...or is a quart of oil every 1000 miles a bit excessive for a 21st century car?

Here's the story. My wife has an '07 MCS. A few days ago she told me it felt like it was running rough.

Yesterday the CEL came on and stayed on.

Today she started out for work, and the oil light came on.

I checked the oil with that horrible springy dipstick, and it had oil on the highest "bead", so I figured it's okay.

I had roadside assistance tow it to the dealership, and find out it is low on oil. Like, really low. It required 3.5 quarts!!! Or, it only had 2 quarts of its 5.5 quart capacity left.

It was approx. 7 months out from its last oil change.

The Service rep tells me that Mini considers one quart per thousand miles
is considered "normal" (?!?!?!). Our car had burned about a quart every
2000.

Since the VANOS and the timing chain idlers work hydraulically on oil pressure, that explains the rough running and CEL.

Isn't that a little bit nuts? If everything is oil/hydraulic, don't you think the oil idiot light should be more sensitive (it came on last)? Also, what kind of car in this day and age burns oil like that?

I told the guy, " A quart every thousand miles!?! Wow, Mini really has captured the essence of British Motoring! Plus, I've got like 2 cubic feet of trunk space, and now half of that is going to be taken up by spare oil bottles!"

I'm just shocked (and P.O.'d) that this is considered acceptable by Mini.

We had to have the timing chain replaced at 28,000 and now this?

Hmmm. I never had the oil problem before they changed the chain...
I wonder.

Anybody else have similar problems?

 

I find mine not using anything , I change at 5k