My Clubman will be 1 year old in May (with 10000 miles today). Should I schedule my oil change at 1 year or still follow what the computer said at about 16000 miles?

 

MINI will do an oil change either one year apart or on the schedule by the computer which ever comes first. So I would go ahead and schedule it to be done.

 

Many people (and my dealer, of course, though they might be a bit biased) will recommend an oil change at 2500-5000 km. If you search around, many people have found a high-ish level of particles in the oil at this point. Whether it's truly an issue is up for debate, but... it's a $65 oil change on a $30,000 vehicle. Why take the risk?

 

Save your $65.

You go by the computer, or 1 year, whichever comes first. Its almost always, at least in my experience, the 1 year.

My computer currently says July 2010, which would be 2 years! So yeah, I am not going that long.

 

If you check the maintenance manual you'll find MINI recommends an oil change at least once per year. It's also free.

Many threads have discussed whether you should change the oil more frequently, but once a year is the minimum recommended by MINI.

 

Go ahead and have the free annual oil change done in May. The dealer won't reset the counter, so you'll still get another oil change when it comes due around 16,000 miles.

In fact, depending on how you drive your car, that "16,000" mile service might get stretched out by a few thousand more miles, so you may get more use out of the oil that goes into the car in May than you think.

 

isn't the scheduled maintenance at 15K? ... also thanks for the tip on the oil change at once per year, did not know that.

I did change the oil around the 7.5K mark ... 15K sounds like a long time.

 

The computer-controlled service interval *starts off* at 15k, but depending on how you drive, it may be extended significantly beyond that.

My first service came due according to the OBC at 12,500, but the second service didn't come due until 33,200 (almost 21k later), and it's looking like my third service won't come due until about 54,000 (about 21k after the second service).

I'm "splitting the difference" and changing the oil on my own every 10k, so I'm not going the full 21k between oil changes.