Someone asked me today how my gas mileage was. I replied "About 22-23 in town" His jaw dropped! It was hilarious. "I figured it would get a lot better than that!" he said. I just couldn't think of anything humorous to say fast enough... That's what happens right after lunch.

 

I think that response was typical of most of the enthusiasts I know, who bought their MINIs because of the handling, not for the mileage, resmini.

MINI's have more handling bang for the buck than any other vehicle I can think of. Driven gently, sure they get pretty good mileage, but I've found that in stop-and-go traffic in gridlocked L.A., my in-town mileage is between 22-26 mpg, and more like 32+mpg on the highway. I think that's pretty good for such a peppy little vehicle.

 

When asked about gas mileage, I almost always tell the person what EPA MPG info was on the sticker when I bought the car. It was something like 32MPG City/46MPG Hwy, but that may be off a little and I don't want to dig out the sticker right now. Then I tell them if a person is getting that kind of MPG, they aren't driving the car properly!

I also tell them that I didn't buy the car for its gas mileage-I bought it because it is so much fun.

 

I joke with people that I upgraded from Ford Escape to Mini for the gas mileage. I estimate that the car will pay for itself in about 270,000 miles.

 

That is exactly it. People see the size of a MINI and immediatly think "Econobox". They do not realize that it is a sports car. I have also gotten a few other comments such as "That is such a hot car" too.

 

Yesterday, my wife's coworker called ours a "gocart on crack".