Hey everyone...

I noticed something strange. When driving (90% stop and go city, 10% hwy on a good week, usually less) in regular D mode I've been averaging right around 20-21mpg. The other day I let my girlfriend drive my car... now she is a speed freak and ONLY drives in SD because she "likes how it zips so fast".

I noticed that my average mpg actually WENT UP. I did a little looking myself and confirmed this. For the (VERY stop and go) driving I do, SD actually seems to get slightly BETTER mileage (like 2mpg-ish).

I have a theory; I notice that when I drive in SD the added torque gets the car up to cruising speed (usually 40-50mph depending) MUCH faster than in D with only slightly worse consumption (according to the OBC). My theory is that since I stop and go very frequently, the faster I get to cruising speed (and thus let off the gas and stay at a steady ~2500-3000 rpm) the more mileage it spends in this nice efficient cruise rather than accelerating (which SUCKS gas).

Does anyone think there's any merit to this, or is there something wrong w/ my car? If this keeps up and I can leave it parked in SD and get a steady ~23mpg I'll be a happy camper as it is MUCH more fun to drive this way.

 

You may be on to something. Back in the old days we were taught that we should accelerate very gently for the best gas mileage. This may have had something to do with the inconsistancies of a carburetor at heavy throttle. I have heard lately that you will achieve better mileage by accelerating more quickly and getting the car in overdrive for maximum gas mileage. You may want to bump it into SD for acceleration and then into drive for cruising. You should see your RPM drop when you go from SD to D.

 

I think I might try that....

While I definitely think SD would use more fuel if you were constantly cruising at highway speed as it runs around 800-900RPM higher than D... wouldn't it be cool if us CVT owners who live in very congested areas got the extra fun AND better mileage all around?

SD mode is very fun for driving, and has great "passing factor" as well. I've left several pushy SUVs and even an Audi A4 1.8T (once) in the dust this way... while the CVT isn't the fastest off the line, the 20-60mph range can be quite exhilerating when left in SD mode (as in better than a Cooper 5 speed unless you seriously downshift, but not quite as much as an MCS obviously).

More testing to follow.... I'm going to drive this entire tankfull in either total SD, or SD for accel and D for cruise. If I get better than my average (20.8 mpg so far) I'll be VERY happy.

 

Hello. I am a new Mini Cooper (cvt) owner of approx two weeks now and absolutly in love with her. We purchased ours in Charleston Sc and it's first 300 miles in the "D" mode to new home in Asheville Nc saw an average of 26.7. After 3-4 days around town with me driving in the manual mode the average increased to 27.3. "Tootles" is my wife's daily driver (alas, I get her weekends) and after 5-6 days of her driving in D the average was 28.1. Tonite after three days of me driving in my favorite mode thus far saw the milage at 27.9 but must add that realized this evening the last 10 gals added was at 89 octane (oops). Tootles is still in her break in period and not used the "SD" as yet. I will say that milage was never a factor in decision to purchase but will be curious to see what she does average in later miles.

 

So here are the results of my week-long test:

11.634 gallons used for a total of 236 miles.

That equals approximately 20.3 mpg. This is only about 1/2 of a mpg below my average (20.. The ENTIRE tank was driven in SD, with the exception of the (very) brief 40 miles on the freeway (which makes my drive 94.5% city, 5.5% hwy this week).

Honestly, if it only costs me 1/2 mpg (in this case about 6 miles extra per tank) to run in SD mode 95% of the time, I'll GLADLY take it! The MINI feels like a totally different car in this mode (torque is ALWAYS there @ ~3000-3500rpm when you need it) and it makes zipping through congested traffic an absolute BLAST (think the Italian Job on the morning commute, every single morning).

I'm going on a long roadtrip this week, so I can't really experiment any further as it will be a ~400 mile (each way) highway-only trip; most likely will be stuck in D w/ the cruise control on the VAST majority of the trip.

When I get back, I think I'm going to experiment further with accelerating in SD and then dropping into D for cruising/decel.... I'll keep everyone posted!