I've had my car since NOV 06, when it was delivered to me here in Germany, straight from the factory. I think it had all of 6 miles on the odometer when I got it; I just put it on a boat for America (and MTTS Boston), with 14,100 miles on the odometer.

14,100 miles, averaging 23.1 miles per gallon according to the OBC.

23 mpg. Yikes.

Now, I'm no angel. I've red-lined it in sicth gear on the autobahn -- hell, my kids had been with me at speed over 140. I did 100 miles in an hour. I've thrashed it at the Nurburgring. I've pushed it had through the Alps.

And through it all, 23 mpg.

So, if you want better gas mileage, I think the answer is not to go faster.

 

Welcome Home ~ You are So lucky to have been able to push the envelope with your MINI on the test track and in the black forrest. Upon your return, watch the speed limits here in Mass though. MSP has been out hunting regularly with laser radar esp on weekends. On a good note, Mass deregulated the auto insurance industry here making it more competative and lowered most policies by 20%.

As far as your average gas mileage goes......driving your MINI the way it was designed to run is still better than popcorn and a movie, isn't it ?

(PS) Was your MINI manufactured to US Specs ? Any emissions issues with U.S. Customs upon entry here ?

Safe Travels.

 

Yep. I did change it some, to make it a bit more true to its German origins -- rear fog light, German brake light lenses, and a massive rebuild of the OBC (metric, different language, etc).

I plan on making full use of cruise control once we're reunited. Never did use it much over here -- pretty much just in the winter, when the roads were wide open and I could set it to 130 mph -- the speed rating of the tires. Which was nice.

 

My overall average is similar.... and I'm here in the land of nanny limits. Not that I let that bother me.

 

23mpg is pretty much what I get as well. Is that horrible? It's all relative...but atleast I have a blast each morning....

 

with mixed road and highway, at 5-10 over the speed limit, I get about 26mpg ... I think what helps too is that I don't do many "jack rabbit" starts off the green light.

 

When you sit at a red light, or stop sign you burn gas and get NOWHERE.

The Average Mileage posted on your window sticker is calculated at very specific, constant speeds in "Lab" conditions on a dynometer. I think its 35 for CITY, and 55 for HIGHWAY.
No Lights, traffic, slow motorists, road construction, etc.
So if you are getting 23+ (22+ for me since Katrina doubled our traffic in Baton Rouge, La.) Consider this! What is everyone else getting?


NOW strap in and have a blast in that amazing little machine we all love.

What! Me worry?
Dean

 

You're moving away from Germany?

What shipping company are you using btw?

 

LoL, tell me about it.

Moving from the College Drive area to Highland @ I-10 changed my mileage from an average of 23, to 27.

- Matt

 

EH Harms is handling it. They're an agent.

 

I have averaged as low as 14, on average I get about 18 (almost all city). I averaged 23mpg once by babying (drafting, doing about 60 with the cruise) over about 150mi of highway driving. That average also included one AX and a rally that lasted about an hour, most of which time was spent with the tach over 3500.

 

Southern California. I've only had the car for 3 weeks . . . .I've put on 1K miles. I'm averaging 21-22mpg . . . .lots of city stop and go driving (75% surface roads with 25% highway). I get ~290 - 310 total miles per tank.

 

Wow. maybe I was wrong. Maybe faster is better!

 

x2

 

I've had mine for just over two years. I've been hand calculated my MPG since I took possession. The first year, my commute was longer, and had more highway. I was getting around 27 mpg on average. I moved last August and my commute is much shorter (only about 6 miles each way), and I'm only getting about 24 mpg (though I go two weeks between fill ups now). I had also installed a 15% pulley a couple months before moving. I didn't see much change in mileage from that. When I take longer trips, the milege jumps right back up to my older levels.

Buy my smiles per gallon are way over any other make or model.

 

I typically get 370 to 400 miles per tankful in my '05 MCS. On the way to MINIs On Top '06 I got great gas mileage - all highway. I typically shift at 3,000 RPM (easy driving for the most part). The miles per gallon goes down in the summer on the RunFlat 17s with the lead weight S-"Lites."

With the 15" winter set I go over 30 mpg.

Smiles per gallon. I like it. :-)

 

Your foot, your driving habits and the mods you have in the car all have a great impact in your fuel mileage.

The R53 S gets very, very thirsty when driving at speeds above 75MPH. There in Germany you can drive your MINI as fast as the speedo needle will go in the autobahn. This obviously will have a huge impact in fuel economy.

Check you tire pressures and driving habits. My '05 R53 S (100% stock) with 41K miles is currently delivering a staggering 28MPG average in strict city driving. I can drive 200 miles with just half a tank of gas! (I am getting 400 miles out of the full tank).

How do I do it? Simple. Stay on top of your car's maintenance, keep your tires (I have the std 16" inch V-spokes with runflats) at the recommended pressures, shift between 3K-3.5K RPMs, drive at the posted speed limits (No more than 5MPH above any speed limit), make use of the upper gears (@ 50MPH I shift into 6th gear to keep the RPMs at or below 2,500) and make use of the cruise control (If so equipped and traffic conditions permitting) on long stretches of highway road.

I also believe the type of gas has an influence on your fuel economy. I am using Shell V-Power 93 octane with excellent results.

You may all think I am driving like grandma. Maybe I am am, but I still have fun driving the car. And it is a blast not to have to fill it up before one and a half weeks.

 

How was your experience w/ them (or continue to tell it upon collection)? I'm dropping mine off for them here in Aviano around mid-June. :(

BTW, I've rarely done any highway travel. I think I can count the times I've been on the Autostrada with my MINI on two hands. The OBC says I'm using 25.8 mpg over the 2.5 years and 12k miles of driving the car.

 

They're just middle men. They do nothing, other than facilitate it all. So, for that, they seem to be fine.

 

400 miles?!?!? i'd drive like a grandma to gain another 100 miles... it's time to start practicing.

 

Keep an eye on the RANGE indicator. As your tank nears empty--say with about 100 miles of range left, drive conservatively for about 10 miles..see if it still says 100 miles of range left.

Now do a bunch of hard starts/accelerations with max boost---you'll see your range drop from 100 to 70 to 60 to 50miles really fast.

When I first had my MCS, I ran out of gas because the range said 50miles left, but a couple of passing maneuvers left me with an empty tank at the side of the road, lol.

 

I am averaging 32 around town and 36 highway with mine.

 

You're doing better than me, Quentin's averaged 20.4 so far.

The Nurburgring and an unrestricted Autobahn are 2 things I want do in a MINI sometime.

 

I usually get high 20's for mpg out of my MCS. I have usually don't ask for much from the car during the week. the weekends however, the mpg goes down. I put a CAI on the car and noticed a little better gas mileage. (plus the cool sounds the CAI adds). I always keep up on maintenance and switched out the run flat tires. There's my 2 cents!

 

I average about 20 combined highway and street. My air-sucky thing sucks fuel too though.

I also drive like a maniac... which doesn't help.