CVT topic in Canada

[xviper]

Quote: Originally Posted by Senior (original)

My 2005 Cooper non S has just under 60K km on it and the CVT has worked fine except for a few weeks ago when the battery was weak and the CVT shifted poorly. The dealer replaced battery and all was well again.

I too doubt the bad press the CVT gets but there is at least one source of refurbished CVTs for the Mini and that is Europeantransmissions and parts Inc.

You will note that on their opening page part way down they talk about the Mini CVT and claim it is one of the best. There is also a comment on the belts and as I recall replacement belts are around the $600 mark.

The manufacturer of the Mini CVT also has a great web site with a full description of oil change etc which is shown at 50K but local dealer says No.
The problem is mostly due the time required to do the change as it must be done very slowly tying up the hoast for the day. They simply would have to charge too much. So it leaves one wondering what one should do. The procedure shown does require a hoast as you must work from below.

I must say that I do like the CVT, I get great mileage, it does work best in winter if it is allowed a moment or two before taking off, and many cars are outfitted with CVT today, and I would like to hang on to the car for many more years.

Thanks muchly for this link. I hope I will never need it. $3450.00 is still a hard pill to swallow if it should ever happen but certainly a much better alternative to the near $10,000.00 I've seen posted for a new one.
I've come from 10 years on Honda S2000 forums and if you believe the pandemic, "Chicken Little" stories of weak clutches, bad rear diffs and bad transmissions, then you would think the S2000 is THE worst sports car you could ever buy. Mine is going into it's 12 year and nothing could be further from the truth. You get a couple of threads about blown diffs from some mechanically challenged individual and all of a sudden, every S2000 is a rolling time bomb. Fear mongering on internet car forums seem to be the trend. I have driven my S2000 pretty hard at times and it's working great today. It's not how hard you drive it. It's how you drive it hard. People need to give some regard to cool down and what additive heating can do, not to mention fluid changes.
I've done all the maintenance on my cars and tranny fluid changes and diff fluid changes are commonplace and an annual routine. I do it with jackstands, lying on my back on the garage floor. The procedure for the Mini CVT is no more complicated than any other car, but because this Mini is quite new to me and with the added difficulty in obtaining the fluid, I opted to let a small shop do the work for me. It still cost $300.00 but that's a far cry from the over $500.00 that the Mini dealer was going to ream me for.
Had I been able to easily get the fluid, I would have had no qualms about doing it myself. Just follow the posted procedure. It's not rocket science and just because the fill port has an inner tube doesn't mean you can't do it. All you need is a tube from a wine making store and an old fluid bottle to squeeze it in with. The biggest issue is that the slimy BMW dealer won't sell you the fluid. I did find a source for it in Texas but don't know if transportation of it is considered "dangerous". One could also look into the fluids they use for other CVTs. Surely, the BMW fluid can't contain any rare blend of pixie dust.

[Senior]

Just happened to came across this

Consumer complaints about Mini Cooper

take a look and see what you think

[xviper]

Quote: Originally Posted by Senior (original)

Just happened to came across this

Consumer complaints about Mini Cooper

take a look and see what you think

That's a very long read. I managed to get through about 10% of it. Short of owning a Lexus or Mercedes, I think we could find similar accounts of this length on almost any car.
Now, don't misunderstand. I am NOT a Mini fanatic. I do NOT get all bent out of shape when someone posts up derogatory comments about a Mini, like many of those on NAM. It's just another car to me and I've own over 30 in my lifetime. I hold no allegiance to any brand or model. I have my favorites but I won't go to war over a negative remark made about them.
I see in that list, that there are numerous reports about the CVT and the power steering system of the Mini. Being a casual reader of such reports, one would justifiably become alarmed and cautious. However, after having said that, with regards to the early CVTs, one really needs to delve into the maintenance history of these transmissions and the type of driving habits the failed ones were subjected to.
I mentioned in one of my earlier posts in this thread that the guy who did the fluid change for me was a BMW/Mini mechanic at a dealer for years before he started his own shop. He stated that in those early models of Mini, he personally witnessed 200 tranny related failures on the manual and only 2 with the CVT. Yet, how often do we actually see posted about how bad the manual trannies were back in the day? It becomes BIG news when a single failure costs nearly 10 grand. The manual tranny failures, though much more numerous were cheap fixes by comparison.
A Lexus or Mercedes or even a Honda, the Mini is NOT. We generally hear of how great BMW cars are, but dig a little deeper and you'll find similar complaints of suspect quality and very poor dealer service.
Would I buy another BMW product with a CVT? Probably not but then, I likely would not buy any car with a CVT. It's just not worth the bad press when it comes time to sell it. Would I buy another Mini? Probably yes. It's no worse or better than most cars out there. It's a gamble. If I want to gamble safe, I'll choose a Lexus or Benz but my I don't really like anything those companies have that I can afford. Maybe I'll just stick with Honda.

[Sejanus]

There's a lot to what you write and obviously the service history does matter, but I''ve heard enough of these stories from carfeul owners to think that there's something else going on here. In my case I took good care of my CVT did the fluid changes, regular maintenance, etc and then at 105K it failed with a no more than a minute or two of a death rattle warning. Given my efforts here trying to track these problems I knew what was happening and frankly wasn't surprised. But ultimately the central issue is not the CVT's reliability or fragility. Tranmissions failing at 100K plus (or less) isn't great, but it's not that bad either. As you point out the manual transmissions on the earlier models seem to have had far more problems. What is terribly wrong and the real central problem is the enormous cost of replacement. Tranmissions (of any type) are one of those components in a car that undergoes a great deal of wear and tear and often will experience problems. In my mind for BMW to market one that either works or fails completely as CVTs do and which costs almost half the initial purchase price of the vehicle to replace without it being exceptionally durable and dependable was negligent and irresponsible if not downright exploitive.

[xviper]

Although I bought my '05 Mini not long ago purely for the reason of determining if such a vehicle could be one that I could live with for a very long time. In fact, I'm presently looking for the last car in my life. I had never intended to keep this one for very long. Now that I've made my determination and have concluded that I could live with such a car on the long term basis, the Mini is up for sale.
I have done my due diligence in that I've made sure that the fluid got changed and I even put in new sparkplugs and plug wires so the next owner will have as good a chance of getting a reliable vehicle.
My initial intention was to buy a brand new Mini as my last car, but due to BMW's track record with this situation, both in terms of producing a part that cannot be cheaply fixed or replaced and from the standpoint of their abysmal service behavior to their customers, I am now having second thoughts about buying a new Mini. Does such a company deserve my business? That's the big question that I'm struggling with. The Mini was at the very top of my list. At one time, that list was small. Now, the list is growing and the Mini is no longer at the top. BMW had a very small window of opportunity to sway me in their direction. They haven't done a very good job of it. The car itself has been wonderful, but the experiment as a whole has failed. Porsche, Lexus and Honda are all looking very good to me now.

[Senior]

Xviper will thus be known as Xminiviper I see. Reading this thread points out quite clearly that cars are subject to problems and the transmission being such a complex piece of machinery is likely the number one culprit to go down. My problem in reading all of this is that I am hearing mostly, if not entirely, from those who have experienced problems. What about those who have not, and who likely make up the vast majority of Mini CVT owners. So, I did the unthinkable and wrote to Mini headquarters and asked them what their advise is to those of us who worry about the CVT because of these stories, and, at the same time are advised by the Mini dealers not to change the fluid which is clearly marked in their own literature and the CVT manufacturer's to be changed at a specified interval. Following the dealer's advise, and the CVT fails can I expect to be rewarded in some fashion for following my dealer's advise? Well, I have little faith, but that's me, maybe they will write back and say something nice. But to sell my Mini for a Porsche, Lexus or Honda, no, but my dad took me for a drive in a Packard several years back....maybe

[xviper]

Quote: Originally Posted by Senior (original)

Xviper will thus be known as Xminiviper I see.

Well, that may or may not come to pass. I had my usual Saturday morning Starbucks meets with a bunch of car guys. 2 of them are X-Mini owners and 1 other is still a Mini owner, so it was interesting that there were 4 people at that table that did or still do own Minis.
The general concensus was that we all really enjoy or enjoyed the Mini and still consider it to be an interesting and fun little car. Both of the X owners still would consider owning one another time in their lives but they aren't going to go chasing after one for now. They like what they have now and there are much better cars out there that suit their tastes.
I was supposed to have a couple of people come by to take a look at my Mini today, but so far, they have not shown. If I don't sell it this weekend, I'll only advertise it every couple of weeks or so, but I would be quite content to continue driving it indefinately.
As for buying another one, maybe, maybe not. I love the whole Mini concept but I can be a bit of a worry wart even though this Mini has not given me any reason for concern. All of the guys at the Starbucks meet are united in the opinion that Mini service at the dealer is the biggest negative to the whole ownership experience and for that reason alone, a repeat purchase becomes a very low priority. Faith is not an easy thing to come by these days, especially when it comes to automobiles. Take a look at any JD Powers ratings list and you will quickly lose whatever faith you may muster up.