its been happening for awhile, but it seems to have worsened as i installed an alta catch can... im wondering is the catchcan not installed properly to cause the problem... also could be my recent driving habits, i'd say about 70% of the time i shift at 3 grand, which means i should be saving fuel, not wasting it!

the mileage i've averaged recently is shockingly low.. i've always kept my mileage with the gas tank...

best mileage i ever got was about 10l/100km all highway, which is about 23.5 mpg!, worse i've ever gotten was 11.7l/100km, all city, translating into 20.1 mpg!!!!

my biggest suprise is that people manage 32mpg! i have not been able to even begin to solve this problem.... anyone running similar mileage as me? or anyone can give me some insight as to what exactly did i do wrong...

my list of mods are in the sig...

any help is much appreciated!!! i cant be affording a new tank of gas ever 300km anymore... used to be alot better than this, but now the car stumbles, yoyos, on the highway i've consistently read boost reading at 0.2 vaccum, i dont ever remember it being that high before the catch can installation, and one thing brought up by the person who installed it thought it maybe the scharger just running more efficiently, however, recently ive taken the ic apart and i still see that oil film inside the rubber boot

i know this is a long response.. but i really need an answer soon

-kyriian

 

Sorry to hear about your low mpg.

Things to do to improve mpg.-
Make sure your tire pressure is enough- 33psi if two and 37 psi if four people
Buy premium gasoline (octane at least 91+)
Shift early (from 2400-2800 rpm) and smoothly
Start from stops and corner at a controlled even speed
Keep your windows up to reduce wind resistance
Run your Air conditioning as little as you can (comfortably)
Don't idle your engine in one place for long
Drive at a steady speed about 45 to 60 mph when you can. Faster burns more gas.
Don't drive it like you stole it.

For a modded MCS like yours I'd expect about 26+ mpg so yours is a bit low but could easily be there if you drove over 70 mph and varied speeds alot. 20 mpg for city driving is about right for a modded MINI.

Alot depends on how gently you drive and how much stop and go traffic there can be.

Rule of thumb- heavy traffic and track driving expect 17-20 mpg or less
Hwy traffic with even speeds- 32+ mpg with a stock MCS and 28 with a modded MCS
Overall mixed driving paying not much attention- about 26 to 28 mpg most of the time

 

YMMV

For comparison-
MC with no mods around town* driving smoothly 18-20MPG.
Same car, add a couple of 10-20 mile highway trips, 20-24MPG.
MC all highway 65MPH 35-37MPG
MC with bike rack and bikes last weekend from Yuma to Alpine. Highway, uphill (4000+ foot climb) into the wind, 65MPH 21MPG

*town is: trips of under 2 miles on a cold engine, stop and go traffic, hills with 200'-300' climb/descent on each trip.

 

The old rule-of-thumb -- to get maximum mileage per gallon of gas -- was to shift up as quickly as possible to a high gear provided that:

Traffic condition is normal, level streets, you're not racing anyone to the next stop light and your gear is appropriate for the power you need at any given speed.

Note that i didn't say "your highest gear." Obviously you wouldn't want to drive in 5th or 6th gear while going from traffic stop light to traffic stop light in the city.

Otherwise, minihune has said it all.

 

I know this doesn't help,but my MC just did 38 mpg,doing 65- 70 mph this week.
I have a 160 km a day commute,90% highway.I get 400 kms on half a tank, figure I would run out at close to 700kms

 

kyriian --

I PM'd you ... check your calculations. Google says:

1 mp(US)g = 0.425143706 kpl

Theo

 

I have similar issues but it seems to be related to V38. Prior to the V38 upgrade, my mpg seems to hover around an average of 27-28. Afterwards, I noticed there was a flat spot in the pedal response as the vacume transitions to boost between -10 and 0. At first I thought this was Mini's attempt to cure the yo yo (which I didn't have) and didn't give it much thought. Now, with closer observation, I have found the cause of my terrible milage on the highway...while in 6th at around 80-85mph, the engine vacume is sitting in this transition range and using the OBC mpg instant reset reading...milage is around 19-21 My theory is that Mini enriched the fuel map in this range to soften the yo yo during shifts. I get better milage using 5th at the same speed. Any ideas?

 

100% stock '04 MCS with 13.5K miles and V36 of the software. I am getting between 22-25 MPG in the city and around 29-34 MPG in the highway.

 

I know it's not a mini, but it applies to all cars that suck gas when generating their power. (The ecotec engin in my sunfire is ecnomical, until I autox it)

When I stopped accelerating away from stops at a "brisk" pace. Mileage got much better.

Also the best mileage i can get in my car is 34mpg, while my fiance can pull as much as 42mpg out of it.

So some of it is just nuances of how people drive.

20-25 sounds like what an MCS should be shooting for for "good" mileage. Remember it's a forced induction application so it will use more fuel.

25-35 should be for a MC.

What's the manual say about mileage expectations?

 

100% stock '04 MCS with 14K miles. I don't know what version of the software but it was week 42 of 2003 build.
I get 21-23 in mixed driving and as much as 28 mpg on interstate at ~ 75 mph. The mpg is calculated since the OBC reads about 4 mpg high.
YMMV

 

Hello. Personally, my OBC says I get 28 mpg but my fuel logs are telling me I get about 26 mpg. You can compare your MINI to others at http://www.myautolog.com. Good luck.

 

We manage almost 32 mpg consistently. When you don't need to accelerate hard, don't. Once you get over 4k, the A/F ratio goes south very fast. I've managed 37 mpg on a 75-85 mph all highway trip. Remember the S/C is bypassed most of the time when your light on the gas. Our mileage is probably due to also driving a Honda Insight for 4 years so fuel efficient driving is pretty easy for us. I'm actually very surprised how high the mileage is when I do go out and have some fun. Although I've never tracked our MCS (yet ), the mileage has really never been below 28 for any length of time.

 

That sounds like my car. Used to be 28 and now 20. The dealer has the car to try and fix the "stumble"

 

I'm getting the impression that most people are reporting low to mid 20 mpg for a modified MCS. The rest who are getting over 35 (to paraphrase guru Randy Webb) "must be smokn crack" Just a joke Still, I'm not buyn it.

 

I used to use my stock '03 MCS for my long commute (142 mi/day). For a while I drove 80 mph and managed 27-28 mpg. Mind you, the OBC stated 30-31 mpg, but I've found the OBC to be optimistic by about 3 mpg. YMMV.

When I slowed down to 70-73 mph I managed 33-34 mpg (OBC) or 30-31 mpg (observed). I was under the impression that lightly modded MINIs (intake, exhaust, maybe a chip) got better highway mileage, but that doesn't seem to be the case in this thread. I'm sure driving habits and elevation differences play a key role in this comparison.

The wife is now driving the MINI around town for her short commute and she gets 28 mpg (OBC). I'm driving a turbodiesel to work now and get 49 mpg. Still get to enjoy the MINI on the weekends, though!

 

After the dealership changed the oil Service #1 (11,000miles) I reset the OBC using the ODO-*trick* (test 21.0) so the ECU will relearn its programming. I just did the same @ 23,000 miles after changing the oil myself. My last 8 tanks were 30-33mpg, Avg.Range: 400-440 miles.

Since resetting the ECU, I'm now getting 33-36mpg with Avg.Range: 440-480 miles.

At this point in my car's life, the engine should be well broken in, breathing easy via K&N cone and the re-learning ECU has optimized both power and economy.

 

Stock 04 MCS

About 60% of my driving is on the highway at around 70mph. The rest, around town, to the beach, run to the supermarket, etc..

My avg is 28mpg on regular 87 unleaded. If I put in 93 premium, I get around 24mpg. The manual recommends premium but I always get less mileage by using premium. Why is that?

My driving habits are very clam, very rarely will I put the needle above 3500.
I always drive on the highest gear at a given situation. And I don't do any spirited driving while I'm trying to get normal mileage.

 

Can you tell me what "test 21.0" is, and how you did the reset?

 

Ive got a bone stock 2002 mcs , and getting 9.7L / 100kms.

 

You can use the odometer digital display to get and modify certain information in the MINI's ECU. "Test 21.0" resets the ECU thus clearing the adaptive settings, the trip odometer and resets the clock to 00:00. If you have an OBC, it also clears the average consumption and average mpg values.

Read more on MINI2's FAQ HERE

Look for the section titled "How to show RPM, Fuel Level, Speed and more on your Odometer Digital Display".

Use this information AT YOUR OWN RISK!

Theo

 

Real stop and go driving, short trips and hills are the worst. Just driving near our house, taking it easy, I can just manage 17-18MPG on a stock MC. If I do not pay attention, it drops to 15 (OBC).
Highway driving in northern San Diego County is rolling hills (mountains if you live in Florida) and either 1K RPM in 1st or 4K in 5th. Neither is compatible with the best fuel economy.

 

Koopah, Thanks for pointing me in the right direction....Interestingly, I see this:

"21.0 Software reset. (Same as disconnecting battery)"

So I have to wonder, wouldn't it be easier to just disconnect and re-connect the battery?

:smile:

 

There are a few other things that you can do to increase mileage slightly.

WHen you see a red light up ahead, take your foot off the gas and start coasting. Hopefully the light will change by the time you get there and you won't have to come to a complete stop and use all your gas accelerating up to speed again. Obviously, if it is 1 mile away, keep your speed up, but don't acccelerate. I hate it when I see people basically floor it from light to light, it is such a waste.

One other thing is to make sure you leave the clutch out when you are slowing down. The engine will not be using any fuel until you get to a certain point o nthe tachometer (in my car, it is about 1200 rpm). If you press the clutch in, the engine will use gas to keep the car idling, thus wasting more gas than is needed.

Obviously, there are many things that you can do, but these are just some small ones to get you 1-2mpg back.