I have about 1800 miles on my new '06 MCS, and so far I am very dismayed at the mileage I'm getting. The OBC for my current tank, driven almost all in San Francisco, shows 16.6 mpg I swear I do not have a lead foot!

Now, I realize that the MINI (at least the R53) is not a super economy vehicle. But this just seems ridiculous, and I read of other similar cars getting far better mileage.

Could my fellow SF people share their mileage with me, so I can figure out if something might be wrong with my car?

 

I question the OBC. For the true MPG-calculate it manually. That is the most accurate way for me.

 

Yes, I realize that the OBC is not completely accurate. I have hand calculated prior tanks before and the mpg is very close to the OBC.

My question is really for other folks who do a lot of driving in SF to compare mpg.

 

Stop and go, and especially uphill traffic will kill your mpg... my MCS gets around 34mpg on the freeway, 28-30 mpg mixed driving, and 24 mpg around town (but I don't have the stop and go, hills, and clutch riding that you would in the city.

Automatics get a little worse mileage than standard transmission, but at least you can drive them on hills.

 

mine averages 28mpg and I'm driving up and down thru Guadalupe Canyon from home to work. I thought my 02's mpg is pretty good...I do have a lead foot.

One more thing though...avg. speed during my commute is 40mph which probably helps some. If I was doing REAL City driving at like 25 mph up and down the hills we have, I could imagine getting the mpg your gettin.

 

Got any mods Kristina?

I've a 15% pulley, CAI and exhaust. besides the pulley, I think the CAI (cold air intake) and exhaust might help my mpg some, in very little way.

 

Nothing wrong with your car ... I've gotten as low as 17 MPG on a tank when doing all my driving on the streets of SF. According to my OBC I only averaged 15 MPH on that tank. I get over 30 MPG on road trips to Oregon.

 

SOMETHING is wrong. I get about 25, normally. Even at the dragon, I averaged 18.

 

OK, I know virtually nothing about cars. What are some things that could be wrong?

I see all these posts like yours about people getting 25mpg or more. But I think that a lot of the "city" driving is really more suburban (i.e. going 40 or 45 mph for several miles).

We have stop signs or lights everywhere, and there really isn't a flat road to be found here. Plus, we can only get 91 octane gas. That's why it would be really helpful to hear from folks that commute in these conditions.

By the way, to the poster who inquired about mods, I have none.

 

I think your car is fine. I know for me I get 24mpg around town but everytime I go to the city I only get 14mpg or so.

 

I used to get 16 mpg driving to work from El Cerrito to Berkeley with my 05 MCS. Now that I live in Redding with much less traffic and more open roads, town mileage is 24. Freeway mileage is 32-34 depending on conditions.

Short trips, traffic, low average speeds, and hills will KILL mileage, especially when all are combined.

 

MPG depends greatly on where you live. When I drove from Atlanta to North Carolina in my '07 MC (yes I know it's not an MCS)--I was shocked to see the range being 370MPG. In talking to others in the area, they all said that 300 miles per tank in their MCS was common.

Here in Los Angeles, my commute is 43 miles every day, one way. With my 16% pulley and Alta Intake, I get about 260 miles to the tank before I fill up. I usually fill up with 1 gallon or slightly less in the tank--11 gallons of Premium 91 is $43 where I fill up. So I'm filling up twice a week.

In strictly city driving, I'm getting about 220 to 240 miles to the tank. (driving until range is about 10 miles). I obviously leave a different reserve amount depending on where I'm driving.

When I drive to Las Vegas, I get around 350 miles to the tank.

So as you can see, my MCS is capable of achieving decent milage on long trips, but I just don't have that opportunity.

Richard

 

No offense, but have you ever driven in SF (I see your location is Louisiana, that's why I ask)? It's a nightmare: traffic lights, stopsigns, heavy traffic, oodles of darting pedestrians, etc. all encountered while climbing and descending hill after hill. Not good for mpg at all.

Kristina, I have an '05 MCS and my typical in-town (not SF city) mpg is 22-23. My fiancee regularly gets 27-30+mpg in his '02. It seems that the throttle mapping in the newer models makes it much easier to get crappy mileage than the old setup. But it also makes my car zippier than his off the line!

 

Ka_Ciao pointed me to this thread...
I'm an 06 MCS driver, non-modded, and my driving is 1/2 SF urban, 1/2 over the bridge into Marin Hwy driving. 2-3 times a week. Everything Ka-Ciao stated is true, and that's driving conservatively. When you actually zip off the line and play around with your awesome MINI, it can be ever harder on the mileage, I suspect. I average 22.5 according to the OCB, including those freeway segments (which, admittedly, are well above the optimum RPM for good mileage) and I've seen varying results when hand calculating, some in the teens, some in the mid/low 20s...
Maybe, for 1 or 2 tanks, focus on driving like you have a bomb in the backseat... just eeeeeasing off from starts and taking everything mellow, see if your results change. Subjectively, i'm sure that when I drive the WAY I drive, my trade-off is understandable. And I'm not even one of the out of control speed racer types. I'm much too focused on the fuzz for that.

 

Kristina - I rarely get over 19 mpg here in Southern California in my 2005 MCS. My brother averages between 18 and 19 in his 2006 MCS. When my wife or daughter drive the mpg increases slightly. I don't think you can do much better than you are now, espcially in the stop-and-go traffic and the hills in San Francisco.

 

Thank you all. These are some good data points. As Ka_Ciao points out, it seems that "in town" driving means something completely different in San Francisco!

So guys and gals, help me love my car! Between the bumpy ride on our incredibly crappy roads (Pirelli Eufori@ is quite the oxymoron) and the poor gas mileage I'm trying my best to find enjoyment in it. I absolutely adored my '04 MC (RIP) and when I chose the MCS, I think I was a bit traumatized. My gut reaction to the new R56 was not good. Now, I think maybe I should have held my nose and got one of those!

 

Hey Kristina, glad to see a member here from my home town San Francisco. I love driving my Mini in the city. The streets of S.F. were made for Mini. I have to say that it might as well be the fact that your car is still adjusting to the MPG and the numbers will eventualy be higher as per MPG. That's what happened to my car when I got mine with only 7,800 miles on it.

By the way, where about in the city are you?

 

No offense taken - no, I haven't. Did visit there once a long time ago, and come to think of it, driving there is probably similar to the dragon, at least to a flatlander like me. Lot's of fun in a Mini, but painful at the pump.

 

FWIW, I average anywhere from 15-19mpg on my 06 MCS JCW. Most of it has to do with my driving style which matches ThirdRail's bad driver description of my lead right foot. It also has to do with my car being my commuter in the horrifically awful San Jose stop and go traffic.

I actually get much better mileage during Maverick Mini runs which are very spirited drives on backcountry twisty roads.
The highest mileage I've ever gotten was 28mpg while driving to and from Napa and SJ with the cruse control set at 70mph.

I always calculate my mileage manually and find the OBD is off by 1-2mpg consistently.

I'm attempting to learn how to not rocket away from a stop, but it's so hard... My wallet however is forcing me to learn.

 

I live in SF, in the Richmond district, which is just north of Golden Gate Park. On an all-city tank I drive back and forth from the richmond district to the bernal heights area... to inner sunset and outer sunset... to Mt Davidson and Twin Peaks... and occasionally toward downtown. Lots of lights and lots of stop signs every 400 feet or so in the sunset and richmond districts.

My mpg for pure city driving is around 16-17mpg.
My mixed driving mpg (60-70% city) is around 21-23mpg
My pure highway driving (eg. to Yosemite, averaging around 65-80mph) is around 32mpg
(all calculations done at the pump on 12-13 gallon fillups - ODB usually reports 1-2mpg less than actual)

I have a 2004 MC, auto transmission, and heavy s-lite wheels (45 lbs per corner for rim and tire). I used to get another 1-2mpg with the standard tires on the MC, which weighed in around 26-30lb per corner.

 

Kristina, you should definitely see a slight improvement once your car is broken in. I would recommend that you take a nice drive OUT of the city some weekend to see some better numbers.

Stock rims and runflats are very heavy and stiff riding. You might consider getting some lighter wheels (maybe even 15") and standard tires - reduced unsprung weight combined with taller/softer side walls will improve acceleration, ride quality, and may even improve your mpg...

KONI FSD shocks will also improve your ride quality as long as you stay away from lowering springs.

good luck!