CarComplaints.com Notes: Power steering problems are a major issue with the 2005 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.
2005 Mini Cooper Base Automatic transmission is starting to fail. Now at 130K miles, and suddenly car sounds like there is something scraping inside the transmission when I accelerate. Having trouble accelerating, RPM's going crazy. Flipped over to manual mode and shifted myself to and from work day of, still getting resistance to high speeds. Haven't driven it since, trying to find someone who will work on a dying CVT transmission is difficult. Everything else on this car runs perfect.
I have had nothing but problems from the start with this vehicle. This year I have already spent about $3,000 or more. Now the transmission has gone out which is estimated by my mechanic to be about $4900.00 for a used transmission. I have probably bought the car twice with all the problems and repair work. I am very anal so I have every receipt for every repair performed on this car. Its been in the shop more that I have driven it.
Now my transmission has gone out and I have found where there has been 3 class actions lawsuits filed aganist Mini and subsequent payouts on 2005 to 2008 mini convertibles. I am now faced with a $5,000 repair with what seems to be no recourse at this point after just spending thousands a few months prior for repairs.
We are looking for any assistance that can help us get our transmission repaired. Any direction would be appreciated.
Mini Cooper is the worst car ever built. I've driven 5 speeds for 20 years and my work has me traveling in my car a lot. Since getting the Mini Cooper I've spent thousands of dollars on a new clutch, transmission, battery all within the last 2 months. Tonight I had to call CAA for a boost (4th time in 6 weeks) because now the fan will not shut off and sucked the life out of the brand new battery. Unbelievable! In 20 years of driving mainly Honda's, I have never had issues more than a battery which costs a couple hundred dollars every few years as opposed to 10s of thousands of dollars within the past few months.
Do not buy Mini Coopers.
I will be posting messages on various sites to warn the public not to throw their money away on a Mini. I'm happy to give details for anyone who needs. Hopefully we can band together and stop this. There are thousands of terrible reviews on Mini Coopers. Do your homework before you even consider these cars.
Mini knew the 2005 transmissions was a dud the time it died and they should have owned up it and offered me a trade in. I didn't know It was a known problem. Second transmission died 3 weeks before warranty was up. They treated me like a queen. Now I know why. It cost me rental car, time etc. still they didn't own up to problem or offer a trade in etc. When I contacted corporate recently the offered a $750 loyalty discount on a new car. What a slap in the face.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
2005 Mini Cooper Base Automatic transmission is starting to fail. Now at 130K miles, and suddenly car sounds like there is something scraping inside the transmission when I accelerate. Having trouble accelerating, RPM's going crazy. Flipped over to manual mode and shifted myself to and from work day of, still getting resistance to high speeds. Haven't driven it since, trying to find someone who will work on a dying CVT transmission is difficult. Everything else on this car runs perfect.
- Nicole B., Murf, TN, US