[peteb]

I have the black pather leather seats (unfortunately they aren\'t sports seats). They cost me an extra £970. I have now done 5,500 miles and the seats look like they have done 120,000 miles. They have gone all slact and rumpled. The quality of the materials used is rubbish. At Gaydon, I looked at other leather seats and they were deteriating just like mine.

I have a Cooper S on order. If the seats are the same quality, I will be cancelling the order. I have looked at othe BMW cars on my local dealers 2nd hand lot and the seats on those are fine.

WHY HAVE BMW USED INFERIOR QUALITY MATERIALS ON THE MINI?

So far I have had no luck in getting anything constructive done about this by my local dealer. He suggested that he should put extra foam inside the seat to tighten it up - this I believe is not acceptable and I want the seats replaced with a seat of the quality I paid for.

Can I reject the seat as being of \'not merchantible quality\'?
Is there a lawyer out there that knows the answer to this?
What does everyone else feels about thier seats?

 

[Peardrop]

This doesn\'t bode well for myself, having ticked the full leather sports seats option when I specced my car on Saturday. I know that it\'s a December build too (Vines, my dealer have been very good so far and say they are ringing the order in today, Monday), so that doesn\'t leave much time for change!

I know it\'s been a problem for a while. When CAR magazine got the first unofficial test way back, they commented on the saggy leather option. I\'m wondering why this still hasn\'t been sorted? Considering the sports seats took that much longer in coming, will they not have this? I get the feeling it is a problem with the fabric itself though, in that daft (but rather appealing!) pressed design

Considering it\'s not a one off, there may be course for action? I\'m rather appalled by the suggestion to pack it out with some foam however. That\'s a rather slack-handed answer, and considering the normal seats are as flat as the Savannah anyway, that would surely leave them raised!

I\'ll keep my eye on this topic.

Good luck,

Laurence \'LOZ\' Wilson

 

[MiniMayhem]

Do the leather seat quality problems apply only to the standard seats? Bear in mind that standard leather seats were commonplace on the first batch of cars produced. The leather sports and standard cordoba beige seats I\'ve seen so far seem to be subjectively better constructed.

I noticed when sitting on the cordoba seats that they are very hard when new; the base part on the passenger side was rock hard and very uncomfortable (discomfort may have been due to the seat angle, but the seat was hard) but the drivers side was softer, much more comfortable and gave a little more thigh support as opposed to being just a hard \'bench\'.

 

[peteb]

My original dealer was Vines (Geoff Owen) and they didn\'t seem to be responsive at all about the seat problem.

I have now move to Cheshire and am going to a BMW dealer in Newcastle-Under-Lyne and they are actually taking the problem seriously at last.

They rang me this morning and told me that tey are just getting the order number to enable them to change the complete seat - watch this space.

With regard to wearing seats - the ones I looked at at Gaydon were a mix of ordinary ans sports seats. None of them looked good (one of the cars with sports seats had the leather cracking already), and some of them had done less that 1,000 miles.

The problem only appeared to be with full leather. Part leather was ok.

 

[Peardrop]

It was Nick Ambridge who sold me the car at Vines, and he has been helpful and genuinely interested in the car and my queries - not the sale - the whole time. Jeff specced the car with me on Saturday however - Nick being busy with another customer - and re-entered the car under his own name in the process. If BMW employees work under commission for cars sold, I find this rather rude.

I had to contact Vines this morning to put the on board computer on my spec (having forgotten on the day). I made sure to contact Nick himself, so he has the chance to change the entered sales person name back should he want I\'ve got to contact again tomorrow (Duh! seems I forgot quite a bit!) so I may drop a word or two…

Although he was considerate in that he didn\'t push me to buy anything - and gave advice where I needed it - I never found Jeff really wanting to sell me the car. I don\'t know whether this was due to my age (turning 18 next week, though using money left to me in the will of my Aunt to purchase the MINI) but I always felt like I was wearing a Hawaiian shirt at a funeral.

Has anyone else here had experience with Vines? I think it best to say, apart from that one feeling on the one day the service I have recieved has been very good. You never know, he did share a joke before we left, Jeff may just have been having a bad day :+

Cheers!

Laurence \'LOZ\' Wilson

 

[peteb]

I\'m a little suprised about Nick and Geoff not mentioning the leather seats.

They both agreed with me that the normal seats were sub-standard when compared with the sports seats. They are also aware that I have been scathing about then concerning both quality and comfort. You would hope that a salesman would be honest in that situation because they would want you to be satisfied with the whole package - or is that too much to hope for?

I\'ve got to be honest - neither of them sold me the car, the MINI did it for them. All I did was harass them until they let me have (well buy) mine. The car is so good you don\'t need salemen - just order processors.

Take my advice - get the sports seats

 

[Andrewfuzzy]

So to recap

are we saying that sports seat in full leather will / have / may solve the problem? (delete as appropriate)8D

Ive got an S on order and havent yet had to spec me car so any help on this is a godsend and may save me money for something else

ta very much

8D

 

[Peardrop]

Never spoke to Nick about the various seat trim options. Jeff asked why I wanted leather as an option. Never said that I shouldn\'t get it, or that it would end up a saggy mess though

As I\'ve said, I\'m already getting sports seats, but should I cancel the order on leather or try my luck...

TTYL

Laurence \'LOZ\' Wilson

 

[peteb]

The leather sports seats that I\'ve seen appeared to be better that the none sports seats (i.e. no sagging). But, they did still not seem to be as good a quality I would expect for £970.

I KNOW that the ordinary seat are inferior. I can only hope that the sports seats are made from better quality materials.

In the final analysis - you pays your money, you takes your choice!!

Good luck.

 

[Peardrop]

I\'ve decided to leave the spec well alone, but will throw a fit if the final quality doesn\'t warrant the price. I\'m gonna keep a good eye on how things work out for yourself in the meanwhile, hope it ends satisfactorily for you

TTYL!

Laurence \'LOZ\' Wilson

 

[JV]

Merchantible quality claims can be tricky ones - BMW probably wouldn\'t just roll over on that one.
I\'m no expert in the field I\'m afraid (I\'m still training remember!) but I do have a \'basic\' legal knowledge. My take on the situation is that it would be for a Court to decide how badly the seats have worn - would they consider it so excessive they weren\'t merchantible?
From a common sense point of view, wouldn\'t BMW probably hire a pretty decent legal team as well - believe me, I\'ve worked with decent corporate lawyers before - they earn a lot because they\'re sharp. A country solicitor would get taken apart.
Perhaps a more useful avenue would be the small claims court - claim the seats were defective and that BMW didn\'t replace them and so you want enough money to have them recovered (check EVO out next month - I think their long term MINI is being re-trimmed for about £700) - a small claim is not time intensive, and will also only cost about £60 to file - you can do the paper work and you won\'t need a solicitor - loads of websites can help, or even me.
It\'s also worth noting that if you lose you can\'t be made to pay costs - BMW might even settle a claim of this size out of Court because of the costs incurred fighting it...worth looking into.

 

[mr.bill]

I was curious if aftermarket seats would fit in the MINI. There have been a lot of complaints about seat adjusters and the quality of the covering. The sports seats will probably cost around US$1,500. That\'s not chump change, and quality aftermarket seats are a lot cheaper than that. I would be tempted to go with the standard seats and replace them later. If I sold the car in a few years, I could simply remount the original seats and the interior would look almost new. If you think about it, MINI is charging you an extra thousand pounds and keeping the original seats to sell in another car. I find it hard to believe the sports seats are worth that much more than the originals.

 

[peteb]

JV - Thanks for the advice.

I will see what comes of the current line I\'m taking before starting any new action.

I will keep you informed.

 

[JV]

No worries mate - just for the record I\'ve had a small claim go through against a car park just yesterday. Kids broke into my car and took the stereo - I claimed the car park should have done more to look after my car for £3.10 a day...the company in question decided not to defend the claim so this morning a cheque for £340 (cost of a new, very decent head unit!) arrived...took about two months, and I only risked £38 on the claim, so now I\'m quids in!

Anyway - let me know if you need any advice/help on this one.

 

[Basil]

Merchantible quality claims can be tricky ones - BMW probably wouldn\'t just roll over on that one.
I\'m no expert in the field I\'m afraid (I\'m still training remember!) but I do have a \'basic\' legal knowledge. My take on the situation is that it would be for a Court to decide how badly the seats have worn - would they consider it so excessive they weren\'t merchantible?
From a common sense point of view, wouldn\'t BMW probably hire a pretty decent legal team as well - believe me, I\'ve worked with decent corporate lawyers before - they earn a lot because they\'re sharp. A country solicitor would get taken apart.
Perhaps a more useful avenue would be the small claims court - claim the seats were defective and that BMW didn\'t replace them and so you want enough money to have them recovered (check EVO out next month - I think their long term MINI is being re-trimmed for about £700) - a small claim is not time intensive, and will also only cost about £60 to file - you can do the paper work and you won\'t need a solicitor - loads of websites can help, or even me.
It\'s also worth noting that if you lose you can\'t be made to pay costs - BMW might even settle a claim of this size out of Court because of the costs incurred fighting it...worth looking into.

Blimey!!!...... Has everyone at BMW gone stark staring mad???. Are you seriously suggesting that it would be necessary to sue BMW over this seat issue ?. If messrs BMW AG scan this site, which I am sure they would, any issues like this should be dealt with at dealer level. BMW are MAD if they do not rectify ANY and ALL clients defects immediately. There are a lot of countries outside the UE (and UK of course )) that have ordered their cars and would be concerned at quality issues like these. Personally I am pleased that the oz launch is 6 months behind everyone else so these early quality issues can be addressed. I already have concerns over the interior silver paint (see seperate thread). This issue if it's genuine and widespread should be addressed by BMW AG immediately.

 

[JV]

If people have taken delivery BMW's sorting out seats for the future is no good unless they issue a recall. So, if you've got a car with dodgy seats, now's the time to act...in fact the minimal cost in bringing a small claim may be worth it just to highlight the issue in BMW's mind...the company to sue of course would be MINI (what their proper name is I'm not sure - MINI Limited maybe? I don't have the paperwork to hand to find out) or whoever actually supplies the car (BMW (GB) Limited). An action like this would wake their legal dept up, and maybe the PR office too, if any publicity could be given to the claim. To fight it and lose would mean new leather seats all round...
However, point taken, the body of opinion, both on MINI2 and in magazines, is that these seats are rubbish - come on BMW/MINI - sort it out!!!!

 

[baldie]

The latest EVO magazine has the pics and story on the MINI leather retrim of the standard leather seats.

They have added some bolster (sporty) support and have new leather to match the interior.

Personaly - I prefer the look of my standard Sport seats!

Dave

 

[somerset]

Baldie - is that the December issue of EVO?

Does it say that this new leather/padding is going in to cars currently being produced?

(I've ordered full leather standard seats, but reading this thread, I'm sort of concerned!)

 

[LMB]

Baldie - is that the December issue of EVO?

Does it say that this new leather/padding is going in to cars currently being produced?

(I've ordered full leather standard seats, but reading this thread, I'm sort of concerned!)

somerset,

It is in the January issue. In the back of the magazine, there is a section called 'Fast Fleet' where they do long term tests of various cars.

The guy who was assigned the Mini Cooper hated the leather seats that much, he got them replaced, by a set of custom made ones. These are the seats Baldie is on about.

LMB

 

[JV]

Those seats in EVO are sort of half leather - the bolsters are leather, but the inserts are alcantara for improved 'grip'.
I like the MINI logo on them, and I think the colours look good too (a bit Astra Coupe perhaps though?). However, EVO doesn't give a cost and I wouldn't mind betting it's a hell of a lot. Standard Sports seats will do me just fine (I hope!).
And Apial, before you say anything - no, my seat doesn't pull to the left....