THSCC Forums

My daughters fiancee really wants a Mini. They're down in Savannah. The closest dealer to him is just up the road in SC somewhere. So he went there to order one.

Now the sales people weren't overly helpful and seem to have a pretty arrogant attitude. Heck they even told him to order one and if he didn't want it after it arrived they would have no problem selling it.

He asked about the warranty and servicing and here is where a big rub came in. He was told that a regular BMW dealership can't service the Mini. So he called Leith up here and asked them. Apparently the mechanics have to go through some training and certification and that hasn't happened. Seems that the BMW dealers aren't that interested in getting certified on their own cars if they aren't 3,4,5 series models...

So from an owners perspective, dealing with the Mini dealer, warranty claims, servicing etc.. can you give some feedback and ideas on this?

Also are there some good websites where he can read up further on Minis and any issues with them. He is ordering an 05 base car with a few options, not a Mini-S though.

Thanks, Graham

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http://www.greywinds.com

I haven't had any warranty issues, but that sounds about right on the selling aspect of it. They don't negotiate much from MSRP, because they don't really need to. You can usually talk them into some mats, but that's it. Occasionally some out of state dealers will have something on the lot that they'll knock $500 off, or maybe a demo.

Buying used isn't an option given that they are depreciating so little that it's not that much more to buy new. Plus they really have the cars sorted out by the 05/06 model year.

I'd trade the trip from RDU to Winston for Savannah to Charleston in minute.

There's a dealer in Pittsburgh that will deliver for free. And they're doc fees are only $99. I was tempted to go that route, but I ended up going to Flow so I'd have a loaner on extended service and a couple of other benefits.

This is pretty decent board:
http://www.northamericanmotoring.com/forums/

Emmie and Carl have had theirs longer than I have. Actually just about everybody in THSCC who has a MINI has had it longer than I have and give you more info.

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Not spectacular just decent.
I'm not sure what I'm driving.
Maybe an ITR in DS.
Or half-assed STX prepped 330.

Graham,

Carl bought our MINI from MINI of Charleston & I might assume that's the SC dealership they're talking about. As far as I know, Carl was fully satisfied with his dealings with them. Most of his pre-sales contact was with Dana Prato & Martha Crosby. I was only there the once to pick the car up, but I have called them several times with questions & they've always been nice, congenial, & mostly helpful from my limited exposure. Carl went there on the recommendation of some other car folks since Brad Davis, the MoC Gen Mgr, is also a "car person". Carl has talked with Brad several times about various things. I think that dealership occasionally is involved with autoXs & such in that area (I occasionally get a notification from them) as well. As far as the dealer being arrogant, if they're dealing with MoC, I don't think Carl had that experience with them. The car is pretty popular & I imagine they really wouldn't have any prob selling it. Flow has quite a few on the lot. So, I'm not sure if that was arrogance or just a statement of fact.

As far as the service thing goes, yes, it's a bit of a pain. MoC told us we could bring the car down on, say, a Fri & they'd give us a car to tool around Charleston in while they serviced our MINI if we ever wanted to do that. But, that's quite a haul so, so far, I've only taken it to Flow in W-S. They've been nice & pleasant & have taken care of my service "OK", but I can't say I've been overly impressed with their attention to detail or their knowledge. You can read about my latest experience here.

There's plenty of MINI info out on the web. I immediately discovered that a brand new MINI made more strange noises than my '82 Toyota, so I headed right to the web to see what I could find out. As far as I know, there's not 1 central location for info of that sort, but the North American Motoring site has a lot. That's where I found info on the local MINI club & met up with Chris Suich & Keith Strassel who are now THSCC members.

That's about all I can think of at the moment, but feel free to give us a hollar about other feedback or more details on what we were told about some of those strange noises. I will say that, stock out of the box with just the optional "sport suspension plus" package & some Kumhos added on the stock 15" wheels, I think our MINI has been a pretty dang good autoX car. It's not powerful at all, but it's nimble & torquie & plenty fun to drive on the street as well. For it's size, it really can hold 4 folks for a short trip &, with the back seats down, you can get a good amount of "stuff" in it (I think we've stuffed in 6 tires on occasion + our other autoX junk). Even the non-S does require premium gas (a surprise to us), but I seem to get between 35-40 mpg pretty much all the time.

My assessment after our first year would be DEFINITELY RECOMMENDED.

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The person with too many names...
Mary E./ME/Emmie Fisher/Daniel/Daniel-Fisher
(& some others not suitable for posting!).
Help support our habits; BUY http://virginiabreeze.us !

Graham,
For what its worth, we purchased our mini used!!! so I've got no info on how much they'll deal, but I expect that everything thats been said on this thread is true. Flow has been great to deal with on the warranty work, they replaced the transmission when I bent the shift forks in the tranny. But it is inconvenient to have to drive to the few dealerships that sell and service.
The handling of this car is agile, really agile. Power is down, but it has lots of torque for a 115hp engine. A real fun car to drive, we love the convertible.
Gwen said its the first car she's ever had an emotional attachment to!!

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2004 C5(415whp,390ft/lbs),
1997C5,1997Trans Am, 1986 C4,
1990 Miata, 1976 MGB,1997 Protege, 1989 MR2

I'm passing the info on to him. They'll be in Savannah and use the one in Charleston to purchase and initial service. They're planning on moving to D.C. later in the year so he'll just have to find his next dealer for service/warranty issues.

Now he can change his own oil or have a local BMW or some such do it though without voiding his warranty?

Thanks, Graham

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http://www.greywinds.com

You can always do your own oil changes without voiding the warranty. Or take it to a service station and get it done. There are laws that don't allow manufacturers to force using their service or product brand, just those that meet their specs. I change the oil on the Mazda 6 and it should not void the warranty

Would that apply to Rice as well? I wouldn't let him change my car's oil!

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Vincent Keene
'06 Ford Mustang GT (track rat)
'15 Dodge Charger R/T (yeah, it's got a HEMI!)
'07 Ford Fusion SE (205,000 miles and counting)
'98 Chevy Z-24 (retired)
'93 Acura Integra (Team SWB 24HOL Car)

I might assume Rob is correct about it not voiding your warranty. However, if they care about it, there's a mileage countdown display (at least on the "Chrono Pack" gauges option that we have) to your next warranty service. When a dealership does your warranty service, they (supposedly) check a series of things at that time, along with doing the oil change, & then reset the countdown display to the mileage for your next warranty service.

I might suggest they be sure to keep up with all non-dealership maintenance service they have done (or do themselves) in case they *do* need some warranty work done, so that the dealer won't question whether or not the proper services & checks were performed at the proper times. Maybe the dealer doesn't really care. ??

Bernie, did Flow ask y'all for any of that type of info when they did the tranny work under warranty?

_________________
The person with too many names...
Mary E./ME/Emmie Fisher/Daniel/Daniel-Fisher
(& some others not suitable for posting!).
Help support our habits; BUY http://virginiabreeze.us !

Emmie,
Flow has done all our warranty work, so they didn't need to ask. The car had less than 3k on it when we bought it.

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2004 C5(415whp,390ft/lbs),
1997C5,1997Trans Am, 1986 C4,
1990 Miata, 1976 MGB,1997 Protege, 1989 MR2

so Rob, why have i not seen the Mazda 6 thump cones?

2 reasons:

1. Wants to stay happily married.
2. Wants to stay happily alive.

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http://www.greywinds.com

3. Why run a heavy sedan in favor of a miata

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2010 Honda Fit Sport
Couple of bicycles

You have already heard it all, but here is my .02 worth. I have two minis, 02 s, and 05 convertible. I bought both at Checkered Flag in Va Beach. I had called flow and they acted like they were doing me a favor (this was in 02 when they were really hard to get) by letting me prepay and order for me with a 9 mos delivery. VA beach treats you like you bought a 7 series bmw, give you a loaner, flat bed the car if you have a problem, they even have told me to take the loaner home and bring back after the weekend if the service was going to take longer. I only have one nagging problem with the 02 that they finally fixed. Overall the best I have ever been treated at a dealer. I do extra oil changes, between the services and no one has ever said anything (i don't reset the service indicator)

Yes it is a hassle to go to get the service but I would rather do that than be bored with something serviced locally. After it is out of warrenty I will do it all myself, plenty of manuals, parts, and help on the web like other bmw's.

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2002 MCS, 2003 MCS Track Rat, 2003 Generic White Yukon, 2003 BMWk1200rs, 1973 CB350F, 02 996. 08 Cayenne Turbo
http://www.clinehallagency.com