Road & Track MINI Owner Survey

GSKChicago Feb 15th, 2006 Link

“The Mini air conditioners weren’t especially prone to fail according to our survey, but several owners said that the system provided inadequate cooling in hot or humid conditions. “When I ordered my car, I specified a white roof, cloth interior and no sunroof. Even so, the a/c has tough time with the summer heat here in the Dallas area,” wrote a Texan owner.”

I’ve never been to Texas, but I assume there are few cars that could handle 100+ degree heat very well. We get some pretty hot days here during Chicago summers - 90+ degrees with high humidity and while it generally doesn’t get “hang meat cold” in the car it is comfortable enough to drive around (after a reasonable time of cooling of course).

Aaron Feb 15th, 2006 Link

I’ve noticed that the AC and Heat in my new ‘06 MCS don’t go to the extremes that my 8-year old Nissan Altima did when I traded it in.

I did have the maximum % of metalized tint applied to the sides and rear to prepare for the summer. The 8% Limo tint on the sunroofs seems like it is a good thing too, but I’ll reserve judgement until July-August.

Lucas Feb 15th, 2006 Link

Other than lots of tiny squeaks and rattles my 2005 Cooper has been trouble free. Well, until the other day when one of the high beams doesn’t work anymore, wiring problem.

A friend asked me, what if I could buy another car tomorrow, what would you get? Then I thought, hey, I want exactly the same car as I have now, down to the last specs :)

SpeedyV Feb 15th, 2006 Link

In Fort Worth, my ‘05 MCS (white roof, sunroof, leatherette) feels the heat in the summer. But I’m not complaining…I chose the sunroof! The AC system works well; however, the vent placement leads to cold hands long before the car cools down. My solution…a car “cab” cover for parking outside on those boiling summer days.

It would have been nice to see the results of this survey if more ‘04-’06 models were included. Reliability would have certainly been less of an issue.

Gotta love the Ferrari comment, too…95% of the fun at 10% of the price :)

Giacomo Feb 15th, 2006 Link

2002 MCS was so workmanship poor that my friends were surprised when I bought the 2004. The 2004 has been pretty spot on…so far just an intermittent dash buzz/rattle. Once they drive the car they know why I bought anther one.

The sunroof mesh complaint puzzles me as I have driven both cars in extreme heat and humidity (Florida, Dallas, Palm Springs) and have only found the AC lacking in Palm Springs when the temp was 120º+ but we all have diff levels of comfort.

To me uncomfortable is blasting through the Valle de Trindad in a class 12 MiniMag buggy with the outside temp 120º and even hotter inside while competing in the Presidente 500 in Baja. Uncomfortable yes but some kinda fun!

Miami to Earth Feb 15th, 2006 Link

But it seems to me that the underliying tone of the article is this: “MINI owners are a group of fanatical idiots that are willing to put up with a car that has worst build quality than a Yugo, yet it drives as good as anything else costing 10+ times more”.

A lot of things were left out of the article and survey. Nice read but wasn’t impressed by it, honestly.

GSKChicago Feb 15th, 2006 Link

I would have been curious to see information about the demographics of the owners of these MINI’s. Age ranges, how many cars they have (and what the other cars are), socio economic ranges, etc. From reading Motoringfile, it is clear that virtually every demographic category is covered. Just curious on more “scientific” results.

Nathaniel Salzman Feb 15th, 2006 Link

The a/c has tough time with the summer heat here in the Dallas area,” wrote a Texan owner.”

I grew up on that end of the country, about 3 hours east of Dallas, and I have yet to see a car A/C that handles the full glory of gulf-coast summer. And actually, if you’ve got a car with an opaque or coverable sunroof, it really helps cool the car off - let the hot air out of the top of the car as the A/C pumps colder air into the cabin. But in really hot temperatures, there’s only so much heat that’s going to transfer from the evaporator into the ambient air. The heat pulled out of the coolant from expansion can’t bled off well enough for the A/C to be efficient at all - no matter who made it. And it isn’t just cars, it’s a struggle to keep your house cool some days.

I’ll be really interested to read this same survey three years from now with all the newer-build MINIs as seasoned veterans and the very first reports on the R56.

David L. Feb 15th, 2006 Link

I can attest to the number of repeat MINI buyers, being a MINI Product Advisor at MINI Yaletown. I wouldn’t say they were fanatical idiots, just wildy impressed with their MINIs. Before I worked for MINI I was at a Chrysler dealer and I bought a Cooper 5 spd to commute to work and drive around Vancouver. I loved my car more and more and loved my job less and less. When an opportunity came up with MINI I jumped at it and I haven’t regretted it since! I have now traded up to a MINI Cooper S 6 spd that I own (no demo for me, I want it to be MINE!).

I read the Road and Track article in the print mag (Challenger on the cover looks killer!) and I would say that they concentrate mostly on the early problems, but that the drive and attributes of the MINI made up for the problems, and that the recent MINIs have few problems. Overall it is very positive, something I am happy to show to my customers.

Giacomo Feb 15th, 2006 Link

YUGO…………….That’s funny.

Bruce Feb 16th, 2006 Link

I’ve got an ‘02 Cooper S and live in Texas, and I can tell you the MINI’s a/c is marginal at best, especially with the auto climate control. It’s not just Texas heat that is the problem, my first disappointment with my MINI’s a/c was driving my 2-day old car in hot, humid Washington DC and finding out it was clearly not up to American or Japanese car standards of interior cooling when in stop and go traffic.

I would guess the newer MINI models are improved, but I’m still amazed that a/c one of the things BMW clearly missed out of the box in an otherwise well-engineered car. I should point out that I am able to cope because I’m fortunate to garage my MINI at home and have covered parking at work - so it rarely sit parked and baking in the summer sun unless I am running a weekend errand. Since I start my journeys with car parked in the shade the aftermarket tinted windows help the a/c to perform at a C+ or B- level.

Osmodious Feb 16th, 2006 Link

I was SO p!ssed when I read this…they used 3 quotes from me and attributed ALL of them to other people (in California, for some reason). Oh well.

Anyway, I have to say that I find the A/C to be underpowered on occasion as well (and the fan is a trifle loud, though not as bad as both my A4’s were!). More annoying to me is the fact that I can only adjust the temperature in 2 degree increments…but 66 is too cold and 68 is too warm! Seriously, I want 67 degrees…

Oh, and they attribute a lot of the dealership issues to higher cost of parts and overall delay in getting parts…I beg to differ on that, and I know I’m not the only one. My experience has been that they just plain can’t fix the cars sometimes (hello, loose seat STILL after 11 visits?!?).

Oh, and some of the problem areas tend to recur, which is a bit of a concern when one is getting close to the end of their warranty (I.e. bad steering rack was replaced, new one is now going bad after only 5k miles).

I love my Mini SO much, but I’m SO fed up with the annoyances (and I just don’t have any ‘fight’ left to keep going after the service department…I don’t have the time, either). I’m probably going to get an Acura TSX…almost as tossable but much more refined (like a smaller, cheaper A4 but with an Asian flavor…no character, though).
CD

Mike Feb 16th, 2006 Link

I used to own a 1988 Honda Accord (LXi… top of the line at the time) that had been in my family in some way or another since 1988. It was the most reliable and rugged beast of a tiny car. I used to call it “Mr. Honda” out of respect that it had been driving far longer than I had, and would occasionally seem to drive itself when it wanted to.

When I graduated college, I lowered the driver’s window to say goodbye to someone, and the window wouldn’t come back up. It was at that point (and once I got confirmation of a post-college job!) that I purchased my ‘05 MINI.

I had wanted one since before they were available in the US, and even had little toy MINIs on my desk. I had also made a decision that no car I would ever buy would have worse gas mileage than my 1988 Accord. (30MPG hwy in case you wondered)

My Minnie (for a bit I called her Ms. Cooper, but then I realized that she wasn’t a grizzly old woman but instead a crazy party girl) just turned 1 year old, and I can’t say anything bad about her. Everything, from the ordering, to the delivery, to the first modification, to today has been perfect. All of you complaining about the heat need to live a little.. open the windows! Go faster if you’re hot! Try a car with a completely broken A/C unit and then tell me how much you are upset by the MINI (My friends used to call the Honda’s broken A/C button “accellerated combustion” for how it served no purpose but to drain my gas.)

I hope to be able to keep this car just as long as the old Honda (200,000 miles all the way baby) and every day I will love it in comparison to every single other car on the road. Maybe, when I trade it in (probably for another MINI) the dealer will say the same thing they said about my Honda: “Wow. one-touch down on the windows? In 1988? This was the future! We’re not scapping it… One of the mechanics was looking for a trustworthy “to and from school/work” car for his son.”

Akhilesh Feb 17th, 2006 Link

I love the way the MINI drives. But within 3K miles I have had to be towed twice bc the car went into some safe mode and would not accelerate. They changed the supercharger bypass valve twice. Also the gas mileage has been pretty disappointing at 17-19 miles per gallon. My next car will be the Porsche Cayman, after the second year. I suggest dumping this before 30-40K miles. If it happens twice more I can invoke the lemon law and get my money back.