Hello everyone, thanks for having me on this forum. I hope to learns a lot here since my mini is reaching that age 10 + yrs and 120,000. + miles. It's starting to need extra TLC. I hope to keep the car as long as I can since it is truly a joy to drive. Thanks again and I look forward to learning a lot here.

 

Welcome to NAM. Liquid yellow was my first choice, but the wait was longer than my patience, so I went with my 2nd choice - Pure Silver.
Once again, welcome.

Kevin

 

Welcome to NAM fellow yellow owner. mellow here!!!!

 

Welcome! You'll find lots of info and help here to keep your MINI healthy and happy

 

Welcome!

 

I just joined NAM yesterday, since I just bought my 2005 Mini Convertible. Today I added the OEM windscreen that snaps in just behind the front seats. It works great. I now have two questions.
1. Does the Mini have to have premium gas ? What is everyone using ?
2. At what mileage do you change the oil and filter ? I spoke to a dealer in Morrisville, NJ and they said every 100,000 miles or once a year. The manual says every 100,000. My local dealer, Mini of Mt.Laurel,N.J. says every 15,000 miles.Any answers to this from all of you who are experienced with this car ?
Motogordo 3/24/12

 

Premium is recommended; MINIs will run on 87 or 89 octane gas but performance will suffer and your mileage will decrease. MINIs are smart enough to retard the spark if you are using lower octane gas so as not to cause pinging and the resultant burnt valves.

Recommended service (oil change) intervals are determined by the countdown thing in the speedometer that should be reset after each oil change. Again, the service indicator starts out at 15500 miles and counts down depending on your driving (it measures the numbers of starts your car has or something like that). This is applicable only if you are using a synthetic oil that has met the BMW LL-01 (long life-01) standard. Not every synthetic oil meets this standard so you have to read the fine print on the back of the bottle. Many around here change their oil every 5 to 7 thousand miles; in that case any synthetic with a low first viscosity (0 or 5) should be good.

Regardless, make sure your oil gets changed at least once a year.

Val

 

Thank you for the response. I normally change the oil in all my cars at 5,000 miles. I wonder if the dealer where I bought the car has set the service indicator. I will check with the MINI dealer monday to check this out. Thanks very much for the help. I also asked this same question of the VW Beetle dealer which also called for premium gas. One of the VW dealers said you don't need it, and it will run on regular unleaded. However, I am going to take your advice and that of the MINI dealer and use premium and change oil every 15,000 or sooner and possibly every 5k.
Gordon

 

Welcome Michael premium gas only, change oil at 7500 and if you have a cvt change fluid every 28,000 miles --

 

Welcome to NAM!
Great color choice too
I hope you have many years of Happy Motoring!

 

March 26, 2012
Thank you for all your help. Is it possible to use ur own pic of the car for an avatar ? The car runs great. Now I have the 2011 Canam Spyder & the 2005 MINI convertible.

Motogordo