[E46330iguy]

Hi everyone, This is my first time posting. Its looking like my wife and I are finally going to pull the trigger on a new F56 Mini cooper S 5 door in volcanic Orange, (One of the first in western canada?) We plan to order it with most of the options available. This will be our first mini and my wifes first european car. I own a supercharged 2001 330i loaded with goodies, Picture in my Signature. Owning a BMW for several years we are well of some of the quirks that come along with owning a European car but im curious as to what kind of issues and "weird" problems you guys have had when it comes to these cars, We do plan to track the car lightly in the summer time, Its going to be my wifes daily driver. How many of you guys daily drive them? How many of you drive them where it gets very cold. Im from Saskatchewan Canada Im curious to what you guys have to say!

 

[24seven]

Hi!

Good choice, I think you and your wife will be delighted with an MCS. I drive a F55 Cooper diesel and it works fine here in the cold Swedish weather. My closest neigbour drives a loaded MCS auto and is very pleased with it.

I would not however base my thoughts on European cars on a 15 year old modified one...

A couple of us has had the tranny replaced and some others have had the engine (only on MCS manual) and tranny replaced. seems however like this only happens on early production cars.

Rear shocks seems to be making clonking sounds on some cars.

Door seals (on some 2-door) rub against the paint and make marks.

Engine light can come on if the gas lid is not screwed on properly.

 

[uke]

Awesome! Before you order the car, read this thread.

 

[E46330iguy]

Thanks for some of the tips and linking that thread, We will be ordering the car with roof rails now thanks to you!, We plan to do some light modding to it as well, Most likely a borla or remus exhaust but not a whole lot more, I understand its hard to compare a 15 year old car to a new one but i was talking more about some of the weird features the cars have when it comes to how they are built and some of the strange problems we all know only seems to come along with owning European cars! very excited for the bank to come through and have our car start to be built!

 

[jeremybingham]

Being English I'd love to know what special issues European cars have for you.pleas elaborate. Here in the uk American cars seem to have a reputation too. Not sure it's based on fact any more, but big thirsty engines poor interior quality lots of gadgets but poor wallowy suspension are often cited. Is it true hmmm not so sure.

 

[E46330iguy]

Being English I'd love to know what special issues European cars have for you.pleas elaborate. Here in the uk American cars seem to have a reputation too. Not sure it's based on fact any more, but big thirsty engines poor interior quality lots of gadgets but poor wallowy suspension are often cited. Is it true hmmm not so sure.

You first have to remember that even if we order the exact same car from the dealer we in fact do not recive the same car. European cars have the reputation here that if it breaks and its not longer on warranty its nearly impossible to fix yourself and parts and labour will be expensive!! This is not always true of course. If you want to compare my BMW to say my 1998 dodge 2500 3/4 tone pick up truck powered by a 5.9 cummins there are some things that are comparable even though one is a luxury car and the other a work horse, For example After supercharging my 330i the auto shortly caved in, I decided to swap it out for a 5 speed manual being much stronger. Now in my truck the transmission is over twice the size. Holding it to the engine, FOUR bolts thats it, My BMW Nine, Thats Right Nine bolts. I find american vehicles, even new ones much easier to work on. I cant name any specific issues with my BMW that I have had lately that you would consider odd since its a summer only toy now and 90% of the parts on the car are aftermarket. But I found that some of the problems that I had fixed american vehicles never run in to. For example the CCV unit on my 330i froze and blew up. This was due to my car never being ordered with the cold weather package. Another thing BMW struggles to do is to make an expansion tank that will not self destruct at any given moment, or having the cats built into the headers making it nearly impossible to change out short of removing the engine. Its little things really, I explained to my wife that like the BMW the mini is going to have alot of cool features other cars just dont. My 330i is WAY ahead of the times when it comes to some of the neat easter egg features it has. And there are going to be some things in the mini that just dont make sense, Like why in the **** did the put the fog light buttons nearly on the floor???? American cars are getting alot better, Im not a ford fan at all but some of fords new cars are powerful offer a nice ride and handle very well on the track, Even the mustang. Please excuse my poor writing ability !

 

[jeremybingham]

I see what you mean .Yes you're right ,European cars aren't the easiest to work on. I had a fiat barchetta, had to move ie near remove the engine to put a new alternator in. Sometimes I think it's size related ie the car is so small access etc is cramped. Mini r56 cooper s ,easiest brake pad and disc change on any car I've ever done ever but try changing the oil filter. Nightmare.

Agreed too with American cars,improving all the time but always been better value for money so much better. I really want the new mustang. Totally in love. Camaro, yes please ! Don't tell my mini but I could be sorely tempted by the new 2 l turbo mustang!

 

[24seven]

Really not my intension of turning this into an US vs European bashing thred, but I had a 2014 wrangler before my Mini and besides the pentastar engine that was mildly high tech with variable cams and 78bhp/litre the car was a from the stoneage...

But offcourse, the more advanced the car is engineered, The more weight optimised the parts are and the more power you extract from a small dispacement engine, the smaller the margins for errors.