Any suggestions? I try to drive conservatively but all I ever get is one star and the fish is always sad. And since that resets every time I turn off the car then I cannot advance any further.

Please provide some tips!

 

MINIs should be driven to kill that fish and get it floating belly-up.

 

Believe me, I drive SPORT a lot, but while commuting in traffic I rather use the GREEN mode, but it's not quite satisfying to ride watching that poor fish looking depressed.

 

Well, you earn the stars pretty slowly, so if you're only ever doing short commutes, it won't get very high up.

If I do about ~10 miles of city driving I can usually get 3 stars in each, it takes 25+ typically in a single go to hit all 5.

My tips: Acceleration, just go pretty slow. Not usually an issue if you're in traffic between lights, but it definitely wants you to go slower than I would ever go on my own. The hard part is going to be merging onto a highway, I almost always lose stars when doing so unless its a super long ramp with no one behind me. Might also annoy others, but whatever, let them pass =)

Anticipation: Coast, a lot. The road I drive on mostly is a 40mph max speed, with lights every 1/4 mile or so. I usually get up to 40mph and then let off the gas and coast to the next light. Braking without coasting always drops your stars, or prevents you from earning them. You'll also need to remember back to Driver's Ed and the idea of 'stale greens' where if a light is green, assume it'll go red soon and coast towards it. You can lose all 5 Anticipation stars if you have to hit the brakes hard to make a surprise red.
Along those same lines, follow with a good bit of distance from the car in front of you (probably not an issue, you were accelerating super slow anyhow!), so if they suddenly hit the brakes you aren't slamming yours. You'll also get people cutting into your lane when you leave that gap, but accept that, and coast to build up another gap.

Shifting: I don't have a manual, so I don't have this and can't give tips =)


That said, there's actually a different MINImalism analyzer and fish if you have a smart phone plugged in and are on the MINI Connected App. Its all blue colored instead of green, and works a bit differently. You start at 3 stars and earn/lose from there, and instead of getting just the +miles, you get green score, and it averages your score over 5km segments and compares you to others and has a running high score list! You may enjoy that one more if you have access to it =)

 

The tip above... 1000X!

Acceleration is relatively easy to master, but the anticipation gets me every time!

I thought there would be something special when you got 5stars for both... but alas, merely a happy sea creature. A toothy smile would be funny!

 

Sorry, but I just read this thread with a slack jaw and a look of complete disbelief.

Trying really hard not to hijack this thread, and until now I was staying out of the "Gen3 has ruined the MINI" discussion, but please, PLEASE tell me you can turn this feature off!!! Or at the very least never have to see it if you don't want to.

I know some people get into this kind of thing, but I'm not one of them. Before anyone takes offense, we are all MINI drivers and that's all that really matters.

 

dongood... your little freakout is hilarious in how unnecessary it is =)
Its the green mode feature. The Gen3s have 3 selectable modes, mid (default), sport, and green. So not only can you turn it off... you can choose to never turn it on. And even if you do switch to green mode, you don't have to turn the screen on to show the fish if you don't want to! The modes change the power profile, steering response, transmission shift points in automatic, and climate output. All optional.

 

I knew I overreacted, had to share anyway.

Glad it was taken the way I meant, and that you confirmed that this is a green mode only thing.

It's actually cool that MINI is catering to several markets now, and the Gen3 will probably be my next MINI.

Now back to making that fish happy ;-)

 

Who cares about the stupid fish. Mine never sees Green mode. Life is too short to worry about fish.

 

"Your way of driving is bad! My way of driving is better! Stop enjoying your fish mode! Hrmph!"

I don't get the automatic green-mode hate. Have you tried driving in sports mode when in a line of 35 cars at a stop light? Its friggin' aggravating! So quick to accelerate just to have to let off half a second later because you'd just hit the person in front of you anyhow. Green mode tones the car down to what I find to be a more pleasant driving experience in heavy traffic on city streets. And, because yes, its not as "fun" driving in green mode, it gives you a little fish with stars to keep things interesting, and then lets you know how many miles you've gained by being in green mode, which you can then burn off for free in sports mode when traffic allows!

Let us enjoy our damn fish!

 

If my justa had a fish, im sure it would be belly up... Who cares?! Lol Still a helluva lot better mileage than my F150 or my 06 Hemi Charger....

 

^^^^^This^^^^^^

 

Actually I think the fish is a little corny but I think it's cool that they try to make driving more fuel efficiently fun. My wife will love it. As a gamer I appreciate what they're trying to do.

That said, it would be great if you could kill it by driving aggressively!

 

It would be totally awesome if it gave you a Radiohead bonus track! Or a message from Thom Yorke saying "Way to go, mate!"

You've got great taste in cruising music!

 

HAH! Hail to the Thief is such a great album! I think Thom Yorke's voice would be creepy-awesome! :-)

I should start another thread about MINI cruising music. I have some eclectic tastes in that regard (Philip Glass's older stuff for one, is AWESOME lose your mind (in a good way) cruising music)

 

I like the fishy and think it will be very entertaining in heavy traffic. Once the traffic opens up its going to be back to sport mode for me. This car in sport mode will still get better mpg than my present vehicle. :-)

 

Can someone post a picture of this fish. I have no idea what people are talking about.

 

LOL, picture was two posts before yours https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...22-post14.html

 

I see it now, it wasn't showing up for me yesterday.

 

Treat it like a game, play if you want to. You might as well have something to do when stuck in traffic. I am more of a sport mode guy, but if I had to travel in heavy traffic everyday.... I think I would make it a game to keep that fish pissed off all the time.

 

The only thing that stupid little fish did was making me want to punch it in its stupid little fish-face. Kudos to anyone who can and and enjoys the fish game; I don't have the patience.

Matt

 

I never go into green mode. Problem solved.

 

Do you have MC or MCS?
A/T or Manual?
What kind of MPG figures are you seeing on the dash?

 

"My green mode fish pet is never happy :( "


The title of this thread is the funniest thing in a long time.

Good luck with the fish, it takes time and green mode slowness.

 

Likewise. I don't have the make up for green mode.