I read the news from MotoringFile.

Hardtop, automatic
R56: 28 mpg city / 31 mpg combined / 36 mpg highway
F56 2014: 29 mpg city / 34 mpg combined / 41 mpg highway
F56 2015: 28 mpg city / 31 mpg combined / 37 mpg highway

How is this even possible? It should be exact same numbers (2015 vs 2014) in real life though, right? Then this pretty much means they lied in 2014, and now need to cover their @ss.

I thought the 3 cylinder turbo engine was more efficient than Prince engine or whatever it was before. At least the performance is not too bad thanks to the turbo that works immediately.

 

I saw and thought the same as you. I had to clean my glasses twice to really believe what I was reading, and thought I am not reading this correctly. Thank goodness you raised the flag on this one. I am speechless. Unbelievable......no wonder the certification took so long. The MPG should not have change from 2014 to 2015. You are correct, the MPG for 2014 must have not have been correct from the get go.

 

I thought there was something wrong with my driving because these are the numbers I've been getting the past month since I've been keeping track. I thought I was driving too hard but this makes sense (at least for me).

 

I have just over 10,000 miles on my 2014 F56 3 cyl and the car tells me I"m averaging 40.4 mpg over that mileage. When I calculate mpg by dividing miles by gallons, I'm usually at 40 +/- 2 mpg. My lowest mpg has been ~34 and highest 44.

I'm not a particularly aggressive driver and a lot of the miles are highway miles.

 

You have 10,000 miles in 2 and a half months? That's impressive

 

Here's a guess on what happened. I'm thinking maybe it's related to the latest software update.

In this thread, users (Magic Eye, emilyanny4u) reported a total failure with a "BANG!!" while driving, and then the dealer updates the software and call it a day.

In this thread, several users (sal1k, misterbl) reported that with the new software udpate, it feels like it's no longer freewheeling (coasting) in Green mode.

I think they are related to each other, and there's something really wrong with the software in the 2014. It used to be better at saving gas, now after the update, it no longer coasts and fuel economy would suffer for sure. That would explain why you guys got good numbers in the past couple months.

One of the reason I ordered a 2015 Hardtop is because the fuel economy. The new low EPA estimates won't stop be from getting a MINI, but it's a huge disappointment to see all these problems and lower EPA numbers. It just shows how their software has not been tested thoroughly enough.

 

If you want an affordable car with gas mileage - buy a Honda Fit

I have a F56 justa on order because I want driving excitement.

 

This is very concerning to hear since I own a 2014 F56. I would like to hear an official response to why the mpg varies so greatly and if the new numbers are what I can expect in the long run. I haven't received the software update yet, so it doesn't sound like I will be affected until my car goes in for service. I'm sure BMW isn't happy about the lower numbers either.

 

There's no way you're gonna average 41mpg in a Mini on the highway I don't care if you're in the "green mode" or not. 35 maybe not 41. The Justa is turbocharged now, it probably gets the same gas mileage as the R56 non turbo.

 

If you want driving excitement I hope you have ordered the dynamic chassis control at the least! Having the suspension stiffen and the steering weighten (ok that may not be a word) adds a bit of a thrill - without it, the car feels like an A3 diesel :O
I'm definitely waiting for some performance upgrades from Mini!

 

those numbers are for the S, the justa is 23/33/40 for manual and 28/31/37 for the auto

 

I'm retired and bought my car to drive! I live outside Denver and have driven to Nebraska, South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Nevada and Utah. Columbus Day weekend I'm driving to Taos, NM. Thanksgiving I'm driving to visit my son in San Antonio and then going thru west Texas. I'll spend 2 weeks at Christmas driving to Arizona and Joshua Tree National Park.

BTW, on the San Antonio trip I'll be establishing the F56 3 cyl 6 speed MT MPG record. I'll be driving from Denver east on I-70 then south on I-35 on cruise control at 65 mph in 6th gear. I'll also be dropping about 5,000 feet in altitude, which is kind of cheating.

 

Joshua Tree is awesome. If you have time do the hike at Cottenwood Springs.

 

Here are my results from the first couple of weeks of ownership. The total average is 39.5 mpg. There is some serious mountain driving in here.


Date Location Miles Gallons MPG
07/18/14 Montrose, CO 283.6 6.818 41.5957758874
07/19/14 Cortez, CO 291 7.256 40.1047409041
07/20/14 Fruita, CO 323.1 8.828 36.5994562755
07/20/14 Rawlins, WY 364.6 9.31 39.1621911923
07/23/14 Boulder, CO 367.5 8.901 41.287495787
07/25/14 Boulder, CO 324.2 8.379 38.6919680153
07/27/14 Cheyenne, WY 357.9 8.935 40.055959709
07/30/14 Boulder, CO 381.9 9.833 38.8386046985
08/01/14 Casper, WY 277.8 6.918 40.156114484
08/01/14 Red Lodge, MT 363.4 9.51 38.2124079916
08/03/14 Idaho Falls, ID 411.7 9.531 43.1958871052
08/03/14 Twin Falls, ID 349.7 8.632 40.5120481928
08/04/14 Salt Lake City, UT 299.4 8.094 36.990363232
08/04/14 Grand Junction, CO 283.1 7.505 37.7215189873

Total 4678.9 118.45 39.5010552976

Edited for format.

 

Best I have gotten on straight hwy driving in green mode F56 S Auto- is 38.18 mpg
421 miles on 11.03 gallons

 

Awesome.. although very hard to read here. lol. Why don't you try a app called Fuelly? You store your miles online, and it's very easy to use.
Here's my Mazda CX-5 fuelly page for example.

Also, when doing cross country, you'll see some places have 0% ethanol. When I had my Elantra 2007, I saw up to 10% difference on MPG. 36 MPG when using 0% ethanol, 33 MPG with 10% ethanol, all highway miles at that time. I don't know how bad of an effect it has on a turbo engine, but I hate ethanol blends. Really wonder why they mandate them.

 

I edited my post for format. Should be easier to read.

 

I did on a highway-exclusive 500 trip.

 

Recently did a 200mile road trip, light traffic, cruise set at 65mph and saw 41.7mpg at the end - not bad!

 

I'm at 11,000 miles and 3 months in myself.

 

Spoke to someone with an engineering background at Mini today and he said the reason for the change in EPA numbers is:
1. EPA changed the way they do testing between 2014 and 2015. He said they have been doing this a lot more often lately with all the new electric/hybrid cars.
2. EPA lumped the 2 door and 4 door hardtops into the same category, so with the 4 door weighing a little more it skewed the numbers.
3. The S models have a new SULEV engine (as said in the MotoringFile article above).