Mini Cooper Reliability

I plan to make a 2004 Mini Cooper S, the only problem is that my father, who is "funding" I was concerned about the possibility of less than stellar reliability. I have a friend who works in a shop of his uncle as a mechanic. I have not mentioned him, but I was wondering if it was likely that repairs beyond routine maintenance would be much cheaper by taking him to his shop instead of a BMW / Mini.

I think it would be much cheaper to take it to his shop. I have a mini 03 and I do not take it to the dealer because they charge me over a bit more and has more than two hours drive from my house, so it is not worth the drive.

But it depends on the concession also .. I moved and my (current) nearest dealer is a joke, they tried to charge me $ 60 for wiper blades (just the rubber part), but I called my old dealer and had me ship for less than $ 15 including shipping.

Anyway, I have mixed feelings about the service of the concession ... but I think that ultimately you'd better stay away from the dealership.

repair or a maintenance workshop will be cheaper than car in a garage BMW / Mini.

A friend has one and his confidence is high, because a recent study has shown that one or two minor skirmishes "in a parking lot and the car could be considered to be suffering as they suffer damage upon impact as compared to a mid-sized car. For me, saying that they would not be safe on the road or highway. I think they are cute and gas mpg is great, but I'm gonna stay with my massive SUV with bars steel in the doors, etc. for security. Unless you start one, which is about as safe as you get in a car IMO.
Also, I live in a relatively small city which is regarded as essentially the upper middle class or above and there are lots of Mini Coopers here, but I see an unusual number of them being towed from the road or sitting on the side of the road and just yesterday, two guys pushing one of the intersection. Coincidence? Who knows if I see some consumer reports of car or Car and Driver made a note on them one or two years ago. My friend is a new and she loves it, but is concerned about the safety ratings crash now.

I do not know anyone who owns a Mini and I am not aware of any serious reliability problems. But I did try a new Mini in 2003 when I was shopping for a new car for my daughter and I was really impressed by his response to the acceleration, power, and robust short-throw shift. While reflecting on the price of the $ 19,000 sticker has caused a break in the excitement of player I would probably have been willing to discuss Turkey and possibly negotiate a purchase if it was not when I returned to the dealership with her there was someone in the parking service which was strong enough and loud while talking with a service representative's clutch problems. I heard that they replaced the clutch when the vehicle was new and had only 7,000 miles on it and much of the argument seems to be that the service representative has been accused of abusing the clutch and refusing to replace it a second time under warranty. She seemed to be in his late 30s or early 40s and was smartly dressed in a business suit expense research and sent a big red flag in my mind because it just does not seem to fit the role hot street drag racing type who would abuse the clutch and I heard her say she never had a clutch problem with the VW it traded in. the red flag in my mind I suggests that perhaps the MINI has clutch problems. I do not know if it does so but after a little more Shopping around I found myself first choice to buy my daughter, who was a Toyota Celica GTS.

Anyway, as for reliability issues with the MINI, here are some of the complete owner.