Design Critique: Products For People

The longitudinal review of Tim's 2009 MINI Cooper is here! A car so unreliable that he had to get rid of it after only 2.5 years. Automotive human factors engineer Ken Mayer (cohost from our earlier Saturn SC2 car critique) returns to help Tim on this very detailed critique of the second generation MINI Cooper, a stunning mix of greatness and disaster (the car, we mean, not this critique). If you love cars, you'll love this episode. We put the long in longitudinal product reviews!Basically, the second generation (post-2006) MINI Cooper is a frustrating mix of unreliable components assembled unreliably. MINI refused for over a month to send Tim's dealer a new piston and rod when those went bad at only 31K miles. The flaky electronics are infested with more gremlins than, uh...that movie named "Gremlins". An addictively fun car such as the MINI almost makes you forgive its shoddy quality...almost but not quite. Tim broke his addiction and is now in MINI detox. Please pray for his recovery.But there's still a lo