Two words ... planned obsolescense

I always wonder why all the car companies can not build a reliable car.  It's over 100 years. I guess it's all the high tech stuff that the young engineers want to try out and keep updating mechanics.  I'd rather have something old that's got some road miles and will stand up to regular usage.

The 2008 Cooper S (turbocharged) MINIs have a history of having bad pcv diaphragms that cause rough idle, oil consumption, and whining noise also mostly heard at idle. Also bad vacuum pumps. split vacuum lines, and so on.

My wife has an 08 clubman (not an S) that I found for her cheap, and we are both regretting purchasing it. Well, mostly me. I just ordered last night a replacement diaphragm that will allow me to fix her current valve cover for $40 rather than replace the whole cover for $350. It has 93K miles on it and consumes 1.5qts of oil every 2 tanks of gasoline. Wish I'd have done more research before buying it.

Do a search over at Northamericanmotoring.com and you'll find more info than you can find here on this site.

First ... most of the "regulars" on this Forum are classic Mini guys. You'll get better answers to your query on North American Motoring. There are LOTS of current MINI people there.

Second ... I've owned both (currently only have the classic). If someone has cracked that engine open and replaced the cam, run away. The BMW built cars are lots of fun to drive, but notoriously unreliable, especially once the engine has been "customized". The fact that an S seems "under powered" is another indicator of trouble. When one of those cars is right they are anything but under powered.

My wife wanted to buy a Mini Cooper.  I was hesitant because I have heard how terrible they are but she found a 2008 convertible S with 82k miles that looked really nice.  But it seems to have some issues and I'd like some input on how bad the issues are.  First it vibrates, when it's idling the vibration is so bad that the pod on top the steering wheel shakes like a banshee!  The owner said something about the cam shaft being switched out for a higher HP version that causes vibration but is normal.  I don't really buy that excuse.  Second, when trying to get on the highway the car didn't want to shift out of 3rd gear.  It got up to about 4k rpm but just seemed to not want to shift or give any more power, so I let up on the gas pedal and it shifted.  Third, the car has a whine/droning noise under it.  It seems to be there even when letting off the gas so I am thinking it is road noise?  And lastly this is an S model which I guess is supercharged??  Wouldn't know it because the car seems really underpowered.