MINI Countryman 2020

225 /45 R19 Uneven wear of the tires. Excessive wear inspite of brand new vehicle, 2 wheel alignments done on the vehicle in an attempt to stop the excessive wear of the tires. The Front right side tire collapsed causing my car to veer into a curb. The other three tires have less than 20% thread and the mileage in the vehicle is only 9000 miles. The vehicle was purchased new In June 2020 and came equipped with the tires. This malfunction and poor manufactured caused not only a financial problem In having to replace all four tires prematurely, but also place my safety and others are risk.

While driving in 10 degree f weather, the MINI countryman overheated within 3 miles of driving from originally turning the car on (10 minutes of run time). The dealership noted that a rock passed through the grill that protects the auxillary cooling radiator and damaged the radiator, causing a leak. The new 2021 MINI countryman cars contain a rock guard over the grill because they recognize this as a dangerous problem, but they have not fixed the problem with any car from a previous year. A simple rock guard having been installed is a very inexpensive and cheap solution that MINI does not tell customers about until their car overheats and the bill is not covered under warranty. This situation was dangerous because it left the vehicle occupants stranded in freezing weather, where one person became borderline hypothermic (95F body temperature).

At 11,336 my vehicle started shutting down when I was stopped at intersections, red lights, and in stopped traffic. The vehicle continued to do this until 40,817 when if finally shut down and would not restart and had to be towed back to the dealership. I began reporting the issue at 11,336 and continued to report it to the dealership and finally forced them to do a complete diagnostics at 12,667 to figure out why the vehicle was shutting down. The vehicle was extremely dangerous to operate and I had many near misses with my children in the car every time I had to start my dead car in traffic. Mini/BMW could not identify the problem and sent me on my way. Even at 40,917 miles and tsar engineers could not identify why it shut down so they began swapping out the EME (twice), the high voltage lines, black box and several other components. 5 months of repairing my vehicle they were able to get it running and returned it to me. Since BMW has agreed to buy the car back at a loss to me. I'd make more money trading in but the car is unsafe and I do not want another owner or drivers to be put in danger.

My 2020 AWD MINI cooper countryman was sold to me with "performance" tires; no disclosure of this fact was provided during the sales process. Soon after taking possession of the vehicle, one tire picked up a nail causing loss of pressure. During the process of fixing the problem, I learned that the vehicle had performance tires as evidenced by the smooth tread and later verification from my MINI sales person. Because I live in maryland, a state with a distinctive winter season, my research confirmed that performance tires (also know as summer tires) are extremely dangerous in cold weather. It became apparent that the tires needed replaced for my safety. I completed this at my own expense. I believe that MINI cooper, without compunction, put my life in danger. I question how many accidents have occurred in these cars during cold weather without recognition that the tires might have been the source. It would appear that it is a standard practice in "MINI world" to sell many cars this way. I reported the problem to MINI and was assured that a complaint report would be submitted. I requested a follow up concerning mini's response to my complaint and was told that I would receive none and should not expect it. Submitting a "report" was the end of the issue as far as MINI customer service was concerned. It is my firm belief that any car sold with performance tires should come with a clear disclosure signed by the buyer for safety reasons. Ideally, MINI cooper should stop the practice all together. Please investigate; save a life!