HAHA, I was wondering the same thing. I was thinking to myself, "...I wonder what lugging the engine feels like in my MINI because I can't tell!". From 2nd to 5, I wind up at 2k, engine is still smooth. I have to try and bog the motor down, which I haven't yet.

As far as the fun factor. This is more for the morning rush hour in town/highway. I can't really shift the gears and weave through traffic (too much traffic), so I just like to go with the flow. I might as well maximize mpg while I'm at it.

Thanks for all the replies, you guys are great!

 

Whoever told you that doesn't know what they're talking about. You can shift from any gear to any gear anytime you want. You will break nothing and you won't wear out anything before its time. The only thing I suggest you don't do is try to go to reverse when the car is going forward.

 

Not all Mini's are turbo's/superchargers though. In my naturally aspirated Mini, anything below 1.4k rpms feel like it's lugging-heck you can even hear it. Personally I don't dip below 1.6k(unless in neutral or idle obviously)

 

I was super impressed that after a week of driving the turbo, as hard as possible, I was only down to 26.6mpg... but averaging 35mpg in true, regular driving is easy.

What sort of mileage are you returning so far?

 

Via obc or hand calculations? There is a full thread on this btw.

 

this won't hurt the engine. kind of weird to do, but won't hurt it.

only way it would put strain is if you downshifted from 5th to 3rd and revved it hard.