So, the N18, a few questions:
-timing belt or chain?
-premium 93 or regular petrol?

Have always used 93 on my cars and so far so good.

 

Manual says min of 91, put in Premium gas (91+) when you can. Although the gas cap on my car says min 89. I will only use 89 when I can't get 91+.

FYI discussions on gas and octane are a very sore subject here.

 

I thought all MINIs required premium??? All the ones I had/have anyhow.

 

I was surprised when I picked mine up, my MA said it no longer requires 91 and service intervals dropped to 10k .... Oh how the times are a Changing.

 

*** said same thing here

 

I've owned my 2011 JCW for two years now with only a thermostat housing difficulty and have used just about exclusively Ethynol 89 octane. No runs, no pings on errors, just 38 mpg on the highway and 30+ around town and expressway. I feel the power is as good, and really I feel better than other JCW's that use 91+ and .30 a gallon more. Yes I'm conservative, ok cheap, but if I noticed a problem, and my dealer made mention of the gas that I used, then I'd switch to the non ethynol 91 octane, but in saying that, it might just be a little difficult in my area to FIND non ethynol 19 octane. If you look closely on the pumps, most say 10% ethynol in small letters.

So, just my take. Actually, I think that our ethynol might be a tad more than the advertised 89 octane.

 

So the 2013 Cooper S Roadsters - does this apply to them? Do they "accept" regular but "prefer" premium?

 

This could help you find non-ethynol gas in your area.

http://pure-gas.org/

 

Sorry to self-bump, but I still haven't been able to find a cut and dry answer to this. Anyone? This is in question to people saying some of the MINI engines don't need premium.

 

Behind my fuel filler door on the R59 there is a sticker that reads "Premium Fuel". I always use 93 petrol in my vehicles but according to my father (formula vee track car builder and MINI owner!) the ECU will adjust to the octane level of the gas you use. So if you are in the middle of nowhere and can not get a premium blend of fuel, then the ECU adjusts the engine conditions accordingly.

 

The ingnition will only adjust timing as the knock sensor reports knock. My advise is to use 91 at least so it sees zero knock. If you feel the need to use 89, do it in the cooler months.

 

I'll definitely use premium gas in that case. I was just hopeful that maybe they had tweaked the engine a bit. I'd rather have that extra oomph, anyways