Howdy.

So I drive about 16 miles to work each day and see a lot of traffic lights. 7-10.. most of the time getting back up to 50 or 60mph in between. I have only the "normal" power mods and dont rev too hard. I'm getting about 20 mpg an am pretty alarmed when I see some of the guys here getting 27 even on some of the most modded cars...

Any thoughts? Do problems exist that could make this happen?

Thanks

 

The stop-and-go is what's killing you. Go for a motor this long weekend, where you can set the cruise control and relax; you'll see an entirely different fuel economy.

 

Why don't you just fill up and hit the highway this weekend and see what your mileage is? Like 3cocinas said, those stop and go's are a mileage killer. I'm getting 31 and I hammer it up and down the ramps on the way to work, but then run 14 miles of flat straight 70mph interstate.
Fillup, reset, go for a 30-40 mile cruise and see what happens.

 

I drive mostly streets, but every now and then have to go on the freeway, and I get 22.4 MPG

 

Driving hard around town I'm getting 22mpg and with normal driving around town I stay around 25-26mpg. On the highway doing 70 -80 I get around 32. 35-36 if I keep it around 62

 

MCSaC 05...
been pretty consistent @
City: 22-23 is I drive hard, up to 26-28 if I try for economy
Highway: 30-34 depending on the west texas wind and how much I speed

don't know why you're getting so low but doesn't seem to match my results.

 

I agree but lots of accelerating and sitting in traffic might be your cause. I can get 32-33mpg calculated (35-36 OBC) while cruising 75mph on the highway. You might want to take a cruise on the highway sometime and see what you get.

 

How you drive and where you drive are the biggest factors in mileage for sure.
I do not drive like an old lady averaging about 15 miles to work every day.
I also keep VERY accurate records on this. After the first 3 months, MPG had settled down to 28.5 MPG. On my recent trip to the dragon I averaged 32 MPG in spite of getting a bad case of the race fever in Nashville when passed by a string of 8 other MINIs but was able to regain control of right foot after about 25 miles. They were running about 90.
On the the way home I made a special effort for mileage between Nashville and Paducah Ky which was 82 miles on level ground, 4 lane interstate, cruise control @ 70 MPH and got 43.4 MPG. You can get respectable mileage but self control plays a big factor. Follow the advice of the others and you will see.

 

Thanks guys. Made a more reserved effort cruising yesterday up to LA at a 75-80 average and was in the 25's 26's. I will try and do better!

 

People are always asking me about my mileage. Well it really seams to depend on what mood I happen to be in when I get in the car. If you are enjoying your MINI then not so good. If I'm feeling conservative, NO problem. I have noticed that on the highway 70 seems to be the magic number. Above that mileage starts to drop.

 

I'm glad you said that 70 is the magic number...I'm not at that number very often which probably explains my difference between 26 and 30+. Ah well! I dont think I can stop having fun, I better earn more money!

 

16% pulley and Dinan flash yields ~20-22mpg on my city drive to work (13.7 miles one way) and 25-27 when I hustle any freeway time.

For the folks that note getting 35 or so on the freeway with mods, I'm not sure how they are managing that... Good tail wind?

Even when running in stock form I never achieved much more than 30mpg on the freeway (using cruise and holding around 70 mph).

That's the trade off for the fun factor. I'll probably end up buying a more miserly car for commuting and make the MCS more of the track toy within the year.

 

I just got back from a trip to Maryland, and 1 tank each way saw the computer showing 30.5mpg. This is with cruise set at 68-70 but with some spirited passes and lots of hills... I've got a completely stock '06 MCS (so far)

I'm kinda curious about the 35mpg's too. I want that!

What I'm also curious is the gearing of the 6th gear. It seems to be revving just as high as my old honda 5-speed, and about 500 rpms above my brother's 5-speed cobalt ss. Maybe it's just too small a gear? Or would there be no power otherwise?

 

I agree that 70 seems to be the magic number. I drove to the mountains and back this week and got 32 MPG average - not bad, considering I spent a good 150 miles climbing mountains!

Another thing I noticed recently that I've been more contientious of is HOW I accelerate. The more gentle I am on the accelerator, the better MPG I get. So you don't have to "floor it" to get going (although I realize it is more fun ).

 

I'll tell you what was insane...

My last track dat at Laguna. After my 2nd session I noticed my tank was almot empty, when I had completely filled up that morning. I switched on my OBC on the NAV screen and saw 7 mpg. I could not believe it!. If the MINI's little 4 cyl is getting this low of number on the track, I could not even imagine what the Z06's, GT3's, Vipers, Ferrari's and other high displacement cars were getting.

But for normal driving I get around 24-25 round town having fun. 22-24 if I am hammering it. The best I have ever gotten is 33-34 on the freeway going the speed limit. I was actually trying to see how high I could get the number on a long drive.

I think the milage number is directly related to the amount of fun you are having... Big fun=low numbers. Some fun=medium numbers. Little fun=high numbers.

Although even getting the high numbers, The MINI is still alot more fun than most of the other cars you see passing you by...

 

I've experimented with using the auto in manual mode around town and that how I get the highest marks. It's not the g-force, high thrill fun but it is an interesting mental exercise.
In west Texas sustained wind of around 50-60 mph with 70 gusts, got 18 going out of town on a 60 mile jaunt into the wind, got 50 mpg coming back. No moral I guess unless you can always travel with the prevailing wind currents.

 

I took a trip in my non-s cooper the other day and got 32 mpg going 75 and 80. It has a manual 5 speed and I use cruise control unless I'm passing. I get 28 around town and having fun (driving like a crazy person).

 

Just happened to revisit this thread.
On my 06 S I still get around 28 MPG while pulling the AC (its July) and over 30 on the interstate. The car is completely stock but I do try to control the right foot when possible.

This week I installed a 2% and 15% pully with CAI so we will see what that does to mileage.

 

Those are mods I'm interested in doing at some point... You'll have to let us know!

 

My average is 30.5 MPG. The stop and go is whats killing you. Take a nice long cruise on the highway this weekend and I bet your mileage zooms up.
Kind of too bad the MINI-D isnt here (yet???) for people who want the better mileage!

 

I'd be excited for the MINI-D. It might make me trade in my MCS... Maybe... Waste Vegetble Oil conversion anyone? =)

 

Your car could smell like burritos as you drive around.

 

how do you guys get 32 highway @ 75 mph, best i have gotten on the highway is 28 at that speed. my mix average 60/40 city highway is 23 mpg. there has to be a some disparity here between cars that get good mpg and ones that don't, because there is just to much variation in reported mpgs. some people drive hard and get good other drive like grandma and get bad, what gives?

I notice that with my poor mpg mini that when i accelerate slow even on flat or slightly downgraded surfaces that my realtime mpg on the obc stays low longer in the 12-14 mpg range. i can have zero load in second and third gear maintaining a constant speed, and my obc will say i am getting13-17 mpg and will continue that till i let off the gas completely then ease back into it?

One illustrative thing is that my new audi A3 got 23.8 mpg city on the way to the mini dealership this morning while my dad in the mini got 18.5 driving the mini, this was going the same speed similar acceleration, the a3 weighs more and has more hp, what gives here? besides it having a more advanced engine of course.

 

I tested this just the other day when I got a full tank of gas. I drove economically the entirety of my schedule. I even had an extra trip that I had to take for a medical networking function. My "economical driving" is pretty much just shifting into the lowest RPM possible. I averaged about 28 to 30 mpg, with NO freeway driving. And this city has a LOT of road construction going on, so there was quite a bit of idling.

Now, I just got a full tank yesterday (yes, it hasn't even been a week since my last fill-up), am driving normally, and am getting what I was getting before I filled-up -- 24mpg.

So it really depends on your driving.

 

My most recent gas mileage log entries. The Aug 12 entry was after the week my wife's car was in the shop and I was out of town, so she got to drive the MINI. She doesn't drive a manual tranny very often. Go figure...

This represents about 20 percent around town driving and 80 percent highway (60-65 mph on the local 2-lane highways; 65-80 mph during occasional sprints to/from the Minneapolis airport if I'm able to fall in behind a rabbit).

This is also representative of the mileage I've enjoyed since the beginning. I have no complaints.