In the Spring of this year, many of us on the MINI2 forum and the New MINI Message Board were going through a lot of Rolaids over the issue of changing oil early and possibly voiding our warranties. The following is an email I finally got from MINIUSA on the subject. Hope it helps.

"Hi again Fred, good to hear from you again!

I apologize for the confusion. While we recommend that you have the oil changed only at your MINI dealership, you can get your oil changed locally or do it yourself without voiding the warranty. If you'd like to do so, you'll need part number 1142-7512-446 for the MINI oil filter available from your MINI dealer. The strongly recommended and approved oils are MINI High-Performance Synthetic 5W-30 Oil (Part Number 07-51-0-143829) and Mobil 1 5W-30 and 5W-40 oils. Keep in mind that your MINI dealership has the special tools needed to reset your computer. I apologize again for the confusion, let us know if you have any more questions.

LET'S MOTOR.
Jen Schuelke
MINI Division
Customer Relations"