CarComplaints.com Notes: Power steering problems are a major issue with the 2004 Mini Cooper, with hundreds of owners reporting complaints to the NHTSA about their power steering suddenly failing while driving.
Some power steering failures have caused crashes & injuries. Average mileage at failure is well under 100,000 miles & the repair cost is over $1,000. Not good.
Researching the crappy cvt transmission BMW sluffed off on the world was a real eye opener. This car has had every suggested service done by approved service technicians. Every large or small service has been done on time, the oil and filter even changed every 4000 miles. The approved fluids have been used since it was new. and yeah, I bought this pos new.
We were never impressed with the gas mileage, but it was ok, and my wife has a light foot. it's her car, so I've always made sure any repair was made promptly and completely. She was driving out of the driveway when the trans made a huge noise and stopped working. When I returned home, I started the car, put it in gear and all that happened was a loud rattle like a chain be used as a roto rooter in a toilet.
Research shows the CVT to be problematic. The dealer quoted me a price to replace it nearly as much as the little car is worth. Since used ones are going for over 3k in many cases (though I did see one for 1700 with 90k miles on it), I suppose the used route is the ticket then a sale to some other dummy.It should sell, since other than being a paper-weight now, it is perfect.
If this is BMW's idea of a dependable car, perhaps they should sell old British cars.......because a car that breaks so expensively so early in life is crap.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
Researching the crappy cvt transmission BMW sluffed off on the world was a real eye opener. This car has had every suggested service done by approved service technicians. Every large or small service has been done on time, the oil and filter even changed every 4000 miles. The approved fluids have been used since it was new. and yeah, I bought this pos new.
We were never impressed with the gas mileage, but it was ok, and my wife has a light foot. it's her car, so I've always made sure any repair was made promptly and completely. She was driving out of the driveway when the trans made a huge noise and stopped working. When I returned home, I started the car, put it in gear and all that happened was a loud rattle like a chain be used as a roto rooter in a toilet.
Research shows the CVT to be problematic. The dealer quoted me a price to replace it nearly as much as the little car is worth. Since used ones are going for over 3k in many cases (though I did see one for 1700 with 90k miles on it), I suppose the used route is the ticket then a sale to some other dummy.It should sell, since other than being a paper-weight now, it is perfect.
If this is BMW's idea of a dependable car, perhaps they should sell old British cars.......because a car that breaks so expensively so early in life is crap.
- Ray M., Nashville, TN, US