Five problems related to engine and engine cooling have been reported for the 2006 Mini Cooper. The most recently reported issues are listed below. Please also check out the statistics and reliability analysis of the 2006 Mini Cooper based on all problems reported for the 2006 Cooper.
Our car has only 53,000 miles on it. We are informed by 2 different dealers that it needs a new transmission totaling $10,000. We were not aware of the class action suit for this very issue that settled late last year. BMW/Mini knew about the defective transmission and said nothing. Our car is not drivable now and is unsafe to operate. It is worthless essentially after being maintained per their guidelines. When driving it lost control and was not able to shift into gears. Was stuck in 4th gear one time and was hard to stop. Could have caused an accident but we were able to get control.
Car spontaneously caught fire while siting in the garage.
I was driving in moderate traffic (40mph) when my car suddenly jerked so hard it felt like someone hit me from behind. Prior to this incident, I was feeling the jerkiness slightly and intermittently (felt like downshifting). After reading people's complaints in Mini forums, I'm starting to think this could be the beginning of my transmission failure. Luckily no one was hurt but if this continues, there could be some major injuries involved. About four months ago, my Mini started to overheat. I get my car serviced regularly so I didn't understand how my water levels and oil levels got so low to overheat my car. After reading up on this, other Mini owners faced similar issues. So now, I am required to check water and oil levels at every 1500 miles to ovoid overheating. A little high maintenance? tell me about it!!.
Car lost power and started running and idling very rough. Service shop discovered that the nylon caps for the hydraulic lash valves had deteriorated and cracked and in some cases had fallen completely off having a negative affect on the engine compression. The original caps are bright yellow and after use and heat they turn orange/brown. Internet research shows some Mini's have steel lash caps. Seems that a engine component susceptible to heat damage should not be made of nylon/plastic. The car has a total of 18 of these lash caps and at least 12 are clearly cracked. There are currently no replacement parts available from Mini or in the aftermarket. Mini's only solution is to replace the entire rocker arms which is a very costly repair when the only failure is small nylon caps.
I wasdriving in CT. When my car would not start again. My car was hauled away and BMW (Mini Cooper) and Mini of fairfield county in stamford CT try to claim that this engine was hydrolocked. That is impossible when it was not raining to make this claim. Engine completely seized.