Originally Posted by
ELFMAN
You should try a tuned R53 JCW 210, it makes your Cooper look like a Hybrid Eco-Vehicle! I used to struggle into the mid-20's with normal use, about low to mid 30's on a mixed run and when using all the performance I could literally see the fuel gauge going down as the Supercharger whine went up!
The Gen 1 cars were never that good for economy (yours actually sounds OK at 80mph etc) which is one of the reasons - along with emission regs etc - that the wee Chrysler motor was binned in favour of the later engines. When the new MINI came out in '01, I think they spent all the money on the design and the way it handled rather than a fancy motor. Having said that, it was an 'honest' wee engine, if not that tuneable in COOPER form, but in the 'Blown S you could turn it into a right wee cracker.... but with right BIG fuel bills. If you want great MPG you'll have to drive it slower, which kind of defeats the purpose I suppose. My R56, even in its slightly tuned state gets easy mid-30's round town, on a 'mixed' run it'll get into the 40's, and if I'm caning it, the lowest I've seen is about 29mpg and it'll usually be in the 30's no matter what you do with the loud pedal.
You could get better MPG than your COOPER, but the only way you'll look or feel as good while you're doing it is to go for a Gen 2 MINI... or ease off the gas.