Any suggestions on how I can increase the reliability of my 08 MCS? I've had it for about 7 months now, 47k on the miles, and its already in the shop getting a fuel rail and sensor replaced. I absolutely love this car. On that note, any suggestions on how to increase the reliability of this baby?

 

Not to sounds too smart, but I would buy a Bentley manual and be prepared to do a lot of the simple repairs yourself. Read all of the pelican articles on common repairs and pro-active maintenance. The r56 model is awesome to drive, but they all leak and parts break over time. Parts are relatively cheap now to source though.

 

You can't really "increase the reliability" of a car. You can do preventative maintenance so that the car doesn't leave you stranded. You could even not drive it hard so as to not wear out parts early. But if your HPFP is going to fail (for example) there isn't a whole lot you can do about it.

 

N14 is a great motor, most of the issue came with MINI recommending 10k oil change intervals and this motor having a tendency to burn oil.

Some oil consumption on this motor is normal, but you have have bigger issues if you're burning too much oil. Typical repairs to cover are the valve cover vacuum, oil filter housing gasket, timing chain (most covered by a extended campaign), etc.

If you get most of the common things out of the way and do an oil change every 4-5k with GOOD quality oil and monitor the levels in-between you'll be fine.

N14 motor is about being proactive, realize its not as blown up about it as most people say it is, don't be scared to buy one.