My MINI is now over 7 weeks old with over 3,100 miles.
So far I am only getting 29 - 30 mpg, a lot of it highway. I have been running the a/c lots as it has been quite hot here in CT this summer.

Is this normal?
I traded in a 9 year old Integra that got better mileage (30 around town, 36 hiway).

Thanks.

 

I've been driving mostly city driving in the Florida heat and get about 28 to 29 in the city. Last weekend I went motoring for 7 hours on the highway and got about 34 to 36.

I finally reached 100 posts!!!!

 

Sorry, but I have to be a smart aleck here: Who cares what gas milage it gets!?

With the automobiles I have already, anything over 18 mpg is a godsend! My honda wagon gets about 26 but the trucks are lucky to get 16-18. Of course, tromping on the accelerator and kicking the turbo in the you know where does not help MPG! So, I am sure that my little SC MINI will not get that great of gas milage after the first few miles!

Barb, waiting for the transition from turbo charger to super charger

 

I am not be an expert on cars, but one thing my father always taught me -
that gas mileage could be a indication that something is wrong. That is why I made the post. I never noticed a change in my mpg when using a/c in my old car, and a friend said the a/c could be the cause. I am looking for confirmation.
If anyone has some help to offer - thanks in advance.

 

>>Sorry, but I have to be a smart aleck here: Who cares what gas milage it gets!?

 

Thanks CS5887. 8 :smile:

 

>>Thanks CS5887. 8 :smile:
no problem!

good luck! hopefully~ i will be happy trading in my honda for a german car?

 

AC definitely will cause a decrease in mpg, afterall, it's basically the gas that is running the A/C. And A/C units use A LOT of power. That's power that can't be used for Motorin'

 

>Sorry, but I have to be a smart aleck here: Who cares what gas milage it gets!?
>
>With the automobiles I have already, anything over 18 mpg is a godsend!

This is the whole problem with the SUV craze, at least from an environmental standpoint. Once millions of people start driving around in two-ton fadmobiles, all of a sudden anyone getting over 25 miles per gallon looks like the world's greatest conservationist, stoically depriving themselves of the perceived "luxury" of a huge SUV.

If you have a conscience about global warming, there's a huge difference between 30 and 40 mpg. I've never owned a car that got less than 35-40 mpg, and I wouldn't be buying the MINI if I didn't think it would be so efficient. Frankly, I'll be very upset if I find that I'm only getting 29-30 mpg. I'm willing to pay the extra $ for the MINI vs. the Civic hatchback because it's much more fun, but I'm not willing to burn an extra 300-400 gallons of gas a year for that fun.

I realize you weren't being totally serious, but it's hard for me to leave this issue alone. Sorry for the rant.

I guess I'd rather have baby boomers buying MINIs to satiate their midlife crises than Boxsters or Vettes or other guzzlers. I like the PT Cruiser for the same reason; I suspect that many of its purchasers would otherwise have opted for big fuel-hungry trucks.

 

Hey there,
I've got about 2000 miles on my cooper S. A couple of weeks ago I took it to Cape Cod and on the highway, driving 65 I was able to squeek 40 MPGs out of it!!! This was with veerry little excessive acceleration or passing. Of note, I did have the AC on most of the way, but the windows up on the highway (I believe) cuts down wind resistance, making up the difference in loss MPG from the AC. I don't expect this applies for around town driving though.

Normally I'm averaging about 28 between city and highway - driving like I usually do... Having fun!

 

I have 7300 miles on my S and the computer says it's averaging 31.3 mpg.
I do very little highway driving, my 50 mile commute is mostly on back roads, so I'm happy with this average.

 

>>I realize you weren't being totally serious, but it's hard for me to leave this issue alone. Sorry for the rant.
>>
>>I guess I'd rather have baby boomers buying MINIs to satiate their midlife crises than Boxsters or Vettes or other guzzlers. I like the PT Cruiser for the same reason; I suspect that many of its purchasers would otherwise have opted for big fuel-hungry trucks.
>>



Ok - I'll be serious for a second - why guilt trip or bash people for spending their money on what they consider enjoyable?

If it is truly bad for the environment, make gas $10/gallon or whatever would balance the true 'cost' of burning the fuel. I'm all for that - maybe it would cut down on the traffic a bit and some people would ride mass transit/walk/bike places - which I do a lot because it annoys me to think about getting in a car to go less than a mile or two away! But, I walk a lot of places to keep fit and NOT because of an environmental/MPG decision.

MPG won't personally matter to me - does it make me evil? '87 Ferrari = 7mpg track/9.5mpg city/22mpg highway, '02 BMW = 12mpg city/25mpg highway, '98 Saturn 20mpg - these are all estimates anyway because I don't track it religiously -one or two tanks every couple months to make sure no engine problems.

Anyway - even whether we agree on this or not - we do like MINIs!

-Dave



_________________
The MCS will be mine, oh yes... it will be mine. (Build date = Sept 27, 2002 - pure silver, black roof + mirrors, combos #1+#2+#3, S-Lites with all-season tires, black bonnet stripes, Anthracite interior)

 

No AC for a couple of days! I would lose half my body weight, I live in FL!

Pebble.
:smile:

 

Let's try to stick to Mini MPG okay folks.

My early post says I get about 28-29 in the city, this is traveling from stop light to stop light and averaging about 40 mph

On the highway I was getting between 34 and 36 MPG and this was traveling between 75 and 85 MPH with lots of passing and only some cruise control.

Hope this helps. :smile:

 

Can anyone answer my original post? - Please!!!!!!
Should I be concerned with the mpg I am getting as stated earlier. Is the low mpg due to use of a/c or do I have anything to be concerned about?
My intent was not to cause a debate about different vehicles and their mpg, just on Mini in general and whether my results are normal, or a symptom that something is wrong. Thanks in advance to those that answer my question.

 

Naturally if you have the ac on all the time it will lower your mpg.....
I on average get about 35 highway miles and in the upper 20's in city miles per gallon and I have found a definite decrease when running the air conditioner.....but I also don't really use the AC that much....with the sunroof and the windows open I get more air than I would ever need!
But if you are still concerned, just ask the dealer....or do a little test and try not drive with the AC as much for a couple of days and see how your gas mileage does......

Cheers!
L.Mini

 

Smurf,
I personally think its worth having your dealer look into it. I recently picked up my MCS and drove it back to Denver from Chicago. I averaged around 33.5 mpg on the interstate with the climate control on the entire way. I expect that mileage will improve as the car breaks in (it had 5 miles on it when I drove it off the lot). Given that the estimated mileage is higher on the COOPER, I would expect better mileage out of your car.

Some possible things to consider:

- where do you live? Altitude will likely have an effect on mileage as your engine will produce less HP/Torque since there is less O2.

- brake drag

I would expect some impact on mileage with AC but not more than 1-2 miles per gallon. AC systems today are much more efficient than they were even 5-10 years ago and, as such, should not impact mileage dramatically.

Hope this helps. Let us know what you find out.

Best regards,

Mark

 

Thanks Mark,

This weekend I will be motoring from CT to RI - and weather looks cool. I will see how it goes and will call dealer next week if warranted.

Over at Mini2 - there is a similar thread and sounds like others are getting high 20s like me - which is somewhat reassuring. In general my Mini is smaller than my old 93 Integra, yet the Integra got better gas mileage.

I find this situation strange. I have always tracked my mpg on all cars (training by my father) on every tank. I have lived in Los Angeles, in general do not like the heat and will have a/c on when maybe others will not. This summer in CT has been very hot. I have never noticed on my other cars a change in my mpg when a/c is on/hot weather. Maybe my experiences have been a fluke. Time and more motoring will tell.

Sue

 

I get a combined milage of 26 with my S with 1150 miles on it. I rarely use the ac. Maybe if I left it in 6th and did 55 mph I'd get higher milage. The hell with that! I'm having too much fun!!!!!

 

A site somehere posted some dyno tests on a cooper S and they showed that the AC drained about 13% of the HP from the motor.

So you should expect to see a slight decrease in mpg from using the AC and an even greater decrease when the day is unusualy hot. You gotta remember that the S is a supercharged car with an air to air intercooler and on very hot days the intercooler will not be able to cool the air as effeicently.


The parts of CT that I have been to have a lot of hills and are at some what of a high elevation this could have something to do with it.

Keep a close eye on the MPG for your long trip and try to do one leg of the trip using very littler or no AC. The other leg use the AC the whole time but keep all the windows and sunroof closed.


The cooper is much shorter then the Integra but I don't think it is that much lighter then the integra. Another thing to think about is that the intergra has a much lower Coefficient of drag then the Cooper S. The Cooper is like .36 I think and the S is .38 or so.

The kind of blocky front end of the cooper and the blunt shape of the rear hatch really hurt its arerodynamics.

I am only going to say one thing about the whole SUV MPG issue. Right now average MPG statistics for new cars in the US are at their lowest level in about 20 years. We have essentialy gone back in time 20 years because of the SUV/truck and to a lesser extent MiniVan craze.

A friend I work with has a 67 Charger and a 67 or 68 Cougar. Both get around 25 mpg and still have the original motors/trannys in them. The Cougar has a 302 and the Charger has a 340. One of them has a 4 speed and one has a 3 speed auto. Now obviously neither one of these cars were the top of the line performance trim for their model year. However, both of them using nearly 40 year old technology are getting better MPG then many of the midsized and larger SUVs. That is truly pathetic.

 

WEll, I take the high road German owened ENGLISH built. Lived in germany for 7 years and I still think of the MINI as english. How many German or american car makers put the bonnent (hood) latch on the passenger side????

 

Smurf,

So far (600 mi) your milage is inline with what I am seeing. A number of things can affect milage from driving style to tire pressure. A/C will certainly affect gas mileage. I don't think you have a problem. I'm DRIVE a car hard and expect to pay for it ( gas milage/tires etc...) but as it's not broken in yet I am doing things the easy way. Again you seem to be fine, could you be having just a little to much fun with her????

 

Thanks everyone.

Back in college I did a paper for Econ relating to the automobile. This was many years ago, so the facts are fuzzy, but I remember reading an article in my research that back in the 50s the cadillac had the ability to have mpg of 20 -25, but went the route of the big fins, etc instead. It is a shame that nothing has improved in the last 20 years.

Some of the people that have admired my car have said 'Oh - you must get great mileage?' and I just nod, even though in comparison to my prior car - no, but better than most people are use to.

In regards to the SUV debate. Part of me doesn't care - as it is peoples own choice and many people need large vehicles to haul around kids and stuff. My annoyance is when one of friends that has a Suburban, no kids, does not haul anything around, basically just likes big things, bought a house that made their work commute go from under 10 to over 40 miles one way complain about gas prices when they go up. That annoys because they do have a choice.

Weather forecast this weekend looks comfortable, so maybe no a/c.

 

Have your dealer check your O2 sensor... very little cheap part but important to fuel air mixture... maybe it's burning too rich... just a thought :smile:

 

I drive a Pure Silver /Black Top/ Lapis interior Cooper S , that now has 3,500 miles on it. As I drove out of the dealership and finally noticed the MPG display, it was.....26.7 mpg. 3,500 miles later it is still.....26.7 mpg... Go figure.