The gas milage does get better over time. At least it did for me. When the MINI had under 10K miles, i couldn't break into the 30s no matter how hard I tried. I now have about 24K miles. Now, with only a little effort, I can easily average 33-34 mpg.

My commute is about 12 miles on country roads, which are probably the best for gas. I have to keep my speed down to around 50, and there are very few red lights.

Also, my OBC always seems to underestimate my milage by about 2-3 mpg. Weird.

 

And THAT, my dear, is why you get decent mileage. Most of us who bought MCSes actually want to use that extra power - the grin factor gets even wider above 4500 rpm. Also, the more conservative gearing of pre-05 MCSes helps.

I have to ask though, if you don't really care to rev her up much, why didn't you get an MC instead? It's not going to break anything, provided you wait until the engine is warm.

 

One year of driving, 15,000 miles. Almost 30 mpg overall, mostly highway.

 

The OBC give me 34mpg reading on my 05 6-spd MCS for daily city commute.
BTW, my OBC locale was screwed.. 34mpg is imperial. So which is about 28mpg. I think it is very good mpg on my MCS.

 

I rarely touch the freeway and I always float between 27 and 30mpg, depending on how much I delay my shifts. If I keep them at about 3K, I get 30mpg, otherwise (normal spirited driving) I usually hit 27 even almost every time I fill up.