Am i just unlucky with my Cooper D?
Discussion
Hi all, i bought a 2014 1.5 cooper D from a local Ford dealership at the end of Oct 2021.
Test drove it and fell in love with it, all seemed well and good and i stuck a deposit down and got the finance sorted.
1 week later i picked it up from the dealer, got 2 minutes down the road before the EML came on, straight back to dealer who were incredibly apologetic, took it back in and handed it back 15 minutes later saying an actuator on the intake manifold had come loose and had been refitted and again apologised for the screw up. All well and good until i gave it to the wife to take for a spin, only for her to say the EML has come on again. Dealer is only round the corner from the house so back it goes.
Again the dealers were very good about it, apologised profusely and handed me a courtesy car so they could have a proper look. Not long after they called and told me they'd fit a brand new intake manifold under the 6 month warranty the car came with (bit of research later showed that they can be an issue around the mileage my car was at)
New manifold fitted and all was good, car drove flawlessly and the dealer even upped my warranty from 6 months to 12 and maximum claim limit of £3000 to give me a bit of assurance if anything else went wrong.
About 3 weeks ago i was coming home from the takeaway with my dinner when all of a sudden the car completely lost all power and cut out, no warnings of anything wrong prior (rattles or unhealthy noises etc) i managed to get it into a parking bay on the side of the road but it would refuse to start, car saying starter or ignition fault, burnt out smell under the bonnet. either way it wouldn't budge at all so left it for the night before having it recovered to the dealer i bought it from.
Dealer takes car into the garage and i get a phone call a few days later saying the timing chain has let go and the engine is catastrophically damaged so will require a new one, they've sourced one with 12000 miles on it (way less mileage than mine which is around 80k) they have also found some other damage that they are putting down to not being noticed prior to me buying the car, which they will also be putting right which will all be covered under warranty, However the warranty company wont warranty the replacement engine. So if it goes tits up then i'm stuck.
Now i cant fault the dealer for their customer service, in my opinion they have been very good. However i am a little concerned as to the future reliability of the car, and i'm even more concerned that the new engine is not warrantied.
As much i love the car when it works properly, i'm split between punting it back on through the dealer as i font want to be left with the headache if anything in the replacement engine decides to let go. I'm also aware im probably going to get screwed as the car is on finance through the dealer, so i cant really see how im going to come out of this scenario without it costing me.
So, long winded whinge i know, but have i just been really unlucky or should i seriously consider getting rid?
Test drove it and fell in love with it, all seemed well and good and i stuck a deposit down and got the finance sorted.
1 week later i picked it up from the dealer, got 2 minutes down the road before the EML came on, straight back to dealer who were incredibly apologetic, took it back in and handed it back 15 minutes later saying an actuator on the intake manifold had come loose and had been refitted and again apologised for the screw up. All well and good until i gave it to the wife to take for a spin, only for her to say the EML has come on again. Dealer is only round the corner from the house so back it goes.
Again the dealers were very good about it, apologised profusely and handed me a courtesy car so they could have a proper look. Not long after they called and told me they'd fit a brand new intake manifold under the 6 month warranty the car came with (bit of research later showed that they can be an issue around the mileage my car was at)
New manifold fitted and all was good, car drove flawlessly and the dealer even upped my warranty from 6 months to 12 and maximum claim limit of £3000 to give me a bit of assurance if anything else went wrong.
About 3 weeks ago i was coming home from the takeaway with my dinner when all of a sudden the car completely lost all power and cut out, no warnings of anything wrong prior (rattles or unhealthy noises etc) i managed to get it into a parking bay on the side of the road but it would refuse to start, car saying starter or ignition fault, burnt out smell under the bonnet. either way it wouldn't budge at all so left it for the night before having it recovered to the dealer i bought it from.
Dealer takes car into the garage and i get a phone call a few days later saying the timing chain has let go and the engine is catastrophically damaged so will require a new one, they've sourced one with 12000 miles on it (way less mileage than mine which is around 80k) they have also found some other damage that they are putting down to not being noticed prior to me buying the car, which they will also be putting right which will all be covered under warranty, However the warranty company wont warranty the replacement engine. So if it goes tits up then i'm stuck.
Now i cant fault the dealer for their customer service, in my opinion they have been very good. However i am a little concerned as to the future reliability of the car, and i'm even more concerned that the new engine is not warrantied.
As much i love the car when it works properly, i'm split between punting it back on through the dealer as i font want to be left with the headache if anything in the replacement engine decides to let go. I'm also aware im probably going to get screwed as the car is on finance through the dealer, so i cant really see how im going to come out of this scenario without it costing me.
So, long winded whinge i know, but have i just been really unlucky or should i seriously consider getting rid?
Edited by Yarders91 on Thursday 21st April 08:08
If you are potentially looking at rejecting the car, I would suggest getting in touch with the finance company (as they hold a significant interest in the vehicle and is owned by them). Explain to them the list of issues you have had, and explain that you have lost faith in the vehicle and would like to either 1) get a replacement NEW engine, or 2) reject the vehicle on the grounds that its had so many issues and still isn't roadworthy yet.
Once the finance company get involved, they pretty much do most of the leg work for you (once you've spent a while explaining in detail all the faults and issues etc).
Regardless of rejecting it or not, I would still suggest contacting your finance company for advice anyway, as they own the vehicle and have vested interest in it.
Once the finance company get involved, they pretty much do most of the leg work for you (once you've spent a while explaining in detail all the faults and issues etc).
Regardless of rejecting it or not, I would still suggest contacting your finance company for advice anyway, as they own the vehicle and have vested interest in it.
ads_4116 said:
If you are potentially looking at rejecting the car, I would suggest getting in touch with the finance company (as they hold a significant interest in the vehicle and is owned by them). Explain to them the list of issues you have had, and explain that you have lost faith in the vehicle and would like to either 1) get a replacement NEW engine, or 2) reject the vehicle on the grounds that its had so many issues and still isn't roadworthy yet.
Once the finance company get involved, they pretty much do most of the leg work for you (once you've spent a while explaining in detail all the faults and issues etc).
Regardless of rejecting it or not, I would still suggest contacting your finance company for advice anyway, as they own the vehicle and have vested interest in it.
Many thanks for the info, genuinely didn’t know i could go that route. I may well give them a call tomorrow. The car was financed through the dealer so will definitely look into this. I was under the assumption that i had to give the dealer the chance to do the repairs first.Once the finance company get involved, they pretty much do most of the leg work for you (once you've spent a while explaining in detail all the faults and issues etc).
Regardless of rejecting it or not, I would still suggest contacting your finance company for advice anyway, as they own the vehicle and have vested interest in it.
Was it purchased 2020 or 2021 as the original post doesn't make it clear.
I don't see the issue with the replacement engine, for an aftermarket warranty and a dealer you are being treated very fairly, half of the issue is getting them to play ball and you seem to have that. The warranty company may not warrant the entire engine but thats not to say they won't warrant the ancillaries. As far as i'm aware the 1.5 doesn't suffer with chain issues like the BMW's of old and at the end of the day the car has covered 80k.
I don't see the issue with the replacement engine, for an aftermarket warranty and a dealer you are being treated very fairly, half of the issue is getting them to play ball and you seem to have that. The warranty company may not warrant the entire engine but thats not to say they won't warrant the ancillaries. As far as i'm aware the 1.5 doesn't suffer with chain issues like the BMW's of old and at the end of the day the car has covered 80k.
stevemcs said:
Was it purchased 2020 or 2021 as the original post doesn't make it clear.
I don't see the issue with the replacement engine, for an aftermarket warranty and a dealer you are being treated very fairly, half of the issue is getting them to play ball and you seem to have that. The warranty company may not warrant the entire engine but thats not to say they won't warrant the ancillaries. As far as i'm aware the 1.5 doesn't suffer with chain issues like the BMW's of old and at the end of the day the car has covered 80k.
Apologies, just notice my typo and have corrected it to 2021. I'm just a little stuck with where to go with it is all. I cant fault the dealer in any way at all so far. Taking longer to get it back to me but that's down to the supplier of the replacement engine taking their time.I don't see the issue with the replacement engine, for an aftermarket warranty and a dealer you are being treated very fairly, half of the issue is getting them to play ball and you seem to have that. The warranty company may not warrant the entire engine but thats not to say they won't warrant the ancillaries. As far as i'm aware the 1.5 doesn't suffer with chain issues like the BMW's of old and at the end of the day the car has covered 80k.
Its a great little car to drive and genuinely ill be gutted to see it go. But without any warranty or any sort of protection over the replacement engin i'm a little concerned that i'll be up the creek if anything else were to let go.
steveo3002 said:
will they warranty all the old bits attached to the engine or wash their hands of everything in the engine bay?
any solid proof its done 12k? every used engine is punted out as a low mileage gem , but then breakers can be liars
I need to ask them this question if i'm being honest, they claim they have proof of mileage but then again i haven't seen anything in person yet. I'll make sure to scrutinise all this once the work is complete.any solid proof its done 12k? every used engine is punted out as a low mileage gem , but then breakers can be liars
My other concern with the replacement engine is what happened to the car it came from, i would have thought a car to be written off at only 12,000 miles must have had a pretty serious prang and could this have potential knock on effects elsewhere.
I'll speak to the finance company the car is under first and work from there.
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