When cruising around town I try and stay at about 2k rpm. I am wondering if this hurts the car? Could I go lower without harming anything? It doesn't lug at 2k and mileage looks best there. This is a non S car. This equates to 40mph in forth gear and 30ish in 3rd.

I searched and didn't find anything on this topic - this surprised me.

>>

 

2k RPM is fine... actually, I find the Cooper has enough "go" at 2k RPM in dense-ish traffic for me to have enough passing power, still. When cruising (65km/h) I regularly let it sit at 1800 RPM or so.

 

I have an S and usually cruise around 2200-2600 and shift when I get to around 3000 rpm. -when driving more spirited I bring the rpm's up much higher of course.

 

I am doing 35mph in the mornings in 5th driving down the street here.....

 

I don't know about an S, but 2200-2600 RPM cruising seems a bit high.

I don't aim for the 1100 RPM cruising you get in an automatic, but 1600-2000 RPM seems reasonable to me.

I did a borderline lug once, turning left uphill. Put it into 4th from 3rd instead of into 2nd, so I turn, get on in, and the "gadunk-gadunk-dadunk" grumble grumble grumble at 800 RPM until I picked up some speed. Wasn't a lug, but it wasn't far off. If you lug the engine, you'll know! Low-RPM grumbling is not the same as lugging. If you lug a vehicle, it'll feel like the engine is filled with dynamite. Most modern cars' ECUs will prevent this in all but the most extreme cases, though.

 

Anything above 2,100 rpms, and I shift(unless acceleration is the objective). I try to let it cruise around 1,900 rpms.

 

Anything between idle and redline is acceptable, however YMMV!

 

Haven't had any troubles cruising around town in my automatic (manual mode) at 40mph in sixth. No bogging whatsoever.

 

It's a bit different in an automatic because of the torque converter. That's why an automatic car can happily idle away, in gear, with your foot on the brake and the car stationary.

Now, I don't know whether the OP drives auto or standard; I just assumed the latter. Thus your post might be more useful than mine..!

 

When cruising, I put mine in 6th at any speed as long as it doesn't drop below 1000 rpm. While negotiating traffic, I put it in a gear that keeps it over 4000 rpm.

As said, any rpm between idle and redline is ok.

 

what he said

 

With cruise control set at 70 mph in 6th gear, I'm turning right at 3000 rpms. That seems high to me. Most of my driving is on the interstate hwy. I wonder how my little engine will hold up over the years?

 

i get my best mpg a lil over or around 3000

 

2000 is fine. I drive my non-S six speed exactly this way. Normal shift rpm for me is about 2500, which puts me at about 2000 in the next gear, and so on. When I reach my cruising gear, I'll cruise at about 2000 rpm, maybe slightly more. If more spirited acceleration is warranted of course I shift at higher rpm.

 

It's not a problem. Most 4 bangers are geared to run at much higher Rs than V8s. (My pick-up turns 1650 at 70mph in 5th). It's how well you maintain your engine that will determine it's longevity.

 

gas mileage is good if u kept thing constant, 2k rpm is ok... but occasionally (once or twice in one driving session) hv to gun it hard to make slow carbon build-up

 

I guess auto transmission will take care of RPMs itself - it follows factory approved modes, so this is manual transmission related topic I guess.

I see two things here - 1) lubrication pressure and 2) smooth acceleration.

First one is more important 'cause if you keep engine at low RPMs you might expose it to low oil pressure and premature wear.

I do not know what kind of oil pump the mini has, if it is electric and maintains oil pressure independently from engine speed, - that's one story. But if it is engine speed dependent I would not recomment to cruise at low RPMs.

Personally, I downshift when engine speed goes lower than 2000 rpms. I upshift at ~3000 rpms so that RPMs do not drop lower than 2000. This is for relaxed type of driving.

For spirited one I add some RPMs.

User manual for my Honda mentioned two sets of optimal shift speeds for cruising and acceleration by the way. Haven't seen anything like this for Minis.

 

My MCS 2008 has a shift indicator for traffic and it has recommended anywhere between 2000-2200 RPM. If you shift alittle bit higher your gas mileage shall suffer but on the other hand if you say that you enjoy driving in the 2000-3000 RPM you may save a bit on the clutch because your not shifting as much.

 

Low *cruising* RPM is fine from an oil-pressure standpoint, because even though the oil pressure might not be very high, the load on the engine bearings is *very* low during steady-speed cruising.

Now, if you habitually whack the throttle wide open while cruising along at 2000 RPM in 6th gear, you might run into long-term problems, because the load on the engine bearings is going to spike way up with no associated immediate rise in oil pressure. But if you downshift out of 6th before any heavy acceleration, the oil pressure will take care of itself.