Two problems related to transmission failure have been reported for the 2005 Mini Cooper S. The most recently reported issues are listed below. Please also check out the statistics and reliability analysis of the 2005 Mini Cooper S based on all problems reported for the 2005 Cooper S.
I am the current owner of a 2005 Mini Cooper S. I purchased the vehicle in 2006 from Mini of irvine with 3,000 miles. I have recently been experiencing issues with the cvt transmission. The car jerks when changing gears at any speed, as well as when switching from drive to reverse. I have taken the car to Mini of san diego to be diagnosed and have been notified that the transmission needs to be replaced at a cost of $8,000. The vehicle currently has 73,000 miles and find it completely unacceptable that the transmission is failing so early on.
The transmission has failed at 66k miles - as I am researching this problem, I can see that many people have had premature transmission failures with their Mini cooper and BMW has not been willing to address the problem. The cost to us will be approximately $10,000 to repair.