Hi Folks,

I just picked up my new MINI Cooper S. It's chili red, black top, with harmon kardon and bluetooth.



One question. Dealer said after 1st 1k miles to use medium gas (89 octane), versus manual says 91 is preferred, but 89 is OK. Are there any +/- to the choice?

 

Don't go cheap on fluids, little brother. Use premium. Never listen to what the dealer says. Find out for yourself.

Welcome to NAM, dude.

(he really is my little brother)

 

Nice color choice, bluefin. Welcome!!

 

Down here we have 87, 89, 93. I ALWAYS use the 93.

BTW - nice car. Also, with the S model be sure to check your oil
on a regular basis, like once a week.

 

Really, why? My JCW never had an issue with oil, and it's more-or-less the same engine. I kept a spare bottle of oil in the boot and in 3+ years I never had to crack it open.

 

I'm the same as you but I've seen alot of posts where owners have gone in for service to find out they are 1-2 qts low. If you run an S hard they can use up to 1 qt per 1000 miles. I've never had that issue but with all the timing chain tensioner issues and all I like to be proactive. I just think it's good practice and doesn't take but a minute. At week once each 2 weeks.

 

I check oil and tires monthly. It's always been enough for any car I owned (unless the outside temp changes 10s of degree overnight), including the STi I have now.

 

That sounds like a good formula. I only stated what I did because I've seen people out here say, "there's 15K miles between oil changes so I shouldn't have to check it".
15K, not in my book, 6K on my changes.