so far on 93 octane ive been getting around 30mpg but thats driving it pretty hard as well. coming from a high hp car before Im just use to going and besides the turns are more fun at speed.

*wishes the sport button would stay on on restarts, sigh*.

 

My first fuel tank: 405.8 miles on the trip, 12.687 gallons, and 31.99 MPG

WOO HOO this car rocks!

 

Motormouth, we wouldn't be very responsible consumers of internet information if we believed a person just because they said, "Take this as FACT I know what I'm talking about."

My understanding of how the Sport button changes the throttle RESPONSE is that without it, throttle position change is paced by the ECU, allowing for a more steady application of the throttle valve, and thus saving fuel and reducing excessive emissions both as you roll the throttle on and as you snap it shut. With the Sport button on, this paced position change is eliminated, so while you're more free to truly achieve WOT when you want to, now the change in engine speed is limited to the engine's physical ability to catch up to your input, instead of the ECU nannying up to your input and the car's power following that paced progression. My 2000 BWM has drive by wire and NO sport button, and over time I've learned that to stomp on the pedal is futile. The ECU limits my throttle opening to the environmentally responsible pace.

I have a hard time swallowing Motormouth's explanation for these two reasons.
1) if Sports button tightened the steering (In other words reduced the number of turns of the steering wheel from full lock to full lock) then they wouldn't have been able to allow you to engage the Sport button while moving. If they had, your two front wheels would instantaneously try to change direction in mid turn if you enabled it then, and you'd likely lose control. So I'll assume you meant it tightens the steering feel.

2) If Sport button simply adjusted the relative position of the pedal to the throttle, the car would accelerate no faster in this mode, yet I believe it does. And if it were changing the sensitivity of the throttle by sliding its reference position earlier in relation to the throttle as you suggest, then it would result in WOT at an earlier point, or we'd have a non-linear mapping in one of the two modes which would feel odd. Then you suggest that it acts differently while you're depressing the throttle than it will when you stop moving the pedal. It's not that complicated. If it was then your scenerio would lead to my pressing the throttle to position 4, the ECU acting like it was position "5 or 6" then having to face the cold reality that I'm keeping it at steady state, so it would have to dial it back to position 4 even though I'm not lifting. This would lead yo-yo'ing all over the place trying to pace the car.

Finally, you mention that with Sport button it "feels" like the turbo's working better only because you're giving the engine more gas. But alas, this is a Direct Injection engine, so you're only giving the car more air. The ECU's always giving it just as much gas as it can burn with the air you allow it. I do agree that all signs so far point to the fact that the amount of boost (aside from overboost) is not affected directly by the Sport mode, but without someone measuring this we shouldn't presume to know that.

 

I don't feel the need to defend what I said. Believe it or not as you wish.

The one thing you said that I'll agree with is that the throttle opens faster.

edit:

two things actually - I agree you shouldn't necessarily believe someone one the internet just because they say they know.

 

29.86 MPG on the last 12.66 Gallons. Computer said 31.4MPG

 

so far the numbers look ok to me

 

Wow no posts since March.... This is my second Post, so here is my experience with our recent MCS...

just hit 1000 miles, I'm averaging 36.6 MPG according to onboard computer with 80% highway and 20% city driving. Other factors; Max RPM 3,000, max 70-75mph highway speed, auto A/C on. Easy shifting and throttle. I hit 31mpg with a little full-throttle stints. If it matters, I drove in sport mode.

After my recent fill up the range indicated by the drive computer was 480 miles....I love direct injection! old-fashioned turbo would have not hit 30 mpg range.

 

Well...I'm at about 450 miles and am averaging around 30mpg. Have done some highway mileage but not w/ cruise control b/c of break-in and it only went up to 31mpg (this last # is according to the computer b/c I haven't put in more gas).

It'd be great to hear from those who have completed break-in to see whether the mileage has improved.

 

IIRC I've gotten 29.2, 29.5, 31.9, 27.7 and most recently 31.5 and I have about 1400 miles on the car now. I'm going to Grand Rapids next weekend so we'll see what kind of mileage I get on the freeway. Honestly, I'm expecting to get 40 mpg and I think the mods I've done (free flowing exhaust and that K&N "open" intake) is going to help, we shall see.

 

I think you can tell by now that you will avereage between 30 and 35 mpg depending on whether you drive city or highway, more or less what the car specs say. I'll say my experience is the same (800 miles on the car, 30 mpg for mostly driving in town). Which is a very good figure IMO. The OBC does a good job for the most part. Modded exhausts getting better mileage is for dreamers who want to justify some of their purchase. I don't plan on that if I do it, just the better sound and performance. But if you want really serious increase in performance get better tires/wheels/suspension or intake mods. That costs real money.

 

My last tank was 33.31, at 4300 miles. This is a calculated mpg, not the OBC, and covered mostly highway, with a lead foot.

I'm still nervous about the tank capacity. My book says 13.2, INCLUDING reserve. My SA says this was a misprint that was later corrected to read PLUS reserve. Anyone verify this?

 

Oops--darned computer. Didn't mean to post twice! Deleted post.

 

Perhaps I drive like a granny, but I have been getting 34.5 to 35.5 mpg on each tank of gas... mixed city and freeway (on the freeway up to 38, and city is often around 30).

And, it's an MCS, so it is supposed to be less efficient. All in all, I am pretty content with my mpg.

 

Deb,

I haven't seen confirmation of that information, either, but I suspect you may be correct. The MC capacity is listed at 10.6 gallons, including the reserve, yet when I went in for my first fillup a couple of weeks ago, it drank up 11.5 gallons. And I still had three or four bars present above the reserve.

That suggested they were either putting in the larger MCS tank or that the stated tank capacity didn't include the reserve.

Or that the pump I was at was calibrated so badly, I was being shorted gallons of gas that I was paying for.

 

Picked up my MINI in Ohio and drove it home to Alaska (4,066 miles in 5 days) Milage varied from 29.20 to 38.05 with an average of 33.03 mpg. Note that the first 1,113 miles were the only ones that were under 30 mpg, but I was having to play with the throttle and gears to vary the tach for the engine break-in.

 

Does alcohol effect mileage. YES!!! That being said, 10% alky to gas ratio may not show too much.
Consider this, alcohol has been used in racing engines for MANY years and it is well know that an engine running on straight alcohol will use almost twice as much fuel as a gasoline engine.
At least one reason for this is that alcohol burns hotter than gas and the extra amount of alcohol is used to cool internal parts ( valves etc. speak to your friendly dragster operator )
Another problem with alcohol that nobody seems to understand is that it does not evaporate as well as gas which means that at low tempratures ( say 32 degrees ) most alcohol engines (say E-80) must be started on gas. Environmentally friendly is good but don't be blind to the short comings of alcohol. Hydrogen is the fuel of the future as it is the most plentiful element in the universe IMHO.

 

This is a big reason I'm not buying the Mazdaspeed 3. It's rated at 20mpg in the city.

So what if it has 80hp more for $2000 less?

I need to go pick a dealer to order my Cooper S now...

 

and its ugly as sin....

 

+1 - how ironic, this comment puts me in 2nd gear.

 

We just got home with our new mini with 260 miles on the odometer. We motored fairly conservatively and got 35.4 MPG. We are pretty impressed, getting better than the sticker said it would.

 

I'm at 2600 miles now, and still getting between 27 and 29 mpg, mostly doing city driving. I do get it on the freeway, but when i do I tend to open it up and go in the 80s when it's safe to do so. I just finished a whole tank without using the Sport button and it didn't make much difference. I'm going back to it for the fun factor. SO.... do I need to learn to shift better, or is that city stop n go thang really keeping my numbers down?

 

According to the computer 43.7 MPG on the way to Dragon from DC - non-sport mode, cruising with cruise control between 70-75mph. 07 MCS.. crazy! On the way back in a stiff breeze, 33.2 MPG.

 

I thought of proposing a MPG contest, but a few rules would be necessary such as:

1. MPG meter must be reset at tank fillup
2. 300 miles minimum must be shown on trip meter, which is reset at fillup
3. Reading should be taken after at least 10 miles on level roads - not after huge downhill.
4. Show a photo (optional)

Point is to get decent readings over a lot of average miles, not be heavily influenced by artificial readings from lots of downhill driving immediately before a reading.

Here's a 35.5 mpg reading that almost qualifies - but just short of 300 miles. I got this reading after coming down the hill from my daily commute, which usually results in a reading in the low 35mpg range. That'll quickly dip into 34-33s after some cross town driving:

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...87_miles_s.jpg

I'll be interested to see what the manually calculated mpg is when I fillup the tank.

 

Back from the Dragon. Reset everything before I left.

miles ---- gallons ---- MPG
376.8 ---- 10.4 ----36.23077
136.2 ----- 3.9 ----34.92308
253.9 ------7.0 --- 36.27143
229.7 ----- 6.4 --- 35.89063
212.1 ----- 7.0 --- 30.3 (Fontana Tank)
372.3 -----10.2 -- 36.5
224.7 ----- 6.4 -- 35.10938
146.8 ----- 4.2 --- 34.95238

1952.5 ---- 55.5 -- 35.18018 TOTAL
For the trip, the OBC indicated 34.9 when I got home. Pretty close!

What a hoot!

 

Good data, Uncle John. BTW, what octane do you use? Some states have 93, but 91 is the best in my neck of the woods. Not sure what state "next to diet coke" is