MINI Cooper S jerking problems

Filed Sep 30, 2026 · Acceleration · NJ

Two things I noticed. 1. Going from a complete stop such as when waiting at a red light or stop sign, and then pressing the accelerator intermittently causes the vehicle to not respond. I see the power gauge max out but the car does not move and worse if on a hill will roll backwards before lurching forward. 2. When on the highway going 40-50 mph, I want to change lanes or pass someone, I press the accelerator and the car slows down/disengages before lurching forward. This makes tighter timing impossible and puts my safety at risk if I begin the lane change not anticipating the drop in speed/power from the car. I have taken the car to the service dept at Mini several times for this issue as it has been occuring since I purchased the vehicle. I was told no error codes were found.

Filed Sep 18, 2024 · Brakes, Driver assistance · MS

While driving in the rain, the ABS engages, slowing the front right tire dramatically causing the car to skid and lurch to the right. After some internet research, it appears that this is not an isolated incident. Mini Cooper owners also discovered that when driving in dry conditions and the windshield wiper is turned on, the front right tire slows, causing the car to skid and lurch to the right. European Automotive verified that this was the case on my vehicle. This started without any warning and was terrifying. I told both the local mechanic and the dealer that I would not drive the car until it was repaired. There were no warning lights. The local mechanic and the dealer were unable to find any fault codes. The dealer is 3 hours away. Before we knew what the problem was, I towed the car to the dealership and they were unable to replicate the problem. All test drives were done in dry conditions. They replaced the cruise control sensor and the steering wheel and then delivered the car to me saying it was repaired. While driving the car back from out of town, it began to rain, when the windshield wipers came on, the front tire slowed dramatically, lurching the car to the right. This is a terrifying experience, especially in the rain. It seems this is not an isolated incident and may have already caused serious accidents. The car is less than 50,000 miles old and has been used for work only. I have not driven the car out of fear of an accident and have parked it in my driveway waiting for some type of resolution with the dealer.

Filed Oct 28, 2018 · Engine, Steering · 52,000 miles · NY

Vehicle jerks/hestiates at low speed around 10mph. Jerks during stop and go in traffic. Be to a handful of auto shops and no solution.

Filed Feb 13, 2016 · Transmission · 48,000 miles · CA

Transmission previously replaced at 48k miles by manufacturer due to noise. My transmission is broken. My tires chirp every time I push on the gas because the transmission does not know what gear to be in due to the bad body control valve. The transmission needs to be replaced because I cannot verify how much mechanical damage has taken place during the time that the valve body has been broken. Once the valve body breaks down, the mechanical unit also begins to break down. Mini needs to issue a service bulletin telling the dealers to commence servicing the aisin transmissions every 40k by replacing the fluid. Bmw/mini's transmission fluid is not lifetime. Volkswagen issued a similar bulletin a few years ago because it also uses the aisin transmission. The independent repair shops may not replace the fluid right because the transmission fluid is hard to drain and in many cases if it's not done right, great damage is done the engine. The consumer stated the vehicle was under powered upon acceleration. The vehicle would jerk, and buck. The valve body in the transmission began to break down because the shavings from the transmission gears began to cloud the fluid and inhibit communication from the valve body solenoids to the mechanical components. Updated 03/23/16.

Filed Oct 23, 2015 · Engine · 44,000 miles · CA

Tl* the contact owns a 2009 mini cooper s. The contact stated that while driving at approximately 40 MPH, the vehicle failed to accelerate when the accelerator pedal was depressed and began to jerk. In addition, a loud knocking sound was heard from the hood of the vehicle when driven and oils leaks were discovered when parked. The failure occurred constantly. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 44,000.

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 Jan 31, 2015 · Acceleration, Engine · 64,000 miles · PA

When the car accelerating on the first and second gear, there was a small jerking motion. Took it to the shop and they didn't find any problem with the car. One the day of the incident date, 01/08, when I started the car, the car have a loud engine sound, sounds like the car is chocking for air. The engine light is on with the RPM pointer running up and down (gas paddle is untouched). Took it to the dealer and the next day and they found there is oil leaking from the oil feed line to the turbo. $1200 to replace the part. Did some research online and found many mini owner had the same problem.

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 23, 2013 · Steering · AL

I was on my way back to work from lunch in my 2005 mini cooper s and my power steering suddenly and without warning failed in the middle of a curve! I fortunately managed to regain control of the vehicle and limp to the parking lot to pull over. Then, I turned the car off to get out, and discovered my power steering pump was still running even with the car completely off!? I was afraid that this would cause a meltdown or fire, so I quickly called a mini dealer to ask how to shut the pump off. I was told that the battery had to be disconnected! The battery had to remain disconnected while the car was off or the pump would run continuously. I did not feel the car was safe to drive at this point. My power steering was now unpredictably intermittent when the car was running. The power steering would suddenly fail and then suddenly come back on, causing a jerk-and-swerve reaction in the steering wheel for me while driving. So I called mini USA to report the problem, and I towed the vehicle to a mini dealer. The mini dealer diagnosed the problem to be the known power steering failure covered by the extended warranty on the power steering pump and associated pump cooling fan for model years 2002-2005 for up to 13 years/150,000 miles. But mini USA denied coverage despite my car only having approx 70,000 miles, claiming that they stopped coverage after feb 2005 because the newly designed replacement parts were installed after feb 2005. My car was built in may 2005 and was proven by the mini dealer to have the original faulty power steering parts, not the newly designed parts. I am reporting this as a known potentially dangerous safety issue that should instead be a safety recall, rather than this extended warranty that mini USA does not properly advertise or honor, so that all mini owners will get their steering checked before anything bad happens.