Sorry if this question was but I could not find it, so here is my 1st post.

Today I put deposit on Countryman S All4.
I never had any Mini and have no idea how reliable are the and how much cost there maintenance (coming from Honda/Acura world).

I live in Boston and expect to keep car at least 5-6 years. I am making around 18K miles per year.

Here are my 2 questions:
1. Should I buy extended maintenace for $1800 – 6 years 100K miles
2. Should I buy extended warranty for $2200 – 6 years 100K miles

This came up sortof indirectly some days ago when I asked about the engine.

Basically, it's a first generation engine again, so that might make it better idea than if it were a known quantity. I have a first Gen '04. There have been... Problems.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...-question.html

That said, knowing that the deck is stacked in the car manufacturers favor as a general rule, I haven't decided yet, but the spouse is a fan of them, so i suspect we will get it. Even though I suspect we will end up not using it.

I think I am going to go with Geico, you just need to add it before you have 15K and before a year or 15 months. No point adding right away since the car is covered under the warranty

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...n-program.html

Okay, more or less with extended warranty – what about extended maintenance – do I need it?

I have a 2007 and came from the Honda world as well. The maintenance is pricier if you pay out of pocket, so I think it's worth it. I only purchased up to 50K, but I'm also now waiting for a 2011 Countryman. I will recommend to the future owner that they purchase the extended maintenance up to 100K....they have 6K miles to do it....

Sorry folks, I'm not buying it. Extended warranties/maintenance contracts are a scam, plain and simple. Show me the evidence that they aren't.

I would have to agree that extended maintenance is a rip off. Extended Warranty? Maybe Maybe not. You never can tell, but I am a little concerned with the known problems that are out there that MINI has been slow to correct or are still denying. Especially their stance that any engine problem is from bad gas unless it is proved otherwise. I am hoping my Countryman will not be plagued with any of these problems, but if it I see any warning signs before my warranty is up, I will probably just sell it before it expires. I just can't live with a car I have to keep taking in for repairs.

Okay that what I have after my research – please let me know if I’m wrong

Extended Maintenance - $1795

Brakes and rotors usually need to replaced every 25K-30K miles and cost $600 (per axle)
Major Service at 60K miles - $600
Oil change every 15K - $100

doing all this between 36K and 100K miles:
At least 2 brakes service per axle = $600 x 2(service) x 2(axle) = $2400
1 60K service - $600
At least 3 oil change - $100 x 3 = $300

Total = $3300 to maintain between 36K and 100K vs $1795 prepaid

In addition it is fully transferable and can be added to the loan.

Am I doing something wrong?

If you are replacing brakes and rotors every 25-30k you are pretty hard on your car. And @ $600 per axle, holy s#!^, who is doing your brakes? I guess I save a bunch when I do them myself. I changed my rotors & pads at 100,000 mi. A set of rotors cost me $65 for the rear and $96 for the front set (these are the OEM rotors which I purchased online, not through MINI). Granted I did a lot of highway driving to work.
I also used Carbotech Performance brake pads (much lower dust) and paid $141 for the front and $135 for the rear.
I have an '03 S 6spd manual which I purchased used. I had some issues with the clutch since the person I bought it from was pretty hard on it. The car was still under the warranty and I had to have the clutch pressure plate, clutch disc and flywheel replaced under warranty. I was grateful that the car was still under warranty. I was told it was about a $2,000.00 job.

I was made aware that I could have extended my Service Warranty before the mileage limit but since I do the oil changes myself I opted not to. I don't like using the recommended MINI (aka Castrol) oil since it is not a 100% synthetic oil. I use Royal Purple or Red Line full synthetic.

I would consider the Extended Factory Warranty but not at the time of the vehicle purchase. You don't need to purchase that from the dealer. Shop around and then make a decision later.
From my experience, and I know you can have lemons amongst a batch a vehicles without issues, my '03 has 139,000mi and the only major thing was the clutch. The car has been super reliable and I know they've gotten better over the years. Yes, there were issues with the "Prince" engines when they came out in '07 but those issues have been addressed. My concern now will be for my wife's All4 drivetrain but I think there has been quite a bit of testing done prior to production.

I'd agree you can probably extend your theoretical brake life some.

First brake job on the '04 was at 70k, a friend's '02 made it to 83k and some guy in the club I think got close to 100k. These are manuals, so some gearing down was down in lieu of braking. (Yeah - I know about the clutch, we're still all on first clutches.)

Actually brakes/rotors 30K - $600 per axle came from the diller.

I am glad to hear that it is not the case.

What kind of gas it requires - 89 or 91?

Try to talk them down, for my daugther"s honda from $1200 they came down to $400, so I took it.

Yea I will buy those prices if you want to have all you service done at the stealership, that is exactly why dealerships are called stealerships. You pay twice as much as you would anywhere else and even more than if you just do it yourself. If you just want convenience and are not worried about spending more, then go for it. If you are more concerned with getting the most for your money, better to have it done elsewhere or yourself, but that will require more leg work to find the best way to do each item.

One thing (as mentioned above), they are ALWAYS negotiable.

They will try to sell it to you, as a solid price, or as an increase on your payment via menu selling

If they say $1800, and you want it, say straight out " I will take it if you can do it for $1200)

The above example (getting it down to $400), is extreme. But a warranty like this normally will have a dealer cost of $600-$900, and they look to make 100%+ profit

The other thing I will say, be careful with what warranties you buy. You are always best buying a factory warranty, as it has to be accepted at any dealer.

If you look into aftermarket warranties, make sure you have all the info before purchasing.
Ask for a copy of the contract, and read it over. Bring it to the dealer, and make sure they will accept it (try to get it in writing from the service manager that they will).
And make sure the coverage is what you want, need and expect. A cheaper price is great, but not if it doesnt cover common things that a factory warranty would
Also, if you cant bring it to the dealer, or to your normal mechanic, is it worth it?

Last, make sure they pay direct. Some warranties require you to pay the repair, then submit to be reimbursed within 60 days. So you are still putting up the money and waiting (and hoping) to get paid back.

(in other words, do your homework, and cover all your bases)


look at a warranty like health insurance. Do you want to have to use it? Never of course. But do you want to be stuck without it if something BIG happens (and the chances something big happening is very small)

And also make sure it can be canceled, is rebatable if you get rid of the car before the period, etc

91 for the CM, but the manual says you can run 89 minimum.

Does it matter if I use 89? is it affect anything?

Without starting a long drawn out conversation, read up on peoples opinions of mid grade and low grade gas. If the car call for high test, run it (91-93). It was made to run on it and will bring you the most smiles per gallon without the risk of detonation.

IMHO, I would run 91 minimum. The performance will definitely suffer if you don't run what's recommended. I'm not sure why anyone would want to run 89 in their car if it's recommended octane is 91. These cars were designed to run on Premium and my wife and I would never put anything less than 91 in her CM.

I have an '03 S with a 17% reduction pulley and was warned by Eric @ Helix Motorsports that I would need to run a minimum of 93 since changing the pulley. I was in an area where my only choice was 92 and I could hear a little detonation when getting on the throttle.

If you don't want to spend the money on Premium gas then I suggest you find a car other than a MINI that doesn't require premium.