Howdy Y'all

At what RPM in each of the six gears the MCS provides the most MPG? Same goes for MC. I realize it varies as each single engine runs differently, but perhaps someone has already gathered approx figures.

plsd2hear

 

I've had my best MPG between 3 and 4K. But I don't really care about my MPG and stay at red line.

 

Maximum torque for the S is 4000 rpm and 4500 for the Cooper - use as low an rpm as you can for the desired speed without going over the max. torque and you've got it made ...

 

usually the lowest RPM and least throttle angle possible at the highest speed possible. no, 500rpm in 6th gear won't cut it, you're taking it too far. It's kind of an art finding the right feel where the engine is loaded the least while still being in a higher gear. For example, 5th in my 3 series at about 40mph is about 2000rpm, and I'm bairly touching the throttle to keep that speed, my mpg gauge says about 40mpg. Stab the gas and it plummets to below 8! Having the MPG gauge in my Bimmer has been one of the most informative gauges in teaching yourself how to drive efficiently. I average 25mpg in the city with my 325i, and with an EPA city rating of 19, I think I'm doin' pretty good (especially considering my have-redline-will-use habits )

 

I find that if I am trying to drive for mileage, that a general shift point of aprox 2500 RPM seems to yield the best overall average results. I get about 34mpg avg on my MCS. If you want to coast up to lites etc, you could do better! I have found that since I got the car, test drives and demos with interested partys have reduced my avg mpg to about 34. Once you get above 70MPH you are going down on mileage. Its nice to know that I can get this kind of mileage, but I am finding the car so much fun to drive, that I asually shift in the 3-4K area and still get good mileage with a smile! Love this car! 2 weeks, 1000 miles! Best idea I have had recently!

 

I drove a Ford Probe for 12 years (and never had to change the clutch!), and the had recommended guidlines. If I go by the same feel for my MINI, I find that it's at about 3200 RPMs, whereas the Ford was about 2100.

I hope that helps.

 

>>I find that if I am trying to drive for mileage, that a general shift point of aprox 2500 RPM seems to yield the best overall average results. I get about 34mpg avg on my MCS. If you want to coast up to lites etc, you could do better! I have found that since I got the car, test drives and demos with interested partys have reduced my avg mpg to about 34. Once you get above 70MPH you are going down on mileage. Its nice to know that I can get this kind of mileage, but I am finding the car so much fun to drive, that I asually shift in the 3-4K area and still get good mileage with a smile! Love this car! 2 weeks, 1000 miles! Best idea I have had recently!

Carl do you know what your tire air pressure is? I am getting 30 but I have long stop lights and lots of accelerating. I shift just below 2500 unless of course I am in a club function or playing a bit. On long highway stretches I can average 34 at 70MPH. Don't use Cruse Control. It burns at least 3MPG.

 

Y does cruse control giver poorer MPG? (I was always lead to believe that you got BETTER MPG because you kept the car at an even speed..??

 

I've been averaging about 30mpg on mountain roads...mostly 4th gear at 50MPH or less. I have found that 5th gear works best up to about 50MPH, 4th for 35-40. 6th at 70 is still getting me right about 31-32MPG. But, I haven't yet been able to test the cruise control.

 

>>Y does cruse control giver poorer MPG? (I was always lead to believe that you got BETTER MPG because you kept the car at an even speed..??

Several reasions...
With the cruse on you cannot back off on the gas as you approach a hill. If you de-cellerate on a hill very slightly you will improve MPG by about 15% at least. Also when power is needed it will not let you accellerate up to the speed needed. What it does is accelerate above the hysteresis (over accelerates then backs off) several times in sort of a pulsating manner which is not the best way to regulate speed.

Cruse does get you there slightly faster I would guess but when I go down hill I try to make up for it. I tested this from Dallas to Omaha in my MCS and it was quite significant!

 

I can vouch for this, as well, after I put about 800 miles on the Cooper this weekend. I drove from Seattle to Portland with cruise control locked on at 75mph for 90% of the trip, and got 31.3 mph. On the drive back, I got 35.6 mph. This is in a Cooper. I also ended up driving to and from Bremerton a couple of times, and also drove the rally on Sunday... what better way to spend a weekend?

 

>>Howdy Y'all
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>>At what RPM in each of the six gears the MCS provides the most MPG? Same goes for MC. I realize it varies as each single engine runs differently, but perhaps someone has already gathered approx figures.
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>>plsd2hear
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Don't have the time to figure that out. I just fill up when the little red light comes on and MOTOR ON.....Who cares about MPG when your having so much fun riding.

 

It's interesting...I was going to start a thread on something close to this today!

This morning I decided to reset the "average mileage" on my MCS's computer. It had been reading "24.5" and this seemed to be pretty accurate based on my manual calculations. But, after hearing about others getting over 30 on an MCS, I figured that I'd reset and see what I could do to increase mileage.

My results echoed some of what was cited above (in this thread). If I drove in such a way that I kept the revs around 2500 in the highest possible gear, I found that I could get my mileage to read an average 37.6 mpg !!! Sometimes more (e.g, 50mph in 6th at 2500rpm) sometimes less (accelerating to go up hill, downshifting into 3rd).

Of course, I felt that I might as well be driving a Taurus if I were to drive this way all of the time. I was really just sort of puttering around. So, I guess while I now know how MINI gets the EPA figures it reports in the sales literature, I will choose to drive the car in a more "spirited" way...and live with my 24.5mpg figures.