I have an 06.

I get around 24 in town and 30 + on the Hwy, as long as my foot does not get to heavy.

 

Two questions
Are these speed to gear "rules" for accelerating or for cruising. In other words are you saying I should stay in second cruising at ~28mph instead of shifting to 3rd?
Also when is the best/most efficient time to push the clutch and go to neutral to stop. For example should I wait until ~1000rpm to go to neutral or as soon as I need to slow down push the clutch
Just curious as I am semi-new at driving standard, Thanks

 

The rule of thumb is to keep your rpm's low to lower pumping losses, but you should never lug the engine. 1800 rpm seems to be about as low as the engine is comfortable. The autobox will never let it go lower than that without downshifting, so there is likely an engineering reason to not let it go lower.


When stopping it depends. If you decelerate with clutch engaged the ECU will cut the fuel injectors so you are not using any gas. Do this when you need to slow down fairly quickly. Sometimes when you see a light change far away you can slow down gradually by just shifting to neutral or putting the clutch in (more wear on throw out bearing) and coast down without any engine braking. The car will be using some gas to maintain idle, but you can coast much further.


Re: auto vs. manual. The auto is EPA rated for less FE than the manual for both city and highway. Any gearing advantage for the auto is lost by friction and weight. It is also very much more inefficient in the city, it seems to be programmed more for sporting than fuel economy which one would expect in a MINI. You can gain a little city mileage by manually shifting the autobox, but I find it kind of annoying. It is just not the same as a manual transmission.

 

Funny you mentioned rusted out muffler, I just purchased my 2nd MCS with 110K one owner, yesterday. The car is from your neck of the woods complete with rusted mufflers. I'm in Atlanta.

 

Just got my R53 manual 2 weeks ago, what's with the shifting @ 2000-2500, these cars were made to be revved!!!! I get 25MPG combined. I rev 3-4G depending on what I'm doing. Walked away from a Corvette the other day, caught him sleeping, dipped in front of him @ about 35mph in 2nd gear, taking my revs up to 5500rpm's, 3rd, 4th @ 70mph, he gave up... Amazing little car can't wait to get my new pulley. What does this have to do with your gas mileage. Just giving you an idea of how I drive and I still get around 25MPG in Atlanta traffic. Something is wrong with your car. Do you have power above 3000RPM's ?

 

If you walked away from a vette....the vette wasn't trying.

 

Guess you didn't read the part about me catching him sleeping. don't sell you car too short....

 

Plenty of power above 3000 but kinda sluggish off the line sometimes. Got 24.5 last fill up. 76 city miles and 195 spirited highway miles in upstate. Car was not babied on this trip.
I think I'm goong to run another thing of injector cleaner through and change the plugs. It's only got 60k and has been religiously serviced by the previous owner.
It also doesn't like to start at lower temps- when the first round of 50 degree nights came there were some hard starts in the morning.
In regards to high rpms, I know it loves to be above 3000 but I'm not not going to run it in second gear all day in the city. I'm generally in 3/4 depending upon the conditions.

 

If "catching him sleeping" actually means "the guy didn't try to race me".....then I understand.

If "catching him sleeping" means you jumped him off the line and he couldn't catch up to me.....then I still think the guy didn't want to race.

No way in hell...I mean NO WAY in hell is a mostly stock R53 mini putting the hurt on a vette....unless it's a 1979 vette with the oem 220hp motor in in.

 

Didn't say we were racing, didn't say I got him off the line,

"caught him sleeping, dipped in front of him @ about 35mph in 2nd gear, taking my revs up to 5500rpm's, 3rd, 4th @ 70mph, he gave up.."
That's what I said.

It was a little more than a 1/4 mile stretch, when I dipped in front of him. I was already at 35-40mph. I could see him in my rear coming at me, by the time I got to 70, it was over. Just so you know, I'm not a little kid trying to embellish a story. I've driven very fast cars and am quite aware of what a Z06 Vette can do. I caught him by surprise and there is this thing called physics that would not allow him to catch up to me by the time the 1/4 mile stretch was over... nuff said....

 

I've not experienced the hard starting yet, going to be in the mid 80's the rest of the week. I am glad that your MPG's are getting better, mine sit at around 25mpg. I've not done anything to it yet. Just got the new aluminum expansion tank in the mail, brakes and rotors should be here by this weekend along with the gear oil for the transmission. Should be a fun weekend. Once I get those things done, going to take it to an indy and have them checkout a few things.

 

CS, My guess is your car is just fine. We have an 05 MCS. Usually average ~25. Best we've done on the hiway is maybe 31 - not Interstate speeds, mind you, but more 2-lane-ish, maybe 60-65 mph. The 1st gen supercharged S models were not known for great fuel mileage for their size. The folks that get mid 30's must be VERY disciplined with the throttle and drive country hiways, or are lucky.

Now those numbers are a far cry from what you are reporting, but I've been to NYC. I don't know what part you are in, but that place is crazy dense. You are probably spending all your time accelerating and decelerating, and doing it all over again. I bet if we could look up average fuel economy there (or any other similarly dense city), we would be shocked at how low it is. You're simply not covering many miles for the amount of time your engine is running and power it is producing.

I live in a rural area outside Tucson, AZ. We have 12 miles of country road before getting into town, which is great for mileage. And even "in town" is nothing like what you drive in. Plus, I think your trip mileage that you reported a couple posts up sounds very normal for some city and a lot of "spirited" driving. Also, the sluggishness off the line is normal. No low end torque on these cars, which is weird for a supercharger.

So, while it's good to keep it maintained and look things over, I don't think you have a particular problem.

Jeremy