I just started down this trail...only about 90 miles on the odometer; but so far the milage is not stellar.

I hope I got premium gas in the dealer fill-up. Hopefully things will improve based upon the posts that I see. So far only 19mpg.

 

Real world, not the OBC, 32mpg on the road, avg. speed 50mph, cruise control set at 70mph, 300 miles, each way. For the S.

 

I don't think I've heard a worse plan to break in a car, car is barely running at 2500 rpm, keep that up and you will end up with a slow car that uses oil or smokes because it is blowing the oil past the rings that never seated very well, IMHO!

 

Yes, high heat and high humidity decrease the density of o2 in the air making engines less efficient. (The same reason an aircraft needs a longer runway or less weight when departing in high heat/humid conditions).

True, perhaps the MINI salesman said 3,500 not 2,500. Either way you should try to avoid running a new engine at a high RPM for an extended time. And, multiple short trips in any car are not good for it, even worse for a new engine.

Almost ready to fill up again ... so far milage looks better than last time.

 

1800 miles on my auto clubbie non-S. Roundtrip to the Smokies yielded 38.8 mpg on one tank of gas per OBC. Will be less with fill up tomarrow and I do the hand calculation.

 

I don't think the multiple short trips is that bad at breakin as long as you are allowing sufficient cool down periods between the heat cycles, usually 15 min., minimum and up to an hour is always good!

 

I filled up again yesterday - Mobil Premium 93 octane

justacooper Clubman with now just over 1300 miles on it. . .

Hand calculated:
Drove 393 miles since last fillup - all city driving
The tank took 13.2 gallons
Which equaled 29.77 MPG

 

New numbers - filled up Stewie again today (Clubman S manual)

• 40/60 City/Highway
• 33.9 Avg MPH
• A/C on 95% of the time
• 402.5 miles driven
• 13.66 gallons at fill up
• 32.6 MPG OBC
• 29.6 MPG hand calculated
• 3.0 difference between computer and calculator
• $4.059 Costco Super Unleaded $55.45
• .14 cent cost per mile
• 1096 miles to date

Some improvement, more highway this time, Avg MPH about the same, I do not think I drove as aggressively as I did the first tank.

Keep it comming - I am surprised by the range of results that I have seen posted so far! Try to include your AVG MPH as shown on the OBC, which can be reset at each fill up.

 

I'm trying to keep up with the different variables:

1. Engine a little more broken in -- probably the most significant
2. Different brand of gas -- probably minor
3. More highway (but not much difference in avg speed
4. More A/C -- was it hotter? What other effect might that have?

This is fun to think about. I hope I can soon contribute data.

 

IMO, it is not a good idea to let it get below 60 miles remaining. There have been reports of people running out of gas with nearly that many miles remaining on the computer readout. If you run it dry you can overheat the fuel pump and burn it out, or shorten its life. The miles remaining is just an estimate that the computer calculates. Besides, the longer you wait to fill up, the higher the gas price will have gone up.

To really compare the accuracy of the OBC mpg vs. hand calculated, you need to average several fill ups. The pump can cut off at different levels. Not all pumps are accurate. Temps. can affect gas volume, etc.

My MCS Coupe has been getting around 28 mpg for local driving and 33 for freeway trips. The freeway mpg can dop one or two mpg if AC is on. The local number his down a couple mpg due to my long steep switchback driveway (400 ft. altitude change) that gives a reading of 6-8 mpg going up.

 

2 weekends ago I drove from Corning, NY to Cleveland, OH (~280 mi. each way) in my Clubman S. Had the A/C on about 1/2 the time, used 91 octane going there and 92 coming back. OBC showed 37.5 mpg going and 37.6 returning, however my manual calculations came up exactly 2.5 mpg less for each leg. I am reserving judgement until I collect more data, but the posts here seem to indicate the OBC is generally a bit optimistic. Not a big deal, but I would have expected a little more precision from a BMW product.

Interestingly, there is also a 2.5 mph offset between my speedo and my GPS, the speedo reading higher. I am not too surprised at this, as my SA showed me a service bulletin that indicated this is pretty much by design. I guess liability. I just wonder if the 2.5 mpg/mph offset similarity is simply a coincidence, or they are somehow linked? In other words, maybe the OBC used the speedo (and time) to calculate mpg, whereas I am using the odometer - which is not affected by the speedo offset.

Thoughts?

 

I picked up my Clubman S on Saturday from Northwest Mini. Put on 430 miles on my trip back to Idaho and filled it with 11.5 gallons. Hand calulated at 37.39mpg, obc read 37.5. I'm quite happy with that!

 

Yep, the difference between your numbers is certainly within reason. Hopefully your OBC will stay this accurate. It is much better than my 2.5mpg difference!

 

Fill up #3 7/07, results for Costco Super Unleaded 93:

• 40/60 City/Highway
• 36.4 Avg MPH
• A/C on 95% of the time
• 379.1 miles driven
• 12.69 gallons at fill up
• 31.6 MPG OBC
• 29.9 MPG hand calculated
• 1.7 difference between computer and calculator
• $4.099 Chevron Mid grade (89) $52.02
• .14 cent cost per mile
• 1474 miles to date

About the same, I assume results are slightly better because avg MPH was 36.4 vs. 33.9. OBC and calculator are closer.

Will post results of mid grade 89 fuel next time - I am getting the 1,500 mile oil change tomorrow. We will see what it does to the results, even though the 93 octane control has been changed to 89.

 

Here is a link to a spread sheet I an keeping. It lists all the fill ups and will have oil changes listed when they are done.

http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?k...t2tiVG-upSF2OA

I do not reset the OBC each trip as it i have found the one on my BMW is always off by way to much to worry about. It is listed as others have been listing it just as a reference.

I also do not list the Average MPH as also on my BMW it is never correct. I can travel 2 mile form my house and get on the highway and travel at 65 miles an hour for 200 miles and then get off the highway and travel 3-4 miles to my destination and it will tell me the average speed was 34.8 or 41.2 which is not anywhere close to accurate.

I do not try to calculate the percentage of city/highway as many times i can be on the highway and traveling slower than if I was on the city streets.

The notes column is there to explain some of the factors that will greatly affect MPG rates. Things like carrying bikes, kayaks etc.

 

Thank you for those numbers PWClubman.

 

Your welcome

Thanks Schatzy! Wow, I thought I was "detailed" - I could not view your spread sheet though?

 

On my last fill up I calculated by hand and came up with 34.4--the OBC had me at 35.5--cloce enough for me. Clubman S with 1300 miles. Had to drive my Explorer today-what a difference after 40 days in the MINI. It only gets 19mpg.

 

Just finished a weekend trip from SF to Tahoe and back in the Clubman S w/ auto trans.
Used 12.5 gallons for 380 miles = just over 30 mpg.

Not a bad deal considering we were in stop and go traffic (mostly stop) for the first three hours of the trip with the AC on, and then did a couple of high speed runs on the backroads as we tried to bypass the traffic. Some more stop and go in the Tahoe basin, and then a spirited run down 50.

As for keeping a vehicle log...it's just something I do. Kinda interesting to look back at what we were paying for gas 6 months ago. Also helps remind me when I last replaced that widgit on the left front or that filter on the whatchamacallit.

 

I will reset in the morning (tuesday) as i do not remember my password to get to it right now.

 

Just finished a 2000 mile vacation. My non-S mini mileage ranged from 34mpg (through w.va mountains) to 36.5 along eastern shore of Virginia. In between I tried a tank of Ethanol 10% from BP - car became very sluggish and dropped about 1 mpg. However right now using 10% ethanol from Get Go and am guessing I will be in the 36-37mpg range.

My driving for 2000 miles was probably 70% highway @ 65 to 75 mph.

 

The OBC probably isn't taking into account the time spent burning fuel while
sitting at stoplights or waiting in the drive-thru. It also doesn't take into
account your driving habits (jackrabbit starts, etc). And I don't know how
the OBC determines how much gas you've burnt ... gas gauges aren't
entirely accurate.

Hand calculations also depend on how much you top-off the tank at the
gas station. Different pumps may shutoff at slightly different fill levels.

All that being said, the hand calculations averaged over several tanks will
be the most accurate MPGs.

 

Can not wait to crank out some legit MPG calcs, I bet you will not get to sleep tonight without knowing what a fully pimped out Toyota Sienna AWD XLE Limited (w/RF - no kidding...) yields: 15 MPG, 80% city driving.

So if you are keeping score at home: Minivan MPG x 2 = Mini Clubman S MPG

And if you pull the 2nd and 3rd row seats out of the van, you have a car carrier for the MINI.

 

Here is a better link. Hopefully it will work this time.

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?k...t2tiVG-upSF2OA

 

over the weekend I averaged close to 34 mpg's with 4 adults in the car weighing close to 900 lbs altogether and motoring in the Catskill Mountains for about 200 miles ... oh yeah, with the A/C on for about half that time.