Hey everyone,

Got a question about Minis. Went to North American Motoring (Mini's forum), but the layout is way too cluttered and I gave up after 5 minutes of browsing. Figured I'd ask here.

Background: Wife's Civic lease is about to mature, and we are looking for a replacement car. Mini Cooper is among the ones considered. In 2009, Mini USA started offering free maintenance for 3 years/36,000 miles. The nearest Mini dealership is about 30 miles away in Sterling, VA. Our local BMW dealership does not sell Minis.

Question: Can we bring a Mini to any BMW dealership for the free maintenance?

This will make or break the case for Mini as one of the contenders. If anyone knows, please share.

Thank you.

 

just plan on dumping it as soon as your free maint is up... they are damn expensive to maintain for what they are.

about the dealer thing idk, but just call the dealer near you cause if anyone knows it would be them

 

so are minis generally considered to be unreliable? i was thinking about a cooper s.

 

Don't know too much about the 2nd Gen Minis, but the 1st gen(SC'ed) wasn't really known for their reliability.
I've HEARD from an owner saying the door had some stupid opening mechanism that failed during winter conditions.

Dan

 

My fiance picked up a new mini cooper S last november. So far, no problems (knock on wood). I hear they are pretty expensive to fix out of warranty, but we will see how that goes. We plan on taking the car to an independent mechanic (not dealership) after the warranty period.

To answer your question, some BMW dealers will NOT honor the Mini warranty. You want to call the service department of the specific dealer and ask them.

Good luck. You won't regret the purchase if you end up going for it. I drive her car at every opportunity.

 

My dad has a MC:S and gets his service done at the Sterling, VA location. I don't have an answer to where you can get it serviced.

But the service at the Sterling dealership is top notch! I was very impressed. Initially I thought alright they say they'll cover everything but it'll be a pain in the ass to get anything fixed for free. That was not the case. Drop it off and drive off in a loaner. They did all the normal maintenance and then replaced the rotors and pads because the rotors were a bit out of spec. Prior to that he had no concerns with the brakes and hadn't mentioned anything to them about brakes.

After each visit you'll be called to rate how your service experience was. These ratings are serious business. You will be asked about each rating that isn't a 5/5 upon your next visit and they will give you extras to make up for it.

The reliability in my dad's 06 has been great. You can also extend their service plan to 4 years/ 48k for a fee.

Even if this dealership is a hike I would recommend test driving one. They're fun cars, you get a loaner during maintenance, and maintenance intervals are fairly spread out, which means you won't be inconvenienced often.

 

My Father picked up a 6MT Cooper S as his DD back in 07. He has over 20,000miles on the car. ZERO ISSUES. Its his mon-tues car, so I dont even know how he's accumulated so many miles. Quick trips too I guess. He's averaging over 30mpg. That little bugger is quick too. Torque steer can be avoided if you know where to, and not to, apply WOT.

As far as I remember, BMW dealerships will not service your MINI. You have to take it to an official MINI dealership.

I thought about picking one up for a DD a while ago. You might as well buy new since the resale values still remain very high. My .02

 

Thank you for all the replies. I wasn't able to get in touch with VOB BMW in Rockville today (closed), and Sterling Mini is closed today as well. But from what I've read so far, I am happy to remove Mini Cooper from consideration just because dealership locations.

Reliability wasn't our top priority, since we were interested in leasing for 3 years. After I posted my question here, I went to several Mini's website to search inventories. The configuration Mini has advertised for is non-existent. They have a lot Cooper S in stock, and a lot of manual Cooper (my wife doesn't drive manual). We didn't want to spend over $22k on the car, and what left are more expensive than that. Another reason Mini Cooper is out of consideration.

With that said....

We are the proud new owners of a 2009 Subaru Legacy 2.5 Special Edition. Bought it this afternoon when we just went to the dealership to 'check out' the car. Surprisingly the Legacy moves around just fine, contrary to its 170 hp & nearly 3400 lbs. weight. NVH level is also slightly better than the Civic. Combined with a all-around 5-star safety ratings, AWD, and standard stability control, we decided it's a good DD and an excellent buy at $18,312. Traded our Civic in with $350 negative equity (that I can live with), and drove off the lot in the new Legacy.

Now.... Praying for snow.

 

I'm glad you steered away. Mini's are not durable cars. The door handles, air conditioning vents, most plastic pieces in the interior break or fall off within the first few years of ownership.

I still manage a couple accounts for a valet company in downtown austin and deal with customer complaints occasionally. One of the most common was a valet supposedly "breaking" the door handles/etc. off the cars. Almost every one of them eventually admitted they had fallen off before.

 

^ not to mention all the electrical issues. if you pull up all the tsb's on them there are like three pages and half are foe electrical issues.

but if you are leasing and there is no cost, and they give you a loaner, and you don't mind spending a bit of time at the dealer. they are very fun to drive. also idk if they newer ones still have al the issues, the last real expirience that i had was a few years ago...