MINI WILL be taking care of getting my finish fixed. glad that's settled!

kev

 

6700 miles. First oil change (we are going to do it every 5000 miles--you have no idea how gunky it was even after this many miles). No issues with the car thus far--knock on wood! j.

 

Congrats! I'm glad that they covered it.

I'm closing in on 8000 miles and I kind of forgot to get my tires rotated 3000 miles ago so my dad will be rotating them hopefully this weekend. He always rotates the tires himself on his MINI. He does pretty much everything himself on his, thus why it was financially advantageous for me to get a MINI.

I haven't changed the oil yet and that is something that I wonder if I should have done, but my dad stuck to the maintenance schedule with his and he hasn't had any problems so I'm going with it.

Mrs. Jiminni, your Thanksgiving vacation sounds awesome! Have a great time!

 

15000 miles is not a good idea Our mechanic charges $83. for a oil change, well worth it every 5000 miles Like Janet said, " you have no idea how gunky it was even after this many miles " I have a feeling, as these engines get hotter than the 1st gen Minis, they will cook the oil faster?

 

I agree about the hot engine. The water temp runs 215 to 220. That is hot. I changed the oil the first time at 1000 miles, and plan to do it again soon. I am just over 6000. Oil is much cheaper than engine work and my experience with factory reps is that they try pretty hard to blame it on the owner. Anyway, it is pretty easy to do your self. You just need a big socket or wrench to take the filter housing off, and not much oil comes out. It all drains out of the sump plug. All very accessable.

 

My car is definitely adjusting as it goes along. Right now the computer is saying that it will want an oil change at 10,000 miles which could be before New Years b/c of travel and commute. I also have the base Mini so I don't think that my engine will run as hot as y'all's does. I'm consistently getting 34 mpg and I check the oil level periodically. Once I'm out of the covered maintenance period, my dad will change the oil for me. He changes the oil on all of our cars himself. He also changed the brake pads on his MCS himself. It took him 2 tries, but he did it. If my mileage suddenly starts to slip then I'll call my dealership and get it in.

 

The service interval that you are seeing is quite different from mine. Mine has gone to 13000 miles, but, since I am at about 6000, that comes out to the '1 year or 15000 miles' that the literature says, i.e. oil and service in June, or about a year.

 

Probably just oil and maybe windshield wipers after 12 months unless your car's computer says otherwise. I had this experience on the MCa. Took it in after 12 months and all they would do was the oil. 5 months later I was able to take it in for other things (but not oil, they won't do oil more often than 12 months) that the OBC said it needed.

BTW, I hit a thin 5' x 5' piece of wood sheeting or something last night on the way home from work!!! It jumped up right in front of me and WHAM. I didn't have time to react whatsoever! The good news is the car is functionally fine. Cosmetically I have minor scuffs on the front bumper, right headlight, bonnet, roof and passenger door - all mostly minor aside from a couple of deepish scratches on the front of the bonnet. I think I can buff out most of the damage. I was so pissed but now have calmed down. My wife was very comforting and helpful. She is going to contact a friend who owns a body shop to see if they can get most of the sratches out.
Anyone else have such a horror story? I hope not.

-Doug

 

hey all... in addition to fixing the weepy nozzle damage, the rock chip i got in my first week will be fixed too on the hood as well as the dent the dealer put it in last time it was there.

woohoo! and bigger woohoo, 42MPG on the drive down! that's just damn awesome.

have a ClubieS for a loaner, but truthfully, i prefer my Justa. Just feels tighter or something.

 

Hopefully you've had a good time here; the weather's been a little weird lately. The duck tours are fun; they drive them straight into the river, and cruise around for a while before returning to dry land. Should be fun! Hope you'll miss the rain..

I've been home sick since Sunday (possibly the flu), so won't be going to Boston, or shopping on Friday.. My timing is a bit off lol

It's funny; my dealer told me that 15k for an oil change was just fine.. he said that if I wanted to change it earlier, it could possibly help to have a new filter, but the oil was going to be just fine. Yet the next service interval seems to be 11k as reported when the engine is started; I thought it was always 15k? (had the oil changed at 8k for good measure) Does the next service interval change depending on how you drive?

 

Hi, since Janet is asleep I will respond, LOL. We went to NY city, Manhatten, Sunday night and hung out until Monday afternoon. We did the Duck tour on Wedensday, very cool, and we went to Plymouth today, well Thursday. We hope to go to Boston again today, Friday, to do the Freedom tour, but like you said, it may rain, so???? Anyway I will tell Janet you posted. About the oil change, yes I belive it senses your driving style and adjusts accordingly? But I really would not listen to the dealer on this one and change your oil more often, it can only help. I saw her oil at 6700 miles and it was very dirty. But it's up to you.

 

sad to report that the repaint done to my bonnet made it look WORSE than had i just lived with the weepy nozzle damage.

I'm so upset right now.

 

Did they repaint the whole hood? Or just try and touch it up?

 

the entire hood was repainted. badly.

 

oh noooo radio flyer

 

Were did they send it, Earl Scheib?

 

Paint is always tough. I bought chili red panels for the back corners and bumper of my Clubman because I do not like the black. The first set was dark. Minspeed made it good. Too bad they aren't doing it any more.
I agree that it should match on a new car, but there are a lot of variables.
I have another question. Has anyone noticed a reduction in fuel mileage in cold weather? I was getting high 36 to low 37 in 70 degree weather. I just went about 400 miles in 35 degree weather, and it dropped to about 34 even. Similar terrain, driving, and load.

 

Radioflyer, I would take it back and ask for a repaint. I know that it's difficult to match the paint colors but they should either repaint it or trade out your bonnet for another one on a model that's still on the lot, which would hopefully be closer to the true Nightfire Red color.

Windfall, my mileage has dropped about 4 mpg as well. I also switched from Premium to Regular, 87 octane here in Texas, so I have wondered if that was part of it, but I think that it's just the cold. I'm glad that mine is in a garage so that it doesn't have to start with an even lower engine temperature.

We had snow the other morning! I officially dislike driving to work in the snow. We rarely get snow before January or February. So naturally, everyone forgot how to drive.

 

for the most part, the color is okay. it's the clear coat that is all messed up. but AWESOME IDEA on asking to change out the bonnet from another one. wonder if they would do that???

 

It couldn't hurt to ask. The worst that could happen is that they say no. To my way of thinking, it is the least they could do after they failed to correct the problem twice and have forced you to spend time trying to correct the problem. When you buy something from the factory, that technically has never been driven, you should be able to expect it to be fairly perfect, right?

 

Hey everybody! I hope everybody is having a good holiday season - although I'm sorry to hear about your clearcoat problems, RadioFlyer.

This morning on the way in to work I hit 10k miles. (I'm averaging a smidge over 52 miles a day.) Cripes! That's at least 100k smiles! Still loving the heck out of this car. It. Is. So. Fun. To. Drive.

Only real problems I'm having are little buzzes and rattles. The one I'm chasing now is the plastic dress piece around the front sunroof. It seems like I need to pad it or tape it down or something. Bzzzzzzzzzzz.... :|

 

Congrats, Brad! I'm at 9300. So, I'm now confused. Does the car tell you when you first start it how many miles until you need an oil change or is it telling you at which mile marker you need to change it?

 

Hi Lacy--Mine says 10,000 when I first start it and I would assume that would be the first oil change. We had a great time in NY and Boston. Just missed the fall colors, but it was beautiful all the same. Thankfully, no creaks, rattles or buzzes in my car yet. Still feels tight and running great! j.

 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all in MINI Land

 

Merry Christmas to Y'all!!!