Hello,
I just bought a preowned 2007 mini (normally aspirated non turbo) on New Year's Eve. It had 58000 miles and now It's got about 63000 miles on it. Automatic. Very nice condition. I've always been a bit of a motorhead and have always tried to do as much preventative maintenance on my cars. I drive a lot as part of my job and can easily put 30000 miles a year on a car without blinking.
I know that the valve cover was replaced as part of its inspection prior to delivery, and yesterday I had my first experience with a check engine light. Brought it in and the dealer told me a solenoid either from intake or exhaust but that the light went out when they went to diagnose further and not to worry.
I asked the service folks if there are any preventative maintenance items they recommend i do and they said no. Not even a coolant flush? Auto trans flush? Nothing?
So my question for you expert Mini motorists is.. Seriously, are there really no things I can do to try and stay on top of larger service malfunctions? Just oil changes? What can I expect realistically?
Don't get me wrong, I've owned enough vehicles in my life to learn to not start looking for problems but like most of you out there I'd like to be prepared. I'm curious what others have experienced at around the 60 to 70 K mile area for a non turbo.
On a side note I had to get tires for it already and went with the Yokahama Avid Envigors... Very nice.

 

Welcome to the world of mini. There are maintenance tables for these cars. If you pick up a bentley manual, you can find out all this info, and how to do it yourself, if you so desire. For your car, you should replace the spark plugs every 100,000 miles, air filter every 45,000, oxygen sensors every 120,000, serpentine belt at 100,000. I changed mine at 60,000. Replace the brakes as needed. Oil changes intervals are controversial, so you decide.
That is a short list of things to do. Enjoy your MINI. Mine is a 2009 Justa, with 71,000 miles. I love it.

 

Flush the coolant every three years. I can't believe they told you not to change it. It will help prolong the life of the cooling system. MINI branded coolant is recommended but in my opinion, any coolant that is designed for aluminum block engines is OK to use as long as you're maintaining the cooling system with flushes.

I would change your brake fluid. It's something that probably was never touched before. I bet it is dirt brown in color now instead of light yellow. It's another easy thing to do.

Like the previous poster said, it wouldn't hurt to check the serpentine belt for high wear.

I'm not an expert on the auto transmissions but it would be good to know what kind of fluid they use in the trans. If it's synthetic I bet the maintenance interval is 75,000-100,000 miles before flush. That's something Detroit Tuned could chime in on.

 

Welcome to the community! Mine has 75Kmiles now.

I had a thermostat / waterpump repair performed at 50K miles. Indication warning was the cooling fan was taking much longer to shut off than normal. During that repair I also had the serpentine belt and spark plugs changed and got new coolant. Afterwards I noticed an improvement in fuel mileage - probably due to changing the spark plugs. Brake fluid should be flushed every two years. Some reports of the timing chain tensioner failing - possibly related to lower oil levels. Warning sign is a diesel-like clatter at start up. So keep the oil level at the full mark. Use quality fuel - '07s call for 91 octane.

Exercise it regularly!

And I always suggest joining a local MINI club. There's a listing near the bottom of the forum front page.