2002 MINI COOPER User Comment / Complaint

We purchased our 2002 mini on 10/10/06, w/55,059 miles on it. 9 days later the clutch went out, not covered by extended warranty that we purchased. we towed it back to mini san francisco service dept who insisted that we wore out the clutch and it was our problem, wear and tear, etc. ? after 9 days! unbelievable! they offered to pay half, but we felt this was completely unfair. we then had to battle with the service dept and they eventually called mini usa who agreed to pay the other half to replace the clutch. a few months later our mini was due for scheduled maintenance (inspection 2, $390), which we had don on 2/6/07, with no notable problems. then on 9/14/07, at 67,829 miles, the clutch went out again! twice in under one year! we have driven manual transmission vehicles for over 15 years and never had to replace a clutch, let alone twice in one year! of course it is not covered by warranty and the dealership is insisting that it is our fault that we burnt out the clutch, which is absurd. we would have to grind the gears every time we shift in order to burn out a brand new clutch within one year. mini usa is taking the word of the service manager and will not help us. we are not sure if this is related to the recall (manual transmission:floor shift assembly), however, the dealership/service dept denies that such a recall exists. when searching google we found many others having the same or very similar complaints of clutches going out in unusually short periods of driving time. each time the dealership blames the driver and denies that this is a common problem with this vehicle. our mini is sitting at the dealership right now as we research and try to figure out how to resolve this situation fairly. at this point, we just want to get it repaired and sell it. although, i feel bad selling this car to anyone, since it clearly has mechanical defects.