It’s really BMW’s fault. They both have not owned up to the mistakes they’ve made in the past, particularly with the R56 era (07-13, some additional overlap with different models). So a lot of customers got burned and they really did little to actually fix it or try to help those folks out.

Secondly, MINI just isn’t really good or consistent at marketing period. Coming from a dealership myself (albeit since moved on to another career), I can assure you it frustrated us to no end. They would get a strategy going, and then not see it through or completely change it. First they were doing fun, tongue-in-cheek advertising. Then it was nothing whatsoever, then they tried to grow the brand up and make it more “luxury”-focused. Then it was fun to drive. Now they’re back to the fun to drive again. When you’re confusing your existing customers and staff, it’s even harder to bring new people in. That being said, the newer product starting to dominate the used market has helped a lot, as the reputation is turning around. Sales have been up in the US the last two years, pretty significantly, after several years of dropping.

On top of that, everyone just assumes all MINI are the same, so when one has a bad reputation, it just gets generalized across the entire brand. Whereas they have 3 distinct generations, none of which have much to do with the other underneath. As someone who’s both worked for them, and continue to be an owner, it’s really unfortunate that the current generation gets its predecessors bad vibes. It’s very undeserved, and a lot of people miss out on an excellent car as a result.

Same, I had a 2012 and currently a 2018 and the build quality jump is really noticeable, especially the longer I’ve had the ‘18.

I sold for MINI until relatively recently, and the damage from the R56 era in particular is really sad. The current crop is a great product but people clump it together with the trashbins from 10 years ago.

It’s the latter. Your generation was just a badly engineered vehicle, which, no offense meant as I had a 2012 myself.

It was a very conscious effort on QC when they switched to the current chassis, after all the problems they had with the R56 era. I worked at a MINI store, and while some of these market segment surveys are BS, it’s quite true that MINI is a very reliable vehicle these days. Unfortunately, a lot of people get scared off by all the outdated information around them.

A spirited backroad cruise is like therapy for me. Give me a nice summer day with windows down, sunroof open, and some upbeat music and I’ll be loving life.

09 was part of the bad period mentioned above. Granted we have a dealer in my area, but there’s quite a few around of the newer product.

Honestly surprised, I worked at a MINI store and while the previous gen had a design flaw in the A pillar drains that caused water retention issues, I can’t say I really saw it with anything newer. Sorry to hear.

Countryman?

My flair will make this biased, but MINI. While their previous generation with the Peugeot engines was indeed shit in a can, the newer models using the BMW B-series engines are very well built and reliable cars, but they all get clumped together because of all the issues the older gen had. A lot of people sleep on, or get scared off from, them as a result but the current gen is a great product and doesn’t deserve its predecessor’s stigma.

Them: “What do you drive?”

Me: “A Sea Lion….”