Are the turbo charged Mini coopers defective?

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tenspeed answered 6 months ago

Find a Mini Cooper forum and search for turbo problems. All cars have some kind of quirks. Many times the manufacturer will recall the cars and fix the problem by the time you hear about it.

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Robert answered 6 months ago

That one you have listed on the question yes I would agree do stay away from. They are having issues with timing chains, carbon deposits on the intake valves, high pressure fuel pump failures (those now have a extended warranty from mini) The turbos oil feed bearings will get coaked up and fail causing turbo failure. The motor in this car is called a N14. But they now have a new turbo engine out called the N18 and so far those have pretty good no real issues yet. But if your looking for a good reliable engine over power then I suggest the N12/N16 MINI's naturally aspirated engines only issues they really have is a coil pack going bad. Hope that helps with your decision.

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Vince answered 6 months ago

My wife's '10 Cooper S Clubman has 24,000 km and had already had the high pressure fuel pump replaced (after being stranded), the rear door power lock repaired (barn doors wouldn't close), and the intake ports walnut shell blasted to remove excessive carbon deposit (misfire codes). These were all fixed under warranty but the service department always had blanket statements to deny manufacturing defects in all cases. So far the only recall has been the turbo lube pump repair (after a few reported cases of engine bay fire). BMW (MINI) is not a company that will proactively fix its own faults, nor will they super cede defective parts with working ones. BMW relies on the uninformed to shoulder the costs when the timing chains of these engines should eventually fall off the sprockets when the plastic guides fail (reported in a good number of cases).