MINI's first service

I brought my MINI Cooper in for her first service appointment yesterday.

I'm still so impressed with how cars, and car service have improved since I last bought a car in 1988.

My MINI (like most newer cars, I imagine) has a service indicator that appears for a couple of seconds whenever I turn on the engine. It lets me know how many miles i have left before I need to bring my car in for service. The service indicator takes into account both milage as well as driving patterns. The first service (essentially an oil & filter change) is supposed to be scheduled around 10,000 miles. However, since I mostly drive in the city, and don't drive as many miles per month as most people, my service indicator had me go in around 9,000.

This is pretty amazing to me, since I used to bring my old Acura Integra in for an oil and filter change every 3,000 miles or 3 months. My, how times (and cars) have changed!

I'm still very happy with the service that I have recieved at my dealership, East Bay MINI in Pleasanton. I had an amazing car-buying experience there last year, and I had heard good things about their service department as well. I was able to make, and change my appointment easily, was was told that my appointment would take about one and a half hours. My service technician was very friendly and professional, and called me when my car was ready to be picked up. (I was having lunch with my Mom). My car was complete within the hour and a half, and was also nice and clean when I picked her up.

All of this, and any other service that I need to have over the next 3 years are all covered under my warrantee. :)

I should also mention that I drive about 40 miles to Pleasanton just o bring my car to East Bay MINI, even though the San Francisco MINI dealership is just a couple of miles away from my house. I had been to the San Francisco dealership several times while I was still shopping for a car, and was never very impressed with the service that I received. I have also not heard very favorable things about their service department. I figure it's worth the drive out to Pleasanton to get great service from the dealership that I'm happy to support and recommend.

I Love having a new car!