I've ran out of gas twice in my car. When the red light comes on, it means GET SOME GAS NOW!!!

 

My personal rule:
When it says 1/4 tank, that means GET SOME GAS NOW!!!

On long trips through remote locations, it's 1/2 tank.

I hate running out of gas....

C ya,
Dutch

 

I got better gas mileage in my 407rwhp twin turbo lexus SC300... Seriously.

 

I've put about 4k miles on since purchasing my '03 MCS in January. It's wearing studless snow tires on lightweight 16 in wheels. I've averaged 30-32 for my everyday 6 mile commute which is a mix of hwy and city. On trips I average 34-36 mpg. I'm using 92 octane gas.

 

31-32 mpg with the MCS, unless it's on trips...then it gets 35 or so. the MC gets around 33 around town and close to 40 on trips.

 

I know I have a serious lead foot, but... 33 around town? I average 25 :D

 

33 with the MC...27-29 with the MCS, depending on the mood and the traffic

 

The best I managed on one tank was
11.583 gallons used
Traveled 333.8 Miles
Average mpg was 28.9

I normally get around 28 +- 0.5

 

Yikes, now don't get mad peeps, but 33 city and 45 highway. I ,like the feeling of being able to really give it some gas if needed and be able to pull away from turns really well. Another thing that I have found to contribute to my mpg is coasting to stop signs and lights since I heard somehere that going downhill coasting, their continuous OBC readout says 99.0 (I'm going to test this one the next time no one is in front of me on a hill). I have 1650 miles on it and have gone to the gas station 3 times since buying it 2 months ago.

 

I've done the coasting downhill routine after resetting the OBC readout and it does go all the way up to 99....until you step on the gas again. First generation MINI's can't get 45 on the highway. You're talking about your new 2010 model, right?

 

yes, its the 2010. The '06 was getting a flat 25 or so.

 

Well, I've had my '03 R50 long enough to get a sense now (about 3 months)

Most of my driving is town-to-town in central new England.Which means ~15 mile stretches at 50 mph in 4th gear (I have a 5 speed).

My base Cooper, with a Thule roof rack with fairing averages just under 31 mpg burning 93 octane.

 

I've had stretches where I'm getting about 23/24 MPG.

My daily commute is 5.5 miles on a 6 lane highway, speed limit is 50, which translates to 60 on average, with 9 traffic lights to work and 11 coming back. So on a bad day, I'll catch 7-8 lights, so it's red light, accelerate up to 60 and brake, 8 times.

And since this a shore town, and I drive the main road to the beach, sometimes in the afternoon I get to sit through a light 2 or 3 times before getting through the intersection. It's the Jersey Shore thing you know

But I drive a MINI, so it's all good

 

My average in an '06 MCS w/ JCW is 24.5 MPG according to the OBC. I live in an area where catching a green light is about as common as winning the lottery.

 

my '04 coop gets an average 36. the same as my 93 del sol and my 87 mr2. all 1600cc, 50/50 weight and my same heavy foot on open roads.

 

yeah, it doesn't go to negative but from the personal experience I can tell you that the next stage is "--". I drove for about 6 miles with this sign before hitting a gas station. I filled up 13.5 gallons
That was the only tank that lasted me for over 500 miles (504) and I averaged over 36mpg

 

That's just funny when the computer just plain says, "--" (translation: "what the heck?")

 

My '03 53 gets 24-26 around town and I just got back from a trip to Phoenix from Oregon with an average of 29-30 mpg with one mountainous 300 mile run of around 26 mpg. All the highway was above 65 mph, a lot of it was over 75 with the truck drivers doing their best to ruin my mileage. Why do they wait until I catch up to pull out and pass their buddy?

Speaking of trucks: a bunch of weenie truckers held me up on Siskiyou Summit for two hours because they were afraid to use the left lane. The sanding truck came by, I pulled in behind him and was the first one off the mountain. All the trucks were just sitting there.

 

24.6 is my average, and that's 95% suburban driving. I've forgotten what highways look like...

 

It really varies.

2003 MCS

Best mpg in stock form when new was 32 mpg with lots of highway miles and some coasting downhill a few miles.

After lots of modding and dyno at about 200 HP, using stock 15" wheels and stock 175/65-15 tires best mpg was about 28 in mixed city and highway driving.

Now with stock 15" wheels and all season 195/60-15 tires I get about 25 mpg in mixed driving.

Rolling resistance with tires makes a big difference. Stock 17" wheels on an MCS are not helping.

If you drive more urban and short trips expect close to 20-22 mpg.

Keep tire pressure up even a few psi higher is fine. Stay off the brake and be gentle on the throttle.

When your trip computer or scan gauge II reads 99 mpg when coasting you are actually doing better than that except the readout is limited to two digits.

 

2003 Base Cooper 5 speed.

Mostly rural driving (50 mph between stop signs and intersections that are 6 to 12 miles apart).

This is my first winter in a Mini and at last fill-up, it figured to be 30.5 mpg. I expected it to be power for 3 reasons; It hasn't risen above 20 degrees F in a few weeks; i have my Thule roof rack w/fairing on it, and I've been buying mid-grade gas.

But still, this is only about 1 mpg lower than summer with high-grade. But i guess in the summer, the A/C is dragging it down.

 

last 3 tanks i averaged 360-380 miles per tank

 

i get about the same, mines is mostly freeway driving, and thats me averaging about 70-85mph. 65 miles to work each way, 5 days a week. Yes I visit the gas station every other day and a half.

 

Back in the summer/fall I was averaging 28mpg (bout half city/highway) with my highest being 30mpg. I did manual calculation to get this number (number miles driven/gallons used). Computer claimed 32mpg.

Now that it's dead winter, CAI, one-ball, and pulley, I'm seeing 26mpg. Thought for sure it would go up since these mods would make it more efficient, especially the CAI and one-ball...
However, both my rear tires have slow leaks and on average get down to 28psi before I realize I need more air.
But that is about to change. Just got some Kumho Ecsta AST 215/45/17s. We'll see what happens...

 

Those slow leaks are likely counteracting any gains from your intake or one-ball. I picked up almost 1mpg with the one-ball, and the car felt like it'd finally hacked up that hairball it was breathing around.... The DT Bypass Valve I put on after the one-ball took back that extra MPG--it gave me a little more low/mid torque in exchange....

Let me know how you like those Kumhos on the MINI. I got S-Drives for mine last year at the suggestion of the dood at the tire shop, and they're very good, but they're a little too quiet about getting ready to let loose. In contrast, the Kumhos I had on my previous car (a '92 Escort wagon with '94 GT rims, ZX2 S/R struts and springs, and 205/50 15" Ecsta ASTs--not real fast, but it would hang with my MINI in the turns if it were still around) would start to sing a bit, letting you know that you were pushing that corner about hard enough....

C ya,
Dutch