Has anyone looked into or tried the Shell Rotella T full synthetic? It is 5W40 and reports appear pretty good. A bit less expensive than other synthetic oils as well.

 

rotella is a very good oil. most diesel owners use it.

 

Yup. I use it in my TDI Jetta. But, according to the label, it is good for gas and diesel engines. I've heard negative things about Syntec. So, I was just wondering if the Rotella might be an option for the Mini, besides the other "regulars" (Syntec, Mobil 1, Amsoil)?

 

what about motul engine oil?
I recently switched to motul ( actually, it's on my subaru not my wife's mini). I get the 20-40mpg improvement per tank
I am wondering it will do same thing for my wife's mini.
anyone use motul oil on mini?

 

Rotella has the same ratings as the others. I was asking a serious question.

 

I don't think Kimguroo was being facetious - I'm pretty sure he meant that he gets an extra 20-40 miles per tank using Motul in his Subaru.

Honestly, I think the only way you're going to find out how a particular oil does in a MINI is to try it out for 5-7k miles and then have a detailed oil analysis done. I've found the MINI-branded oil to actually be a pretty poor performer in the first-gen 'S' engine, and some of the R56 owners here are discovering the same thing with their cars.

 

I used this oil in my '02 Golf TDI since the first oil change. After 120K, with 10K change intervals, I had NO engine issues.

It's important to mention that the VW was chipped by UPSOLUTE since the first 300 miles. The Chip added significant Horsepower and Torque. However, I generally drove the car conservatively, even with the chip.

That said, I personally can't see any reason for NOT using the Rotella. Sure, it's a dino-based "synthetic". Granted, it has an additional additive package that is targeted at keeping all those nasty diesel particulates in suspension better than gasser oils. How can that be bad?

If it has the ratings that are specified by BMW, I would think it would serve you well and perhaps provide a bit of "extra" protection due to the soot-suspension additives.

 

Shell just changed the formula for Rotella-T synthetic (group III, in the blue jug) recently at the request of the big diesel manufacturers to meet their new greener requirements.
Some of the heavy mineral ratios have been tweaked and sulfated ash has been reduced.
I've been running it in my bike for quite some time and it performs very well. Motul always returned worse fuel economy; Amsoil the best.
I wouldn't use it in a Mini just because it's a 5-40 and Mini asks for 10-30. I would happily use a 5-30.
You're on your own from there.

 

Thanks for the feedback. I was being a bit early in my investigations. I am thinking about putting a Mini Cooper S (perhaps Clubman) on order, either quite soon or wait for the 09s to come out, so just trying to learn what I can up front. I'd like to see what changes are being made in the next years auto.