My intro: New to this, hope this is how it's done.
 

In my third week of ownership of a new 09 Black JCW Convertible. After much research and many test drives I found this was the best new convertible sports car for the money. Hope I am right. The runner up was a BMW128/135 but that was out of my price range and so was a new Porsche. I live in NYC and my MINI is for weekend trips so it's pretty much in the garage all the time; it was my midlife crisis car for sure. I love the look of the car and the feeling of speed as well as the exhaust sounds. I haven't had a car in 10 years so this is all new to me. The torque pull I read about in all the magazines doesn't bother me much since two of my former cars were a 84 jetta and an 85 Saab Turbo both of which were front wheel drive. The car did cost a pretty penny even though I paid $0 over invoice at .09 percent interest for five years with no money down being it's last year's model. I bought at the corporate owned dealership here in NYC. So far I like the build and details.

One question I have is that the dealer says oil changes are every 15,000 miles and that sounds wrong to me? What happened to every 3000 to 5000 miles? Any opinions on this issue?

The included oil changes are one per year or 15,000 miles which ever comes first. Sounds like you will time out long before you reach 15,000 miles. I change in between the dealer included oil changes so that I am running about 7,500 miles between changes.

Congrats on your new MINI. I really love my MCS convertible - fun cars.

Thanks for the Opinion. That's what I needed to hear. I'll change at 7000 or 1 year which ever comes first. So far it's week three and I don't even have 300 miles yet. I'm hoping to drive to california this summer, but we'll see I might just fly as usual. I'd love to take this car on Ortega Canyon Road in Southern Cali. I'm also already building clubman jcw's and s's on the website. Ideally I'd love to keep the convertible in my carport in Cali and keep the clubman here in NYC. LOVE these cars. The dealership is like a toy store for adults.

Welcome to MINI ownership, yeah having one car in NY and one in CA is a good idea if you can afford it, althoughthe idea of driving the converible to CA is also appealing there is nothing like a cross country trip to break a car in.

Shortly after college, and when I was in the service, I drove cross country several times.

Now the thought of driving a MINI through the Rockies, or Sierra Nevadas, or along 101 in California is EXTREMELY appealling. :nod:

Go for it, make the time.

Congrats on your new MINI.

You're gonna love it!

Thanks everyone, I love this site. One more question....

I'm getting the chrome intake and the strut brace installed this coming Friday. Any comments about these additions?

Sound like this will be a relatively low-mileage car for you.

Keep in mind that MINI recommends annual oil changes regardless of mileage. So if you only have 5k or 10k miles after 1 year, you should still change the oil and it would be covered by the full maintenance plan. :thumbsup:

my plan since 1994 has been
synthetic oil and 5K or 6 months , whichever comes first,
has worked for me.
boxcars

Thanks Boxcar, Seems like it's working for you so I'll take your advice! Thanks again.