Greetings MC folks... just picked-up the new Mini-Cooper on Friday. What a blast to drive. Questions for anyone who might know, or anyone who might not know but wants to answer anyway...,,,

I have the rear fog lamp on my 2006 Mini Cooper and it is red. The body color is hyper blue and I must say it is even more attractive than I expected. Was expecting a slightly lighter more aqua shade and instead it is very much royal blue, just like the Kansas City Royals blue. Lets hope it performs better than the Royals! But seriously, the 2006 Mini has solid red lenses on the tail lights unlike earlier years, and as much as the yellow turn indicators on the front fenders contrast nicely with the blue color of the car, I am thinking a yellow fog light would look exceptionally cool on the rear as well. Any suggestions on where I might find such a thing? Also any comments on legal matters related to changing the color from red to amber?

Next question... Baron Mini provides free maintenance for the first 36,000 miles including oil changes. The owners manual describes how for the first 1200 miles the car is supposed to be driven very conservatively to break it in. That is consistent with how you treat any new car. Thing is, the Mini service guide recommends the first oil change at 10,000 miles where as I would normally do that at 800 miles on a brand new car. I have not asked what the additional cost would be to do that at the dealer yet, any comments? Maybe it would be a waste of money, but with so few Minis out there with over 100k miles would be difficult for the dealer to make any informed comment on the issue. What are the opinions of the forum?

Incidentally, it is a base Mini Cooper with the John Cooper Works exhaust/sound package. Lots of interior upgrades but very minimalist exterior, no chrome no flags or rally lights. Just looks oh so cool without too much stuff added to it(!)

No offense to those who dress theirs up, but some of the ones I have seen, especially the Cooper-S with loads of exterior stuff added to it, look kind of like a Shriner go-cart in a parade...lol... Myself, I much prefer the traditional Brisith sports car look. What about you?

 

Definitely illegal to have an amber rear fog light - remember, they're supposed to be bright so people can see you. Would you get stopped? Who knows?

It's a tossup on the oil change. Some insist on early changes, some say the factory knows what it's talking about. I'm an early changer, but I do the work myself. Dealer cost runs $60-100 depending where you live.

Welcome to MINI.

 

oil changing can never be done soon enough. oil changing is inexpensive. oil changing at 10k after grinding shards.... eh. sux.

 

Oil change is inexpensive and easy, DIY and save at least 75 bucks, then do it again as often as you see fit. You're not married to that service odometer.

 

That explains why I got the exterior chrome package including mirrors, and the PIAA 540 driving lights. I'm a Shriner. Valley of Colorado, Orient of Denver, El Jebel.

 

I'm not taking offense, but peek into my gallery and you'll see a full a MINI with full Shriner Parade dress!

Change oil early and often. Order up a dozen filters through roadfly or through one of the tame MINI dealers advertised on NAM. They're only about $6 each. Get a bunch to save on shipping!

Rawhyde

 

As stated that one tends to be a no-no. they ONLY way i could see you having a chance with getting away with it is that the lamp would still have to light up red, and even then you'd probably be pushing your luck. Might want to look into the rear fog mega mod extreme how-to posted, but that reduces the effectiveness of the fog function.


You also bring up a good point about exterior decorations, personally I've got 3 big points when it comes to that: 1 Every MINI owner customizes to their MINI so that its perfect (or darn close to it) in their own eyes, I always keep this first and foremost in my mind. 2 Their are a lot of options out their, I think some people over do it, but I have also seen MINIs very customized and very tasteful so how and what its done with can be just as important as how much or little. 3 I'm not a fan of Cross drilled brake lines, 710 caps,Boost bars or O-pipe (or coffee can) exhausts and the like . so if you mod make it functional and do it right and with class (something money doesn't buy).

And changing oil (when done right) is never a bad thing. DIY is much more cost effective.