What the heck is the ticking noise I hear when the mini is cold? It goes away in about 2-3 minutes.

 

Could be lots of things -- if it goes away I would tend to believe it is lifter tick which is pretty normal for all cars that are not yet warmed up. The other thing it could be would be the infamous timing chain tick because the tensioner is worn out.

Really hard to say - go on Youtube and listen to a bunch of MINIs ... determine which one it is (normal) or not normal.