I was skimming thru the 2012 (pg. 211) and 2013 (pg. 210) owner's manual and found this interesting tidbit.

 

If only MINI dealers are to change oil, why do they state a brand recommendation?

 

That is purely for them for profit. You are allowed by the law to take your vehicle to any repair shop of your choice. Just make sure you keep all your receipts and use the appropriate synthetic oil. IF you have any doubts read this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnuso...s_Warranty_Act

 

Silly MINI

 

Brand recommendations are made for guidance in adding oil between oil changes.

 

HA! That's funny that you think MINI put that there as a recommendation and not the fact that Castrol paid MINI to have their logo in the manual as a marketing tool.

 

Never saw that before.

 

MINI recommends more brands than just Castrol.

 

 

The dealers put in oils with BMW ratings usually long life 4. Down here they are actually using penzoil platinum for the time being.

 

Not happenin'. The MINI dealer closest to me is an hour away; I can change the oil & filter at home in less time than it takes me to drive to the stealership. Plus, I'm really uncomfortable with MINI's long oil change intervals. I'll just keep the receipts.

 

If I didn't like the car so much, and it didn't exactly what I needed it to do I'd have never bought a car from BMW/Mini. They are are a bunch of *****. No pun intended.

 

On top of that, I know that if I do it I'm going to spend the extra time to make sure there's no oil slopped on the engine, that the system is as fully drained as possible, that all of the fittings get properly torqued, and that the new oil level is precisely correct. There are no such guarantees with a wrencher at the dealership (or anywhere else) who is on the clock.

 

I just passed 1200 mi. on my odo and will do my first oil change this weekend. My MINI dealer is 3 hrs. away. I have Mobil 1 0w-40 Euro standing by.

 

We are lucky to have a dealer nearby that is competitive with other 3rd party shops for oil changes - roughly $100. I also like the idea of having the dealer change the oil just in case we have an issue with the chain tensioner. I have read that some dealers try and blame problems on 3rd party oil changes.

 

The MINI deaer near me said they charge $69 for oil changes and check and add other fluids free and they wash the car inside and out. She also told me to tell my wife to drive there and they will check and add oil between changes for free. They opened about a year ago and are only five miles away.

 

FWIW - I had the oil changes done by local dealer under service plan, then started doing it myself once they quoted me the obnoxious $120 to do it out of warranty. For reference - the same dealer chain does BMW oil changes for $80, and BMW straight 6 engine takes ~6 quarts of synthetic vs. 4.5 quarts for the Mini!

DIY oil change cost: (~$5 for the filter) + (~$20 for Mobil 1) + (~30 minutes of your time (maybe 2x that first time around)) - (driving time to your dealer, waiting, then driving back).

As the warranty was running out, I tried to get my dealer to validate chain tensioner situation - they investigated and "could not reproduce the problem". I took the car to another dealer who promptly confirmed cold start rattle, measured that the chain stretched out of spec and replaced the chain, the tensioner, and the guides (~$2K job). All under warranty.

YMMV,
alex f