My wife and I just completed a 1764-mile round trip to Eastern Pennsylvania from Central Indiana in our Countryman S All4. It was mostly highway driving, and the speed limit ranged from 55 mph to 70 mph. The elevations at the starting point and destination were within 150' of each other, and we completed each leg of the trip in one day. Between my wife and I and our luggage, our load was about 300lb.
Driving consistently within 5 mph of the speed limit, we averaged 30.2 mpg on the trip out and 29.8 mpg on the way back. The biggest difference was a bit of a headwind for most of the trip home.
While I was slightly disappointed in the fuel economy, I was able to confirm what many others have pointed out: the R60 appears to have the aerodynamics of a brick, and mpg is much better at moderate speeds. We saw an advantage of as much as 8 mpg when driving at 55 mph versus 70 mph on flat topography.

 

I drove down to Miami from Connecticut and back in my ALL4... Tons of luggage and a lot of heavy weights in the back of the car... On the highway we averaged about 80ish mph and we also did take some back roads...

Averaged around 28-29 on the whole trip.

 

Been wondering this, since I've been wanting a Countryman to replace my X3.

Just think, my typical gas mileage driving at those speeds (70-85 mph) is more like 18 mpg if I'm lucky...

Edit:
Thinking about that, I probably lied... My typical speeds are more like 80-90 mph getting 18mpg...

 

My last long(ish) trip was Cottage City (Wash, DC) to Pittsburgh. Lots of hills (mountains) and the PA Turnpike. Average MPG was about 29. Seems to be about what we can expect. Around town, I don't even check.

Sealy - Who knows ignorance keeps you from saying WTF about MPG.

 

I believe I'm in the low 30s for long trips (I'll have to pay attention this weekend) and the low 20s for short trips. I would pay less attention with a BIGGER TANK! That's my WTF

 

All4 vs non...... I have All4 manual and tried to keep my speed around 70 on highway, short trips 12 miles average and getting 27 MPG. My Toyota Tacoma averaged 18-20 on regular unleaded doing the same. Getting 7-9 miles more filling up with super unleaded..... worth it? Maybe not in $$$$ but boy I sure love my MINI. Disappointed in the MPG but I feel it out ways the joy of driving my CMS All4, what an upgrade for me.

 

Using prices in my area, premium is 6% more expensive than regular, but your CMS4 is getting about 35% better fuel economy than your previous vehicle.

My CMS4 is getting about 4% better fuel economy than my previous 05 R53 MCS hardtop lifetime fuel economy (both on premium fuel), but still breaking in the car.

 

I'm surprised and pleased by my automatic R56.

Drove from San Francisco to Detroit last October ('11) in three 800 mile days at freeway speeds and got about 41mpg. Lately, I continue to get in the low 40's (49.1, once) on the freeway. Combined freeway/city driving is yielding around 35mpg.

Clarification: MPG calculated by miles driven (odometer)/gallons of gas from a pump fill (not on-board computer). I try to keep my tank topped-off around town and frequently fill with only one or two carrots down.

Cheers...

 

Just outta curiosity, was this MPG from the Car's computer or did you calculate the miles by how many gallons of gas? I've noticed the car's computer is a bit off and I get 33-35 mpg if I calculate the way I do with my motorcycle.

I once got down to 17 miles of gas available (according to the car) and when I filled up it took 11.3 gallons and the tank holds 12.?. So I had more than a gallon left.

 

Good question..... in NJ you are not allowed to fill your own car up. I calculate by gas fill up and than mileage used. My car computer stays around 26.6-26.7 and I get an average 27.

 

Do you have All4? Maybe why you get better mileage than me?

 

Thanks DR61. You are correct. :O)

 

My data were based on measurements from the pump. However, I was surprised that in my case they were consistent and VERY close to the car's computer: calculated showed 30.2 mpg and 29.8 mpg while computer showed 30.3 mpg and 29.9 mpg).

 

In October we did a long trip, about 1500 miles, to and around Oregon and back, getting about 33 on the highway each way in the ALL4 (70-75 MPH).

 

I drove up the CA cost with my ALL 4 w/ roof rack and was happy with 29mpg... around town city/highway i get around 24ish mpg

 

Looks like the results you guys are getting are fairly uniform. We took ours up to Carmel, CA last fall and got 30.2 average on the way home to So. Calif. On the way there from Orange County, I rocketed up Hwy. 1 and got in the low 20's, which was so low due to the 90 mile jaunt on that coastal road. The total trip was 804 miles using premium gas.

I've had the car since January, 2011 and used to obsess over every tenth of a mpg. Now, I no longer have the gas mileage showing, having opted for temperature instead.

 

I have had the CM All4 manual for three months and covered 4,820 miles as of the last fill up. Most of the driving has been on the highway in mountainous areas, as well as urban areas with steep inclines. I knew I was not going to get the 31MPG on the sticker, but I was hoping to get 28MPG. So far the CM has averaged 26.2MPG. It's not as good as expected, but much better than the 16.2MPG my Jeep Grand Cherokee V8 used to get.

Given that 3 month and 5,000 miles is enough data to establish a baseline, I looked at my fuel logs and ran a couple of calculations to determine how much the CM is saving over the Jeep in gallons of gas as well as in dollars.
- Fuel saved: 114.2 gallons
- Dollars saved: $459.13 (using $4.02 per gallon price at Jeep's last fill up) or $548.21 (using current $4.51 price at last fill up.)
If the trend holds up, that should work out to almost 450 gallons and $2,000 of fuel saved in the first year. I'm OK with that.

 

Thank you, for this thread!

This is all very good information. with 3000 miles in our CM, the Boston MPG is pretty terrible, around 18 miles per gallon. When I take the CM to the burbs, that trip can run from 20 to 28 mpg. depending on a ton of factors. I do notice that sport mode can have a considerable difference in fuel efficiency so I limit it's use.

That being said, any SUV or AWD car with a turbo or larger block would get worse MPG's in both circumstances and most would not be as fun to drive. I've owned a wrx clone and received identical city MPG and around 22mpg highway. The RDX is probably worse. Perhaps an E90 will fare slightly better mpg numbers? (In a side note, I really like the concept of the twin turbo 4-cylnder that BMW has in it's latest 3 (F30) and 5 series in the states that get's > 30 mpg even with the all 4 and automatic transmission)

The family has yet to do a longer highway trip (200+ mi) since the CM is broken in. Even with the knowledge that the CM is all around the best over all performance/mpg/handling SUV out there, it will be a disappointment, fuel efficiency wise, if we do not get 28MPG averaging 70-75 MPH on our 200+ mile trips.

Thanks again for this thread and if anyone has any further insight I'd appreciate it greatly!

 

Today we drove 270 mi, climbed up from 700' over a 5200' pass, then to 4100', with ski rack + 5 pr skis, now 1000 mi on car. Light snow showers half of the way. Drove close to speed limit (55 to 65) and got 30 mpg.

 

Wow. That's impressive. I also wonder if my driving style with a fast automatic transmission car is the difference here. With manual, I was able to short shift, I am not able to do so in full auto.

 

That is impressive...haven't gotten past the 24 mpg mark but then most of my daily driving is just ten miles or less to my business or a quick trip up 84 to Waterbury/Oxford airport (KOXC) about 25-35 minutes with a limited notice for wheels up....so usually cruising 75-85. Even did a complete tankfull w/o the sport button engaged (Sealy's advice) kidding, it was a good exercise and was surprised the numbers were not better, might of added a 1 mpg. Not enough to take the x-tra fun out of driving Maunual/All4s......just hitting the 15,000 mile mark.

 

This thread has me intrigued given some numbers posted so I reset the onboard computer before heading from Reno back to the Bay Area.

Trip miles: 245
Average MPG: 28.9
Average speed: 66.3MPH

The MPG number is better than I expected as the conditions were less than ideal with heavy / congested weekend traffic from the ski resorts on the interstate. We took a long cut via 2 lane highways which made the drive much more enjoyable and provided consistent speed.

As far as elevation, we started at 4,500 feet, climbed to 7,700, went down to near sea level and up again to 1,100 feet.

I'll post the reverse trip results in a week or so - for giggles.

 

I will reverse this route on Friday. Expect to go faster if weather permits. I think this engine likes higher altitudes, like many turbocharged engines. Meanwhile having fun driving up to Mt. Bachelor; All4 feels good.

 

My last long trip was Molde to Oslo return approx 1100km, my Cooper D averaged 4.7 km/l or just on 50 mpg US. All on less than a tank of diesel.

 

I am glad someone posted a comparison like this. I have been obsessing over my MPG. I use to drive a Toyota Tacoma that I got 18-20 MPG. Seems like even with not so great mpg on my CMS All4, I still am saving money and mpg on my new 2011 CMS All4 manual.