only 43k on her clock...any issues on this year I need to watch for?

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Check the 2 gen forum, lot of feedback on problems. You'll see a lot of chatter about the timing chain, thermostat housing, oil leaks, high pressure fuel pump, carbon buildup on intake valves, and more..

 

Well, I have an '04 base model, replaced: strut, strut mounts, fuel pump, high pressure p/s line, p/s pump, etc. But thanks

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I have a 07 MCS. i have not had any major issues with mine. but what AZdsrt said pretty much covered the major concerns. i will let you know now that Mini has put out a service campaigne for the timing chain issue so contact your local mini dealer about that. In regards to the thermostate housing, i just replaced mine at 56,000. i see that as more of a wear and tear item then a major problem but other might disagree. the carbon issue can be a problem due to the pcv system on our motors. it causes a carbon build up on the intake valves. the only way to stop this is with a pcv delete. you might need to do a walnut blasting service on your intake valves to get the carbon cleaned out. i think with regards to the oil leaks and high pressure fuel pump that those are more hit or miss. i have no issues with either. These cars can be high maintance but if you take care of them, you should have to many issues. like i said i have a 07 with 56000 and have had no major problems with mine.

 

The carbon buildup is a byproduct of the engines being DI. The PCV delete may slow it down, but will not eliminate the problem. Getting the carbon cleaned should be considered a maintenance issue.

AZdsrt has covered the most common issues that I recall seeing. An '08 S should have had recall work done for the auxiliary water pump and potentially the exhaust tips. Warranty on the HPFP should be 10 years/120k miles.

Starting to see lots of failures of the turbo feed lines, oil filter housing gaskets, thermostat housing, water pumps, other assorted gaskets. Hard to say whether these are primarily due to mileage or age. If mileage, you should be ok with that low mileage, but if these parts are starting to fail due to age you would expect to need some of these repairs.

 

I was under the impression that the carbon issues was caused from the pcv lines dumping the gunk into the intake manifold and due to the fact that they are direct injected there was no gas hitting the top of the intake valves to clean them off. if you eliminate the pcv issue by venting to atmosphere then the pcv lines are no longer dumping gunk into the intake manifold and then there should not be a carbon issue.