MINI2 - MINI Forum - View Single Post - BMW

Paul · Mar 25th, 2005, 10:46 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by pyratio

Please check out this reliability ranking...

http://www.autobytel.com/content/sha...cle_id_int/409

Now where is Mini on that list? Where is BMW? I think the strength that Mini has currently is that it was an experimental independant group. Supported by their father(land) corporation BMW. Now that the Brits lost their engine of choice, BMW is stepping in and trying to maximize profits while minimizing costs. Translation, they're gonna go as cheap as they can for parts.

MINI is not/was not "an experimental independant group", you should read up a bit on the history before making statements like that.

These off a good start to learning about BMC/Rover/BMW etc. and the Mini/MINI Marque:
http://www.austin-rover.co.uk/index.htm?ado15storyf.htm
http://bmw.bizhat.com/
http://www.outmotoring.com/mini_history.html

Quote:

The question is quality and tuneability right? Well as far as quality goes it appears that BMW has a really bad track record. They have huge amounts of defects and their current 7 and 5 series flagship cars are rated as the worst cars to own for reliability. Mercedez which currently builds the current Mini engine has excellent long term reliability though. They are reported at 72% of their cars remain on the road after 5 years. Regardless of how many initial problems they have the Mercedez cars last longer.

"Mercedes" don't build the current MINI engine, it's built by Tritec, a joint BMW and Chrysler group venture in Brazil, which was undertaken before Chrysler where part of the same group as Mercedes. According the link you posted above, there's more problem Mercs than BMWs too.

http://www.tritecmotors.com.br/english/index.html

Quote:

The engine is the soul of the car. Period no question. Anyone who disagrees go drive a 4 cylinder Mustang, and then get in the new V8. One car speaks to you one doesn't.

As far as tuneability, I see a lot of aftermarket parts for japanese turbo engines, but not as many for BMW. I would rather have a supercharger myself because a few hundred dollars in mods will net a lot more horsepower than any mod you could make to a turbo charger.

What about owners of the Diesel MINI, or the non-supercharged Cooper, they still love the car, but have different flavours of engines. The engine is extremely important, but most people seem to agree the MINI is more about the handling and overall package than the engine alone.

The new engines will also be much higher volume, so the aftermarket tuning opportunities should also increase.

Mar 25th, 2005, 10:46 AM	#109
Paul Trained Monkey My Classifieds Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Bedfordshire Local Time: 03:47 AM Posts: 40,873 Offline	Quote: Originally Posted by pyratio Please check out this reliability ranking... http://www.autobytel.com/content/sha...cle_id_int/409 Now where is Mini on that list? Where is BMW? I think the strength that Mini has currently is that it was an experimental independant group. Supported by their father(land) corporation BMW. Now that the Brits lost their engine of choice, BMW is stepping in and trying to maximize profits while minimizing costs. Translation, they're gonna go as cheap as they can for parts. MINI is not/was not "an experimental independant group", you should read up a bit on the history before making statements like that. These off a good start to learning about BMC/Rover/BMW etc. and the Mini/MINI Marque: http://www.austin-rover.co.uk/index.htm?ado15storyf.htm http://bmw.bizhat.com/ http://www.outmotoring.com/mini_history.html Quote: The question is quality and tuneability right? Well as far as quality goes it appears that BMW has a really bad track record. They have huge amounts of defects and their current 7 and 5 series flagship cars are rated as the worst cars to own for reliability. Mercedez which currently builds the current Mini engine has excellent long term reliability though. They are reported at 72% of their cars remain on the road after 5 years. Regardless of how many initial problems they have the Mercedez cars last longer. "Mercedes" don't build the current MINI engine, it's built by Tritec, a joint BMW and Chrysler group venture in Brazil, which was undertaken before Chrysler where part of the same group as Mercedes. According the link you posted above, there's more problem Mercs than BMWs too. http://www.tritecmotors.com.br/english/index.html Quote: The engine is the soul of the car. Period no question. Anyone who disagrees go drive a 4 cylinder Mustang, and then get in the new V8. One car speaks to you one doesn't. As far as tuneability, I see a lot of aftermarket parts for japanese turbo engines, but not as many for BMW. I would rather have a supercharger myself because a few hundred dollars in mods will net a lot more horsepower than any mod you could make to a turbo charger. What about owners of the Diesel MINI, or the non-supercharged Cooper, they still love the car, but have different flavours of engines. The engine is extremely important, but most people seem to agree the MINI is more about the handling and overall package than the engine alone. The new engines will also be much higher volume, so the aftermarket tuning opportunities should also increase.