It's a wide range all around with a large group of drivers in an equal number of individual MINI's in various places under many conditions with a bunch of OBC's doing their own computing, lastly using a wide range of slightly different fuels (with the EPA's help).

I reset mine for local home to work travel and it started low and has come back up to 26-something in a week.

 

My guess is the OBC is as accurate as most manual calculations. Each gas pump provides a slightly different, "gallon". Each time you fill-up there is likely a small difference in how full the car actually is. I know when I got MINI I stopped trying to "top-off" my tank because I didn't want to accidentally get gas on the paint. I think it would be hard to know for sure just how accurate the OBC is. But it's close enough.

 

with mixed driving, I usually get 25-27 MPG. if I really dont get on it through the whole tank of gas, I get about 29 mpg, but I get on my car about once a day.

 

Quality and octane of gas may play a role too.....are you using 91 octane?

Also, have you always had the Pro-Mini intake fitted.....I wonder if this is having any effect; could it be affecting your A/F ratio somehow?

 

I'm getting my numbers off of filling the tank and then take miles traveled divide by gallons added. I managed to pull in one tank of 35.5 MPG on my trip from FL to IL. I think the large differance in city milage comes from how much time is wasted at idle and how many acessories are being used. The most of my journey I only ran the radio and a laptop for most of the journey, though I had to have the lights on for the night driving. I never used the A/C and tried to avoid the fan and heat as much as possible, never used the wipers and generally stayed below 4k-4.5K RPM. Also another thing that affected my milage ina negative manner was the fact I had roughly 800-1000 pounds of "stuff" in the passenger seat and rear compartments. And unlike GBMINI's "dull and boring drive" I managed to find off highway country roads that were more direct than the interstate, so my average speed was in the 35-50 MPH range with lots of variation in revs and speed, though rarely stopping, and I managed to stay below the point where mileage became adversely affect by air resistance.

 

It has been my experience that I average 26-28 MPGs in the city and 30-32 MPGs on the highway. It varies of course on how I drive as well. If I am good then it is in the higher range and if I am bad then it is in the lower range.

However, I have noticed a trend that my mileage is getting better after I went in for my 1st check up. My last tank was almost all city driving, stop and go, with some really short and fast interstate jaunts and I cracked a 29 MPGs.

- glassdarkly

 

since i didnt mention, I use 93 octane with a standard transmission and no city driving.

 

WOW! Does mileage vary so much depending on accessories (A/C, radio, etc.) used? My husband's Vette averages 26 mpg combined (50/50 city/hwy) regardless of engine load. But as he just reminded me, "Enjoy that new MINI, don't worry about it!"

 

I think it's a close call who'll be filling up more frequently; you or your husband

 

City tank 23, almost pure highway tank 28, hand-calculated, 92 octane, just driving, not trying to conserve. Not as good as my Civic (highway tank record 43) but I knew it when I bought it and I am not going to complain.

 

Accessory load plays a huge roll in mpg. Smaller engines are more effected by it than larger one's so the difference is much more noticeable. Our Insight has a 1 liter 3 cyl and when the A/C clicks on, you can actually feel a little jolt and then start decelerating.

 

kapps, i had a similar scenario with my accord and the a/c system, and that was a pretty large (by 4 cylinder standards) 2.4 liter engine. it just ends up with powerdelivery, and im sure a/c compressor size, and other miscelaneous a/c parts , the honda made most of its torque and power higher up in the rev range and since it was a family sedan probably had a decent size a/c unit, my MCS which although has a smaller engine and negligibly more power, makes power and torque much more linearly and across the rev range, and im sure it has a smaller a/c compressor, etc. when i drive my mcs with the a/c on or turn the a/c on while driving the performance diff is negligible from a drivers perspective, take it to the track though and im sure the numbers are diff for a/c on and off

as to gas mileage, just filled up for the first time since ive owned the car with a full tank after accurately setting the trip odometer the last time so i was able to get my first reading. so far im at about 24.5 mpg. i do about 50/50, and personally im quite happy, becuase i got this figure with most of my driving with accesories on (its summer to hot to not have a/c, esp with the leather (esque) seats) just for comparisons sake, my accord which i drove 50/50 with and rarely had accesories goign (it was cloth and i didnt have it very long so i only experienced the end of last summer with it) would get only about 23.9 mpg, of course the mini offsets this with having premium fuel, but withg the fun to drive ratio added in and knowing once summer leaves and i start getting better mileage (due to less acessories beign run) the mileage will offset the premium fuel costs, i have to say im very satisfied

 

Well it all depends on how strict you want to be on getting good mileage but I've pulled in 36 mpg on a car that only claimed 24 highway, that was with no mods. The gear you are in has a lot to do with it, the engine was in the MINI I'm assuming was desgined to be most efficent at a mere 2500 rpm, and I knwo when I keep the revs near there my milage will jump.

Top Gear gas saving tips, lots of good advice but the radio should be off all together for max. economy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbQnV...p%20gear%20gas

 

I get 23-24 mpg and shifting at about 6K rpm :-)

 

Just some other things I remembered to help.

Check your tires press. when you fill up or every week, getting the most from you tires helps economy.

Change the oil at the regular intervals (I like to see it come out as clean as it went in, this 15K mile stuff is only around until the warranty is over)

Minimize excess weight

Use proper octane

Clean air filter

 

getting good MPG here.....29.7 on a bone stock MCS....\
Some spirited driving....

 

My DS averages about 34/35mpg, my cabrio averages about 31/32mpg. Thats a mix of highway and city driving.

 

2005 MCS 6-spd w/ no mods here. I drive mostly 80mph freeway (according to speedo, but not sure exactly how accurate it is, like the OBC, which typically shows 1-3 MPG more that actual when calculated at pump, but I do use it as a guide to watch), since I drive 45+ miles each way to and from work. I know that slower driving nets better mileage, (as I forced myself to try it, but hated it). Best mileage was around 32 OBC on a long trip, but typically got around 26. I use 93 octane. I try to shift around 3k, but occasionaly just have to get on it a bit. Go figure.

I recently found a product that has been used for 15+ years to increase longevity of mining and marine engines (gas and deisel) by causing fuel to burn more completely and burn off carbon deposits in engines, which appealed to me as I have 35k miles in 13 months of driving on my baby. This also nets cleaner oil and less often oil changes. The product has just been produced for average consumption in tablet form as of last November. I was very impressed by the product and tried it, and surprisingly the side benefit was about a 10%+ increase in fuel economy which thrilled me at $3.00 per gal. The other claim I have been toying with is that it claims since the fuel burns more completely w/ cleaner exhaust you can drop the octane by a notch.

Still not sure I am ready to do that, but pleased to be getting 45+ more miles per tank each time I fill up and the car seems even peppier. Some people have reported 20+% increase in mileage.

I also thought I would get better mileage when I bought the car, but it really comes down to it that I bought it to enjoy driving it. Glad to have found some increase in mileage and save $$ too.

 

03 MCS, averaged 34 MPG on my 2400 mile drive from Seattle to Austin, per the OBC. In Seattle commuting I averaged 24.

 

The biggest issue is the gas. If you look through the threads, the people always getting the crummy gas mileage are usually from California - we get crappy 91 octane gas here, and the mileage suffers because of it. All the people getting better miileage are usually getting 93 octane gas.

 

i've been quite a few places with my mini and haven't gotten better then 27 mpg highway that was avg 73 ish mph, and was a cross state trip. In my 95' audi S6 i got 26 mpgs on that same stretch avg 80 mph, and that car weighed in at 3800 lbs with 227 hp and all wheel drive, seems stupid to me that my mcs only got 1 mpg better the the S6. Less weight should mean less work and energy that needs to be exerted to travel, but seems my mini must have a unseen inefficiency problem, as i suspect many people do.
My OBC is constantly between 1.5-2 mpg optimistic.
I use 92 octain. On my latest tank i got 24 mpg with around 85% highway avg 60 ish mph and the rest city without getting on the gas pedal hard. I really think that some of these cars just get better mpg's then others.

 

We average around 26 - 27 mpg with mostly city driving and using nothing but 93 octane. It seems the mini puts off this impression that it is a econo car when in fact it is a sportscar, your not going to get 40+ mpg, so just enjoy the ride .

 

Thats funny. When I test drove the MCSC last week before putting down a deposit I had a reading of ,,,,,,,,, 12mpg . Of course I was trying to see what it would do on a short loop of city and freeway driving and probqbly never went much below 4k rpm.. What price fun?

 

I drive back and forth from San Antonio to Houston quite often and average around 42MPG with AC on and keeping it around 75MPH. In town, it drops to around mid-30s.
I have a 2003 MCS with 56K and some basic mods including K&N air filter, upgraded plugs and 8mm plug wires.

Enjoy!

 

Like others here, I've found your driving style makes a big difference. My '06 Cooper (MC not MCS) is lightweight - no sunroof, 15 inch forged bbs, and I consistently get 30 to 32 in mixed hwy/city driving. Drive it "hard" and it'll fall to 28, really baby it on mostly hwy it'll rise to 36mpg. All calculated, not computer