Mini is America's worst quality car

[nate]

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/6491752.html

[Plaz]

Odd. My anecdotal experience, as well as that I have heard from other mini owners, doesn't support that. But as the article points out, the range between worst and first is rather small these days.

[lemming]

Originally Posted by Plaz

Odd. My anecdotal experience, as well as that I have heard from other mini owners, doesn't support that. But as the article points out, the range between worst and first is rather small these days.

i think MINI finishing last is true. it is an oddly constructed car and there are plenty of things i've run into which are oddly annoying and i know for sure would never pass QC on a BMW or any Japanese car. fit finish issues, etc.

but, more than that, it's a pretty diehard car ownership population who would tend to overreport things more so than lots of other marques.

[Plaz]

Originally Posted by lemming

but, more than that, it's a pretty diehard car ownership population who would tend to overreport things more so than lots of other marques.

Good point.

[iateyourcheese]

Originally Posted by lemming

...

but, more than that, it's a pretty diehard car ownership population who would tend to overreport things more so than lots of other marques.

But wouldn't Porsche owners fall in that same category? Porsche seemed to do pretty well.

I've been bouncing around northamericanmotoring.com since I'm considering picking up an R53 to play with. I'm not sure what to think of these cars... are these people over reporting or was the previous Mini platform that underengineered?


Stickies on the problem forum: http://www.northamericanmotoring.com...lems-issues-9/

Shock towers mushrooming (BMW influence showing through here)

Engine fires Apparently a poorly designed electric power steering pump.

Door sill rust because the weatherstripping traps water

[Plaz]

Originally Posted by iateyourcheese

But wouldn't Porsche owners fall in that same category? Porsche seemed to do pretty well.

I've been bouncing around northamericanmotoring.com since I'm considering picking up an R53 to play with. I'm not sure what to think of these cars... are these people over reporting or was the previous Mini platform that underengineered?


Stickies on the problem forum: http://www.northamericanmotoring.com...lems-issues-9/

Shock towers mushrooming (BMW influence showing through here)

Engine fires Apparently a poorly designed electric power steering pump.

Door sill rust because the weatherstripping traps water

I wouldn't consider an R53, for the Chrysler engine alone.

I think the R56 was the first top-to-bottom BMW-engineered MINI.

[dan]

Originally Posted by iateyourcheese

But wouldn't Porsche owners fall in that same category?

No, I think many more Porsche owners are just badge whores who aren't really hardcore about driving or what they expect/want from a car.

[lupinsea]

Originally Posted by undefined

No, I think many more Porsche owners are just badge whores who aren't really hardcore about driving or what they expect/want from a car.

Seems acurate judging from the view I've known in Seattle personally. I think also they're so in love with their Porsches they'll forgive a bunch of stuff.

[lemming]

i would guess that Porsche vehicles are assembled better --but realize that for the most part that it's not an economy vehicle so the scrimping, while pervasive, isn't as prevalent as it is on the R56.

[Plaz]

Aha... mitigating factor... people's dumbness with regard to how to use MINI controls gets reported as problems with initial quality.

http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2009...ty-matter/?hpw

Mini Conundrum: Does Quality Matter?
By Richard S. Chang
Mini is a success in spite of recent problems in quality.

When General Motors filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy recently, many readers contributed fond memories of their G.M. cars. Others wrote in to describe horror stories.

“We never intended to abandon U.S.-built cars and always looked at them when we need a car, but the quality, price and resale value never matched the Japanese cars,” wrote Michael Xantos. “Sad, but G.M. is dead.”

Another reader, Ed Gomulka, wrote: “The Caddy was the worst car I ever owned. It was in the shop every month for something major during the first year of ownership. After the Caddy, I bought my first Japanese car, a Lexus, and never went back.”

Invariably, readers said that G.M. deserved to be in its current situation because of its failure to build high-quality cars.

But is a brand’s success necessarily related to its quality? Mini presents an interesting example.

In the latest J.D. Power & Associates Initial Quality Survey, Mini ranked 37th in initial quality — out of 37 brands — with 165 problems per 100 vehicles (which is the metric J.D. Power uses). In other words, Mini was dead last. In 2008, Mini was second to last with 164 problems per 100.

The Mini Cooper’s dashboard has drawn complaints from some drivers.

Looking deeper at the J.D. Power survey, the 2009 Mini Cooper finished last out of 20 models in the compact-car category; the Hyundai Elantra Sedan received the highest marks.

At the same time, Mini has been a much-beloved brand with strong sales. Last week, Mini announced it would be adding 17 more dealerships in the United States over the next 18 months in anticipation of double-digit sales growth by 2011.

So what gives?

As it turns out, some of things that Mini owners absolutely adore about their little cars are also the “problems” that owners mark down in their J.D. Power quality survey.

“Mini has some idiosyncrasies that we engineer into our cars,” Jim McDowell, vice president of Mini USA, told The Associated Press (via MSNBC). As examples, Mr. McDowell cited the Mini’s unusual ambient interior lighting and windshield-wiper control, which is a button instead of a knob.

David Sargent, vice president of automotive research at J.D. Power, confirmed Mr. McDowell’s claims. “A number of Mini’s problems are related to the intuitiveness of the car’s interior dash controls,” he said. The Initial Quality Survey covers the first 90 days of ownership. And during that time, owners are still getting used to the controls of their cars.

One of the quirks of the J.D. Power survey, when it comes to the interior features category, is that it gives equal weight to items that are broken (and need to be fixed by the dealer) and items that are difficult to understand or use, or designed in a way that’s not so intuitive, Mr. Sargent said.

The reasoning — derived from interviews with consumers — is that broken parts can be fixed (at which point they are no longer problems). Counter-intuitive design, on the other hand, cannot be fixed and can be seen as a permanent problem.

“Something that’s a pain to operate will always be a pain to operate,” Mr. Sargent said. Judging by Mini’s overwhelming popularity, owners eventually turn their pain into pleasure.