[dieterhund1]

Well after 2 weeks of driving, I started seeing my first problems. The first problem I saw was a loud whistling noise coming from the windshield when I was driving the car at around 125 mph (200 km/h)and the problem was sporadic....I drive that fast by the way because I live in Germany. The second problem was rattling noise coming from the right rear wheel well...and also a from the left too.....this was occurring consistently from 160 km/h on.

Surprisingly, my salesman called about the time when I started having the problems to see how I like the car. I mentioned the 2 problems and he was not surprised at all about the problem at the windshield. He said it is a common problem with the car and they normally just have to replace the windshield seal. The second problem he had no idea.

When I took the car in for service, the service adviser agreed with my sales guy about the windshield noise. However, they were not too sure about the problem in the back. They said they would test drive the car and try to locate the problem.

In any case, I got the car back today and they said they did do something in wheel wells...not sure exactly what but the rattling is gone.

Otherwise I really love the car. I first test drove the Mini Cooper S in 2003 and did not feel safe in the car when driving above 180 km/h. I opted for an A3 diesel instead. However, the new Cooper D is a far different Mini than the one I drove in 2003. This car is rock solid at 200 km/h and feels totally safe...it's far more refined...not too mention fun.

In any case, I am very pleased with the car overall and would recommend it to anyone.

[Paul]

Interesting first post and information on your little problems and overall pleasure with the MINI.

It would be interesting to know what they did with the wheel well to stop the rattle, but doesn't sound serious at all.

[Triffid]

Hi Dieterhund,

Thanks for letting me know that the top speed is 125mph (200km/h)!. I thought that the Dooper could only do 121.

In the UK everyone here can only drive at 70 mph, so thank you for letting me know

Incidentally was that 'flat out' at 125 mph.. and also maybe the speedo on the Dooper is not correct?

[Harpo]

At 200 kmh one has to put an awful amount of trust in people who you never know...

Raw materials manufacturers, component manufacturers, the assembly workers, your surrounding drivers, not to mention stray animals or simply freak occurances.

Personally I wouldn't dream of trusting any of the above. Neither is anything in my life worth travelling at that speed for - unless I'm on a track day.

[dieterhund1]

Well I have taken the car up to about 205 km/h and yes that is flat out. I find that most manufacturers are conservative in estimating their top speed (usually by 5% or so). I just wanted to make the point that I feel very comfortable traveling at those speeds with this car...the car feels solid.

As for the other post about putting a lot of trust and your life at those speeds, all I can say is that the car is designed for that. BMW knows that they have a very large market in Germany and traveling at high speed on the Autobahn is common.

However, I think it's a great car...albeit a very expensive car....but a Mini is a Mini and you cannot compare it with anything else.

[DisTreSs]

@ dieterhund1:

I noticed the squeeling noise aswell...
At first I was afraid it was the turbo, but I didn't notice it when pulling hard and going high in revs in second gear so it had to be speed related but that left me puzzled as to what it could be.
Glad to have seen your post dieterhund, it set my mind at ease. I'll have it looked at asap so thx!

Btw, I got up to 207 Km/h (which is when I noticed it first). Dunno what the deviation of the mini speedometer is though and have no GPS to confirm speeds so I'm guessing the actual number will be just shy of 200.
Ofcourse I try to do this in a busy town street with lots of kids around as it hugely increases the fun factor....

I have also been experiencing a rattle in the interior lighting above the rearview mirror from day one + the automatic closing of the passenger window does not work (only opening works full automatic)

Other than that I've been really pleased about the Dooper!!! Fantastic car....

[langelet]

Hi DisTreSs,

just to inform you that imo it's not a failure the non-automatic closing of the passenger window; thàt window doesn't close automatic / full stop; it's because of safety or something like that; it's mentioned in the manual;

till now i drove/still drive actually/ a MC (2001-version-don't know exactly the Rnumber ) and probably order a Dooper, hope i love it like you and many others here seem to do
both mini's don't close automatic the passenger window...

grz

[DisTreSs]

Hi Langelet,

I didn't know that actually! Nice tip

Though I do think it is kind of idiotic to be honest. You can open the passenger window full auto but not close it? Whose safety is this for? Apparantly they don't care that much about the driver as he can shut his window automatically without problems

I'll have a look in my manual to see what reason they come up with