Talked to the dealership today about fuel economy. They told me fuel economy for the standard Cooper w/ manual transmission is not expected to be above 26-28 mpg highway.

Anyone have any experience with this? I didn't expect 45 mpg, but I'm really annoyed that I can't hit 30 in all highway driving.

 

How many miles do you currently have and at what speed were you traveling at?

 

Also, did you have the AC on much?

 

cooper or S? For my Cooper, non S, I avrage around 29mpg...but I have 215-40-17 high performance summer tires...this decreases milage. I also open it up a lot and run it hard...it has an intake, and exhaust, so I love to hear it roar. That is combined driving, highway and city, but mostly city.

I did just make a drive down to Pueblo from South Denver, about 130 miles one way...and I averaged 39.5mpg on the way down, and 36.7 on the way back up, both speeds around 75-80mph the entire way.

When I had my OEM 15" 8 hole rims when I first got the car, with 165 wide tires....I think I hit an average of 40mpg...but that is when I was taking it easy on the car...then I started to have fun with the new 17" rims and tires.

 

Traveled over 1900 miles this weekend up and down hills and at high RPM's in my Cooper. Average 34.5 never has been below 30 average around town.

 

I have about 2k miles on the Cooper (not a Cooper S). I have never hit 30 mpg, including on a road trip where the average speed was 65 mph. Around town, I'm lucky to get 23. I do use the ac.

 

After 47000+ miles our Cooper has averaged 29.51 MPG, the A/C is on almost all the time. A lot was city, which in our hilly, traffic clogged, neighborhood is about 18-20MPG. A bunch of the highway is with bikes loaded on top which reduces mileage about 5MPG. The best few tanks were 37-38, the worst was 19.5.

 

MPG depends on a lot of factors...

It could be as weird as the altitude your are in...

But usual factors are:
- Break-in period
- A/C on?
- Windows open? (you know that driving on highway with windows open takes as much fuel as running on A/C?)
- Car full of luggages? (and other useless stuff)
- Tires air pressure
- ...

 

But 26-28 mpg highway sounds about right to everyone? Maybe I relied too heavily on Mini's ads and atypical owners' experiences?

 

no, that sounds low.....with reasonable driving, expect in the mid to upper 30's highway.

 

It could have a lot to do with the fact you are just 2k miles... and we don't really know your driving style and speed you travel at. My sister averages around 34mpg in her cooper around town. I average 30-32mpg in my cooper S.

 

My 2002 MC 5 speed got 32 to 35 mpg for mixed city highway miles. My 2005 MCS 6 speed manual gets 26 to 28 mpg for the same kind of driving. Returning from Pueblo to Longmont (after getting 10.5 mpg at the track) I got 36 mpg.

 

Highway defined as: With a warm engine, fill the tank, get on the freeway and keep a steady speed (65-75), with no major hills, until you need gas again. Refill. If your tire pressure is correct, windows closed, A/C on, no major headwind, expect mid to upper 30's

 

No. That sounds really, really low. If it's a CVT I'd wonder if it's not "shifting" properly... If you have a 5 spd, it sounds like you're never using 5th gear. Either way, IMHO, your dealer rep is full of it...

Jerseygirl's '03 MCS gets mid-high 20's in mixed driving. Well into the 30's on the hwy averaging 70+ mph in 6th. And that's with an intake and a 15% pulley. 205/50-16" non-RF tires set to 32 psi.

 

I average right around 30 mpg in town or on the freeway. Based on what I read on NAM my mileage should vary more. My last trip I did get 34 but that was with no AC and a new CAI.


Art

 

I drove up to Philly from DC this weekend. I had the cruise control (no A/C, windows up) on most of the way and averaged 36 mpg in my Cooper. I have about 1400 miles on it so far. I don't know if this has anything to do with my better gas mileage lately, but I've started using Shell V-Power gasoline consistently...

 

Just to add to your data gathering...I have driven my manual transmission cooper 24,600 miles. I do a mix of highway and local driving and have logged each fill-up. I have never gotten below 33 mpg. On average I get 35 mpg and my highest was 36 mpg.

 

MCS 14K miles, 35.9 high, 12.3 low , average 28.1MPG.
Freeway trips usually over 30mpg.
Odds are you'll hit 30+ with the Cooper - esp with the holies and 175mm tires.
The MINI does seem to get lower than expected mileage, but note that it's a bit portly at 2,600lbs, and lots of that is safety gear. As a contrast, my '85 CRX is about the same size, but weighs in at 1,800lbs and gets 35mpg easy. Then again, no airbags, side impact protection, ABS, etc., etc.

 

The OBC must be calibrated in some cases...the only reliable milage numbers are those that are calculated by hand, using the same brand of fuel and very careful measure of the fuel consumed and milage driven.

With that said, I have an MCS....And I regularly get 34+ highway and 30+ city (if I can stand to drive with the flow of trafic) usually I can't stand to keep the revs below 2200 and drive like an old woman so I will avg about 28 city

 

Not many hills there?

 

Nope I pretty much have to leave the state to drive uphill

 

Typical morning drive - 10 lights on the route, and stop and go is quite likely as well. With the pork of the MINI to drag around... Also, I suspect it runs very rich until the engine is warm.

 

My minimally optioned Mini Cooper with manual trans and 15" holey wheels has only had one tank below 30 mpg in the 14k miles we've owned it, and that was still a little over 29 mpg. Average has been 32-34 mph, with a high of 36-37 mpg on the highway. Even driving the car hard and autocrossing it nets me over 30 mpg.

-Keith

 

That's the city MPG isn't it? Highway is supposed to be 36 ish... Combined 32 ish...

 

Last Friday, loaded with wife and kid and full tank of gas, I drove from North Delta (near Vancouver) B.C., crossed the border and then to Seattle to South Center mall for PSMINI's all MINI/mini show n shine. after getting home, I had barely used up half a tank of gas.

I drove extremely conservatively, 65mpg on the cruise control most of the way. This pegs my strictly highway mileage as around 45mpg (even closer to 50 was my ballpark estimate). Mind you, my normal mode of driving is not this conservative and I think I would normally get around 35 on a twisty highway. We're talking I-5 here.

Having said that, Velveteen-MINI is a Cooper-CVT, and it looks like my MCS got slightly better mileage.

I think it depends how hard you flog your engine. It's not hard to drive aggressively in our cars.

You should be able to get over 30mpg easily on the highway driving reasonably conservatively.