I have a 2004 S that is meticulously maintained and not modified at all. I drive it like an old person and yet I just realized after going through my gas receipts that I am only getting 17mpg. What is up with that? My friend gets better mileage than that in her V8 Chevy Avalanche.

 

Every now and then I get 20+ mpg on a tank with my MCSC -- but it's rare. MINI owners that say they're in the 28 mpg range and up must know something I don't.

 

Are you actually calculating it by hand or going by the OBC? If your going by the OBC, you need to reset it at each fill up.

 

That much, not bad.

In my '02 MCSm and my '06 MCSm I can get 24 mpg around town and 30 - 33 on an extended highway trip. That is hand calculated, not with the OBC.

On track days I only get 6-8 mpg.

 

I've got 12000 miles on mine now and the OBC reads 26 mpg for that distance. I've never reset it. I keep track of every tankful and the actual calculations vary from 17 low to a high of 31. Highway driving (sometimes at sustained speeds of 85 - not racing just keeping up with traffic) have delivered the higher numbers. 2005 MCS w/JCW. I don't baby it but don't overstress it either. I think your numbers would seem to indicate a problem Rick.

 

27.3 mpg over 3,191 miles at 75% highway at 70-75 mph in my 03 MCS with AC on all the time. I hand calculate at every fill-up (my OBC is a bit off).

Try checking tire pressure, replace air filter, and I add Red Line fuel system cleaner monthly. I'm sure there might be other factors affecting poor gas mileage.

Good luck!

 

I fill up the tank, reset the odometer to zero, then divide the amount of gas it takes to refill into the total mileage I drove during the next refill. I probably need to run a correction ratio for my tire size, though.

 

Interesting thread as I just tried something recently. I've been averaging about 26(roughly 50/50 mix of driving). Having read one of the editorials in this months Car and Driver where they tried different fuel saving tactics on their BMW 330, I tried their 1-3-6 shift sequence on my last tankful and tried to drive moderately, 1/4 throttle input, shifting at 3000 RPM and just filled up today. Trip computer + 30.9, by hand came out to 30.2. Pretty damn impressive I'd say!

 

What's the 1-3-6 shift sequence?

 

I assume he means skipping 2nd, 4th, and 5th, and short-shifting from 1 to 3 to 6, kinda like how my old Z28 would force a 1st-to-4th shift under low RPM part throttle conditions.

 

 

While MPG is somewhat dependant on a number of factors, primarily driving style, I think averaging 17 MPG in a Mini means something is wrong with the car. I've had significant fuel mileage loss on 2 different cars (not the Mini) because a O2 sensor went bad but, in both cases, a indicator light on the dash came on. Suggest taking it to a experienced Mini garage and having them check it out.

Good luck!!

 

We are averaging between 24 - 28 mpg, of course when I don't have fun driving it we get upper 20's and that is hand calculating not going by the obc, and this is in a "S", in our base model, we averaged about 32 mpg, and this is about 50 / 50 hwy driving.

 

i get 19.8 mpg in the city.. but im still in the break in period.

 

OK, I did the math once again, this time with a correction factor for the tire size. What I came up with for my last tank was the following:

Premium 91 octane gas from Chevron.
Total miles driven between fill-ups = 234
Fill-up = Exactly 11.99 gallons
Correction factor for 215/45/17 tires = 4.878%

Corrected miles driven - 234 x 1.04878 = 245.41
245.41/11.99 = 20.478266
Corrected gas mileage is approximately 20.5 MPG

 

Maybe you should replace your air filter. I had numbers like yours, I changed the filter, and now I get 27-31 MPG.

 

Time for a fuel fliter change?

Or would it be too early for that? I think I read to change it every 50k miles, but not too sure if that's too little/much.

 

Strange. On my last fill up couple days ago, I averaged 29mpg and that was with about half in half city and highway driving. And I wasn't driving like an old lady either.

Something must be terribly wrong with your Mini.

 

In a recent post, a similar scenario was corrected with a new Air Filter. Has yours been changed recently?

 

Hmmm...now I see Monk Edsel's post above. Oh well...at least my memory is working.

 

I reset my counter at each fillup. If I go 390 miles on one tank, I've basically done 30 mpg... On the road to MINIs On Top in New Hampshire, I was well over 400 miles on one tank with the A/C all the way. I was happy. :-)

 

Correction factor for 215/45/17 tires = 4.878%

How do you figure a correction for tire size? I have 205/45/17

 

my milage has gone from mid 20s to high teens to high 20s and back and I have no idea why..... even with all the mods we were looking at very high 20s yesterday on the interstate over 125 mi...... high teens for a stock car means something is wrong..... I would make a trip to the dealer for a check out especially at $3.15 and up

 

I've gone through a few tanks of gas since and have been averaging 24 to 26mpg. I may have made a mistake when I computed the first time - probably pushed the reset button on the odometer after driving a while. The last tank of gas was all freeway miles and average nearly 38!

 

good god, this makes me wonder. i've NEVER gotten more than 330 miles on a tank, and that was very mild interstate cruising and coasting into the gas station runnin' on fumes...