Got the car back last Friday, and not had much time to drive it since. However I need to call the dealers again because...
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The boot/spoiler now looks "set in" compared to the roofline, it drops almost a cm down, although it's much tighter (water tight even) then before.

The steering is still creaking.

The boot keeps randomly popping open when I get in the car! That, in particular, has driven me nuts, even though I've only made a few short journeys! Not funny when you've got in and out of the car five or six times. You also feel like an idiot jumping in and out of the car to shut the boot.

:(

Sorry to hear that Paul :( ... doesnt sound good

I'm going back to Northampton tomorrow (with any luck) to get Wollastons to check it over, the creak is annoying, but the boot could be a more serious problem if it means I have to have a poorly fitting boot (in terms of appearance) to get it water tight. And also, it would be good if it shut.

Tomorrow could be fun, as my hearing is poor at the moment so trying to explain the creak to them in the steering could be a long and painful process.

have they replaced the boot panel yet ?, definately sounds like its never going to fit properly...

Paul - hand your car ib with a letter to the dealer principal telling them if it is not fixed perfectly and permanently this time you are rejecting the car!

I'm going to chat with them tomorrow, they've been very good in the past, even when I had a fault they couldn't fix on my fist S they dealt with the rejection (after 3 fix attempts) very well indeed.

That's why I like Wollastons so much, I've had problems with other cars at other dealers and they've been dreadful, so you really dont want to go back, but if you have problems and they're dealt with well, then you can't ask for much more.

OK, car is back with them. Mostly due to the manic boot unlocking which is getting worse and worse. It now does it whenever it's not shut and locked. So that means whenever you're getting in and out of the car.

I have now have a 320d. Not a great car, don't like it much at all, but it delivers great MPG, which is just as well seeing as it was virtually empty.

but it delivers great MPG, which is just as well seeing as it was virtually empty.
That was nice of them.

To be fair to them I had only popped in to get it checked over before making a booking, they insisted on keeping it in and giving me a "just back" courtesy car (the only one they had) because of the worsening self-opening boot.

You dont suffer alone, have read about my gearbox problems:aargh: :( . I share your pain;)

what a shocker.... they should never have changed the old model... spent more moeny getting the faults fixed on the other one than creating a whole new type of mini with even more faults to deal with...

I wouldn't say even more faults, not based on the faults and rejections I had to deal with with our past MINI Cooper, and S, and One... Including one buy back and one reject and replace, and one that was apparently held together with a special soluble glue. :rolleyes: :(

I wouldn't say even more faults, not based on the faults and rejections I had to deal with with our past MINI Cooper, and S, and One... Including one buy back and one reject and replace, and one that was apparently held together with a special soluble glue. :rolleyes: :(


I would agree the old model had plenty of faults but somehow these were foregivable as it was....well a new model, I thought the latest reincarnation was supposed to be an evolution :( not a backward step. I really don't see it when peeps bang on what an improvement it is over the old model, I simply don't see it, perhaps I needed to take a longer test drive :smile: Shame to see the new S lost out against the new Civic Type R in this weeks AE, but I can see why, MINI have failed dismally with the new model , not helped by the shoddy build, and it's not just the odd model. Funnily enought considering how long the new model has been out, yesterday was the fits time I saw a new S at our local recreation centre, and was still taken aback by the misalighned bonnet :( I would be pretty dissaponted forking out over 16k for that, suddenly the Swiss watch Honda looks more tempting. it will be interesting to see what the MINI facelift wil be like. Anyays off topic,

Keep pluggin away Paul, if it were me I would be rejecting the car if the faults reocurr.

Best of luck :smile:

... MINI have failed dismally with the new model , not helped by the shoddy build, and it's not just the odd model.

Absolute nonsense :rolleyes:

Many, many people (myself included) will be delighted with their new MINI.

As to Hondas, they are NOT perfect. I know one person who owns a Type-R (old model) who has had many problems as have many other owners. Sure, the engine has been perfect but his (and many others from looking at forums) had problems with the car pulling to one side. Worse though was that his first three sets of rear tyres were illegal due to tracking errors burning the inside of the treads. Dealer could not sort it despite many laser alignments.

ALL cars have problems. MINI do OK in customer satisfaction surveys, not as good as Honda or Lexus, but then, many of the owners of their cars are not exactly enthusiasts.

Absolute nonsense :rolleyes:

Many, many people (myself included) will be delighted with their new MINI.

As to Hondas, they are NOT perfect. I know one person who owns a Type-R (old model) who has had many problems as have many other owners. Sure, the engine has been perfect but his (and many others from looking at forums) had problems with the car pulling to one side. Worse though was that his first three sets of rear tyres were illegal due to tracking errors burning the inside of the treads. Dealer could not sort it despite many laser alignments.

ALL cars have problems. MINI do OK in customer satisfaction surveys, not as good as Honda or Lexus, but then, many of the owners of their cars are not exactly enthusiasts.
totally agree, we've had no issues with out R56, its a refreshing change considering how many we've had with our past old MINI's.

People are always happy to moan and point out faults, but even considering these teeth problems, I really think MINI have made a step in the right direction on the R56 and they are doing their best to sort out issues for those that have them:)

I guess some of the old school owners will just love trolling this over and over, just like the classic owners did on the first gen when there was supposedly exploding MINI's:rolleyes:

I think I have as much right to moan as anyone, BUT I have to say MINI have been very good with solving the problems we have had. I have contact from the dealer on a daily basis and get to drive round in a R56 cooper until mine is sorted.

Well sorry Rakey!! When you buy a car at 21k that within 4 weeks is stuck in a garage through a faulty fuel pump, then awaiting a gearbox check is something to be dismissed. I have children that are in the car and to smell petrol through the air vents is not something I class as moaning. It was only through coming to the site and seeing if anyone else had the same problem that my car is now deemed too dangerous for the mechanics to drive and look at the gearbox problem until the fuel pump is sorted. Mine was ok wednesday, by Friday it is "too dangerous to drive".

totally agree, we've had no issues with out R56, its a refreshing change considering how many we've had with our past old MINI's.

People are always happy to moan and point out faults, but even considering these teeth problems, I really think MINI have made a step in the right direction on the R56 and they are doing their best to sort out issues for those that have them:)

I guess some of the old school owners will just love trolling this over and over, just like the classic owners did on the first gen when there was supposedly exploding MINI's:rolleyes:

Aren't you the lucky one. I think the fact this has all happened is bad enough, but the service is appalling!! This epsiode will make me question very carefully whether I ever buy another MINI again.

If my local dealer were the only one in the area I would have had my last MINI in 2002 when I they "bought back" my first MINI Cooper after lots of problems and some arguing, and if I wasn't a MINI enthusiast the fact I had to reject our first (2003) Cooper S would have been the end our my own "MINI adventure" for sure.

Fortunately we have a few dealers within 20 miles and I've found a good one that has honest sales and service staff. They handled the rejection and replacement of my first S very well, and have fixed the problems with all our other MINIs (such as replacing the gearbox in our MINI One that left me and my three year old stranded by the side of the road, and sorting out a noisy limited slip differential in our 2006 M/Y S) very well.

Buying very early new cars is always risky, the new MINI is VERY different to the previous model, new engines, new electrics, new body, new interior..... It's not like the 2004 facelift, it's a new car.

Despite the early problems with my car in general it feels much better put together than any of our previous MINIs, from March 2002 to November 2005.

My main personal concern is the wheel arch trim which cant seem to cope with our local country roads, but we'll see how that holds.

If you look back to when our "records begin" (sadly we lost a few months to show the very early issues) here: http://www.mini2.com/forum/faults-fixes/index201.html?daysprune=-1 and crawl through you will see that, no surprise, the first generation MINI had more than it's fair share of teething troubles too.

That said, this forum, and this thread, is really for sharing faults, experiences of problems, and how they (hopefully) get resolved. Not to argue over which MINI was worse in terms of reliability.

My main personal concern is the wheel arch trim which cant seem to cope with our local country roads, but we'll see how that holds.

I am amongst, if not the first customer order for an R56 MCS in Australia, and reading of your wheel arch trim probs is of concern to me. I do seriously intend to lower my car when it arrives (approx Mar16) but the problem faced by you and a few others that i've read of worries me. If the wheels can hit the trim at the current ride height, am I going to find myself magnifying the problem with the car lowered, and if so, there goes my warranty down the drain. I don't won't void my warranty by messing with the suspension, for a problem that would have occured regardless of the mod. What to do??

I'd drive it around a bit "as is" and see how you get on. Depends on your local roads too I guess.

Thats disconcerting, our roads are renowned for their dodgyness! Car makers come from around the world to trial their cars on our roads, 'cause if they work here, they'll damn well work anywhere!

The roads on this video are a good example of my local routes: http://www.mini2.com/article415-exclusive-mellow-yellow-mini-cooper-s-video.html

I but I can see why, MINI have failed dismally with the new model , not helped by the shoddy build, and it's not just the odd model.

Absolute garbage.


Failed dismally - says who? (apart from you that is!)

Yeah, there are a fair few disgruntled owners, but as said before, those with complaints are usually (and quite rightly!) more vocal than what I expect is the huge majority who are enjoying their cars with no real issues to mention.

I'm starting to see loads of R56s now. As far as I know it's not been a sales disaster and hopefully all the common faults appearing in early cars will be sorted soon.

SSL

OK, we've gone over that bit now, can we keep this on the original topic(s) please, as this sort of stuff only seems to wind peopple up on both "sides", who will never agree. So best to agree to agree to disagree and move on.

totally agree, we've had no issues with out R56, its a refreshing change considering how many we've had with our past old MINI's.

People are always happy to moan and point out faults, but even considering these teeth problems, I really think MINI have made a step in the right direction on the R56 and they are doing their best to sort out issues for those that have them:)

I guess some of the old school owners will just love trolling this over and over, just like the classic owners did on the first gen when there was supposedly exploding MINI's:rolleyes:


Hmmmm slightly smug comment there ;) , so as your new MINI is perfect then obviously they all are :rolleyes:

It's got nothing to do for me anyways, being an old school owner and as you say trolling the new MINI, I'm just as much an ethusiast for the replacement model as anyone, BUT spending 20k ish for poor build quality (and before anyone says rubbish etc etc, just read the threads) and what I personally feel is not at the moment the best design compared to the old model, then I shall sit on the fence. The reason I make comments that in some eyes seem detrimental towards the new model is I'm hoping that if BMW do read these forums then they might take some notice. It would be a dull world if we were all to agree ;)

Anyways enough said, the main thing is what problems are surfacing with the new model I hope they are all sorted as quickly as possible :)

What amazes me, is for those that have no problems and think we are moaning, still seem to be looking through the faults and fixes anyway - why waste your time when your car is perfect!!:wink:

As someone who has lived through a 2002/06 S I know MINI have quality problems with new models :rolleyes: However it would appear to me to be going pretty much as expected. Most people with early cars are having some problems :( However I agree I think they could be far worse than this.

That's why with my money I'll wait at least until this time next year. To give MINI credit, they are constantly sorting problems and the build just continually gets better. :)

The new car has been re-engineered to "design out" a lot of the pretty much inherant issues of the 1st generation MINI. For example there's a lot of points on the old interior where hard plastic met heard plastic, which were prone to creaks and rattles, paricularly at certain temperatures or when the temperature changed, these have pretty much all gone on the new model. But sure, it's a new car, so there's some new problems, and some of the carry over aspects, such as the gearbox, haven't been made much better it seems.

I have only just bought my mini, one of the last brand new R53's in Australia.... having come from owning a Mazdaspeed MX5 (the turbo one) and being a member of the forums there... whats irritates me is the amount of infighting between model owners, the NB owners bag the crap out of NCs and vice versa, sometime I think the MX5 owners don't actually like MX5's... now I come here and see the same thing!

Every car bar none has some imperfections, particularly new models, the R50 had them, R56 has them, discuss what they are and how to fix them, but must we all get into an ego contest of mines better than yours?

^^^ What he said.

I'll update this thread as and when I get a dealer update.

Thanks for all the interest and concern though everyone. ;) :p