I am still a fairly green MINI owner, I purchased an 08 MCS in August of last year. I am considering taking it from Michigan to Florida and back in March and I am looking for some advice on maintenance type things to make sure I take care of before heading off. It has about 3000 miles on the oil, should I change it again before leaving? (I am using to doing oil changes every 3-5000 miles, I know MINI says we can go more, but...)

The MINI has been garaged since the first of December (have a jeep for winter driving) but I had it running and everything seemed fine just a few weeks ago. It only has around 24000 miles on it, and I had it in to the dealership back in October and they gave it a clean bill of health.

I absolutely love this car and would love to cruise around Daytona Beach in it...but it is still very new and different to me and I worry about every squeak and rattle...

Should I change the oil? Probably wouldn't hurt to change the air filter. Check fluids...anything else I am missing? I have the run flat, performance tires on it, which again are all new to me, should I rotate them? Hopefully the weather in the north will cooperate so I can get in and out without any problems...if not I'll have to take the jeep.

Thanks for your advice!
Tricia

 

Check fluids and tire pressure and I would think you'd be good to go. In 2008 I drove My '05 S from Michigan to Ocala FL, then up to MOTD for a week and home. I already had well over 100K miles on it.

In 2010 my Wife and I did MINI Takes the States, driving from Michigan to Denver. 11 nights and 3500 miles. Not a single problem. Except for 2 speeding tickets.

 

I would change the oil, check tire pressures. If the tires look fine, probably no need to rotate (mini does not reccomend it). If there is some odd wear, get an alignment and do a rotation. If you haven't had the air filter or cabin air filter changed, do that. Its a good chance to run some good fuel cleaner through the system. Get ready and enjoy the ride.

Have fun,
Mike

 

You should have no problems -- just do the normal maintenance stuff with oil and tires before leaving. We drove our '07 MINI Justy 6 speed from Ohio to Florida and then to Texas a few times. We found it to be a good trip car with comfortable seats, a decent ride on the superslab and of course nice gas mileage (40 mpg+). On a couple of the trips we brought our two Bichon dogs and they enjoyed being able to see out of the rear side windows and there was lots of space for them and a weeks worth of luggage.

The only draw back is that if something does break MINI dealers are few and far between, but the route you are likely traveling has dealers within reasonable distance most of the way. Relax and enjoy the trip.

 

Check the route and before you go make a list of MINI dealers along the route..Stop in
each one is different. Start a blog and let us know where you're going next..Maybe some swag from the different dealers..Let your current dealer send some emails for you..Then they will expect your arrival..Great pictures at each dealer would be great..Did you buy extended warranty..if so bring a copy of paper work with you...Enjoy

 

It's a CAR!!!!! It's not a unicorn or the wee baby Seamus. Do car things to it. Drive it like a car. Change the damn oil when oil changes are needed (frack MINI, it's 5 frelling years old), inflate the damn tires when under inflated, don't drink and drive (unless you are a Dallas Cowboy I suppose). Drive the car, love the car... your MINI. If you are so scared of it, sell it and drive the Honda that you should replace it with (will go to Pluto and back without trouble). Hint... for every problem you read on these forums, there are literally thousands of people actually driving their MINIs without fearing every bump, drop in temperature, or zombie apocalypse. Have fun, Motor on.

p.s: notice Archer, Babylon 5, and Farscape references

 

I've taken Molly on 2 trips to AZ from WA, planning on doing at least one this year, possibly two.

I Just had her looked at before I left, then while there had the Oil Changed (2nd Time) and had her looked over for the return trip, no issues!!

BTW...enjoy your trip instead of worrying about your MINI it will get you where you need to go!!

 

I would not change the oil. It is just now reaching its peak effectiveness.

 

pulled the words out of my mouth

 

Thanks for all the great comments! I'll take care of the basics and be on my way.

As for the suggestion about blogging, sorry but I am going unplugged for the week (well, only minimally plugged in....) and can't wait!

Thanks!

 

Just wanted to say hello from a fellow Michigan Mini club member. Hopefully we'll see you in the warmer months!

 

Along with Archer, Babylon 5, etc references, think Hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy too. Only other suggestion I would make along those lines would be to examine a Rand McNally very closely and see are there any roads that parallel your route that have the little green dots all along them. Those are the scenic byways and are often the road less traveled and well worth the added time to a trip. Like Quigly said "Make the most of it".

 

LOL... Know what will make you sleep easier? Get a AAA membership. (or some other form of roadside assistance.)

Check your tire tread depth. (and the general condition of the tires) Nothing sucks more than wasting time waiting for a tire when you could have avoided it in the first place.

Check the oil level [political commentary removed]. I mean really, how hard is it to check the oil when you get gas?

Take a qt of oil with you. (maybe a gallon of windshield wash too.)

Get new wiper blades.

Wear clean underware. (remember what Mom said.)

Have fun.

 

forgot to add in my earlier post:
* bring spare fuses. know what/where/how
* notify your CCC that you're on travel so card will not get flagged as stolen
* bring a can of fuel, flashlight, emergency warning triangle
* weapon you're comfortable/competent using
* emergency contact info readily seen on your person/in your car (I wear dog tags)
* back up paper copy of your route in case GPS craps out (gas stations, lodging, etc. already marked)

Be safe and have fun.

 

Dealer availability isn't a problem, until it is a problem. Let me give a real life example:

It's a Friday, and we are traveling from Orlando to Ohio and we stop in Gainesville, FL for dinner. We are traveling in a year-old MINI with wife, 2 dogs and week's worth of luggage. After dinner, car won't crank and is stone dead. Call MINI roadside assistance which says it will dispatch a flatbed in a few hours but can't take car to nearest dealer in direction headed (Atlanta). Rules are to take it to closer dealer which happens to be in wrong direction -- Jacksonville or Orlando. Jacksonville doesn't have Saturday service hours so flatbed takes us several hours back to Orlando.

Orlando dealer has moved and tow truck driver can't find new location so we get a tour of downtown Orlando in the middle of the night. Finally find new dealer location and he drops us at dealership in deserted suburban neighborhood. It is 3:00 a.m. and we finally get a $50 taxi ride to the only hotel we can find that takes pets -- on the other side of Orlando.

Up early the next morning to be first in line at dealership. They quickly diagnose the problem as a broken wire somewhere in the dash which is tied to the cruise control. A service bulletin has been issued on this known problem. The dealer is nice -- even gives us water and biscuits for the dogs and gets us on our way in under an hour. MINI Roadside pays for the tow, the repair is under warranty and we get reimbursed for the hotel room and taxi.

We still love our MINI and this is the only time it ever let us down. We laugh about it now as one of life's adventures. But I can't help but wonder what would have been the situation if we had been hundreds of miles from a dealer. A non-dealer would probably been unable to diagnose and fix the electrical problem. All this said, we still travel by MINI and have even bought another (with a Countryman planned as a third). Just food for thought.

 

How about buying an extra run flat? Are they hard to find on the road if you get a flat? Otherwise, I'd just change the oil, check the tires, and go.