Bought an 07 MCS - Have I made a mistake?

[pointedstarman]

Just bought a 2007 N56 Cooper S with 64k on it. It does have a main dealer warranty which gives some assurance.

A quick browse shows many people complaining about the reliability of this car but I suspect there any plenty of people who've owned this car without problem?

Time will tell if my car is one of the good ones or not!

[rigga]

You only hear the bad stories, no one ever came on the internet to say nothing has ever gone wrong. Out of the huge numbers sold the failures are in reality few.

[eatcustard]

Pray

To be honest, its luck of the draw with them

[mon the fish]

Be aware of the known issues and their symptoms, be prepared & budget for them (e.g. decoke). Otherwise drive and enjoy

[pointedstarman]

mon the fish said:

Be aware of the known issues and their symptoms, be prepared & budget for them (e.g. decoke). Otherwise drive and enjoy

This pretty much how I looked at it. We've had 4 2.0 l BMW Diesels and not one died from the timing chain issue that, were I to believe the doom-sayers, was inevitably going to kill them all. I may however keep up the MINI Warranty as back up

[mikey P 500]

If not already done it will probably suffer timing chain rattles at some point but this is fixed for less than £250 with a newer design part that cures it. The requirement of a de coke isn't just r56 mini's its lots of cars particularly BMW, again should need this very often. (There is also the high pressure fuel pump failure plus a few other faults they can get) but all used cars have their weak spots (the r53 mini cooper s seams to nearly always need a new power steering pumper and coolant bootle replacement, but people just accept this. I have found my 07 cooper s to be reliable other than the mentioned faults and generally better made than the earlier r50 mini we had a few years earlier.

[mike9009]

Hi

I have had a 2007 Clubman S for nearly five years. Great car.

Check the oil level regularly. Mine uses about 1 litre every 900 miles - which the dealer says is 'normal'. When the oil level gets towards its bottom end - the timing chain starts to rattle on start up. I suspect many of the timing chain failures are due to low oil level and have not been frequently checked. (I have absolutely no evidence of this correlation but it does feel coincidental and low oil level obviously has other consequences....!).

Mine is on about 56k miles at the moment. The only real mechanical issue I have had is the thermostat housing needing replacement in 2015. Cost was £205 from BMW, so not catastrophic.


Mike

[rigga]

Agree with oil level check, very very important on these engines, drink oil for fun, but weirdly not all the time, sometimes I need to add, other weeks I check it needs nothing. I've replaced a tensioner and since then no noise, cheap to do and I think they are tight tolerance wise, so crap that builds up in the oil does not help, so I'd forget the bi yearly oil change and do one every year.
Decokes can be done for 150 at an Indie, BMW will want more obviously.
Coolant leaks from thermostat housing's are common, waiting for mine to go, but parts are on world wide back order currently, so hoping it holds out a while longer on that surprise.

Would I have another, yes I would, I really like my jcw.

[sad61t]

How do you check the oil level? The dip stick seems utterly useless - it's the first car I've been unable to read the level. I'm doing the usual pull it out, wipe clean, put in and pull out again, but there doesn't seem to be any obvious line; it's just got oil on it, but I've no idea if that's from the reservoir or just wiped on as the orange plastic blob has been pulled up and down the, convoluted, channel.

I have heard that by the time the oil level light comes on, it's too late.

[mon the fish]

sad61t said:

How do you check the oil level? The dip stick seems utterly useless - it's the first car I've been unable to read the level. I'm doing the usual pull it out, wipe clean, put in and pull out again, but there doesn't seem to be any obvious line; it's just got oil on it, but I've no idea if that's from the reservoir or just wiped on as the orange plastic blob has been pulled up and down the, convoluted, channel.

I have heard that by the time the oil level light comes on, it's too late.

From memory, the length of the narrow bit of the dipstick is the low to high measurement of the oil level

[rigga]

Pull the dipstick out a while before you want to check the level, allows the oil in the tube, which incidently runs through the cam chain guide, to fall away to hopefully get a better reading, it is a st way, some have ground one side of the bulbs down to give a flat surface for the oil to be read from, but the above should have the same result.