--Whoah Paul, didn't mean to offend you or anyone else. I'm not saying that the Mini is an experiment. I know that Mini has been around for a while. I do know some (not all) of the history of the car, but for BMW, this venture is an experiment. Case in point, how long has BMW/Mini been producing cars together? If it's less than a decade for any corporation it's still in the experimental phase. Trust me if Mini sales go into the trash heap, BMW will unload Mini like it did Land Rover. It's all about money for these guys. They aren't in the business of building works of art or an emotionally stirring vehicle. They are about "show me the money!!"
Daimler-Chrysler and Mercedes are one and the same. Many people have noted that since the merge many of Chrysler's vehicles have become wildly successful, due partially to integration of Mercedes parts and Mercedes R&D.
The plant and the company of Tritec was where the joint venture came in. The Tritec 1.6 was designed in Detroit and put together by Chrysler. As I mentioned before Chrysler and Mercedes are one and the same as are Mini and BMW will be eventually. Just as BMW forced Mini to improve their car design to BMW standards so has Mercedes required the same of Chrysler. In any case I believe even Chrysler is above Mercedes and BMW's defect rating. How bout that? The child company does better than the parent.
Mercedes and BMW encounter huge initial problems with their vehicles when it comes to number of defects per 100 vehicles. However Mercedes has a much better long term reliability than many other car manufacturers. Currently BMW has 2 of the least reliable cars on the market which are their "flagship" models. While Mercedes has the bragging rights of 72% of their 5 year old vehicles are still running on the road. Wouldn't you say that a good dependable engine is a big part of what it takes to make a reliable car long after the warranty has expired? That's the point I'm trying to get at. Daimler Chrysler make really tough dependable engines and they've recently been tough and high performance.
Paul I'm not saying that the Mini won't be loved by their owners anymore or that it will become just another sub compact. Hell look at all the car clubs for Ford Pintos, Ford Mustang II's, and deLoreans..etc. etc. People will love their cars no matter how unreliable, quirky or expensive they are to run. Nothing will stop that. I know people who love their little Ford Festiva's even with half of the car falling apart. I'm saying that I wish BMW would find someone else to build this engine since Daimler-Chrysler won't play nice anymore. Even a Mini mechanic on this board has stated that the french engine is a bad choice.
BMW reported that they would probably take losses on the Mini division for the first 6 to 8 years. Now that Mini has passed it's first trial in garnering outstanding sales numbers, BMW will now try to make it a profitable division by cutting corners where-ever it can. You'd be surprise what a corporation would to improve its profit margins by just a point or two. The problem with this is that they jeopardize the reputation and future sales of the car if their gamble doesn't work.
I'm saying I like the package as it is now. I know it is going to change and I can't do anything about it. But putting all of your faith in BMW is not a great idea. Their track record has been getting worse and worse every year. As for PSA, I've generally not heard good things about them in long term reliability either.
The tritec engine will live on though. Daimler and Nissan are already working out a deal to fully utilize that plant for other vehicles. Last I heard there was a chinese company using the 1.6 for a car that was well over the 100,000 production and sales mark in china.
Yes I agree the Cooper is definitely not only about the engine. I love the handling and its road manners. But I love the supercharged engine too. I love the whole car man. I'm a fan or I wouldn't be here proclaiming doom and gloom with the future engine. j/k.
I think the future engine will meet BMW's cost vs profit expectations. Whether it will delight us and improve upon the old engines performance is an area where I am very skeptical of. But we'll have to see won't we? I'm curious to see what happens, but I'll be waiting with my 05 or 06 MCSa.
--pyratio