I noticed white steam boiling out from under my hood when stopping to take care of some shopping. My sensors never showed that my car was running hot or that there was any type of trouble prior to stopping. I was able to get the local dealership, again without any sensors showing that there was anything going on and was told that the water pump, the thermostat, and the auxiliary cooler for the turbo were all leaking. The aux cooler was replaced on recall not 2 years ago and shouldn't be leaking. It's rather odd that all of the cooling system went out at the same time. The only place to get this fixed is at a Mini dealer and the price was horrible. The water pump was $ 881.00, thermostat was $640.00, and the auxiliary turbo cooler should be under warranty from the recall, but that's pending verification. I've never heard of a thermostat costing that darn much, but that might be old school thinking though.

I bought my Cooper new and it's been in the shop a lot since it's been purchased for various reasons and 90% of it was before it reached 50,000 miles. I have called Mini and filed a complaint about my car but I doubt anything will come of it. I wanted a Mini for years before I bought mine and can't say how disappointed I am in the quality. I had a Pontiac Vibe that ran like a champ and never gave me a bit of concern before I bought the Mini. I wish I still had that car or purchased something different.