I'm with Tim.

The starter is the next thing to try. Although, I had a starter go bad on an 05 BINI S and there was zero warning, and hitting it with a hammer did nothing. It just stone cold one day didn't work. Fortunately I had another one here at the house already. Stuck it in and worked straight away.

Warning-- disconnect the battery before trying to mess with the starter bolts. That heat shield can zap things pretty danged quickly.

That key function is normal. Could be anti theft problem, starter relay, and a bad ground is are common problems You can use jumper cables as a ground to see if it’s the problem, connect one cable from a clean raw metal point on the engine to the same on the body and or the negative side of the battery. Sometimes a sharp tap on the starter motor will get it cranking one time if it’s a bad starter motor. Stuff to try.

I unhooked the plugs on the steering pump and still would not start or make any noise at all. I had the battery tested and it is good plus tried another battery just in case. Is it normal when you turn the key to run and nothing happens so let the key go back but to try again you need to turn the key to the off position and try again. You are unable to turn it to run position without going back to off.

Try the ps pump as spank suggested.

The symptoms you describe is very similar to a weak battery. Even though you just replaced it, you might try having it load tested just to eliminate this possibility...

Try unplugging the electric power steering pump and see if the car will start. If so, my $ is on a bad power steering pump.

Long story, but I bought a MINI and drove it a few years then resold it. I'd had some interesting "no power steering" issues once or twice while I'd owned it. The guy who bought it from me drove home and when he went to turn the car off, the car would NOT turn off. He could turn off the switch and even remove the key, but the car remained running. So he stuck his key in again and killed the car with the clutch/gear and removed the key but the lights all remained on in the car. So he disconnected the battery and called me. I had it towed to a shop who works on the classics and they tried to figure out what was wrong with it. Finally, Graham the owner of the shop (Heritage Garage) put the car on the rack, started it up and just started unplugging components. When he unplugged the power steering pump, the car shut off.  Seems there was an electrical short in the power steering pump causing it to backfeed power to the entire car.

THAT was a weird one. But if THAT can happen, so can a short-to-ground causing your car NOT to start at all and suck all of the power. That's why I say to unplug the power steering pump and see if it works. The fact that you said you had a weird period of no power steering leads me to believe that it could be a faulty pump doing weird German electrical stuff.


There was a recall I believe on the power steering pumps, but that has probably long gone.

Good luck and hope this helps!

Just got a 06 mini convertible 6 speed, Drove it a couple days before making the 600 mile trip home and everything was good. The day before going to head home got 2 new tires on and on the way back it was hard to turn the steering wheel. We replaced the battery and everything was good again. Got the car back to florida and no issues on the trip.
The next day went and got new wipers on then went to get some gas. At that point it wont do anything. You turn the key all the lights and radio comes on the windows work locks work top goes up and down. When you try to start the car there is nothing makes no noise or anything.
I am hoping someone can give me some tips on where to look to try to get this car up and running again. Thanks in advance for any help.