[Viscount Charles]

You lot don't know when to stop complaining, sometimes

If my car had squeaky seats, a rattle from the sunroof, condensation in the rear lights and drifted to the left, I'd be happy.

5 years old and a complete pig to own: it blows an alternator every 12 months (regular as clockwork - I have perfected the one-man push-start though), has had 4 or 5 gearbox rebuilds (so easy to lose count), reaplced injection system, catalytic convertor, ECU (twice), a new door , bonnet, both front wings and front bulkhead (all due to rust), the other door and boot floor have rusted through (though someone's dragging their feet on the warranty work), it dropped all it's oil last week, misfires this week, and today lost a wing when i washed it (I kid you not)!

Oh, I can't count all the minor faults, niggles, broken fanbelts, blown head gaskets, flat batteries, dead radios (three, not including the ones that were stolen due to inadequate alarm and/or doorlocks) and jammed boot locks (never had one last longer than 3 months).

That was a Mini. I'm hoping my MINI will be trouble-free, but I'm secure in the knowledge that BMW can't possibly stuff it up as badly as Rover did.

 

[Paul]

In my first Mini, in particular in the winter, I got very good at finding parking spaces on a slope, even in an apparantly flat car park, so it would be easier to bump start it myself when I got back!

 

[Viscount Charles]

Yup - do that all the time. When the alternator's dying, it usually takes out the battery (they don't really like being discharged constantly), and on the odd occasions when the battery, alternator and fan belt are all conspiring to work properly and keep the system charged, a few days in the icy cold will usually flatten it anyway. More currant leaks than the average fancy bun bakery, my moter :-/

 

[Paul]

The Mini I had was an early 1972 model (most likely 1971 build) and it was on a dynamo, not an alternator... so even worse!

 

[Viscount Charles]

Battery died tonight, stranding me at the cinema. The battery was brand new a fortnight ago, and we'd done an 80-mile round-trip this afternoon in the car, so it should have been fully charged. Maybe I have one of these dark current leaks on the old car?

So now you know just how bad the old Mini could be - that's 4 different problems it's suffered from since Xmas! (loss of wheelarch, dead battery, dropping its oil and an intermittent misfire). I'd reject it if it wasn't 5 years old. Roll on the summer.

 

[mini maniac]

You lot don't know when to stop complaining, sometimes

If my car had squeaky seats, a rattle from the sunroof, condensation in the rear lights and drifted to the left, I'd be happy.

5 years old and a complete pig to own: it blows an alternator every 12 months (regular as clockwork - I have perfected the one-man push-start though), has had 4 or 5 gearbox rebuilds (so easy to lose count), reaplced injection system, catalytic convertor, ECU (twice), a new door , bonnet, both front wings and front bulkhead (all due to rust), the other door and boot floor have rusted through (though someone's dragging their feet on the warranty work), it dropped all it's oil last week, misfires this week, and today lost a wing when i washed it (I kid you not)!

Oh, I can't count all the minor faults, niggles, broken fanbelts, blown head gaskets, flat batteries, dead radios (three, not including the ones that were stolen due to inadequate alarm and/or doorlocks) and jammed boot locks (never had one last longer than 3 months).

That was a Mini. I'm hoping my MINI will be trouble-free, but I'm secure in the knowledge that BMW can't possibly stuff it up as badly as Rover did.

 

[Viscount Charles]

And this morning, the misfire was so bad we've had to cancel our weekend trip to Manchester. Zarkfardwarking motor car!

Anyone with a squeaky springs, leaky lights, rattley sun-roof, left-pulling MINI fancy a swap??