To mark my wife's 50th birthday in April 2015 she decided to buy a Mini. After test driving a Main Dealer Demonstrator, I she purchased it with 3500 miles on 22 May 2015.

She has experienced many problems since.

13 July 2015 – emailed dealer to advise that the ‘Engine functions’ light was permanently on.

12 August 2015 – mileage 3882 car driven to dealer to replace the up and down stream oxygen sensors. Without car for 1 day.

25 February 2016 – called in to dealer as driver’s seat would not slide when tilted. Unable to repair it while she waited. Booked in the following day. Without car for 0.5 days.

7 March 2016 - mileage 6634 car driven to dealer to have the seat problem investigated. Repair attempted but not successful. Parts ordered. Without car for 1 day.

18 March 2016 – car with dealer to repair seat problem. Without car for 1 day.

23 May 2016 – emailed Service Manager to advise that black smoke noticed smoke coming from the exhaust when the car drove away on more than one occasion. This did not occur prior to the engine replacement. The event was videoed and instruction provided to the Service Manager as to how to view the video. Excessive engine noise was also mentioned again. After some while I called the dealer for a response. They could not view the video. Further instruction was provided. Nothing further heard so chased the dealer again to be told that the video had to be viewed with his engineer. A further follow up call was required when the Service Manager advised that the car should be left with them for a few days so that they could run a number of tests to identify the problem. Having lost confidence in the dealership with regards to all that had gone on before, she was reluctant to leave the vehicle with them again so they have not investigated this problem.

It was around this time that I called Mini HQ for a second time knowing that as the problems would be regarded as warranty items, he would be referred back to the dealership. They did but recorded that we were experiencing problems.

The current mileage is 9113.

On reflection the car has not been and is still not ‘of satisfactory quality’, certainly not ’the premium product’ that she was attracted to in April 2015.

"The Mini brand did win my wife's hearts and it does turns heads, is refreshingly different: extroverted, spontaneous and in every respect something out of the ordinary.” but on this occasion, 'the BMW Group has not provided a premium product or service for individual mobility.'