Mini reliability

[puccini89]

I am interested in purchasing a 2002 Mini. However, I am very concerned about its reliability, particularly because many of its components are electrical and it is a new car in the USA. Can anyone, a current or former owner, share with me information about their Mini?s repair and reliability history? What went wrong?

I may be driving the car at least 300 miles once a week for about 3 ? 4 years when I travel from school to home

I have been told that this Mini is similar to that which has been sold in England and Australia for at least a year.

I am trying to decide if I should wait until next year to purchase the Mini so that the company can have a year to work out the kinks and quirks.

Thank you.

[MINIclo]

If you are looking for a reliable commuter, get a Toyota or Honda. The MINI is too new to report on its reliability. It is WAAAAY more than a car, though. It's kind of like a living creature, because of its quirks and personality. Must be why so many of us give them names!

You might be happier waiting that year for MINI to get through the "teething" process.

Just remember, though, the MINI is about pleasureful motoring and comes with a great warranty!

Good luck to you!

Cheers!
Clover

[PigLick]

I would suggest you take a little trip to the "Faults & Fixes" forum to get an idea of the kind of problems people are having with their MINIs.

In short, there have been quite a few "niggles," but the car has been out for over a year now (in Europe, since the end of March here in the states, but they are virtually the same cars) and most of the major problems have been worked out, and those that are left are being continually improved upon. Now that the transmission linkage problem seems to be fixed, there are very few actual reliability problems. The remaining problems are mainly annoyances of varying degrees, such as rattles, squeaks, loose trim, etc. Of course, even the oldest of MINIs is just barely a year old, so long-term reliability is still yet to be seen.

PigLick