Having looked online for this issue and finding nothing, I thought I'd reach out to the experts here. My Clubman has about 105K miles and runs very well - except that it needs a quart of oil approximately every 200 miles. It doesn't leak, and it doesn't smoke. It appears that the missing oil is ending up in the catalytic converter and has to date ruined two cats. My mechanic replaced the valve seals to no avail, and now recommends replacing the engine and, of course, the catalytic converter.

Has anyone heard of anything like this?

 

I had a similar issue and mine was bad rings. A leak down test will help figure out the health of the engine.

You may also have an issue with a bad PCV valve.

 

mustang is right....also, if your mechanic doesn't have lots of MINI specific experience, you might consider find someone who does.

 

This ^^^^

A bad PCV valve will cause oil consumption. This is located in the head cover and it cannot be repaired, you have to get a new head cover.

 

if the oil is in your cats.. its your turbo

 

The turbocharger is easy to check, just remover the rubber hose on the inlet and grab the center of the compressor wheel, it should spin freely and have no play axially or radially. Our MINI's turbochargers have no oil seals, they rely on close tolerances in the bearings to prevent oil leaking by.