What have you guys done, mod wise, to squeeze as much MPG as possible out of your countryman?

I live in NYC:
In regular traffic I'm at 18mpg
In WTF traffic I'm at 15-16mpg

Highway I can hit 29mpg if I drive conservatively, 24-26 if I drive like I stole it.

 

Well, per my experience on my R56 manual ... I did some weight reduction that included a custom RSD and diverted to lighter wheels and non fun flat tires. Also over-sized all the plumbing and got a decent unbiased 37.X mpg highway & 33.X mpg city. But when ran hard it drops to 30.X mpg while running full time Manic map B tune. All figures are based at the pump...

Driving habits play a huge role too. Light acceleration and proper tire pressure helps in improving mpgs.

 

Ooops, sorry I just realized you have a Countryman. RSD might be foolish to do since it's build for space or cargo yet sporty!

Best of luck!

 

Until engine warms up to operating temp, it will dump in more fuel....sounds like maybe you have a short commute and lots of stop lights.

Have you checked if there is any difference ( better / worse ) with Sport mode either On/Off on that commute ? Curious.

 

If you are in heavy, big city stop and go traffic, there's not much you can do. Siting and creeping from stop light to stop light burns nearly as much as just rolling down the street at 25 or 30 mph. Your engine idle RPM is still sucking down the juice while not going anywhere and nothing can change that.

 

Sport mode in the city in traffic = mucho no bueno. Sport Mode on the highway = lots of fun for me but the mpg's dropped to 26.

My idle RPM is sitting around 800-900 is this normal? Has anyon messed with altering the idle speed or with the FAM to run lean or start up or on idle?

In my experience my '06 Jeep Commander sat at 600, my '83 RX-7 sat around 600-650 depending on weather, my bored out Datsun 210 station Wagon pushing 250hp sat at 650.

 

Then could try checking the air filter, maybe it's due for change. Sometimes pick up 1-2 mpg by replacing dirty one. Are you filling tank with required octane fuel. If not DME will detect and drop timing to compensate resulting in lower fuel economy/performance and increase potential of carbon build up due to lower burn.

That's normal RPM for idle. Unfortunately the thermostat and cooling system for your engine is part of the cars total emissions system and tied with sensors to DME. Leaning out these MINI engines for any reason = mucho no bueno !

 

Yeah, I did the service to the Mini recently (oil, sparks, coils, filters and fluids topped off). I found out while 89 is minimum octane, it starts and runs better on 93.

Someone mentioned that there's a slight air intake blockage from the grill and he gained .5 to .8 mpg by adding vents to the parts in front of intake, so I picked up a JCW grill from a member here (TJANK). The grill has this parts semi removed. I'm going to see if I can fabricate a piece to divert more air to the intake.

I'm also going to look into a better filter than stock.

 

Interesting gains, but were those gains achieved via city or hwy travel. I know from personal experience, the stock slotted grille on the R53 restricted air flow to the tune of 4-5 degrees....the MINI aero grill or the M7 grill remedied that with the M7 upper grill providing best numbers.

If you go "better filter than stock", be careful of those which use oil as a means to filter the air. More often than not, folks tend to over oil after cleaning them resulting in the fouling of the MAF wire just down stream from the air box. (Seen more than a handful of those replaced because of this and they're not cheap....)

When using a foam air filter type, would be good measure when brand new, to wrap a paper towel around them and give it a gentle squeeze just in case they were sent that way as well.

 

I added both a Mario DP & Stage 2 to my countryman (automatic), prior to doing this, the car was down shifting when ever I needed the extra power, which meant burning more gas.
With the new extra's, this car no-longer downshifts and on a long highway trip, the RPM is below what it previously was ... which means less gas + more ponies when needed.
I also removed the RF and added wider and higher tires which requires more HP (also burns more gas), with the extra ponies ... this car is running great.

 

You can get low rolling resistance tires: http://www.tirerack.com/landing/fuel_efficiency.jsp# (click on the tab "Low Rolling Resistance Car Tires" for a list).

In general, mpg gains from modding will be very small. If you are serious about it, you have to get it through driving style: https://www.google.com/#q=hypermiling+techniques

 

I was looking at those Foam Filters and I'll do that paper towel squeeze as a precaution.

Have you tried any of the foam filters?

Do you have a link you can share? I would like to see or look up what the HP gains are over MPG

Here in lies the rub. You trade off performance for lowering your Rolling Resistance. For city driving its fine (since the my avg is about 17mph), but for my longer commutes any lots of 2 lane highways and parkways I'd rather have better grip. Especially in the wet and snow (yes, I have snow tires I bought from a member on here).

But maybe I'll look into a Summer Spec LRR tire

 

right foot is the most critical to mpg

my last tank, all in town was 30.1 mpg

i always have sport mode "on"
stay out of boost ... you need a boost gauge to do this and a very light right foot

shift by 2,000 rpm ... i used the carly app (mycarly dot com) to turn on the built in shift indicator ... it shows up in the lower tach display on the far right with an up or down arrow and gear number ... it indicates upshifts between 1800 and 2000 rpm

i installed a milltek downpipe back exhaust
i installed a DOS CAI with optional cowl intake
i removed the muffler in the tubing between the turbo and intercooler
i installed a tyrolsport FMIC
run non ethanol fuel if possible (+4 minimum mpg)

i get 40+ mpg highway at limit + 5-10 mph ... highest ever 41.9 mpg ... 411 miles using 9.800 gallons

in town, shifting at 2500 rpm drops mpg to about 28, shifting at 3000 rpm drops mpg to about 26.5 (again, no boost)

 

to be fair, my worst mpg has been 6.8 mpg ... had to fill up twice in 200 miles

out in the rural areas running the twisties i usually am around 16 mpg ... lots of boost time and high rpm ... i like to stay over 4000 rpm when playing

 

That is something dang few people realize, that high rpm = a stabilizing gyro. Why do you think the big boys downshift into the chicanes?