2008 MINI Cooper owner complaints

Car takes a while to "warm up" however after a very short drive the hood is hot to the touch. It also smells hot. I looked on line and seen several complaints and there is actually an after market 'deflector' to channel heat from the hood. I have noticed the plastic hood scoop is deformed from heat. I feel it is a matter of time before a fire or other reaction, e.g., heat causes another part to fail and car wont stop, accelerate or other causing a crash. I also noticed the headlight wiring to be frayed as if it has been hot.

Tl* the contact owns a 2008 Mini cooper s. The contact stated that smoke was seen coming from the engine. The vehicle was unable to cool down so the contact had the vehicle towed to a dealer for diagnosis but they were unable to duplicate or diagnose the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact stated that the failure recurred and he was unable to drive the vehicle for more than a few miles without it overheating. The manufacturer was contacted and offered no assistance. The failure mileage was approximately 7,400. The current mileage was approximately 8,234. The VIN was unavailable.

Vehicle was brought in for warranty repairs just before warranty expired (6/9/12). Service department was asked to inspect 'turbo oil supply line' as this was tsb (sim-11-03-08) for clogs/blockage caused by the deterioration of the rubber o-ring in line that when heat cycled falls apart and clogs the line causing damage to the turbocharger. Service department stated a inspection was performed and noted there was no blockage. Turbocharger oil supply line is now broken and no longer supplying oil to turbocharger. Diminished performance and the smell of oil was the reason for discontinued driving of the vehicle. Upon inspection it was discovered the oil supply line has broken. I do not know the extent of the damage until repaired. Turbocharger may need replacing as a result of this known fail

Mini coopers years 2008 and 2009 have a issue which I believe is known by Mini usa, but they have failed to initiate a voluntary recall. These vehicles have a timing chain that can prematurely fail (in my case at approximately 25,000 miles). If the timing chain fails while the vehicle is being driven, it will cause the vehicle to slowly come to a full stop. In the event the vehicle is being driven in a highway, this stop could cause a severe accident that potentially can involve many vehicles. This is a very serious issue, because most Mini owners would not expect a timing chain to fail so prematurely. *tr

In the spring 2014 I purchased a 2008 Mini cooper 2d hatch with around 98,0000 miles for $14,000 with warranty in ivrington, nj from springfield auto group auto sales. In january 2015 I had a tune up done and the mechanic reported to me after doing a engine diagnostic test that there was a problem with my immediately reported the problem to my warranty company that was provided through my the car loan company credit acceptance. The warranty company refused to pay for engine to be dropped out of the car to find out what the problem was. They advise me that I would have to pay for the engine to be dropped out of the car to be and checked out before they pay for anything. In october 2015 the Mini cooper engine finally broke down while driving I had to pulled it over while driving up route

The car starts very rough especially in colder weather. I was told by a Mini dealership that could have been due to lack of oil, which is not the case as the oil was just changed. Also when in traffic coming to a stop the car will drop idle and stall out. The car will stall in neutral or with clutch fully pressed in. Researching online and watching some videos, it seems much like the timing tension/chain issues known but not yet having much done with them. It would be nice if BMW/Mini would sort out the issue especially if its a design flaw. Kinda disappointed as its not that old and has fewer then 50k miles on the engine. *tr

2008 Mini cooper s. No engine modification. Loud knocking noise on start up and continues for about 5 mins of driving and then goes away. Mile is under 8900 miles. *tr

Noise in engine after cold start. Engine was replaced by Mini of peabody ma after a internal engine failure. This is a 2008 cooper s jcw and the engine has been noisy since it was replaced. Noise goes away after it warms up. Dealer tells me nothing is wrong. Original engine failed at 8,000 miles and so did the transmission and had to be replaced as well. Now at 17,000 miles transmission ok but engine sounds like it is knocking at start up. *tr

The turbo oil feed line is inherently flawed and prematurely fails because of a bad design. This failure causes hot oil to leak all over a hot turbo. I was lucky enough to not have my engine catch fire with the failed o-ring on mine. I was driving on the highway when large clouds of smoke begin to flow from the engine compartment. I was forced to pull over and get towed home. I was out of warranty but still very low mileage (48k) when mine failed. *tr

On 15 aug 2015 I purchased a 2008 Mini cooper 2d hatc with 122,629 miles for $6,325 with no warranty in stanford, nc from karas auto sales, inc. On 27 oct 2015 the Mini cooper broke down while driving and pulled it over beside the road. The wrecker service took the Mini to a mechanic. The mechanic stated the timing chain had broke and there was major engine damage and the repair bill will be from 8k to 10k in repair cost. Mini had approximately 125k miles on it. I've heard of a lot of complaints with those minis with those same issues happening anywhere from 30k miles to over 100k miles from 2007-2010 models. Nothing else has been spent on the car for repair. I'm not wasting anymore money on that junk Mini cooper. It's to late for the lemon law to be applied. Can anything get done so that

As many others have posted here, my engine began rattling loudly when I would start it up. To alleviate this, I would top off the oil and get frequent oil changes, in fact, more often than Mini/BMW suggested it should get an oil change. This would usually take care of the rattle. One night, the engine rattle kept increasing and suddenly the car stopped in the middle of a busy street just 20 feet from railroad tracks without any warning lights or indications whatsoever. I had it towed to a nearby mechanics shop I trust (not the dealership). The timing chain had broken and bent the valves and I'm in the process of having a new engine put in (with the same faulty timing chain) to the tune of $6,500. I called Mini/BMW usa because my mechanic said he's seen this problem frequently in my m

I drove less than a mile and smoke started coming out of the engine. The turbocharger was leaking oil onto the engine, which almost caused the car to catch on fire. *tr

Supplemental Restraint System (SRS) Airbag Warning Light has come on indicating a malfunction with this safety system and consequently that the airbag safety system may not deploy in the event of an accident. This problem is not unique to my specific vehicle and appears to be a very common issue amongst BMW Mini vehicles as evidenced by much discussion on forums across the internet.

Tl* the contact owns a 2008 Mini cooper. The contact stated that the air bag warning light sporadically illuminated on the instrument panel. The vehicle was taken to the dealer for diagnostic testing where the technician was unable to diagnose the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 26,000.

Passenger side airbag seat mat is defective. Just stopped working. Cost to replace is over $2000. So, the warning light for defective airbag sensor remains on.

Loud engine noise coming from chain tensioner at startup. Sounds like diesel engine. Also happens during cold engine start. *tr

Tl* the contact owns a 2008 Mini cooper. When shifting into first gear, the vehicle easily switched into the reverse position. The contact was involved in a crash. The air bags failed to deploy. There were no injuries and a police report was not filed. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue. The failure mileage was 46,000.

My 2008 Mini cooper speedometer is off by approximately 6 miles an hour. So that if I am actually driving at 50 MPH the speedometer will show 56 MPH. Additionally, if I drive 100 miles, the odometer will actually show as if I drove 106 miles. This is both a safety issue as the instrumentation is wrong, as well as a fraud issue as the car loses value because of the perceived additional miles driven and would be out of warranty sooner because of the perceived mileage amount. Also, if this were a lease and I went over the amount allotted by said lease, Mini would penalize the drive per the mileage. BMW/Mini has told me that they are aware of the issue and say its not a problem as they give alot of leeway for the accuracy of the speedometer. *tr

The contact owns a 2008 Mini Cooper. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V337000 (Electrical System) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The local dealer was contacted. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was not made aware of the issue. The contact had not experienced a failure. VIN tool confirms parts not available.

As I was driving my car started chugging. I pulled over and kept chugging. I stopped the car, looked under the hood and saw if something was wrong. Did not see anything. Started it up again and once I accelerated it stopped chugging. Drove it very scarcely and brought it into the dealership. Was told it was a timing chain. Very lucky that it has not snapped or skipped because you would have possibly lose control. The car only has 36000 miles on it and has had the oil level topped off every few fill ups. They do not look at this as a manufacturing defect, even though it has happened on quite a few cars. My local mechanic said he has never heard of a timing chain snapping or stretching to where it needs to be replaced at 36000 miles. It is dangerous and also very costly to pay for. *tr