RVmad
Mar 2nd, 2011, 02:23 PM
I picked up my new Mini Countryman Cooper Diesel last week and have only driven it from the UK dealership to France (where I live). I ordered a left hand drive car as an export model. Driving on the French Motorways in the 1 day old car was very stress free and I was very very impressed with the whole experience.
This morning I decided to put the car on the ramp that I have in my garage and to my amazement the bottom on the suspension legs and all around the UJ's and rear of the bearing hubs are absolutely covered in thick rust on both sides. As you can imagine I am not happy about this, especially when I compare the same parts on my wife's cars which we bought from new and is now 10 years old and has done 140,000 miles and there's not a spec of rust.
At this rate I recon the car should have completely rotted away by this time next year. I have taken pictures of this and have spoken to the dealer who sold me the car he obviously referred me to a Mini dealer for an inspection. I will demand that the rusty parts are replaced under warranty.
So if you are just about to pick one up, ask the dealer to put it on the ramp and have a look at the front end.
Update: I took the car to a BMW main dealer yesterday and it caused a bit of a stir, as all of the mechanics wanted to have a look at the 1 week old rusty Mini. The production date of this car was week 3 2011.
So if you have or are just about to collect your mini from your dealer, ask them to put it on the ramp. It'll only take them a minute and if there is a problem it's best to get it logged BEFORE you drive the car away.
For pictures see the following post ...
http://www.mini2.com/forum/mini-countryman/181933-anybody-ordered-countryman-19.html#post3792743
This morning I decided to put the car on the ramp that I have in my garage and to my amazement the bottom on the suspension legs and all around the UJ's and rear of the bearing hubs are absolutely covered in thick rust on both sides. As you can imagine I am not happy about this, especially when I compare the same parts on my wife's cars which we bought from new and is now 10 years old and has done 140,000 miles and there's not a spec of rust.
At this rate I recon the car should have completely rotted away by this time next year. I have taken pictures of this and have spoken to the dealer who sold me the car he obviously referred me to a Mini dealer for an inspection. I will demand that the rusty parts are replaced under warranty.
So if you are just about to pick one up, ask the dealer to put it on the ramp and have a look at the front end.
Update: I took the car to a BMW main dealer yesterday and it caused a bit of a stir, as all of the mechanics wanted to have a look at the 1 week old rusty Mini. The production date of this car was week 3 2011.
So if you have or are just about to collect your mini from your dealer, ask them to put it on the ramp. It'll only take them a minute and if there is a problem it's best to get it logged BEFORE you drive the car away.
For pictures see the following post ...
http://www.mini2.com/forum/mini-countryman/181933-anybody-ordered-countryman-19.html#post3792743