Ok, so I bought my '10 Clubby S about 5 weeks ago and decided to make a test run up and back between my college in Des Moines from St. Louis. Started the trip with about 580 miles. So there I am cruising along and after about 130 miles I figured I would fill up the gas tank. However upon further inspection, I see that I still have 9/10 notches glowing! I'm like, "Ok, what's the deal here? Is the gas gauge broken on this brand new car? really?." So I pull into the Flying J near the Iowa/ Missouri border and "fill up"...the car needed 3.7 gallons...I toggled through the settings on the steering wheel and it says my MINI is doing 41.3 mpg!!!! I finally pull out and get to Des Moines and same thing, only two notches used and 40.1 mpg. Now I'm pretty good with numbers, but 41.3 mpg on 3.7 gallons at only .1 of a tank used does not equate to the 13.2 gallon capacity indicated in the manual. Anybody think something is flawed here?

 

read this nicely =) There is a flaw but it's not with the MINI. It's with your understanding of the tank. The TANK is 13.2 gallons but there is a filler tube from the tank to the gas cap which will hold over a gallon. The gas gauge won't move until you've burned off the gas in the tube and made the level in the tank go down.
I can usually go about 80 miles before the first light goes out. Then they start going down at normal speed.

The 40mpg isn't unheard of in long trips in a S. I've heard of upper 40's from Cooper owners doing long trips.

 

From my calculations on my Clubman S, those notches are not linear. I think they are interesting diodes but I have no idea what they represent. I have not crawled under the vehicle to see what shape the tank is but apparently it's non-uniform in its top to bottom shape.

 

No, they aren't linear at all. The notches start out slow and then get faster about halfway down, inexplicably. An analog gauge or a digital one that's more accurate would be a welcome addition!

 

That's what I was thinking too. So my first notch could potentially account for like 5 gallons? (theoretically speaking). Because the tank of gas before said with 4 notches left, I filled up and bought 10.295 gallons.

 

Most "analog" gauges are programmed the same way. The report higher than expected when full so that you feel good about your fuel economy, then drop quickly at the lower end to make sure you don't truly run out.

 

Make sure the language setting, in the speedometer menu, is set to LANG=US.
If set to UK then the OBC will read several mpg high as the UK gallon is ~5 quarts compared to the US 4 quarts.

 

Interesting! Lame of the car companies to do that, but interesting that they do. Can't say it surprises me, though.

 

Sometimes I just don't get it.

The car gets 41 MPG and there is something to complain about?

The gas gauge has a problem??

You will learn to deal with the gauge. Its purpose is to predict when you will need more gas -- nothing more. It does that in a kinda strange way. You learn to like it.

Now spend some time thinking about a little car that just produced 41 MPG with less than 1K under its belt.

You'll learn to like that, too.

 

Sheesh Herleman, you're an easy one to please! Gauge technology has been around for quite some time and for one to expect a reasonable degree of accuracy is not beyond reason - especially if it had ten markings! Now if the gauge had markings of "Near Full", "About Half Full", and "Close to Empty" I'd agree with you.

 

You can turn on the view where it shows you how many miles till empty if you wan't a more accurate view of how much gas/miles you have left. (This is a feature of the R56 I have, it's on the tachometer the same place you can look up current MPG and average speed, etc.)

 

It is accurate. Learn how to read it.

 

The problem's not with the gauge, it's with the shape of the tank - it's not a box, or even a nice rectangle - it's an odd conglomeration of shapes designed to fit into the odd spaces available for it between the suspension bits, seats, bottom of the car and so on. Climb under your car and look at it someday, you'll see what I mean. It's a wonder the gauge works at all!

Incidentally, I get about 100 miles from a full tank before my first "candy corn" goes out, and the last 3 go much more quickly than the first three. However, I know about how many miles I get on a tank, so it's pretty easy to calculate.

To the OP, are you sure about that 41 mpg? I haven't heard of anyone getting that kind of mileage with an S, unless they were driving at about 45 mph. Mine does good to get 30 on a long trip, at 75 mph .

 

Eh, it's not a great gauge -- it's vague because of the size of the light divisions. Even something like more divisions with the LEDs would be a great addition.

I use the "amount of miles left" dealie on the odometer, too, but only because I have to.

 

I have a Volvo that has the gage marked in gallons and it's accurate, so the technology is available.

My '80 MGB has a wedge shaped tank, but the gage is linear, the gas goes down just as fast from 1/2 to empty as it does from full to 1/2. Heck, if Lucas could do it 30 years ago, BMW should be able to do it on a new Mini!

Dave

 

I agree! Nothing's perfect, I guess... :-/

The car is obviously able to read what's in the tank very well because you can count down how many miles you have left with decent precision with the tach function, so the shape of the tank is not the issue here. Bad design of the fuel gauge is the issue.

 

Yesterday I got 138 miles on the first notch its sometimes like a contest with myself. I will always get 105 to 115 with no problem even driven over two mountain passes daily. Enjoy the milage and less fill ups.

 

that's what my tachometer reading said on the scroll-thru menu. I had cruise control on 70. I usually stay within 5 or so of the speed limit. plus I have a college sticker with out of town plates on my MINI. Its probably not a good idea to speed anyways.