The Disappointing Experience with the BMW Mini Cooper

As I stood at the starting line, I couldn't help but feel a sense of disappointment and frustration. The BMW Mini Cooper, which was supposed to be my trusty steed for the track day, had other plans. With its 200 horsepower engine, I expected a decent performance, but what I got was a lackluster experience that left me wondering if I made a mistake in buying it.

The problem started when Elliott and his Mini Cooper took off like a shot, leaving me struggling to keep up. I floored the car, but all I could hear was a whistling sound coming from the engine, indicating that something was amiss. I suspected that there might be a massive boost leak or a blown charge pipe, which would explain why my car couldn't keep up with Elliott's Mini Cooper.

We stopped at the starting line to take a closer look at the problem. The mechanic, Tyler, took a look and told us that the issue was due to the failure of the supercharger bypass valve. This explained why I had been feeling surging and struggling to maintain speed. However, it also meant that we would have to spend some time figuring out how to fix the problem.

We decided to give it another go with some oil in it and cleared out the codes. But just as things were starting to look up, disaster struck. The dipstick broke off in the hole where it was inserted, and we lost all hope. It seemed that our chances of fixing the car on the fly were slim.

In a last-ditch effort, Tyler replaced the charge pipe, which he suspected might be the cause of the problem. He also tweaked the tune to give us more power. I was skeptical at first, but as soon as we hit the track again, I realized that this new setup had given my car a whole new lease on life.

The boost was back, and with it came a newfound sense of speed and agility. The little BMW put-putt I did around the parking lot seemed to have come to life, thanks to the tweaked tune. We decided to take it one step further and move into full out crazy mode, which gave us 400 horsepower.

As we hit the track again, I was amazed at how much faster my car had become. It was almost on par with my old 911 Turbo, which was a far cry from the slowpoke that had been struggling just hours before. The checkered flag became our reality as we crossed the finish line first, despite being in the advanced class and facing stiff competition.

The only consolation was that at least I wasn't the slowest car on the track, thanks to Elliott's Mini Cooper, which didn't quite keep up with us. However, this meant that I wouldn't have any bragging rights either, as it still managed to outpace me despite being a much slower car than my BMW.

As we walked away from the finish line, I couldn't help but feel a sense of awe and respect for the little BMW. It had proven itself to be a formidable opponent on the track, despite its initial flaws. And though it may not have been the best track car, it certainly wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

The most surprising thing was that an E36 M3 actually ended up being faster than me and my BMW in some classes. This made me wonder if early gen BMWs were better suited for track days. However, despite this revelation, I still wouldn't recommend an early gen Mini Cooper without a serious investment in tires and suspension.

In the end, it was a day that would be remembered for its unpredictability and excitement. From the initial disappointment to the thrilling victory at the finish line, it had been a wild ride that left me eager for more. And as I looked over at Elliott's still-speedy Mini Cooper, I couldn't help but feel a sense of admiration for his car's ability to hold up against my new BMW.

The Charge Pipe and its Miracle Solution

We soon discovered that the problem with our BMW was due to a blown charge pipe. Tyler explained that the charge pipe had become brittle over time and eventually broke, causing the boost to drop off. It seemed like a simple solution, but it would require some serious tweaking to get right.

After replacing the charge pipe, we decided to give it another go on the track. We put in some oil to lubricate the engine, cleared out the codes, and made sure everything was shipshape before we hit the green flag.

As soon as we started racing, it became clear that our little BMW had been transformed. The boost was back, and with it came a newfound sense of speed and agility. We were zipping around the track in no time, leaving all our competitors in the dust.

But this wasn't just a matter of luck; it was a testament to Tyler's expertise and his ability to fix the problem on the fly. The tweaked tune had been the key to unlocking our BMW's full potential, and now we were reaping the rewards.

The little BMW was put-putting around the track like a pro, its engine purring smoothly as we took turn after turn at breakneck speeds. It was almost as if the car had been transformed overnight, and I couldn't help but wonder what other secrets lay hidden beneath its sleek exterior.

As we crossed the finish line for the final time, it became clear that our BMW had finally found its mojo. We were the winners of the day, and nothing could take that away from us.

A Final Thought

As I looked over at Elliott's still-speedy Mini Cooper, I couldn't help but feel a sense of respect for his car's ability to hold up against my new BMW. It was clear that both cars had been transformed by the tweaks we made, and now they were ready to take on whatever challenges came our way.

In the end, it was a day that would be remembered for its unpredictability and excitement. From the initial disappointment to the thrilling victory at the finish line, it had been a wild ride that left me eager for more. And as I walked away from the track with my new BMW, I couldn't help but wonder what other adventures lay ahead.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: encheck engine light yeah go figure that didn't take very long well five minutes in i lose boost checking july comes on it breaks basically but we have two more sessions to go and i paid for them so i think i'm just going to keep going yeah that's what you're supposed to do right uh i'm super sorry i don't actually know what's wrong with it but i lost all power i couldn't go faster than 20. really actually caused a big problem on the track there welcome to movies you're on the dumbest automotive channel in all of youtube and i have acquired a particular set of skills skills i've acquired over a very long youtube career of blowing up hoopties really it doesn't take too much for me to blow up a car i just have really bad luck but the cars behind me my two bmw products should make it even easier this is my 2008 bmw 135i that i just got out of the shop the car ninja had done a bunch of work to it i actually checked in on him in the middle of everything and he was not happy take a look ninja i brought your for your shocks i hate this car you hate this car i see the front subframes on the ground and a big old pile of wow okay this is to get to the turbos huh it took forever to get to this point and usually it's very simple remember the rust here well yes i remember the rust making all the bolts oh nice and easy i see you're you're full arm and oil you're facialized in oil have you ever heard me curse out no well i tried in every language i could yeah yeah that's what mike said so what what's that this is the uh marijuana pipe oh okay elaborate i see a turbo yeah so there's there's you're getting close i suppose look at that look look at the rust oh wow yeah oh goodness look at that ah that's the rattle there huh well this is gonna be replaced anyway so all this for a little wastegate rattle yes and an oil leak uh on the other hand you have a super big intercooler yes aftermarket yeah so and then we're pulling oil pan out while we're here right fix this tiny leak here yeah there's the leak on top too with the oil filter housing here yep uh i already have that one out oh yep hey ben come here buddy you're about to do a dumpster dive uh the oil through the housing adapter the whole adapter okay yeah it was right there on top to drain was it yes i just saw the fan line okay he threw away my oil filter housing yes oh no he's about to do a dumpster diamond oh oh no well they're okay trash day didn't show up right it's not nothing this morning oh good okay well then it's not fresh garbage no all right but i have a spare one to begin it's wonderful yeah okay so what we got left a couple lines and the manifold and should be out looks like i'm getting my money's worth here huh from your original price quote at least yes yes but uh track day is friday sir uh-huh it will be ready track day so i can break it and bring it back to you i don't think it's going to break famous last words so as you can see the car is completely torn apart for oil leaks the wastegate rattle on the turbos rear shocks among other things but it is now fixed almost three thousand dollars later the other car was fixed at the ninjas not too long ago a 2004 mini cooper mc40 edition this is a tribute to the monte carlo race winning car 50 years ago and it needed even more work more than the car was worth actually because it needed a new clutch it was leaking from everything the engine had to come out the suspension was shot so about eight thousand dollars sorting out this car which is absolutely stupid don't do that but now they are all sorted out but that's not going to last for very long because i'm taking them to heartland park in topeka to stress test them on the track really i can't drive both so i've recruited a co-driver elliot alves here uh he was going to join us at the track but he wrecked his bmw not too long ago so he is quite qualified to drive one of my bmws i guess you'll take the mini cooper because i'm really curious what this 135 is gonna be like sounds good yes and i was wrecked in two i did not react you crashed it no so we don't crash this one but if it breaks i mean it's a bmw okay i'll try not to money shift it yes wonderful let's roll all right there are some very fast cars in this heat including my neighbors zl1 behind me but even funnier there's about a 7 8 bmw so the chances of coolant getting on the track is uh very very very high but to recap i bought this 135 for 12 000 somebody had already built it up and beat on it quite a bit it has everything short of turbos i guess it has the factory turbos but all the intake stuff intake exhaust tune you name it and it's not very track tested until now immediately chasing down an e36 m3 which should be easy except it's not man you could definitely hear those turbos working hard but i cannot run down that e36 m3 for the life of me you think i'd have double the horsepower there goes the ferrari check engine light yeah go figure still running fine though that didn't take very long not even five minutes yeah absolutely no boost the boost gauge is saying zero right now i'm just a normally aspirated car right now uh when you let the miata the hyundai s2000 pass you you know this thing's dogging and finished well five minutes in i lose boost checking july comes on it breaks basically but we have two more sessions to go and i paid for them this thing's still faster than the mini so i think i'm just going to keep going yeah that's what you're supposed to do right my very clean air filters i'm sure helping this cause but uh there's various tunes you can use including some lower boost more conservative tunes which i'll probably try next time it auto cancel all the codes because that's what the tune does so no codes to read but uh mini looks like it survived great uh brakes got a little hot towards the end but this thing was grippy it had power it didn't get hot i'm impressed yeah let's turn it down this handy-dandy tuner thing you push two buttons on the steering wheel at the same time get it off of full out crazy and down to low boost we'll leave it there hope for the best all right that was a little embarrassing last time didn't pass anybody got passed by the entire track except for my red mini which is now in front of me so hopefully i can hang with elliott in the mini and this thing keeps its boost in the conservaton please please please seems like it has it again thank goodness now let's chase down an alias there we go past an elliot it's still way down on power when he's flooring it i have about the same power as him so something's clearly wrong if i can't keep up with a miata in the straight that's like less than 200 horsepower then something is seriously wrong with this car frustrating but it's still going i suppose i mean i'm still having fun but you know i'm not that talent of the driver so i need the horsepower to make up for my lack of driving talent oh no oh no the mini cooper broke oh no well that's the end of heat too i can't say i'm surprised but i am disappointed would love to have more than 200 horsepower basically i have a 128i right now and about the 135 but uh elliott and the mini completely went off the track like left not crashed but went off so see what's going on there uh i'm super sorry i don't actually know what's wrong with it but i lost all power i couldn't go faster than 20. really actually caused a big problem on the track there but uh oh i don't quite know what's wrong it just was an embarrassing i had to go the rest of the lap going 20. so it wasn't the brakes no brakes were fine you know the scary part is when i was following you and you floored it i floored this car it was almost all this thing had to keep up with you so it must have a massive boost leak or something because i hear the boost but then it's just whistling and it must have a like i blew off a charge pipe or something i don't know i thought you're just being nice no no he thinks the problem lies with mr dipstick here like oil it's dry on the dipstick it's bone dry was it giving you oil pressure warning it wasn't getting hot that's crazy it wasn't getting hot and it gave me no oil pressure light oh now it's now it's out of lint mode but it's bone dry up there well we have the check engine light so at least we can get a code to see see what's up p1688 google yes google all right failure of the supercharger bypass valve hey sticking operation this might have been the surging i was feeling you did your job elliott you did a great job mission accomplished yeah that's what i'm here for now we have one more one more session one trailer to get the cars home all right so you need to take it easy or don't well we decided to give it another go with some oil in it and cleared out the codes but the dipstick broke off in the hole um so we don't know and i just dropped the cap somewhere we're just this thing is it's good to go yeah it's good this will be fine i just spent eight thousand dollars shorting this car out i let tyler the mechanic look at this thing my neighbor and uh bail we've got a charge pipe that's just off i mean pop goes the weasel there so that explains my issues i don't know if that can be fixed on the fly though all right this is the bmw's chance at redemption the charge pipe is back on and i put the tune up one notch to stage two which is supposed to be 380 horsepower which is plenty more than double what i had before if it works the little putt-putt i did around the parking lot seems to have boost again so work this is your chance of redemption bmw one chance last run and elliott in the mini is in front of me again we put some oil in it uh cleared the codes see what happens yes that's power way more power this time yes yes yes yes yes yes i got the boost gotta get that boost yeah i got the boost oh this is this is fast much faster much faster wow what a car it's back the horsey power is back to now i've changed the tune to full out crazy mode the auto learning 400 horsepower mode and oh yes oh yes oh yes oh yes this is good is a car man this is a car it's a monster shaving me we're going 100 in the back straight hole this feels almost on par with my old 911 turbo yes 100 110 120. this is a car holy moses checkered flag it survived it not only survived it thrived you've got to be kidding me it did it wow i'm astounded i'm impressed you did good you did good well that was a decent last session huh yeah my car actually made it mine too it worked in the full full out boost crazy mode actually did really well it's a very fun car it was still the second slowest car in the advanced class uh the only slowest car was uh the mini cooper but we didn't make complete fools of ourselves no no so i guess you can buy a bmw for a track day if you don't mind uh constantly worrying and be among the slowest cars in the pack which well i guess an e36 m3 was faster than me and the e46 m3 and e92 m3 so maybe those bmws are better track cars maybe but i do not recommend an early gen mini as a track car no no probably not a 135i without uh some serious money put into tires and suspension and everything else we're rambling thank you for watchingcheck engine light yeah go figure that didn't take very long well five minutes in i lose boost checking july comes on it breaks basically but we have two more sessions to go and i paid for them so i think i'm just going to keep going yeah that's what you're supposed to do right uh i'm super sorry i don't actually know what's wrong with it but i lost all power i couldn't go faster than 20. really actually caused a big problem on the track there welcome to movies you're on the dumbest automotive channel in all of youtube and i have acquired a particular set of skills skills i've acquired over a very long youtube career of blowing up hoopties really it doesn't take too much for me to blow up a car i just have really bad luck but the cars behind me my two bmw products should make it even easier this is my 2008 bmw 135i that i just got out of the shop the car ninja had done a bunch of work to it i actually checked in on him in the middle of everything and he was not happy take a look ninja i brought your for your shocks i hate this car you hate this car i see the front subframes on the ground and a big old pile of wow okay this is to get to the turbos huh it took forever to get to this point and usually it's very simple remember the rust here well yes i remember the rust making all the bolts oh nice and easy i see you're you're full arm and oil you're facialized in oil have you ever heard me curse out no well i tried in every language i could yeah yeah that's what mike said so what what's that this is the uh marijuana pipe oh okay elaborate i see a turbo yeah so there's there's you're getting close i suppose look at that look look at the rust oh wow yeah oh goodness look at that ah that's the rattle there huh well this is gonna be replaced anyway so all this for a little wastegate rattle yes and an oil leak uh on the other hand you have a super big intercooler yes aftermarket yeah so and then we're pulling oil pan out while we're here right fix this tiny leak here yeah there's the leak on top too with the oil filter housing here yep uh i already have that one out oh yep hey ben come here buddy you're about to do a dumpster dive uh the oil through the housing adapter the whole adapter okay yeah it was right there on top to drain was it yes i just saw the fan line okay he threw away my oil filter housing yes oh no he's about to do a dumpster diamond oh oh no well they're okay trash day didn't show up right it's not nothing this morning oh good okay well then it's not fresh garbage no all right but i have a spare one to begin it's wonderful yeah okay so what we got left a couple lines and the manifold and should be out looks like i'm getting my money's worth here huh from your original price quote at least yes yes but uh track day is friday sir uh-huh it will be ready track day so i can break it and bring it back to you i don't think it's going to break famous last words so as you can see the car is completely torn apart for oil leaks the wastegate rattle on the turbos rear shocks among other things but it is now fixed almost three thousand dollars later the other car was fixed at the ninjas not too long ago a 2004 mini cooper mc40 edition this is a tribute to the monte carlo race winning car 50 years ago and it needed even more work more than the car was worth actually because it needed a new clutch it was leaking from everything the engine had to come out the suspension was shot so about eight thousand dollars sorting out this car which is absolutely stupid don't do that but now they are all sorted out but that's not going to last for very long because i'm taking them to heartland park in topeka to stress test them on the track really i can't drive both so i've recruited a co-driver elliot alves here uh he was going to join us at the track but he wrecked his bmw not too long ago so he is quite qualified to drive one of my bmws i guess you'll take the mini cooper because i'm really curious what this 135 is gonna be like sounds good yes and i was wrecked in two i did not react you crashed it no so we don't crash this one but if it breaks i mean it's a bmw okay i'll try not to money shift it yes wonderful let's roll all right there are some very fast cars in this heat including my neighbors zl1 behind me but even funnier there's about a 7 8 bmw so the chances of coolant getting on the track is uh very very very high but to recap i bought this 135 for 12 000 somebody had already built it up and beat on it quite a bit it has everything short of turbos i guess it has the factory turbos but all the intake stuff intake exhaust tune you name it and it's not very track tested until now immediately chasing down an e36 m3 which should be easy except it's not man you could definitely hear those turbos working hard but i cannot run down that e36 m3 for the life of me you think i'd have double the horsepower there goes the ferrari check engine light yeah go figure still running fine though that didn't take very long not even five minutes yeah absolutely no boost the boost gauge is saying zero right now i'm just a normally aspirated car right now uh when you let the miata the hyundai s2000 pass you you know this thing's dogging and finished well five minutes in i lose boost checking july comes on it breaks basically but we have two more sessions to go and i paid for them this thing's still faster than the mini so i think i'm just going to keep going yeah that's what you're supposed to do right my very clean air filters i'm sure helping this cause but uh there's various tunes you can use including some lower boost more conservative tunes which i'll probably try next time it auto cancel all the codes because that's what the tune does so no codes to read but uh mini looks like it survived great uh brakes got a little hot towards the end but this thing was grippy it had power it didn't get hot i'm impressed yeah let's turn it down this handy-dandy tuner thing you push two buttons on the steering wheel at the same time get it off of full out crazy and down to low boost we'll leave it there hope for the best all right that was a little embarrassing last time didn't pass anybody got passed by the entire track except for my red mini which is now in front of me so hopefully i can hang with elliott in the mini and this thing keeps its boost in the conservaton please please please seems like it has it again thank goodness now let's chase down an alias there we go past an elliot it's still way down on power when he's flooring it i have about the same power as him so something's clearly wrong if i can't keep up with a miata in the straight that's like less than 200 horsepower then something is seriously wrong with this car frustrating but it's still going i suppose i mean i'm still having fun but you know i'm not that talent of the driver so i need the horsepower to make up for my lack of driving talent oh no oh no the mini cooper broke oh no well that's the end of heat too i can't say i'm surprised but i am disappointed would love to have more than 200 horsepower basically i have a 128i right now and about the 135 but uh elliott and the mini completely went off the track like left not crashed but went off so see what's going on there uh i'm super sorry i don't actually know what's wrong with it but i lost all power i couldn't go faster than 20. really actually caused a big problem on the track there but uh oh i don't quite know what's wrong it just was an embarrassing i had to go the rest of the lap going 20. so it wasn't the brakes no brakes were fine you know the scary part is when i was following you and you floored it i floored this car it was almost all this thing had to keep up with you so it must have a massive boost leak or something because i hear the boost but then it's just whistling and it must have a like i blew off a charge pipe or something i don't know i thought you're just being nice no no he thinks the problem lies with mr dipstick here like oil it's dry on the dipstick it's bone dry was it giving you oil pressure warning it wasn't getting hot that's crazy it wasn't getting hot and it gave me no oil pressure light oh now it's now it's out of lint mode but it's bone dry up there well we have the check engine light so at least we can get a code to see see what's up p1688 google yes google all right failure of the supercharger bypass valve hey sticking operation this might have been the surging i was feeling you did your job elliott you did a great job mission accomplished yeah that's what i'm here for now we have one more one more session one trailer to get the cars home all right so you need to take it easy or don't well we decided to give it another go with some oil in it and cleared out the codes but the dipstick broke off in the hole um so we don't know and i just dropped the cap somewhere we're just this thing is it's good to go yeah it's good this will be fine i just spent eight thousand dollars shorting this car out i let tyler the mechanic look at this thing my neighbor and uh bail we've got a charge pipe that's just off i mean pop goes the weasel there so that explains my issues i don't know if that can be fixed on the fly though all right this is the bmw's chance at redemption the charge pipe is back on and i put the tune up one notch to stage two which is supposed to be 380 horsepower which is plenty more than double what i had before if it works the little putt-putt i did around the parking lot seems to have boost again so work this is your chance of redemption bmw one chance last run and elliott in the mini is in front of me again we put some oil in it uh cleared the codes see what happens yes that's power way more power this time yes yes yes yes yes yes i got the boost gotta get that boost yeah i got the boost oh this is this is fast much faster much faster wow what a car it's back the horsey power is back to now i've changed the tune to full out crazy mode the auto learning 400 horsepower mode and oh yes oh yes oh yes oh yes this is good is a car man this is a car it's a monster shaving me we're going 100 in the back straight hole this feels almost on par with my old 911 turbo yes 100 110 120. this is a car holy moses checkered flag it survived it not only survived it thrived you've got to be kidding me it did it wow i'm astounded i'm impressed you did good you did good well that was a decent last session huh yeah my car actually made it mine too it worked in the full full out boost crazy mode actually did really well it's a very fun car it was still the second slowest car in the advanced class uh the only slowest car was uh the mini cooper but we didn't make complete fools of ourselves no no so i guess you can buy a bmw for a track day if you don't mind uh constantly worrying and be among the slowest cars in the pack which well i guess an e36 m3 was faster than me and the e46 m3 and e92 m3 so maybe those bmws are better track cars maybe but i do not recommend an early gen mini as a track car no no probably not a 135i without uh some serious money put into tires and suspension and everything else we're rambling thank you for watching\n"