Talk Morgan Forums Thread Like Summary - MINI cost woe

Mrs F has a 2016 MINI Clubman. It needs one new brake light bulb. First failure in the 7 years she has owned the car. A lot of web surfing failed to identify the correct part but did hint at the likely cost.

This afternoon, we called in at Sytner’s in Nottingham where a cheerful chap quickly identified the correct part and told me they had one in stock.

Then came the bad news. £34. For a 21W bulb. OK, it has four contacts. But since when did a bulb become so expensive?

I can only assume that the bulb failure detection circuit is built into the bulb along with some CANBUS magic - I may be able to find out when I swap the bulb tomorrow afternoon and get the chance to prod about in the old one.

I'm in the middle of a very similar issue with another major German car company.

Vehicle is five and a half years old and there seems to be a spate of things failing. Frustratingly, one is the wiring loom that runs from the engine compartment to the door; which has broken at the section where it goes through the conduit. Now, perhaps unreasonably, I reasoned that the wiring that goes between the vehicle and the door should last longer than five years. Add to that, the window switch on the same door has failed. The service department manager, in a moment of candour, admitted that they often have to replace the window switched because they fail prematurely and whilst less common, the wiring is also a job they do on a regular basis. Add to that, one of the injector seals has failed (probably a 0.10p part) and the vehicle is pumping diesel out at a reasonable rate, rather than consuming it; therefore, that is another issue to deal with.

Price quoted to fix the wiring... £981.00... price to replace the 0.10p seal... £270.00

As JBK said, the experience will alter my buying preference moving forward.

However, I'm not sure many of them are much better because with the 'buy-on-line' model the manufacturers are moving towards, dealers seem to be relying more and more on servicing for their turnover and profit.

Or if you run an AMG you just keep the order of the figures and put a decimal point to the right.....