Secret Storage Bin - 2014 Mini Cooper Hardtop Long-Term Road Test

Edmunds.com

Secret Storage Bin - 2014 Mini Cooper Hardtop Long-Term Road Test

Everything about the interior of our long-term 2014 Mini Cooper looks and feels expensive.

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kirkhilles1

... and I wish Mini/BMW would put more "sweat" into reliability. The Mini Cooper S has a Poor reliability rating in all but 2 years from 2005 to 2013. This stuff is awesome until it breaks and is a $400 repair.

darex

If only this secret compartment were actually large enough to hold much more than a deck of cards, I'd be more excited about it. As it is, it's cool, but nearly useless.

darex

kirkhilles1 said:

... and I wish Mini/BMW would put more "sweat" into reliability. The Mini Cooper S has a Poor reliability rating in all but 2 years from 2005 to 2013. This stuff is awesome until it breaks and is a $400 repair.

Well, you're already passing judgement on this car, even though it's a brand-new chassis, engine, and ... everything else. For all you know, it's eons ahead of the old (pre-2014) cars.

s197gt

the mini is statistically proven to be one of the most unreliable brands. #1 most unreliable brand by consumer reports. 2 out of 5 stars for predicted reliability by jd power. google it.

all new models generally have more problems than older versions which have been out for a while and have running fixes and refreshes.

it's a double whammy buying an all new mini.

darex said:

Well, you're already passing judgement on this car, even though it's a brand-new chassis, engine, and ... everything else. For all you know, it's eons ahead of the old (pre-2014) cars.

kirkhilles1

s197gt said:

the mini is statistically proven to be one of the most unreliable brands. #1 most unreliable brand by consumer reports. 2 out of 5 stars for predicted reliability by jd power. google it.

all new models generally have more problems than older versions which have been out for a while and have running fixes and refreshes.

it's a double whammy buying an all new mini.

darex said:

Well, you're already passing judgement on this car, even though it's a brand-new chassis, engine, and ... everything else. For all you know, it's eons ahead of the old (pre-2014) cars.

Agreed. I'd understand a new model year being unreliable, but subsequent years? How is that possible? You have data from thousands/tens/hundreds of thousands of repairs from the previous year. How can you not spend the time to "re-engineer" the problem areas? That philosophy, to me, is totally unacceptable.

zimtheinvader

kirkhilles1 said:

Agreed. I'd understand a new model year being unreliable, but subsequent years? How is that possible? You have data from thousands/tens/hundreds of thousands of repairs from the previous year. How can you not spend the time to "re-engineer" the problem areas? That philosophy, to me, is totally unacceptable.

I'd love to hear an honest answer from the manufacture about that question but my guess is it all has to do with where their budget goes. Does it go to refining what they have, improving problem areas, sourcing better parts or to the design teams working on the next one? The Mini is so much about image that they almost can't afford to focus on quality at the detriment of design.

For years I wanted a Mini but over time reading more and more about problem after problem completely removed them from my consideration. I still like them but I would never consider buying one.

I'm sure there are plenty of people out there with them that have had very limited problems. Every car company has to make some cars that are problem free and some that are full of problems. But I'll stick to playing the odds and avoid the manufactures where they have a lot higher percentage of problem cars.

zimtheinvader

darex said:

Well, you're already passing judgement on this car, even though it's a brand-new chassis, engine, and ... everything else. For all you know, it's eons ahead of the old (pre-2014) cars.

They've had over a decade to make a car that is 'eons ahead' and each new one still ends up at the bottom of the ratings.

Sure, they might have focused on what is needed to make a car that will go 150,000 miles without a major issue and 250,000 with a few repairs. I really like Minis, however they've established a track record at this point. Buying one based on a 'now they might be different' is a bit like deciding to marry the woman that has cheated on you dozens of times in the past and hope that "now she'll be different".