My MCS is now 4 years old and I've modded it for the track and autocross but still use it for daily driving.

With the gas prices spiking up to $3 per gallon this week I decided to try to drive easy like a grandpa and see what sort of good mpg I could get.

So I mounted my 15" holey rims and conti 175/65-15 tires and drove about 55 to 65 mph and refrained from doing my normal spirited driving.

I have no cruise control and I did coast down some hills and drove about 90% highway with 55 mph speed limits.

I checked and got 29 mpg which is fairly good for me. When new and using S-lyte and runflats in mostly stock form I got 33 mpg but since I done lots of mods my mpg usually runs about 25 in mixed driving and sometimes a bit lower than that.

By comparison my 2006 Honda Civic sedan automatic got 27 mpg in mixed driving this week (kinda disappointing for a new car not being driven that hard, 4500 miles on the odometer).

So in my family the MCS is the mileage champ if I could only drive it slow and steady. Ha!

No matter what the MCS is the most fun to drive in my home. The standard civic suspension is really too soft:impatient

Maybe I'll trade it in for a new MC with auto transmission and sport suspension. Definitely get better mpg and more performance but give up a little back seat comfort.

 

Thanks for the info. On my trip down to Florida which was 1100 miles I averaged 32mph on my 2003 MCS. That was going 80 - 90 mph most of the time. Even at 90 mph it maintained over 30mph.

This is a mostly stock MCS with only a DDM CAI. I think the intake has increased the MPG a little.

 

i average 23 mixed driving and i keep my lead foot and spirited driving at bay, i have a 15% pulley and intake though, but my millage actually got better when i put them on.

 

Manual transmission? Cruise control?
Stock wheels and runflats?
Premium gas?

If I change to 17" wheels the increased weight and rolling resistance isn't going to be helpful. Probably loose 3 mpg. Much better cornering and slightly stiffer ride.

The advantage is those holey rims are light and the stock tires are narrow and light. Ok for street driving and still nimble enough. Good for rain which we've been having. 65 series tires- pretty soft given my coilover suspension.

 

Manual transmission, cruise control probably 60% of the time. Stock S-lite wheels with non runflats (continental extreme contacts).

Always premium gas.

I hope to do a 15% pulley upgrade soon.

 

15% pulley by itself should not do that much negatively to mpg unless you go wild and drive drastically faster.

I have-
Alta intake/silicon hose
Webb rebored throttlebody
19% reduction pulley
IK-22 plugs/ 8.5mm kingsborne wires
JCW injectors
GIAC ECU flash
Miltek header and cat back exhaust

Suspension and brake upgrades
Quaife LSD and stock clutch and 6 speed transmission
Weight about 2680 pounds.

 

OOOOOPs.

I checked the tire pressures today in my CIVIC and all of the tires were at 25 psi.

I checked them not too long ago. I usually don't drive it and the tires seemed a little low not to mention the car handled like a wet noodle when I drove it earlier in the day. I thought that was sort of "normal" for the civic.

So that 27 mpg I got for the Civic was likely affected by the lack of tire pressure.

Got to redo the test this week with 32 psi in all tires.

Of course the MINI was fine at 32 psi.

 

My GF also has a 2007 Civic, and she usually gets about 32-33 MPG in mixed driving, so hopefully the tire pressure adjustment will help you.

I think the Civic/MINI combo is great - the Civic is far more comfortable of a ride, but the MINI is the one to choose for more "spirited" driving

 

Interesting... I have a 12/2006 manual Cooper. I average about 29mpg with a mix of city / freeway driving -- i think it would be higher, but it's more city than highway... Here's my data if anyone is curious:

date - mileage - MPG - gallons
12/13/06 - 186 - 28 - 5.98
12/19/06 ---- 12.16
12/24/06 - 866 - 30.1 - 11.66
12/31/06 - 1222 - 31.3 - 12.25
01/21/07 - 1560 - 29.4 - 11.98
02/27/07 - 1899 - 29 - 12.21
03/07/07 - 2272 - 29.4 - 13.31
03/11/07 - 2635 - 32.6 - 11.58
03/25/07 - 3034 - 31.7 - 13.11
04/08/07 - 3393 - 28.3 - 13.61
04/22/07 - 3795 - 31.3 - 12.89

 

You can make the MINI more comfortable-
Keep the stock suspension
Move to non runflat tires
Change the tires to something with less stiff sidewalls- 55 to 65 series sidewalls work quite well if using 15" or 16" rims.

OK, I pumped up the tires on the CIVIC and got more like 31 mpg in mixed driving or with some hwy and less heavy traffic motoring. That was with regular unleaded gas while the MINI takes premium.

Time to put some hot performance tires on the CIVIC and see what happens to the mpgs! :impatient

Got 16" rims so swap out the sedate 205/55-16 and put on some 215/40-16 or 225/40-16 (takes 7.5" wide rims).

 

i've done around 29~30mpg long distance. my car's a jcw running on kosei k1 16" rims. i've also done as bad as 21

 

My stock MCS on 16in usually averages around 27 in daily driving.

 

I have a MCS 2004 with a 15% Alta pulley and a Promini Airkit. I drive with my foot in it most of the time and still get 23-24mpg in town, and at 80+ I still get 31-33mpg. It does tend to drop significantly at speeds over a 100, then again, the ticket prices rise at the same rate of non-return, so 80 is about it for me.........most of the time.
I have heard that a Miltek or Borla exhaust will give you more power, make good sounds and increase mileage...anyone know the truth or consequence to that rumor?

 

I have a stock '06 Cooper and get 31 in town; 36 highway. I freely admit I usually drive like an auld geezer when I'm on an economy run. The in town figure is on my 9 mile commute, about half surface streets and half freeway, with the usual unplanned errands thrown in. The highway mileage is achieved trying to stay at 60.

 

In my '06 Cooper, 5sp, 15 inch BBS rgfs (10.6 lb), Mymini exhaust, when I go for an "economy mode" tankful, mix of fwy & shorter tripts, I get about 34mpg. Driving "normally" that'll drop to about 30.

 

just picked up my 2005 MCS with 6k miles. All stock. drove back from Chicago to Denver. Usually set the cruise at 80-85. rant he ac during the afternoon. I only averaged 24mpg. compared to my old 2002 MCS with cai+exhaust that seemed low. what do you guys think?

 

I'm now up to 1750 miles, and I'm averaging a paltry 21 MPG (about half and half city/highway). When I don't leave the city, it drops to around 16 MPG

I'm in San Francisco, and I think the combination of our hills, stop signs on every corner and crappy gas is killing my mileage. I'm a little disappointed, and sometimes I think I should have just gotten over my distaste for the R56 and got one of those instead of my R53!

Would be very interested in hearing from other SF or Bay Area folks and comparing mileage to see if what I'm getting is in the ballpark.

 

When new (back in '02), I would get 37mpg (OBC) on an all-highway trip doing 75-80 mph. Now, it's around 35. I've tested the OBC to be 3-4 mpg optimistic. I'll have to re-test once I get an intake.

 

I get 30.5 consistently on my 04' MCS-JCW with runflats. I go on mostly 2 lane highway, occasionally pass and drive conservatively unless opportunities arise for more spirited driving.

 

I get about 33mpg when I agressively try to keep the mpg up... or drive like a grandpa. (coast down hill and otherwise feather the throttle inputs.)

I will get 28mpg if I use cruise or drive slightly agressively (which is easy to do in traffic in NJ).

both mgp. est. are at 70-75mph, on highways.
The car is an '06 MCS manual w/ 17" runflats

The 15% pully will reduce mpg by 1-4mpg depending on how heavy your foot is. The smaller pully means that the SC is spinning faster and you have more pumping losses and drag.

 

HMMMmmmmm is my 16.4mpg on the way to work pretty bad then!!?? Eek, I guess I shouldnt try and wake myself up so much, but the canyon roads beg for it! Also half the journey is stop-go-stop-go. I would liek over 20 though! thats intake and 16% reduc.

 

Hmmm, I usually get 31 on my 02 MC. I once kept my foot out of it, and drove 60 from Williamsport, PA to Pottstown, PA. 90% downhill. 42 MPG.

Too bad I tried it back up hill to Williamsport, and only got 35 MPG. Still not too bad.

 

Just put 1800-plus miles on my MCS running to the Dragon an back home. Sometimes averaging 80-85mph on the highway, especially around Chicago burbs. With that I averaged 29mpg. The highest price I paid for premium on the trip was $1.39. (I did see $1.49 last Sunday PM around Chicago.) I'm glad the Dragon was over a week ago and not now!

 

I averaged 27mpg in mixed driving for a long time and it was always the same whether mostly city or highway. Once I even kept rpms between 1200 and 1700 for an entire tank and got 27.3mpg City-only went as low as 18mpg while nonstop highway-only could net at best about 31mpg with the 19%, header, GIAC, and JCW injectors.

But that was with a little toe-out, which apparently cost a lot more in gas mileage than I had thought. I optimized the toe for MPG and averaged 39.8mpg over an entire tank! It was highway only, 50-75mph and admittedly off-throttle directional stability was a little iffy, but that is darned impressive for a MCS with mods.

 

FWIW, I just drove back from Durango to Denver (CO) and got 32.8 mpg! What makes this fantastic is that my MINI was laden with 2 mtbikes on the roof and camping, biking, and hiking gear that filled the entire cargo area nearly to the roof and a 180+ lb passenger. Travel speed was 70+ mph for over 80% of the drive. This is with the stock airbox and no other mods.