My wife and I received our second Mini Countryman All4S about a month ago. This is the replacement vehicle for our first one which was a lemon.
This one drives good and has a couple extra features to make life nicer but it still has really poor combined average fuel mileage.

We have averaged in the past 940 mile to get 23.3 m.p.g. using only Sunoco 91 or Hess 93.

That's the mileage for combined highway and city. We commute together to work and the traffic has been extra light due to the vacation season. It's also the summer grade gas which is normally better on fuel economy.

This basically means that our other Mini CMSA4 was problematic but was consistant with this car for mileage. We put almost 20K on that one and never once saw over 25 m.p.g. even on the road trips.

We have a 9 month old and don't drive agressively. I hardly ever use sport mode either.

So the time has come to trade this car in. It is too small a car to get that kind of mileage all the time.

I really hoped this one would be better.

 

I drive pretty aggressively and usually get 23-24mpg. On trips, it's easy to break into the 30s. When I drove up to Winter Park, CO for MINIs in the Mountains, I think I got 34mph on the way there and 32mpg on the way back. That said, I don't obsess over fuel efficiency as much as other people seem to. Driving is fun to me, and I will never be a hypermiler.

So long!

 

Yeah, because the better mileage of your next vehicle will totally make up for the massive depreciation you will loose on your trade in, not to mention paying sales tax on another car

 

Are u reading the gauge? Maybe you're reading your average speed?

 

OP: How are you measuring your mileage? I measure mine every single tank full, and I have never gotten lower than 25.5. I fill it up and then divide by how many miles I drove on that last tank. I always fill it up the exact same way (ie. fill until it shuts off, wait about 10 sec, and then fill one more time until shut off)

I drive almost the exact same routes week in, and week out. With 150 miles out of every tank being HWY miles. The other 100-120 are city driving. I'm not light on the go pedal either!

 

For the best MPG data, you need to manually calculate it as 52804x4 has stated. Over 8500 miles on our '12 CMS (not an All4) and we are averaging 27.8 MPG (city & highway). On a recent trip this summer, we averaged 34 MPG at ~70 mph with the A/C on. Worst MPG was 24.3 (all city, A/C on, paddle-shifting, sport mode on).

If you are relying on the CM computer for your mileage data, you need to reset both the average MPG and Average speed values each time you fill up the tank. I have found this technique to improve the computer's data to within 0.1% to 5.0% when compared to the calculated (true) MPG value.

HTH,

 

knownman

i am curious ... what was your last car?

what was the gas mileage on that car? what was the "published gas mileage for it?

my cms all4 manual has averaged 28.8 overall since new

i once went 411 highway miles on 9.8 gallons, thats 41.9 mpg, at 55 mph

i get 38 +/- mpg at 65mph

worst tank was 18.8 mpg, playing on the back roads, mostly 1st thru 3rd gears and mostly 4000-6500 rpm

my last car, a 1997 gmc sonoma p/u v6 5-speed 4x4, my overall mileage over 287,000 miles is 18.9 vs published 16 city, 21 highway and still going

scott

 

It all depends on how much time you spend idling. New Jersey traffic can get heavy (especially when you get closer to NY and on the NJT) I consistently get 30+ on my CM (non S) and am quite pleased. There are just so many variables. I also noticed that when I drive exclusively around town I get about 25. You need to seriously need to take a look at your driving habits and possibly modify them. Good luck.

 

Our last car was a 2011 Mini CMAS4. This is the second one because the first was a true "lemon" and Mini had a dealer buy it back.

As for driving habits. We take it easy. My wife had a Mini Cooper which averaged 32 m.p.g. on the same commute. We've lived here for 7 years.

Same drive, different model car.

As for the computing,

The cars computing is always favorable. I compute mileage driven divided by gas used. Believe me I've been at this for quite a few years.

We took a trip to Chicago. All Interstate driving on the most boring road known to man, I-80 across Ohio. Average 25.8 m.p.g. This was the second trip as the first in winter was worse on mileage. No snow was on the ground at the time.

As for the comment about trading in. We've got 21K miles combined on the two Mini Countrymans we've had and when I go to the dealer the car we have now says 970 miles in total! I'm thinking you can't say that. 19 months of ownership and less than a thousand miles on the clock! Honestly I was hoping this one would be better.

Sure we won't get what the car is worth. But we will get a better car!

I'm not diggin the mileage or the rough as a "go kart" ride.

I haven't even gotten on about how the "mini coffee mug" won't fit into the front cup holders because the center console is in the way.

I was just testing the waters to see if anyone else has this kind of bad economy.


I think we'll get a Honda CRV. Same mileage or better. I know because we borrowed my inlaws and drove it for a few weeks. We took that car to Boston once and got 32.3 m.p.g. round trip. And it has much better ergonomics and room for the little guy!
Plus the servicing will save us quite a bit. The Countryman cost to own is really high.

Best of luck to the rest of you!

 

Here the new ride.

See you guys!

 

Try not to fall asleep while you're driving it!

 

well congrats on finding the car that suits your needs better. in jersey on local roads i'm averaging about 25 on mine. personally, it's not about economy to me, it's about the joy of the ride and if every time you get into your car and it's puts a smile on your face it's well worth it to me.

 

I would agree that the Countryman has a sportier feel.

I already have a coil-over sprung and supercharged Dodge Challenger for fun. It handles the roads here amazingly despite the big beasts 2 ton+ weight and 20" rims.

It's so comfortable and still responsive it would be really hard to compete with.

My decision to trade wasn't based on the mileage alone. We had too many issues with CM #1 and ended up getting into the second car as a replacement from MINI.

My wife liked the Countryman despite it's flaws. I had a tough time with the ergonomics of it. Can't roll down a window if you have a soda in the holder, E-brake covers up the I-phone, minimal room for the foot print etc...

I also can't stand the bump steer or the necessity to drive around every single bump no matter how small it was. Highway transitions are the worst especially in northern New Jersey in the MINI. They just throw the car off track and the abs has to kick in every day. Even when it's dry out. It's down right scary when it's wet out.

I think the engineers chose too short of suspension links and there really is no way to correct out the problem and still have any travel in the suspension. The ride in the rear of the car is so rough I pretty much had to drive like grandma for fear of making the baby cry.

Either way.

We have a safe and reliable car now which is more suited to where we live and our lifestyle.

 

We live in NJ too, and seem to get just about what one would expect based on the government ratings...upper 20's for a blend of city and highway driving. We have the manual trans.

 

We had an auto. It had a rating of 1 mpg less than the stick versions.

I'm sure I'll miss the car to some extent especially when parking. It did have good visibility if you remove the rear headrests.

Now I have to rely on the rearview camera. The rear seats have a built in drop down for the headrests so I don't have to yank them out.

The Honda is certainly a bit more generic.

Time to fall into the herd!

 

since there's two jersyites in one thread..
settle a geography dispute for me.

north jersey = everything north of 80
central jersey = rt 80 south to the driscoll bridge
south jersey = everything south of the driscoll

amirite ??

 

I think you will get 20 different opinions on this, but I would say:

north jersey- warren, morris, union counties and north

south jersey- ocean and burlington counties and south

central jersey- everything in between

I live in morris, but just a couple of hundred yards from the somerset border...

 

If you live within 10 minutes of the river, (Hudson), your in North New Jersey. Everything else is just Jersey!

 

lol. your geography is even more whacked than mine.

 

As a Manhattanite, I'd say that I subscribe to the 'two Jerseys' and I'd say North is stuff above Trenton & the 195. I don't buy this whole 'central' Jersey stuff. I certainly don't feel like I've crossed a region if I drive from Bergen county to Newark.

Generally the North/South is based on the influence of New York or Philly. I think the 'Central' is an overreaction to being associated with New York, so they rename only the immediate NY surroundings North and think of the rest as Central. Thus Central is more a subset of North Jersey to me.

To contribute to the original topic, I'm at about 18MPG. But a large chunk of that being so low is because of whatever they were doing to it before I had it. I'm taking a drive down to DC this weekend, so it should start ticking up some!

 

I drove from Denver to Arkansas and back and averaged 23-24 in my 2013 CMS All4. No sport button. I was going anywhere from 10-15 over the posted limits so I suppose that didn't help. I also had some pretty strong crosswinds.

My Z4 Coupe averaged 30+ since the wind was hardly and issue with a car that aerodynamic and low to the ground.

I also had the rack and snowboard holder intstalled. I took the snowboard holder off for the drive back, but it didn't seem to make a difference.

I wonder if removing the rack too before long road trips would help?

Anyone put a K&N filter on and seen any hp or mpg gains?

 

I've got a drop-in filter..avg 28.3. City/hw at sea level.

Wife gets 28.7 all city...

 

That is good mileage at those speeds considering the high drag body and a rack. Aero drag increases with the square of speed.

In my long experience with filters, I have never noted any fuel economy gains with different type filters. Some engine intake designs get tiny increases in HP at peak RPM from K&N type filters according to some sources.

 

I put K&N in my two Honda Accords and it seemed to help with HP and MPG... Or it was just me convincing myself.

I would do a drop in filter... Some K&N's have the air intake and I don't want to get that involved...

 

Automatic and AWD is not ever going to produce fantastic mileage results. In my 30+ years of driving I've found that manual transmissions get a bit better than sticker and automatics get a bit less. I'd say the original poster's experience to be pretty common as far as MPG and the Auto All4S is concerned.