For comparison : My 2k2 S with Headers, borla exhaust ,flywheel, BMP intake got up to 39mpg average pre shark and 32 since the shark. That’s combined HW and Street. When At the track my avergae drops to the low/mid 20's

At one point I was getting around 20mpg when I first got the S but after software updates from the dealer my MPG drastically improved?

I only use 93/94 gas here in boston

Hope that helps.

 

WalkerJ,

Lightened flywheel by chance? Do you think that has had a positive effect upon your MPG?

 

I would think that would HAVE to increase mileage.

 

Just for kicks, add a bottle of Techron (Chevron product used to clean fuel injectors) at your next fill-up and watch what happens to your mileage. It will go through the roof.

See ya,
JS

 

That must be some shanty roof!

TacoTim and OmToast: This is my first time hearing about the efficiency level of the small engines at 3k rpm. It sounds really neat! I'm definitely going to adjust my driving to shift a bit later than usual just to get to the 3-ish range more often, shift and see what kind of mileage I get. Can this be the reason why the 6-speed is setup so that at 70mph, the engine spins at 3000rpm? Was it setup in a way to deal with both US and Euro customers? At 3k, it's slightly above 65mph limit and slightly lower than the 130kmh european limit. Just random thoughts..

 

No offense to the related posters, but I'm having a hard time believing the whole 3KRPM-efficiency thing. I have been tinkering with different shifting points, and by far (I mean, by like 20% at least) keeping revs at or just below 2000 RPM makes the mileage skyrocket. 3000 revs ain't bad as far as mileage goes, but as long as you're not totally ******* it (i.e. shifting at like 1200 revs), it seems to me that slower engine speeds=better mileage. I'm certainly open to contrarian comments, though!

 

Stop driving it so hard I have the pulley, exhaust, and intake. I drive pretty hard pretty often, but when I'm just putting around I shift between 2 and 3K. I do mostly city driving and still get an average of 23. Like these guys said, try lowering your shift points to between 2 and 3K.

 

For whatever it's worth, I also have the intake, pulley and magnaflow and I drive it hard all the time. I shift way up there and rarely cruise below 4500 rpm... I average a VERY consistent 23-25 MPG. I don't baby it at all...drive it like I'm on fire!

On the track I average 6.1 MPG but clearly that is a whole different universe

 

How's your tire pressure? You might try upping it a bit. I know it improved my mileage.

 

I don't get this I never shift before 4k. I try and keep it between 3 and 4k in any gear during normal driving and I get 28+ (that's including numurous WOT runs). Mods: Rogue CAI, Borla Race, not counting the suspension mods. 6.1mpg at the race track? That's what a full blown dedicated 600hp race car gets (or a fully loaded semi-tractor trailer). Something not adding up right.

_________________

 

<<<it seems to me that slower engine speeds=better mileage. I'm certainly open to contrarian comments, though!>>>

Yep. Me too. And then I started running it at 3500 and getting better fuel economy. And I was confused and thought I was going nuts, so I talked to my dear Leif and was told that the engine (and he said actually most small, modern engines) were calibrated to run most efficiently at and just above 3k. And since my MPG seem to agree with him--and because it's more fun anyway--I'm going to believe him.

 

At 5800 miles my stock MCS has averaged 27 mpg, calculated, avg speed in the low 40s. The OBC has averaged 3 mpg optimistic. The best milage to date was on a recent run from Crossville to Nashville w/2 passengers. The OBD said 36 (assume 33 actual) and the average speed was 70+. It's also downhill most of the way. This quickly dropped as I got back into the daily drive. Just a little stop & go kills the milage. Like most, I wish it were better but it's not worth a trip to the dealer.

BTW - does anyone know how the OBC figures milage?

 

All,

Have been following this thread with interest. Checked my MPG readout and found that I've been averaging 27.0 MPG since September 1. My car is a MCS with a pulley and the Evotech ECU upgrade. No intake or exhaust modifications. The driving has exclusively been surburban commuting with lots of stop lights. Rare 5 mile freeway jaunts. My driving habits are similar to SILVER and couple of others: keep the RPM's close to 3000 RPM and 2nd gear most of the time in town, with as many 4000 and 5000 RPM bursts as I can legally and safely squeeze in. I'm having a ball and not babying the car excessively.

Do wonder about the accuracy of the onboard monitoring systems.

Happy motoring,

John Petrich in Seattle

 

I find it so hard to believe that you have to "adjust my driving" to shift later than usual to get to the 3-ish range. How can you shift a FOUR cylinder engine before 3k RPMs???

 

Hey Greatgro, that's a great post because I was just about to talk about what you just said. I've been driving around a lot today and have been shifting past 3k and before 4k most of the time. Sometimes I would take it higher but whatever the case, I noticed (like you said) that I barely need to touch my pedal to get the car accelerating swiftly, it's quite a dramatic difference. While I didn't really have to dip my foot in much in the usual method (below 3k), the difference is still very apparent. Oh and acceleration wasn't really a problem shifting before 3k, I think the pulley helped solidify that style tremendously. It's interesting to see that even though the engine is spinning much faster, it isn't consuming as much gas simply because the throttle input is just that much less.
After at least a few tanks or in a month I'll tell you guys if there was any change as far as mileage as well. What a neat topic!

 

I'm really stumped.... my MCS has 1400 miles on it. I've been getting only about 15mpg since new. The last tank my mileage dropped to 12MPG (152 miles for a full tank) and that was city driving, very conservative, all shifting around 3-4K, partial AC use, 91 octane. After that, I made my appt with the dealer to have it checked out.

Then my power disappeared! I previously could get to about 50mph in first gear (to redline), and now I'm lucky to hit 38mph. The power band seems to be flat after 3500 (lacks the punch).

At the dealer today, I was told everything was normal!!!!
After making a huge scene, I took the tech for a test drive to display the lack of power. He didn't seem to notice or agree that it was not responsive enough. So, He said he'd reprogram the DMC and that it may take a few days for the software changes to 'kick in'.

I continued to insist that someone else address my issue. The Service manager then test drove it with me, hooked it up to the diagnostics machines and said he could not find any errors. We left it that he would call BMW to see if they had any answers. Nobody could give me an explaination of the low mileage.

So, they told me to fill up a full tank, drive 25 miles and refill to see how many gallons it was using. To my surprise, I drove 24.1 miles and refilled with .95 gallons, that's 25.4mpg!

Is it possible that the reprogramming of the DMC (if he actually did change something???) could really make this difference? Is it true that it could take a few days for the software to fully adjust? I'd be happy if this worked... But I still don't have my power back. It feels really slow, sluggish and doesn't jump when I press the gas, like it previously did! Could this improve?

I just don't know what to do.


Oh, by the way, when I mentioned the first gear stumble issue (which in my car disappeared when I installed the Alta Intake) the service advisor said "Oh, that's a known software issue. It takes 2-3 days to send the ECU to New Jersey to have it reprogrammed."

 

>>
>>I find it funny my current car, 2002 Vette 6 speed with a gigantic
>>5.7L V8, get's 28MPG on the highway @ 75MPH and (driving it carefully) 19MPG
>>in the city.


I agree,

My 2002 Z06 Corvette also gets about 28 highway and it has 405 hp stock. Though I do a mix of city and highway driving, I probably average about 20.

My 2003 M3 averaged about 19.

My 2003 MCS (completely stock) averages about 26.

RaceCarDrier

 

Okay guys, I've been maintaining a record of my own gas milage and my Mini's gas milage (our calculations... ***). On average, the car's computer came up about 2 mpg off, sometimes going as high as 4 mpg off and on one occasion as low as .9 mpg off...

I usually shift around 4k, but I might try closer to 3k if that'll improve my milage (Currently I'm getting about 22 mpg, with highs (28) and lows (19) in my stock MCS). My real question is if I upgrade my exhaust, intake, or pulley will that imporve milage? What other upgrades will improve gas milage? I really like the perfomance of my Mini, but I like to taunt my friends with things like gas milage.

 

The 3000 shift being better for mpg. Think about this, peak torque is at 4k, this would be at wide open throttle. Reducing that to part throttle should shift the torque peak down the scale. So lets assume the peak torque for a part throttle is around 3k. Torque is what moves your car, not HP. Torque is a unit of force.HP gives you top speed, it is a unit of work being done. So if you shift and cruise in an rmp range that has good torque, it will take less throttle to move the car at a given speed. So the 3k rmp thing could be true.

More food for thought, I just got back from a road trip over the weekend. On the way down we ran 70 ish and it was cooler. 1. this put us at about 3k rmp. 2. no ac. we got 32 on the way down. On the way home we ran more at 80 and with the AC on. Got 28.6 mpg. It seems to me the AC sucks a lot of power out of that motor.

 

There's a problem with measuring to and from gas mileage on road trips. One way is opposite the other. So one direction could have been more downhill while the return is more uphill. i guess this logic would fly out the window in say a desert in New Mexico.

 

Per the OBC, my 2004 MCS with 500+ mile on the odo is doing 22.4MPG on strict city driving. Not bad. I am expecting gas mileage to improve once the car passes the 1,250 mile mark. I use the A/C all the time.

 

>>Per the OBC, my 2004 MCS with 500+ mile on the odo is doing 22.4MPG on strict city driving. Not bad. I am expecting gas mileage to improve once the car passes the 1,250 mile mark. I use the A/C all the time.

I'm getting 20.9 with 17MPH on my 2004MCS.. Sounds about right.. I do not use the AC and I've been reving the car up to 4G's on occaision. On the highway, I'm getting 34MPG avg 72MPH cruising in 6th gear. Much better than the '03 5sp MC.