2006 MINI Cooper S: jerking or lurching

Filed Jun 26, 2015 · 55,000 miles · CA

I own a 2006 mini cooper s, which I purchased new in october 2006. About a year ago, I noticed that after slowing by stepping off / releasing the gas pedal, the car would jerk forward - at the time, I did not think it was serious because it happened a few time and it was not enough to cause an accident. After last mini service in march 2015 - lately, I noticed that in stop & go traffic, sometimes after braking or slowing, the car has a hard time getting up to speed - sometimes gradually stepping on gas pedal as usual to start off again, I hear the engine rev up pretty loud so I let up on the gas pedal, and then try to step on gradually again - sometimes, it would take a while for the car to get up to speed. Also, lately, after I brake and switch from drive to reverse to back into the driveway, the car jerks back when I am not stepping on the gas pedal at all. I told the mini dealer about this last week when the car was towed to the dealership because it would not start - the dealer found that the car did not start due to faulty circuitry in a fuse box, which was replaced with a new fuse box. The dealer said that what I described sounded like a transmission problem, and after the new fuse box was put in, the dealer took the car on a test drive to see if anything else was wrong. The dealers diagnosis was to replace the transmission at a cost of $9,000. My car has around 55,000 miles and has been maintained well. It is unreasonable for the transmission to require replacement at such low mileage and in such a short period of time - the car was barely used in the first year - it was driven mostly within the last 7-8 years. As a result of this incident, I have been made aware that many mini cooper owners have encountered this transmission issue, which has the potential to result in collisions since the car will not accelerate as expected.

Filed Feb 6, 2015 · Transmission · 99,000 miles · AZ

Vehicle has had several issues. Latest is transmission which shifts erratically from 2nd gear to 3rd gear causing the vehicle's tachometer to race from 2,000 RPM to nearly 8,000 RPM within a second or two. The vehicle then accelerates/jerks forward erratically. The dealer says this is a transmission issue that would cost $10,500 to repair/replace. There are hundreds if not thousands of complaints about mini cooper s transmissions yet the dealer/manufacturer is unwilling to address the issue.

Filed May 27, 2014 · Transmission · 94,500 miles · NC

I am current owner of a 2006 mini cooper s. I purchased the car new around april 2006. Over last 2 months, I have started to see a problem with power train. The car jerks horribly while trying to accelerate when it tries to change to higher gears. This happens either in the "drive" mode where the car automatically changes the gears or while driving in "m/s" mode where the driver gets the option to change the gear. Over last 1-2 weeks, the vehicle jerks when I switch from park to reverse. I took the car to mini cooper dealership and their diagnosis was to replace the transmission at a cost of $8500. My car has around 96,500 miles and has been maintained well. When I talked to the dealership, they indicated that they have seen about 2 to 3 cars having problem (just within that dealership) in recent times (the person I talked to was relatively new). It is unreasonable for transmission to require a replacement at such low mileage. In addition, it looks like this seems like a systemic issue given just one dealer has seen a few of these and a quick search indicates a number of other owners of mini cooper s encountering this issue over last 12 to 18 months (translates to transmission systematically breaking after about 7 to 8 years of operation). The problem has the potential to result in collisions since the car will not accelerate as expected.

Filed Nov 15, 2012 · Engine, Transmission · 93,000 miles · CA

Driving on the freeway when I felt the car jerk forward and then it felt as if the automatic transmission was slipping in and out of gears. Managed to pull off the freeway and drive to the local mini dealership, which was luckily about a mile down the road. Was told by dealership the problem was transmission failure and was quoted $9,000 repair cost. When I asked the mechanic why the transmission had failed this early, told me they had no idea. However, when I asked another employee how many other cars had they seen with transmission problems, he reluctantly admitted "quite a few".

Filed Jan 30, 2006 · Acceleration, Electrical · 180 miles · FL · crash

Dt*: the contact owns a 2006 mini cooper model s. Three days after purchase at 130 miles the vehicle stalled and operated at a reduced speed while attempting to accelerate. Although the vehicle did not stall out completely, the vehicle was towed to the dealer. The dealer reprogrammed the computer software. Afterwards, the contact was pulling into a parking space with brake pressure applied, the engine roared and the vehicle lurched forward and struck a tree. The police were on the scene and a report was taken. The vehicle sustained minor damage, but no injuries were sustained. The vehicle was towed to a dealer. The dealer performed a diagnostic test and was unable to duplicate the problem. The service department suggested replacing the engine. *ak updated 3/3/2006 -