[othrside]

04 MC CVT with 64,000. So far havent had any problems, just the ruber banding while in stop in go traffic.

[Dr. Pepper]

I have an 06 MCC CVT with 62,000 miles on it. I give the manual mode a good workout every weekend. It has run Flawlessly.

[RobFriedman]

Sejanus..

my MINI now has 85K on it and the CVT failed today!!! we drove to a doc for me... and rt as we pulled into the parking lot.. it lurched a bit...
after the doc... we tried to leave.. and it just failed... no EP light (at least I didnt notice it)lll just nothing engine was fine.. heard a rattle..
had the car towed to Hassel MINI service center (in the same village as the doc) and got a lift home (24 miles) by the dealer..
I will find out tomorrow.. but if it is 8K to fix.. half the price of the car... that's frigin nuts!!!!! and i wont pay it..
I luv the car but there are tooo many CVT failures for Mini to keep charging this much!!!

[ontheroadagain]

Oh, Rob, I am so sorry to read this. I don't know if you remember me from the past days of the Reservoir Runs in Westchester, with Peter, Ed, Gene and John, etc., but I do remember you well. I am very sorry about your CVT - I really hope that it is not the dreaded transmission failure.

[RobFriedman]

well Hassel came thru with FLYING COLORS!!!!!!

thanks to Jason, Andy, John and John..

remember... I already had a non working front drivers seat for verticle adjustment (part approx $525), no AC.. and no Transmission (part approx $6500-7000.. remember it's the CVT)

I will be paying labor... basically $2001 for tranny, seat, and A/C and THATS IT!!!!
Hassel went to bat and MINI will be paying all PARTS!!!!.. giva ya an idea... the trtanny labor was $1480 the seat labor almost $300 and the A/C well $200 (couldnt detect a leak all prices yet)

all prices are aprox.. but they have all parts in house!!!

now I need to get the rear dent fixed.. and then all is nice!!!

check CVT issues online.. and you will be shocked.. but this is GREAT news!!!

oh yes and I am feeling better too

[Sejanus]

And so it begins?

Sorry to hear about your CVT Rob, though glad you were able to get some relief from your dealer. Lots of us I suspect want to know how you got MINI to relent.

Out of the 23 MINIs (not counting the one Aurel traded in) enrolled since Nov. '06 in our little survey here to the best of my knowledge yours is the first to fail. Let's hope you are the last as well as the first, but I can't say I'm hopeful.

I was going to initiate another head count in a month or so, but this seems as good a time as any. Are the rest of you still out there with running MINIs and functioning CVTs? I'm now at 89,100 miles and still running fine.

[ontheroadagain]

Sejanus, when you say that Rob's is "the first to fail" of those "enrolled" here, I'm confused - it seems to me that I've read of a number of CVTs that have failed...or maybe they are on the other CVT thread: http://www.mini2.com/forum/cvt-autom...n-failure.html

I took the preemptive strike twice and now have the "new" automatic - in a Ciubman.

[AprilWhine]

BB, I think Sejanus means that it's the first failure for someone signed up on this thread with a working CVT. The others all came here after their CVT failed.

[ontheroadagain]

Gotcha.

[Aurel]

Quote: Originally Posted by Aurel (original)

I traded in my 03 CVT as well 2 months ago, right before my warranty expired, for a Mazda3 hatch ... got a really great trade in price that could not pass up and with all the bad news on the CVT decided to cash in my chips.

It was a rough first few weeks without my MC, but the Mazda has proven to more than I thought and then some ...

The Clubman might sway me back though next year ...

And the Clubman swayed me back ...

The new tranny is so much better than the CVT (and I loved the quirkiness of it)

[RobFriedman]

Aurel

so thats why we saw you at MiniQ this past weekend...

and I'm looking at the clubman for a second car.. i do like the "skosh" more room without giving up the fun of he original MINI (cant say original Mini.. saw a bunch of those this weekend.. )

[minitoo]

"I was going to initiate another head count in a month or so, but this seems as good a time as any. Are the rest of you still out there with running MINIs and functioning CVTs? I'm now at 89,100 miles and still running fine."

Still here Sejanus. 2003. I just changed the CVT fluid myself this afternoon. Not too bad...old stuff was still pretty red but a bit darker than the new. Still only 19600 miles. If I can get to 89000 like you this little car will be pretty old. I'm moving to Oregon in a couple months so should be able to start adding some miles though.

[Sejanus]

Quote: Originally Posted by minitoo (original)

Still here Sejanus. 2003. I just changed the CVT fluid myself this afternoon. Not too bad...old stuff was still pretty red but a bit darker than the new. Still only 19600 miles. If I can get to 89000 like you this little car will be pretty old. I'm moving to Oregon in a couple months so should be able to start adding some miles though.

Thanks for checking in. Glad to hear you are moving to a state with paved roads. If you drive to Oregon you'll be halfway to catching up in one trip.


How about the rest of you?

[Tio Barry]

"06 MC CVT in Albany, NY - no problems at 34k mi - love the car! Sevice I completed

[Big_Rob]

Hey all, I'm a newbie poster. I don't really post info anywhere on any site, that's my wife's job! LOL! But I have cruised this site for some time as I am a Mini owner. I like to stay in touch and glean info as best I can. Came across this thread and though that I'd add my 2 cents pertaining to my recent experience.

2003 Mini Cooper 83,402 Km. CVT failure.

6 months and 3000 Km off warranty.

I don't drive a huge amount and drive fast but not aggresively. On my way to work one morning a month ago, I was stopped at a red light. Put my foot on the accelerator and my poor little car lurched forward, then rolled forward as the revs went up. My tranny light never went on.

I've been dealing with Mini Canada to see if they would do something for me as I'm not long off warranty, have very low mileage and have maintained my car at the dealer religiously. They have been very unkind, at times rude and completely unhelpful.

The end of my story goes that my Mini dealer quoted me $8500 plus tax to put a new CVT in and I'm on the hunt for a good used or reman that will save me a ton of cash. My mini dealer hasn't returned my phone call in 3 weeks, so I'm on my way up there today or tomorrow (if my boss will let me out early enough so I can catch the service dept before it closes).

Love my car but don't care for the indifference and huge lack of service.

[ontheroadagain]

Oh, Big_Rob, I am so sorry to read your news. The dealership's behavior with regard to not returning your phone calls is inexcusable. I suggest that you print out Rob's posts about how his dealership is dealing with it and bring a copy with you. Next send it to MINI Canada if you don't get any productive response. If you know anyone in the newspaper business perhaps it's time to get a story done on this. Really terribly sorry to read this.

[Big_Rob]

Ontheroadagain, I thank you for your support and understanding. The sad fact is that I work in the auto industry for a Japanese manufacturer (I have several of their cars) and this whole scenario has made me think that this purchase was nothing but a huge mistake. I've seen transmissions get "good will" warranty at 140,000km before.

Mini/BMW Canada seems to like to take their time and hope you'll go away if you have an issue. I was patiently discussing things with them for over 3 weeks (getting angry doesn't get you anything but more mad and less service) discussing service history, etc. The only thing they seemed to care about was that I was off warranty so they didn't have to pay for it. I even asked for partial assistance which was declined.

One interesting thing that I will note here for some to see may be indicative of what BMW is thinking. While I was speaking to their corporate guys I was talking about reliability and that a car that is well maintained, serviced regularly and not driven hard should have an engine and transmission that should last a lot longer than 4 years and 83000km (approx 50,000 miles). What interested me was his response. The Mini Canada customer care supervisor's response to my statement was an audible scoff and "I know people who would disagree with that." The tone in his voice was less than pleasant. These guys run on statistical probability of course but you'd expect a large company to want to help customers. I was just off warranty and had a complete internal failure, no leaks, nothing. It seems like they want to sell extremely over priced parts to increase their margines.

My dealer doesn't seem to want to talk to me, if I walked up there with cash in hand it may be different. It's amazing to be treated very well when you come in for your normal servicing, but the second you have a problem the attitude changes. As much as I like the car, this will be my last BMW product of anykind (I sold my motorcycle to help pay for the repairs). But if anyone here knows of anyone selling a reman or good used tranny, I'm looking.

[ontheroadagain]

It makes me even sadder to read this because I just don't want to believe that the company is that shortsighted. I urge you to take your discussion to yet a higher level.

I admit that I traded both my CVTs in due to paranoia...and timing... My first had 50k, and I became nervous...they made me a deal I couldn't refuse but I still needed an automatic (bad "wing")...then once I saw the Clubman and knew this transmission had been well tested, I went for it. Not that any of this give you any help - I'm just explaining my personal background.

I really hate to read this kind of thing because it just doesn't make sense. Look what Rob's dealership here in the states has done - that seems like a much wiser and fair approach.

As for the tranny - I'm sure you know much better than most all the different places to look.

Please keep us in the loop, Bob - and I'm sure you'll here from others as time goes on.

Still holding out for some hope here for you.

[Aurel]

Quote:

It seems like they want to sell extremely over priced parts to increase their margines.

Sorry to hear about your troubles Rob ... I jumped ship like OTRA because of paranoia as well. I drive my cars in stop and go and had a tranny failiure on the car before the MC as well ... so that just added to it.

But I really think MINI should step up and help people ou with this very common issue. Heck, if there was no problem with it, I am sure they would have kept the tranny in the new gen as well.

And regarding parts, accessories and addons ... BMW are masters at that. I mean all their cars start off at fairly reasonable price points for example, but they can be easily bumped up $10K in add-ons ... just as an example.

I love the MINI and will hopefull be able to buy a BMW later on in life ... but keeping one out of warranty ... no freaking way.

[Toddly]

Quote: Originally Posted by strz0001 (original)

5/02 build CVT failed at 110,642. I bought it and put in a reman CVT and have put 10k miles since.

Where did you find a remanufactured CVT?
I have a 2002 Cooper CVT at the dealer now with 55K miles and in need of a new transmission.
The cost is $7800 - half the car's worth and I'm trying to repair for less.
-Todd
Tel: 206-634-4650