I've read that sometime after 2008 that MINI lowered the oil change intervals from 15k+ back to 10kmor less. Is that only for the the turbo models or does it effect the supercharged first gen cars too?

Bonus question: my car sees very low mileage so I usually go by the time to change rather than mileage. Whereas my '05 was yearly, the manual for my '08 says every 2 years if miles aren't met. Has that changed (back) as well?

 

Typically, if MINI changes intervals it results on what gen they made the change for and doesn't reflect back to older gens. I'm not exactly sure about the interval change, but I'd probably stick to every 5k miles for oil change intervals. Even Toyota changed from 5k oil changes to 10k with their newer gens, but a lot of people would still have the oil changed at 5k. Personally, I change my oil every 3k, but I am under different circumstances. From my understanding it's usually every 5k or 6 months, 10k or 1 year, etc. Stick to what your manual says or keep with the 5k intervals as that is what a lot of people here do and would most likely recommend.