general problems of the 2005 Mini Cooper

The power steering assist has all but stopped working, with steering now difficult at lower speed--especially when I first start the engine in the morning. The clutch doesn't respond well and the vehicle no longer goes into second gear. The rear left brake caliper seized in place, not allowing the brake pad to retract completely and therefore the brake pad continuously rubbed against the disc, but without noise. Not until the left rear brake made noise because of the metal on metal braking was the seized oem caliper identified, when I put on a set of new brake pads. None of the other three brakes had the seized oem caliper.

Front driver seat occupant detection mat doesn't seem to be working correctly as it doesn't detect sometimes when there is an occupant. Second issue is the cvt transmission of this vehicle. I get a jerking motion every now and then and found a class action lawsuit linked with these transmissions. I purchased this car after this lawsuit but apparently this particular vehicle was not taken care of. My vehicle only has 70,000 miles on it and find this unacceptable.

When accelerating from 30 to 40 miles an hour/shifting from 3rd to 4th gear, my transmission would rev up the rpms and my car no longer accelerates. It went from about 2 to 5. 5 rpms, even after I took my foot off the gas pedal. Once it finally does shift, it lurches the car forward violently. It takes a while for the transmission to start acting up, but once the car is fully warmed up, it seems nearly impossible to have it not happen. It's even more frustrating and frightening because I do all city driving, where I slow down and speed up so I am constantly having to get within the 30mph range. My car stops accelerating so I am afraid of my transmission dying in the middle of traffic or slowing down so much that is causes an accident. Bottom line: my car does not function properly and potentially endangers me, so I am afraid to drive my car.

At low miles the transmission has to be replaced. No fore warning just gone. I'm trying to drive and at 10 mph I'm revving at up to 3000 rpm's. This should def not be happening! I'm fuming being that I have to now replace the transmission when I have not beaten on it or anything to make this happen. So far my experience with BMW has not been good. I would have been better buying anything else.

After driving one evening a short distance to the store and feeling a strange pulling of the car but not really moving as fast as it should, I took it to be checked out at the Mini of the lehigh valley. I was told that it was a faulty transmission but that I could still continue to drive it short distances. This cost $138. So after a couple of short trips to work, I was on my way home on Monday September 10th when it started to "shut down", it was revving very loudly but only moving at about 20mph at the most. I had to pull over many times due to anxiety, fear and causing an accident. I had to find a back way home because I could no longer drive on any of the main roads since it was obvious that I was going to get hit from behind!.

I had a little whining sound when I pushed on the clutch. Everything worked fine even with the whining sound. I started driving to the mechanics and my car completely shut down. The transmission came completely apart. All the teeth are gone from the second gear with no warning. I have already spent 2000. 00, now I will have to either spend another 3000. 00 for a new transmission, or trade in my car at a horrible loss and I will be upside down on the next car. I read that there were class action lawsuits against Mini/BMW over the transmissions. I was hoping that I would find a recall on here.

The car suddenly would not accelerate after stopping at a stop sign, a very serious situation. The motor was running, however, the car would not move. I had the car towed to the dealer who informed us today that the cvt (transmission) had to be replaced at a cost of $7000. We are aware that there are numerous complaints on line regarding Mini Cooper cvt power trains in 2002 - 2006 Mini's and that there are apparently class action law suits in California and new jersey as Mini Cooper apparently is refusing to issue a recall. It does not seem within reason that a car with less than 50,000 miles should have the transmission go out. Also, in that there are substantial similar complaints from others and class action law suits pending, this does not seem to be an isolated incident. I strongly believe that Mini Cooper should admit that its cvt power train is faulty and issue an immediate recall. Thanks for your attention to this complaint.

While picking my grandson from school on oct 18 2010 at 2:30 pm I was backing out of a parking space onto the highway , half still in parking space and half on the highway my car stopped--- it would not go forward or backward --- could not turn the steering wheel, it would not turn--the motor running all the time --I turned the key off and on twice before the car would move . Only reason we were not hit by traffic is because we were in a school zone and traffic was slow at that time. I called my Mini dealer in baton rouge and asked if they had other people with trouble with their Mini they said no-- asked they to check if Mini had anything going on with Mini s they would not check they just saying they had not received and official notice they said I could bring it in and it would cost me about 800. 00 to have it fixed.