MotoringFile MINI Named Top Pick+ By the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety

Yup because it spends most it's time in the shop due to recalls and part failures. :lol:

 

The new cars have at least been better than the old ones so far.

 

I'm not so sure. There has evidently been a rash of recalls related to the F56 engine crankshaft guide bearings resulting in total engine replacements and courtesy trade-ins. Lots of chatter about this over on the MINIF56 and MINI2 forums (nothing from MF, of course). I saw a photo of the TSB for this posted online but can't recall where that was.

 

Yup MF or the Daily Toggle will not report on that.

 

Very low percentage of issues compared to total sales figures, and the issues that do crop up are getting addressed immediately.

I'd say that's better than before.

 

That's one way to look at it. Of course, that is exactly what was being said about the CVT in the early years, the electro-hydraulic power steering pump mid-last decade, and the timing chain "death rattle" a few years after that. We all know how those low-percentage issues turned out.

 

According to a MINI service advisor I talked with recently these new ones are not the pillar of reliability. He told me they are seeing these come in for service very low on oil. Some folks didn't pull dipsticks on R56 MINI's & they seem to ignore the oil nanny on the F56 too. That doesn't bode well for the future of the F56.

 

I've heard about the thrust bearing issues on manual-equipped F56 cars, and we've had a couple oil pump issues here and there. Of course, there was the side-impact recall too - but an oil consumption issue is not something I've heard about.