Owning a MINI Cooper is definitely an enjoyment as long as you follow the basic car maintenance schedule. Otherwise, something may go wrong and the cost to repair a MINI could be sky high. Many MINI owners’ pocket often get burned especially those did not follow the correct car maintenance and car care. Let’s see ten things you need to know about MINI car maintenance and car care. Drive better and drive longer!

1. MINI Warranty

A new MINI comes with a standard four-year warranty or 80,000 kilometers, which ever occur first. As for MINI original parts and original accessories, it gets 2 years warranty with no distance limit except wear-and-tear parts. For those who bought a new MINI, you can enjoy a hassle-free driving experience for at least two years.

2. Inspection and Maintenance

It is recommended to send your car back to MINI service center for inspection and maintenance according to the maintenance schedule because MINI service center will never miss a thing. Date and schedule can be found in your owner’s manual.

3. Engine Oil Service

Check the maintenance date or miles in the service manual and read the mileage display in the rev counter. It will tell you how far the car can still be driven before the next oil change is due. In MINI basic maintenance schedule, the first oil change is clocked at 20,000 kilometers and then every 30,000 kilometers after that. This means you will only have to change the engine oil three times within 100,000 kilometers. Engine oil service usually comes together with new filter.

4. What kind of engine oil should I use?

In the case that you need to top off your engine oil between services, we suggest you to use MINI High Performance Synthetic 5W-30 engine oil (MINI part number 07510143829). Other engine oil that can be used for MINI in the US Market include Castrol Syntec European Formula SAE 0W-30, Mobil 1 SAE 0W-40, Pennzoil Platinum European Formula Ultra SAE 5W-30, and Valvoline SynPower SAE 5W-30. Otherwise you can refer to your Owner’s Manual for further details if you are not sure about it. See also: What kind of oil does my car need? and How much oil does my car hold?

5. No-charge scheduled maintenance

MINI is throwing a free 3-year scheduled maintenance of 50,000 km (36,000 miles), whichever comes first. This is a good promotion. For those who are looking to buy a new MINI, you may want to drop by to the nearest dealer and find this out. This is good to reduce the overhead cost of owning a stunning new car.

6. When to replace brake pad?

Brake pad replacement is one important thing to keep the car healthy. Every MINI has two sensors located at the left of the front axle and at the right of the rear axle. These two sensors record the condition of the brake pads and it will tell you when you need to replace it.

7. Brake fluid

People often overlook the brake fluid but it is important. Generally, brake fluid should be changed approximately every two years depending on your driving style. The display screen will tell you the exact date or there is a button to press and see the date.

8. Clutch replacement

Clutch replacement is only for manual transmission MINI. If a MINI has a clutch failure under 100,000 km (65,000 miles), that’s considered an early failure. At most time, clutch replacement should be under warranty but sometimes owner have to fork out extra cash for the replacement when it is not under warranty.

9. Wear and tear replacement

Wear and tear parts are not under warranty and it has to be changed over the time. Parts like air filter, micro filter, spark plugs, transmission fluid, windscreen wiper rubbers/blades, cabin air microfilter, brake rotors, tires, and others.

10. The MINI Maintenance Program

The MINI Maintenance Program is a program where BMW MINI will cover all factory-recommended maintenance at zero cost. It is somehow similar to extended warranty. Some wear-and-tear parts replacement as stated in no. 8 are included. Make a call to the nearest dealer and get a quotation for that because every country has different charges for that.

Whether it is a hardtop, coupé, convertible, roadster, clubman, countryman, John Cooper Works, Cooper, or Cooper S, these are the minimum ten things you need to know about MINI car maintenance.