Got 1200 miles on my 05 MCS. My MA told us 1400 miles for breakin. I've never seen this anywhere said around here. Whats up? Something new? Or just there policy. :smile:

 

It's actually posted in the owners manual. HUGE debate on the proper way to do this. I drove the car easy until I hit 1,300 miles. I then drained factory Castol oil and changed filter. I refilled with Royal Purple synthetic and have changed oil and filter every 5,000 miles.

 

It's up to you really. The manual says stay under 4000rpm until 1250 miles.

I stayed under 4000rpm until 1500 miles, only blipping it to 5000rpm 3 times in the break in period. Until I hit 2000 miles I stayed under 5000rpm and didn't floor it.

After 2000 miles all hell broke loose.

 

What about oil? I know Mini recommends 5W-30 castrol synthetic, but isnt Mobil 1 better? Also, when do most of you all change your oil? I think 10,000 miles is a bit of a stretch, even for synthetic.

 

Mobil 1 is better than Castrol. Castrol actually had to go to court to maintain their "Synthetic status". Apparantly the synthetic base they use isn't simply 100% synthetic, and Castrol Syntec tends to burn way more easily than most other synthetics. Redline, Mobil 1, and Royal Purple tend to be the prevailing winners with Mini owners.


With a REAL synthetic you can indeed go 10,000 miles. I wouldn't go that far with Castrol as it burns.