R50/R53 :: Hatch Talk (2002-2006) Cooper (R50) and Cooper S (R53) hatchback discussion.

R50/53 Too good to be true!! 30 MPG after all the mods...

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  #1  
Old 05-10-2004, 07:43 PM
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I decided to see how much my gas mileage DROPPED after all the mods I've added. After 2 tanks of highway driving (65-75 MPH), the car averaged to be a little over 30 MPG. Is this real or am I hallucinating?




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Old 05-10-2004, 08:08 PM
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Most likely 75% of your driving is at part throttle and your mods dont come into play and the ones that do are decreasing your pumping losses (intakes and exhausts). More efficiency = more power = better fuel economy. Its a win-win for everyone but your 401k :smile:

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Old 05-10-2004, 08:25 PM
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You're probably calculating something wrong! j/k

I talked to one of the guys that ran at our Spring Fling DE on Saturday and he said, he and another guy ran through 3/4 of a tank in maybe 100 minutes of lapping sessions.
 
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Old 05-10-2004, 09:14 PM
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My mileage is exactly the same after an Alta 15% pulley, iridium plugs, pilo intake and magnaflow. 20-27 city, 31-34 highway. According to the computer at least... haven't tried a calculator test.

Driving the Dragon KILLED my mileage though, heh.
 
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Old 05-10-2004, 09:24 PM
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30mph sounds about right to me, that's about where I am when I am on the highway. :smile:
 
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Old 05-11-2004, 02:16 AM
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PKT RKT averages 5.6 MPG.....I think cuz of the color.....I might be wrong....but I am pretty sure.....these BRG jobs....wish they would stop selling them.....
 
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Old 05-11-2004, 04:17 AM
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Since swapping out my cylinder head I am consistently getting about 50-80 miles farther on a tank of gas. I get about 25 MPG whereI was getting about 22 before. With gas pricies going up, I am thinking what other mods to do so I can get more milage :smile:
 
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Old 05-11-2004, 04:55 AM
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I'm fairly stock at the moment, but with the alta intake I'm getting around 23MPG in the city (stop/go traffic) and right about 30MPG on the highway going between
75-80MPH. On Sunday it was raining and traffic was moving slowly (~70MPH) but
smoothly with a tail-wind- I was getting 32MPG
 
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Old 05-11-2004, 05:17 AM
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I do mostly city type driving and I average 25-25.5mpg with 19% pulley, intake and UUC exhaust. Before mods in stock form???? I used to average 24mpg. The pulley made a HUGE difference in fuel efficiency. Before it just didn't breathe as well and was woefully underpowered. The exhaust, however, decreased my mileage a tad. I'm guessing it's b/c of all the burbling burning gas when I let up on the throttle.
 
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Old 05-11-2004, 07:41 AM
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I forgot to mention in my earlier post on this subject that since I had the JCW upgrade my gas mileage did increase from 28 to 30mpg, I was told this might happen after the upgrade but was very pleasently surprised to see it actually happen. :smile:
 
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Old 05-11-2004, 08:10 AM
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I have 2 MCS, one stock, one fairly well modded. Among the mods in MINI-2 are a 15% reduction pulley, Rogue/Madness intake, Evotech software upgrade, ugraded ignition wires, and a Magnaflow exhaust. I get better gas mileage with that one than with the stock one.
 
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Old 05-11-2004, 08:13 AM
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I have a 2003 MCS.
In stock form I got 29 mpg in mixed driving and at best 33 mpg with mostly highway driving at 60 mph.

After madness intake, 63 mm throttlebody, pulley upgrade, Milltek headeer/cat-back exhaust, light wheel/non runflat ultraperformance tire upgrade, big and heavy full audio upgrade, full springs/lower control arm upgrades, etc, I get.

Mixed driving 26 mpg
best highway about 29 mpg

All of this is by manually filling the gas and calculating fuel used vs miles on the odometer.
All numbers from the computer are off target- don't use them for this purpose.

So now some people report very good gains with the pulley upgrade but personally I have not seen it.
And others report mpg gains from mods such as Plasma Boosters to cylinder heads. Great but I did not see the gains from my plasma booster which I have since sold.

So what is going on. He is a theory. If there are any gains in efficiency with the pulley they are easily negated by the alteration in driving style of the owner after the mod. If you drive calmly and don't really hammer the throttle you might do fairly well. I don't think I am that bad and most of the time driving under 60-65 mph but I am still not seeing the higher mpg that others report after modding. So aggressive driving will lower mpg.

Part two- I think the wheels esp tires make a huge difference. Consider this.
Stock S-lyte 17" rims and stock 205/45-17 runflat tires are 48 pounds each.
My Centerline RPM 17" rims with non runflat 215/45-17 tires are 38 pounds each. Slighter larger contact patch.
My autocross wheels with 15" stock holies and Kumho Victoraceer V700 205/50-15 tires weigh 30 pounds each.
The stock holies with non runflat continental 175/65-15 tires were 26 pounds each but had a small contact patch and low low low rolling resistance.

So high vs low weight of wheel, large contact patch and aggressive driving style, high vs low rolling resistance and variable weight of our various mods probably alter the mpg data enough so that we have some variables not being controlled for and some latitude in our reported data.

Finally, proper tire inflation plays a major role in getting the best mpg. Also mpg will vary with the source of gasoline being used. Expect slightly higher mpg with better quality gas.
 
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Old 05-14-2004, 03:04 AM
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Alta 15% pulley, UNIChip, Unifilter, Magnaflow exhaust, Denso Iridium Spark plugs (colder IK22), Kingsbourne 9mm wires.

My mpg went up about 1 mpg on the freeway. In mixed driving I've always managed to get between 26-28 mpg. I've never seen more than 35 mpg on the freeway.

It's hard making good mileage on the local jaunts as my foot gets too heavy.
 
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Old 05-14-2004, 06:14 AM
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I have been keeping up with mileage the whole time, every fill-up. I have definitely noticed a drop in gas mileage with a dirty air filter. Keep the filters clean!

I have a MINI Madness intake and forgot about cleaning it... Anyway, after cleaning it, I got 3 more MPG.
 
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Old 05-14-2004, 12:13 PM
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With my JCW + K&N drop-in, the best I have averaged has been 30mpg on a long-distance trip. I did 345 miles and the OBD range said around 40 miles left on the tank. This was all highway driving but normally with roughly a 75/25 mix of highway/city "somewhat spirited" driving I average around 24mpg or so.

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Old 05-16-2004, 07:59 PM
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11,000 trouble free miles, and averaged 30 mpg on last tank with 1/2 freeway at 75-80 mph, half spirited driving! VERY happy with current mpg... I have added the following performance mods;

-Magnaflow exhaust
-Pilo Racing cold air intake


Pilo


Magnaflow

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  #17  
Old 05-16-2004, 08:58 PM
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maybee you guys just aren't having enough fun in your cars I am getting 19-21 average 75% highway 25% city. I guess cruising at 95mph sucks down the gas a little faster.
 
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Old 05-16-2004, 09:22 PM
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The Dragon Run seems to have done some good for my car. On the way down, The OBC indicated we were getting about 34MPG, doing ~70MPH (due to heavy traffic enforcement on the I-81 corridor in southwestern VA) in dry weather.

On the way back, in mostly rainy weather, we were doing 80-85 on average to keep from being mowed over by SUVs and tractor-trailers, and the OBC read 36.1 MPG. Even pushing aside the water with the tires, and travelling faster, the car did markedly better. Maybe the car likes non-oxygenated fuel better; the pumps in NC and TN did not have the "Oxygenated fuel" notice decals all over them that those in the DC metro area do.

On the other hand, the car did get its first non-stock add ons during the trip- a pair of dragon decals and a NAM decal. Maybe the "import tunerz" are onto something after all! If Mark could do a few decals in yellow to maximize their potency, and send'em to Andy for testing, we could find out for certain!
 
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Old 05-16-2004, 10:23 PM
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Luckily, we'll almost always get great gas mileage when cruising on the highway, the slower the (much) better. As long as you don't get into boost and are smooth, the little engine is sippin its drink. If you're driving around at speeds higher than 80-85mph though, the tables turn real quick.
 
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