Yeah, so it started as these things do with attraction to the outer physical look, I drooled over pictures, built fantasy cars, got up the courage to finally drive a Mini. It took my breath away, I knew I had to own it. The first few month were both rocky and exhilarating, we found new roads, got my first speeding ticket in many years, battled out the early sensor problems. As time progressed we have settled into a comfortable relationship. The last 5000 miles have been trouble free and more importantly a hole lot of fun. Last weekend I took my son from LA to Sacramento, a normally daunting road trip became a real pleasure.

The Automatic Transmission is versatile and a wonderful engineering feat. With the paddle shifter it is as rip roaring sporty as I want, and slipping into full auto it become seamless in LA traffic jams.

The low MPG had me worried to start, until I discovered they are completely under my control. When I want i can get 26-29 MPG and when I get the urge to act like a cheese-eating-teen-ager I can drop them to 16MPG. now thats versatile

Any way, all this just to say... I Love My Mini.

 

The MINI's auto tranny is great, I love being able to shift with the paddles or with the shifter, and the shift points for non-sporting mode are still biased towards sport. Most auto trannys I've driven usually try to get into overdrive as quickly as possible for fuel economy, but the MINI will stay in the powerband. even at steady sub-55mph cruising it will stay in 5th gear when it could easily pull 6th and often I'll 'manually' upshift if I'm looking to stretch my MPG. Some have complained about their auto being jumpy on downshifts, mine will do that sometimes in SPORT mode but never in normal mode. My clutch foot's been getting a workout for the past 20 years, it's due for some rest...

 

I can figure the low MPG is due to hard driving in manual mode, but how do you go about getting your best MPG in the auto? I ask becuase I just got done ordering mine, and even though I've been here a while I haven't heard anyone discuss how they get those high MPGs.

 

I've had my MCSa for 15,000 miles and almost a year now. I too love it, love it, love it. For the kind of driving I generally do a manual just isn't practical.

As for mileage, when I want to maximize it I put it in manual mode and shift at low RPMs. In all city driving I can get 26 mpg this way - that's truly all city, no freeway with plenty of stop and go including a daily wait in line to drop off the munchkin - ~15 minutes to crawl 1/4 of a mile.

When I drive in my normal spirited manner I get 20 to 22 mpg including the above wait in line, and on long highway trips I get 33 mpg @70 mph but it drops off quickly if I go faster.

Again, for me at least the key to high mileage is to shift early. I have a 17% pulley, cold air intake and MTH Tuner software. I'll have my JCW injectors and exhaust put on soon am an interested to see if this affects the mileage under normal driving conditions.

 

Today marks my first full week in my MCSa and I am completely content with the auto, plus it's great fun to drive in manual. I measured 33.6 mpg driving 70-75 (and up to 90 every now & then to seat the rings) on the interstate and am getting 23-26 around town while "showing off" the MINI's acceleration occasionally for friends. I was worried about mileage after reading posts here before getting my car...and elated that I get more than EPA sticker estimates considering the "spirited" driving I'm doing.

 

very nice. ive yet to try the MCSa, but the CVT was a lot of fun on the
MC.

 

It is a very fun car, glad to hear you're really enjoying it

I do not know how you guys work the mileage though, I just cannot find it in myself to shift like that