Took my MINI into (emergency) service, and
06-20-2010, 10:36 AM
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Took my MINI into (emergency) service, and
Traded her in for
Now the emergency:
2 weeks ago thursday, start my car up, about 3-5 minutes later i'm on the highway going about 60mph (this is normal in my routine mornings). Air conditioner is on auto at 70 degrees. This time I was going to the doctor to figure out what the heck's wrong with me (I caught some sort of virus/bug, kicked my ass for almost 2 weeks).
Highway drive was about 7 minutes long. I get off the exit, behind a car, I start to smell what seems like plastic burning, similar to what it smells like when a bag gets stuck to a hot exhaust coming into the ventilation. I continue my drive, still behind the same car, going stoplight to stoplight, driving like I normally do. Still smelling something, but not thinking anything of it. I get to another traffic light, the battery malfunction image lights up on my display and lets off a chime. This lasts a second, and goes away. Now I start thinking something's not right with my car, and although I was pretty sick, the whole drive I was telling myself that the engine didn't sound right (but was operating how it would normally, showing no indication of loss of power or anything). Something was different. A few minutes later I get to the doctor. Look under the car from the back, side, see nothing. Get to the front, see nothing but the smell is very strong. I open up the hood and the smell is REALLY strong. The smell was around the intake and in between that and the firewall. The smell was something in between burning plastic, and what a house burning down smells like.
Now I started to get nervous. While waiting to see the doctor, sent an e-mail to my Mini service advisor, saying I'm not sure if I should continue driving or call roadside to tow it to them (my dealer was about 45 miles away from me, and there are other closer dealers to me that I don't want to go to). She suggested to call roadside and insist that they tow it to their service dept. I go in to see the doc, a half hour later sends me on my way with my nostrils numb because he numbed it to go through my nose to look into my throat.
Now I couldn't smell a damn thing, Thinking about what to do, I leave, trying to smell anything, but couldn't. Before going towards the dealer, said I'd go to my friend's shop a few minutes away to have one of his tech's assess the smell and put it up on a lift to make sure nothing's stuck to the exhaust. Went there, the smell was still there, but they couldn't pinpoint it. Put her up on a lift, and nothing sticking to the exhaust. At all. Totally clean under there. The smell still emanating from the engine bay above and below the car.
I said i'll take my chances and drive to the dealer. About an hour later, I get there. Smell is gone. They take the car into the service garage, go over it completely, and there's no smell. They pull the car out and park it back outside, I went out with one of service advisors, opened up the hood, and had them take a whiff. The smell was lingering, but wasn't strong at this point. They couldn't pinpoint it either. I went for a drive with them about another issue with the car, some vibrating happening at a 3800-4200RPM upshift (which has been there since day 1), coming from either in the dash or under the hood. You don't feel it, you hear it. Nothing to do with the smell though.
I leave the dealer and go to work. Everything is normal.
2 days later, Saturday night, I take a 10-15 minute trip (no highway driving). I'm outside my friend's house waiting to pick him up for a few minutes. I'm looking straight ahead and I see smoke coming from the engine bay off the beam of the right headlight. Open up the hood, I don't see any more residual smoke, but it stinks again. BAD. I drive for a few minutes to where we need to go. A few hours later we leave, no smell.
Sunday, nothing.
Monday (again, 2 days later) night, I leave to go home from work. About 10-15 minutes into the drive again, I start smelling the plastic burning smell again on the stop and go streets. Once again, the engine doesn't sound right, but felt like it was operating normally. 30 minutes later, I get home, smell is gone again.
Tuesday I drive to work, get on the highway, about 15 miles later, get off the highway and get the whiff reeking in my car again. I call my service advisor, and while talking to her, get to a traffic light, the battery malfunction light came on again, but this time I noticed the climate control fan speed went down significantly. When the light changed I put the car back into gear and start accelerating, the display disappears and the fan speed goes up back to normal. She advises me to come straight in, so I do that. Thankfully the smell was still there. Because the service visit was last second, they didn't have a MINI loaner to give me, so they gave me an Avis rental. A Kia Soul.
I got a phone call on Saturday saying the car is ready to pick up, and to get it on Monday. They diagnosed it to be a bad alternator. There a few other minor issues that they also addressed and hopefully fixed, so I'll be back to normal soon enough.
Because it was a last second appointment, they didn't have any Mini loaners so my choice was an Avis rental, either the Kia Soul or the Hyundai Accent. Soul it is!
Now, about this car. Aside from the smell of onions when I get into the car, it's pretty damn nice. I like it. I'm still a little partial to the look, but it's comfortable, relatively powerful for what it is, and the standard features on the car are great (power everything, bluetooth, sat radio, etc...). One thing that really stood out though is the bluetooth. It's so easy to use, once downloading the phone book, creates voice activation (by name) tags so you don't have to individually create voice tags for each one. It's also very responsive and picks up exactly what i'm saying everytime I speak to it (can't say the same about my Acura or Mini).
Overall I now miss my car, so returning this I won't be sad about. But I must say, i'm impressed. For what it is, it does everything very well. I think the Koreans are really onto something here!
Now the emergency:
2 weeks ago thursday, start my car up, about 3-5 minutes later i'm on the highway going about 60mph (this is normal in my routine mornings). Air conditioner is on auto at 70 degrees. This time I was going to the doctor to figure out what the heck's wrong with me (I caught some sort of virus/bug, kicked my ass for almost 2 weeks).
Highway drive was about 7 minutes long. I get off the exit, behind a car, I start to smell what seems like plastic burning, similar to what it smells like when a bag gets stuck to a hot exhaust coming into the ventilation. I continue my drive, still behind the same car, going stoplight to stoplight, driving like I normally do. Still smelling something, but not thinking anything of it. I get to another traffic light, the battery malfunction image lights up on my display and lets off a chime. This lasts a second, and goes away. Now I start thinking something's not right with my car, and although I was pretty sick, the whole drive I was telling myself that the engine didn't sound right (but was operating how it would normally, showing no indication of loss of power or anything). Something was different. A few minutes later I get to the doctor. Look under the car from the back, side, see nothing. Get to the front, see nothing but the smell is very strong. I open up the hood and the smell is REALLY strong. The smell was around the intake and in between that and the firewall. The smell was something in between burning plastic, and what a house burning down smells like.
Now I started to get nervous. While waiting to see the doctor, sent an e-mail to my Mini service advisor, saying I'm not sure if I should continue driving or call roadside to tow it to them (my dealer was about 45 miles away from me, and there are other closer dealers to me that I don't want to go to). She suggested to call roadside and insist that they tow it to their service dept. I go in to see the doc, a half hour later sends me on my way with my nostrils numb because he numbed it to go through my nose to look into my throat.
Now I couldn't smell a damn thing, Thinking about what to do, I leave, trying to smell anything, but couldn't. Before going towards the dealer, said I'd go to my friend's shop a few minutes away to have one of his tech's assess the smell and put it up on a lift to make sure nothing's stuck to the exhaust. Went there, the smell was still there, but they couldn't pinpoint it. Put her up on a lift, and nothing sticking to the exhaust. At all. Totally clean under there. The smell still emanating from the engine bay above and below the car.
I said i'll take my chances and drive to the dealer. About an hour later, I get there. Smell is gone. They take the car into the service garage, go over it completely, and there's no smell. They pull the car out and park it back outside, I went out with one of service advisors, opened up the hood, and had them take a whiff. The smell was lingering, but wasn't strong at this point. They couldn't pinpoint it either. I went for a drive with them about another issue with the car, some vibrating happening at a 3800-4200RPM upshift (which has been there since day 1), coming from either in the dash or under the hood. You don't feel it, you hear it. Nothing to do with the smell though.
I leave the dealer and go to work. Everything is normal.
2 days later, Saturday night, I take a 10-15 minute trip (no highway driving). I'm outside my friend's house waiting to pick him up for a few minutes. I'm looking straight ahead and I see smoke coming from the engine bay off the beam of the right headlight. Open up the hood, I don't see any more residual smoke, but it stinks again. BAD. I drive for a few minutes to where we need to go. A few hours later we leave, no smell.
Sunday, nothing.
Monday (again, 2 days later) night, I leave to go home from work. About 10-15 minutes into the drive again, I start smelling the plastic burning smell again on the stop and go streets. Once again, the engine doesn't sound right, but felt like it was operating normally. 30 minutes later, I get home, smell is gone again.
Tuesday I drive to work, get on the highway, about 15 miles later, get off the highway and get the whiff reeking in my car again. I call my service advisor, and while talking to her, get to a traffic light, the battery malfunction light came on again, but this time I noticed the climate control fan speed went down significantly. When the light changed I put the car back into gear and start accelerating, the display disappears and the fan speed goes up back to normal. She advises me to come straight in, so I do that. Thankfully the smell was still there. Because the service visit was last second, they didn't have a MINI loaner to give me, so they gave me an Avis rental. A Kia Soul.
I got a phone call on Saturday saying the car is ready to pick up, and to get it on Monday. They diagnosed it to be a bad alternator. There a few other minor issues that they also addressed and hopefully fixed, so I'll be back to normal soon enough.
Because it was a last second appointment, they didn't have any Mini loaners so my choice was an Avis rental, either the Kia Soul or the Hyundai Accent. Soul it is!
Now, about this car. Aside from the smell of onions when I get into the car, it's pretty damn nice. I like it. I'm still a little partial to the look, but it's comfortable, relatively powerful for what it is, and the standard features on the car are great (power everything, bluetooth, sat radio, etc...). One thing that really stood out though is the bluetooth. It's so easy to use, once downloading the phone book, creates voice activation (by name) tags so you don't have to individually create voice tags for each one. It's also very responsive and picks up exactly what i'm saying everytime I speak to it (can't say the same about my Acura or Mini).
Overall I now miss my car, so returning this I won't be sad about. But I must say, i'm impressed. For what it is, it does everything very well. I think the Koreans are really onto something here!
Last edited by Shoofin; 06-20-2010 at 08:23 PM.
06-20-2010, 10:43 AM
#2
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Oh, and in other late breaking news, I picked up a new team mascot:
2010 Honda Civic EX-L - Leased her for 27 months...
I can't say i've driven one before this. Drives nice. Wish it had bluetooth and sat radio, but it's OK.
2010 Honda Civic EX-L - Leased her for 27 months...
I can't say i've driven one before this. Drives nice. Wish it had bluetooth and sat radio, but it's OK.
06-20-2010, 01:08 PM
#3
Rooting for Acura
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wow, talk about a crappy day. Hope you get well and your car gets back to normal.
btw, this commercial is awesome. Made me want to break out my Blacksheep (wait for it)... cassette.
<object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Q_exp5t4aqw&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Q_exp5t4aqw&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object>
btw, this commercial is awesome. Made me want to break out my Blacksheep (wait for it)... cassette.
<object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Q_exp5t4aqw&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Q_exp5t4aqw&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object>
06-20-2010, 07:56 PM
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Wow, not one, but 2 new additions to the family!
Trending Topics
06-20-2010, 10:00 PM
#10
Reading > AZ
The Soul is a rental until he gets his MINI back.
You had me scared there.
I kept reading, hoping somewhere in there you were going to say that the Kia was just temporary.
The Soul is a rental until he gets his MINI back.
You had me scared there.
I kept reading, hoping somewhere in there you were going to say that the Kia was just temporary.
06-21-2010, 11:55 AM
#11
Senior Moderator
I love the new Soul. I saw the ad on TV over the weekend as well. LOVE the ad. Of course, the fact that I love it ages me...I had that album on cassette, too. LOL!
Sorry to hear about your troubles, Shoofin.
Sorry to hear about your troubles, Shoofin.
06-21-2010, 12:47 PM
#12
I drive a Subata.
iTrader: (1)
the new Soul TVCM is just so.... hilarious.... 
06-21-2010, 01:19 PM
#13
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She's Baaaaaaack
She feels as good as the day I picked her up...I got so used to driving her when she was hurt I didn't notice how much different the drive was...
06-21-2010, 02:15 PM
#15
Three Wheelin'
LOL...the "Traded her in for" is just a tad misleading 
You can go with THIS
Kia Soul
or you can go with THAT
Mini Cooper Clubman
...thank God you have THAT...
You can go with THIS
Kia Soul
or you can go with THAT
Mini Cooper Clubman
...thank God you have THAT...
06-21-2010, 02:23 PM
#16
Whats up with RDX owners?
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06-21-2010, 03:15 PM
#17
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OK...I thought you traded in your Mini in for the Soul too!
I think I like the commercial for the Soul better than the car itself, but I've never driven one. The looks of it take some getting used to.
I think I like the commercial for the Soul better than the car itself, but I've never driven one. The looks of it take some getting used to.
06-21-2010, 03:52 PM
#18
Senior Moderator
06-21-2010, 04:09 PM
#19
Senior Moderator
Looks are subjective, but 
: The Kia Soul commercial is MUCH cuter than the car it promotes. It honestly makes the Element and xB seem less ugly.
: The Kia Soul commercial is MUCH cuter than the car it promotes. It honestly makes the Element and xB seem less ugly.
06-21-2010, 04:13 PM
#20
Senior Moderator
The Mini looks better than all of them, and I'm glad Shoofin got his back.
06-21-2010, 04:25 PM
#21
The sizzle in the Steak
For a second there I was 
Glad to hear you got the MINI back!
...oof who would by a Soul....those things are
Glad to hear you got the MINI back!
...oof who would by a Soul....those things are
06-21-2010, 04:27 PM
#22
I guess just different tastes. I've seen 'em on the road and still think they're fugly.
As is that Nissan cube. Or is it Qube...???
06-21-2010, 07:05 PM
#24
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06-22-2010, 08:41 AM
#26
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I had to watch that Soul commercial again-so fun! I'd like to see a "making the spot" of that Soul commercial.
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