Some things are worth paying for...



When I filled up* earlier in the week, Tuesday, I decided to try to see how high I could get my mpg in town. So, I've been hypermiling ever since until, however, this afternoon.

I was going crazy trying to be pokey and easy on the gas. It was an interesting challenge at first. But driving was starting loosing it's appeal. I think I was getting markedly depressed. I do not understand how people can drive like this all the time. Ok, I guess can understand if they have a Ford Taurus, or some other equally boring car and have already given up on ever having fun again. I had had enough hypermiling as soon as I felt my love of driving start to slip.

Before I reverted to my old ways I filled up and recorded my mpg for this 4 day hypermiling experiment. I went 76.1 miles on 2.831 gallons of gas, that's 26.88mpg. Driving as I normally do will usually net anywhere from 22mpg to 25mpg**. The savings from a changed driving style net a signifigant 5mpg (city only) gain over my usual 22 to 25mpg, albeit at the cost of my sanity, love of driving, and risk of depression.

These are things I am not willing to risk. Therefore, I will continue running to redline in first gear and will keep the revs above 3,000rpm all the time. If keeping my sanity, love of driving, and feelings of being alive mean a 5mpg loss, then I accept.


Notes:
*91 octaine Mobil 1 from same station, fill tank to first click each time, all figures were recorded with current steel rims and Nokian V tires, curb weight of vehicle was unchanged.

**Prior mpg data was accrued over more than 6 years of ownership on varied variables... No highway time though. Road trip mpgs averaged upper 30's

 

Makes sense.....MINIs do have multiple personalities, I think, and different folks will want to explore those in different ways. To me, driving a MINI with strong mpg capabilities is right in character w/ the car's heritage and I love it. Fun and frugality???...good stuff!!

I drive around town a lot and, traffic being what it is, aggressive motoring is pointless, but in a MINI can still be easily employed as need calls for it. Very simple hypermiling in my manual R56 Cooper easily yields over 40 mpg in city driving.....my OBC is usually reading up around 43 mpg or more. If I venture on to the highway, I'm up around 46 mpg. It does require a slightly diffferent driving style and greater awareness of traffic signals/conditions, but that is something I find very engaging.

In a time when manufacturers brag about getting 27 mpg, 2nd gen Coopers give the hybrids or Smarts a run for their money. Those bragging rights can be a rewarding aspect of MINI ownership. Add it to the list.

 

Yeah, I didn't buy this car for amazing mileage- I bought it because it is fun to drive, AND gives good fuel economy. The other sports cars I've had punish you severely for spirited driving. The MCS not so much.
I just drove from Baltimore, 410 miles on just over a tank including some spirited city driving around the city center (roundabouts and stuff) and making sure the speedo had 3 digits on the turnpike. Averaged 33.5 and was near 40 until I goofed around. It's hard to beat that with a fun car.

 

I've tried the same thing with each MINI for a tank, with varying degrees of success. Its really really boring driving like that, so I give up and drive like I want.

 

So how does this 26.88mpg city compare to other R53 owners? 2nd gen owners are lucky because of their fuel economy potential.

 

Best I managed in the R53 was 26.2, that's town and a short (6mile) freeway commute. 26.9 in town is pretty good if you ask me (I couldn't match it).

For comparison:

04 R50: 28.0
07 R56: 31.0
08 R56s: 31.9

 

Yes, but you are lucky to have that amazing steering!!!

 

I actually do this quite frequently just for the great savings on gas. I too typically average 22-23 with "normal" driving. But babying it I've managed to get it to 27.6mpg that is mostly city with a SHORT 1 mile hop on the freeway, and then about 5 more miles to work with mostly 50mph speed limits. The thing that KILLS my gas mileage is coming home I have to climb 800ft in elevation over 1 mile up a hill to my house. If engines were 100% efficient this wouldn't be a problem as going down the hill would equal it out, but we have not made engines that efficient yet

I know that I could reach 28 mpg city with my R53 if I didn't have the hill.

Now as for upper 30s highway?!?! HOW? The BEST I've managed on highway was 31.5 when I got the car a year ago, and now I can't get it over 30.5 This is cruise control on at ~ 70 mph. If I bump it up to 75 I get between 28.5 and 29...I don't understand. I think part of it may be my sticky 215 series tires...but how could you get 36 even?

 

Here's my mileage. I am now at 56,000 miles, so I need to update the spreadsheet and make a new plot. Seems I've been averaging ~25 mpg recently since I got new tires and wheels. This is mostly mixed city (2/3) and highway (1/3).

 

Ha, you have an upward linear trend and I have a downward trend





And this one, is mph vs mpg, though I took out the track days as that would mess up these results.

 

Interesting! I'll keep mine though!

(It looks like you had a couple of pretty intense track days.)

 

I'm lucky to average over 21mpg in city driving. If I really baby it I can get maybe 22-23.

 

I'll keep my R56. I did notice a difference when I changed tires last year, though. Although they were supposedly the same OEM size, just NRF vs. RF, my mileage went from a steady 33.4 to a 31.0 to 31.5 range. Engine RPM went up at the same time--from a dependable 3000 rpm/70 mph to 3200/70. Same location, climate, gas stations, octane, etc. And as far as I could tell, the same way of driving, too. Fortunately I am seeing a change back to my former numbers.

It is just possible that the decrease in mileage coincided with an increase in ethanol. Our pumps are only required to state that "up to 10%" is ethanol, but we have no way of knowing exactly how much. If we go one county up we can get non-ethanol gas, but it's out of my way to do that. Hubby gets it, though, and can tell a significant difference in his car. He can get 28 mpg with his BMW 530--same weather, location, blah, blah.

I'm just not into hypermiling. I guess if I drove a soulless Stupid Useless Vehicle, a little less soul wouldn't matter. I'm not willing to make that sacrifice with the MINI, though--the turbo is too much fun! Besides, hypermiling can cause the people behind you to pull out their collective hair, too.

 

195 series tires designed for low rolling resistance, cruise control off, 70mph, drafting a semi truck at close (dangerous) range.

 

If I do nothing but my commute to/from work for a tank I will get 22-23 MPG. It is 3.3 miles each way with 12 stop lights one direction and 13 the other way. And I usually have to stop at 7-9 of them each way. North East San Jose/Milpitas, CA. Loves their stop lights and they are on a combined demand and timer system so sometimes they turn red even when there is not a car waiting to go. If I do some freeway driving in combination with my commute I average 26-27mpg.

I just drove down to Santa Barbara this past weekend (300 miles) and got 38 (hand computed) mpg for purely freeway driving doing the speed limit. had a horrible headwind on the way home yesterday and mileage went down to 31mpg. I have fun driving and don't hypermile. All in all I am very happy. better mileage both city and freeway than my 4 cylinder Honda Accord I traded in on my MINI. Not mention a LOT more fun to drive than the Honda.

 

I tried something like this a few months back and only really got about a 2 or 3 mpg increase. For me this just wasn't enough incentive as Ferris just wasn't fun to drive anymore. For a while it was kind of interesting to see how far I could push the mileage but after a while I just couldn't take it anymore.

For normal daily driving I usually get around 30-31 mpg on a tank of gas and that's good enough for me.