Hey,

So I made a MPG post a while back, and now I keep hearing how people can get above 25+ MPG in the city, and on my last fill-up I got 19.8 MPG hand calculated, the computer showed 20.8 MPG, I drive in the city on that tank I might have done less than 20 miles on the freeway, bit more bit less but around there. When I drive the car now I drive it really easy to try to conserve gas, coast when I can etc.

I always run 91 Octane Shell gas in the car, (91 octane is the highest you can get here in Southern California other than race fuel), but lately since the weather is getting warmer here, I use the air conditioner almost all the time now. The current tank in my car MPG wise isn't looking too sharp either, so anyone have any ideas?

- Tire pressure are accurate checked weekly via a digital tire gauge.
- Car has around 6k miles

Only engine mods are Remus Exhaust and a Dinan CAI, wheel and tires are Volk GT-N even though they are a 18x7.5" I don't think they hurt MPG that much as they are around 18.5 pounds each. With my stock R98 webspokes I got around the same MPG.

Any ideas?

Motor On!

 

The little woman's 2006 (regular, not an S) gets 30 mpg in mixed driving, half expressway and half stop and go. The regular Coopers seem to do fine on 87 octane. Your milage may vary as there really are a lot of potential variables between your situation and any one else's but I would expect much better than 20 mpg out a 2300 lb car driven gingerly. Causes for low mileage on any previous car I've had usually come down to O2 sensors telling the engine to run too rich.

 

The '06 MCS weighs in closer to 2650 lbs, not sure where the 2300 lb idea came from. The R53 MCS is certainly no economy car and I can understand around 20 mpg if you are in heavy stop and go traffic. I get 28 mpg during the winter with the crappy winter gas and closer to 30 mpg with summer gas and I drive 76 miles a day with 72 of that on the highway. My wife's '05 MCSa is driven 13 miles a day all local, more residential type setting with speeds of 40-45 mph and she gets 24-25 mpg this time of year according to the computer.
You can check your air filter and see if it is really dirty. Other than that, a trip to the dealer to see if they can find anything but I'm not sure that your mileage is very far out of whack.

 

I drive my '05 MCS almost exclusively around town. In the winter I'm getting between 19-22mpg, running premium. I calculate on mileage and gallons in the tank - the OBC seems to be about 2-3 MPG optimistic. Highway I'm getting ~ 28 MPG. Mods are listed in sig.

 

On a tank driven exclusively in city conditions (many stoplights and stop signs) my mileage is in the low 20s. A very liberal dose of highway driving brings it up to 25-26 mpg. That's been my observation this winter.

 

Turn off the AC (and half the damn stop lights )
20ish in the city with AC on isn't unreasonable. As a test, try a tank (ok, half a tank) with the AC off and see what your results are.
As long as your tire pressures are right (the high end of the range will yield slightly less rolling resistance) and the car is tuned up (and with 6K, it's tuned up!) not much more you can do. I suppose you could check the air filter, but it should be fine.

 

my 06 MCS is getting 26.7 with my mods. I drive half highway and half stop and go. 370 miles to a tank!

 

i think that 18 pounds is not nearly enuf....i run about 30lbs as recommended by my tire shop and im gettign about 25mpg. But recenty i had the same problem, i had got new pirelli run flats about 3 months ago and since then my mpg was going down, so i checked the tires and there was mad tire wear. So i got new tires and i went back up to about 25 or 26......so in short, CHECK YOUR TIRES....also consider flushing your fuel injectors and engine with a good flush like redline or valvoline

 

I think the OP mentioned 18.5 lbs as the weight of the wheel not the tire pressure.

For MINIs the tire pressure for that model should be about 34 to 37 psi not 30.

Heavy wheels and wider tires make for more rolling resistance. Higher rpms above 3000 will burn more fuel.

The lowest I ever get with very heavy traffic is about 22 mpg and in mixed driving about 26 and with very very gentle driving about 29 mpg but not with wide tires.

 

oh, thats my bad, i was thinking"wow, 18.5lbs, how does he even drive"...sorry im still half asleep in class.

 

I was getting 26mpg driving normally, 22-23mph if I want to hear the JCW CAI squeal a bit.. (which I do), and 28mph driving like miss daisy, I recently changed oil to royal purple and 2 run flats (goodyear had buldge on 1 and nail in other 23000mi) and corrected PSI to 37 I continued to drive like MISS Daisy and managed to squeeze 29.7mph on computer 29.2mph using actual math. I normally drive 40-50 miles a day mixed city/hway I dont think 19-20mph is bad if you drive with a lead foot. I actually tried on a tank of gas to see how bad i could get (driving more like andretti) and got 10mpg less than 150mi on one tank

 

i wish i had the lowest number listed above for my gas mileage. gotta pay if ya wanna play.

 

L.A. driver here as well -2003 R50 CVT. i do mostly street driving. how long is your commute? i found that before our office move i was driving 2 miles each way to work and home (lucky me) but, i was only getting about 19 MPG. now i drive about 10 miles each way and i'm up to around 25 MPG. still no highway driving on the commute. shorter trips suck more gas? but, i guess it evens out? just a thought.

 

Listen I work On Mini's all day long. Thse cars like 35 Psi for turning radius and so Forth. I get 26-28 on Highway.


ALot of you's have to put lighter shoes on.

these Board computers are just a guesstimate.

Alpha what do you want to get. You know our so cal fuels change to summer blends around spring time. The mileage drops off. Its a known fact
I was with Mercedes Benz for 18 yrs as a Factory tech we got these complaints all day long. When the colder months came along. These same customer did not complain. Make sure your Air Filter element is clean.