocket while they deal with an issue on my R56 2nd Engine.

 

I'm very close to buying a 96 cooper S convertible. It has 13 months left on the maintenance, (oil, brakes etc...) but the warranty has expired and for 3K I can extend it for 36K - 3 years from my date of purchase.

I'm of two minds on the warranty for 3K.

1. It's good piece of mind and the dealership is right close to my wifes work.
2. I don't know of a good Mini repair shop near Leesburg, VA.
3. The car has been serviced at this dealership since 9K miles.
4. I've just read about breaking engines on this thread - YIKES!
5. I can roll it into the financing and while I'm paying more for it overall I don't have to come up with 2K if something does go wrong inside warranty period.

OR

• What is a likely catastrophic failure on a manual transmission 96 Cooper S that is supercharged and thus has no turbocharger?
• If something catastrophic goes wrong we all know that dealerships are the most expensive places to get your car fixed so the dealer costs vs repair shop costs could be as much 3K vs 1500.
• I've already got the maintenance agreement for the next 13 months so hopefully the dealer will see a catastrophic problem coming down the pike when they are performing routine maintenance. (Hopefully?)

If any of you have ideas I'd love to read them. Please post.

I'm SOO excited to become a member of the cool people's club. (No eddie haskell in that statement)

Be Well