Spotted today here in L.A. on the 405 South near Avalon in Carson a new MINI billboard that said "OPEC, SHMOPEC". It had a picture of an MCS and then at the bottom said 25/32 mpg.

I see two possible ways to interpret this:

1. MINI could be trying to get us to believe the MCS (or MINIs in general) are fuel efficient, but 25/32 on premium fuel isn't anything to write home about fuel efficiency wise. I found it almost embarrassing to answer the "what kind of gas mileage does it get?" question when I owned and MCS. Frankly, people expect better for a car the size of the MINI.
2. MINI could be trying to get us to believe that when you "MOTOR" you can have a carefree attitude about the price of fuel. For a car maker that once used the taglines the "SUV Backlash starts now" and "let's sip, not guzzle", my little motoringheart doesn't want to believe that a carefree attitude toward the price of gas is what MINI was after.

Personally, I think they are trying to accomplish number 1, but it just seems so out of sorts for a car that gets pretty dang average fuel economy to be advertised this way.

 

Dave, I regularly get 25/32+ on premium fuel in my 2003 MCS. I get even higher mileage on the roadtrips. I wish you could find a piccie of that billboard....I'd like to see it.

 

I have no problems accepting that the MCS gets 25/32.

Where I do have an issue with this is with MINI apparently trying to sell that as fuel efficient.

 

Maybe it is for a BMW?

 

i hit those numbers everyday myself. I like the new billboard

MINI, More State per Gallon

 

Considering the number of SUVs on the road, many people do think that's fuel efficient.

 

I wince every time someone asks me that dreaded fuel economy question.

Perhaps MINI is trying to suggest that with 25/32 mileage, we can do away OPEC because we'll soon have drained all their oil reserves?

 

I find that I feel bad answering that one as well. I'm pretty much a solid 25MPG it seems. I might be able to do better if I could just control myself to approximately 3-4K RPM more often though. I'm looking forward to seeing how we do driving 900 miles on the higway, I anticipate making close to 30 for the first time.

 

I used to drive a large pickup truck up until 4 years ago, and a Blazer several years before that. To me, the 25/32 was a huge improvement. It's more than 10 mpg better than what I ever had in either of those vehicles. I'm not embarassed to answer the frequent gas milage question, because I've been on the other side of the fence. It's no hybrid, but it sure beats 14mpg out of the 30 gallon tank in my old truck. I get roughly the same range out of 13 gallons of fuel in my MCS.

 

are MCS's even considered ULEV? then gas milage... not the most environmentally
friendly?

 

I've just purchased a used '05 MCS. I took it to the local dealer yesterday for a check-up and state inspection. While there, I had a conversation with the service advisor about mileage. His recommendation? Run 89 octane and I will see a couple of mpg increase with no ill effect over the 93 that I'm currently burning.

Now, as I said in the title, don't flame me, I'm just the messenger. I understand retarded ignition and detonation, but is it possible that he's correct? After all, the octane increasers in gasoline are there to make it less volatile and they contain less energy that the gasoline that they replace. Therefore, it stands to reason (at least in my little mind) that lower octane gas has more energy locked up per unit of measure. Soooooo, if you can burn the lower octane with no damage AND the retarded spark (which is there to prevent damage) robs less efficency than needed to offset the increase in potential energy........... Egads, its possible - isn't it?

Just my .02 after an entire week of Mini experience.....

hopper (who finds it somewhat irrelevant anyway since he's adding a pulley next week)

 

Hey, it's twice the mileage I get in my Land Crusher.... :-)

 

Anything's possible, and its your .02 to spend anyway you want. Keep in mind that, with the super charger, the MCS is a high compression engine that truly can get benefit from higher octane fuel. I think the ECU will compensate for it, but you'll probably notice a decrease in performance. Some folks have indicated that their milage is worse on lower octane gas, enough to make the lower cost moot.