Does anyone know if the BMW High Performance Fully Synthetic Oil 5W-30 is the same as Mini High Performance Synthetic Oil.....except of course, for the labeling?
The MINI branded oil is very close to Castrol Syntec 5W30. Discussions of this go on ad-nasueum over on NAM but that's the general consensus. An exact match is probably not available in the US. This is extremely close.
I own a 07 MCS, I have gone into Checker Flag to buy Mini High Performance Full Synthetic Oil 5W-30 and they have been out of it, the parts manger pulled a quart of the BMW High Performance Synthetic Oil out and told me it was the same oil with a different label. Yes, you can mix Castrol Synthetic with the Mini Synthetic, but I have read several places you should change the oil the first chance you get, don't know how true that is. I personally think the period between oil changes is way too long on the new Mini's, your counter is based off your driving habits and you could go 20K before your first oil change. I elect to have my oil changed between what the Mini's counter says and take it to Atlantic Autowerks here in VA Bch which service Mini, BMW, SAAB.
FYI - Castrol - MATERIAL SAFETY DATA SHEETS (MSDS) US Edge or Syntec Section "3. Composition/information on ingredients" tells you what the product is made of. All US made Castrols are oil based... Go to site below and type in "Syntec" or "Edge" in the keyword field, next field change to "MSDS" and 3rd field change to "English" http://www.castrol.com/castrol/displaysdstdsscreen.do?categoryId=3240 All US Castrols come up as "Base oil - highly refined" Europen Edge http://www.castrol.com/castrol/displaysdstdsscreen.do?categoryId=3206 Type in "Edge" in the keyword field, next to that the drop down field change it to "SDS". Euro Castrol Edge states "Synthetic base stock. Proprietary performance additives" in section"3 . Composition/information on ingredients" MINI specifically states to only use the Europen version of Castrol! The MINI USA website lists a few more 100% Synthetics recomended besides Castrol...
