Ok so the Mini comes with no cost 'boot to bonnet' maintenance for 36 months... the question I have is what are the maintenance intervals? I don't see anywhere in the manual where it spells this out. Do we just wait until the car says it's time for a trip to the dealer?? I now have nearly 1200 miles on my mini (almost broke in!) but I'm curious now about when I should plan my first trip to the dealer. Mind you, for me, it's a 200+ mile journey since I'm in Wichita Kansas and I bought from the 'closest dealer' to me which is actually in Oklahoma City!

 

You literally have to wait till the MINI tells you it's time. They won't do anything till the car says it's ready.

 

If you're curious and don't want to wait until your car tells you, you can check your service intervals from your headunit:
From the main menu, VEHICLE INFO --> VEHICLE STATUS --> SERVICE REQUIRED
This will show you the upcoming scheduled maintenances and you can select any of them to see the date/mileage it will be due. It updates as you drive.

 

Wow, I guess it's nice that I don't have to think too much about it and just wait to get the notification from my car that it's time to go in... but that somewhat OCD nerd in me wants to have a schedule!

What has been the experience of those who've stuck with the standard mini plan? Any difficulties or issues with it? Do they do a thorough job even though it's 'no cost'? Any extra add-on costs for things that aren't covered under the free umbrella? I'm interested in others experiences with this!

 

Honestly, I would recommend changing the oil between "free" oil changes. I know people who have waited and let MINI change it when the car said to, and the oil was sludgy. Later they had problems with their turbos, and guess what? It was no longer covered under warranty. I don't know if this applies to you, but I would also make sure my MINI is taken great care of. They can get expensive once things start malfunctioning.

 

Good advise about oil changes. So is that pretty much all they do for ya then? Change the oil? I'm hoping they are more comprehensive than that.

 

They do diagnostics and replace washer fluid. I find that they are very thorough. Also depends on the dealer I suppose.

 

When my car was new I got the oil service done annually at no cost even though the vehicle monitoring system did not yet say the car was due because I only put about 6000 miles a year on the car. And like someone else said, if you are putting on 12000 or more miles a year, I would just pay for a "inbetween" oil change.


Back when mine was under warranty, Mini covered an annual oil service for low mileage usage. The computer doesn't call for an oil service until around 10,000 miles I believe. Besides annual oil service, I believe the brake fluid should be done the 2nd year and every other year after that. So the brake fluid change would be part of the 3 year complimentary. All in all, most likely you will end up having 3 oil changes, one brake fluid change, wipers replaced and that's about it unless you have some other issues requiring repair or replacement. (Assuming the 3 year maintenance done is the same or similar when my 2009 was new). Enjoy your Mini!

 

That's good info -- thanks! I'm assure that I'll put at least 12K per year on it per year and yes, I'm enjoying it thoroughly!

 

My maintenance computer has a "due" date along with number of miles until service. It's nearly a year old with 4,000 miles so I assume I'll be doing the first service soon.

 

I just took my Mini in for its first oil change this weekend. I waited until the 10K mark, but was concerned that they wouldn't take it because the service required mileage had not been reached. It was telling me I had another 1600 miles to go. I assume this was due to a few long trips I have taken. So, I emailed my SA and he said they could change the oil if it was under 2K to go.

Like others on this post, I am a little old school on oil changes and normally would have gone for an oil change at around 5k, but thought I would follow their "recommended" intervals. Not too sure I will wait until 20k for the next one, though.

 

^that's whay I wanted my dealer to do but they said NO! I changed at 5k and 10k myself and will let them do the 15k.

 

I'm getting my complimentary oil change this weekend and I'm at 11,000 miles. I didn't know I could bring it in if the interval counter is at 2000 or less. Thanks for that info. I'll verify that with my dealer. I think these newer engines are built with very close tolerances and also being direct injection they waste less fuel on the cylinder walls. Plus good quality synthetics are much better than conventional oil. I decided to trust the On Board Computer and see what happens in the long run. I'm logging 30k per year so I'll report back if I get a sludgy turbo etc.

 

I would check with your SA first. Policies may vary by dealership.

 

Also, most importantly, they do Software Updates to the car and read the main computer for any faults that needs to be attended to and reset the CBS for the next service based on mileage and time...that is why your car has the calendar in it. Not for us, but for servicing of the car and CBS to work !