Crappy MPG, any ideas?

[Gismo]

WOW all women are the same. I get this every time I am in the car, I open the window and both my wife and daughter comment "SHUT THE WINDOW DAD"

Why would your wife call you DAD

[GCA3N]

Why would your wife call you DAD

It's just something wee do Alan

[Alex from NM]

My R50 I just got rid of was pretty much similar MPG to that, especially with the air con on. My R56 S is averaging 2mpg better, even getting a bit of stick .

[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.

[GCA3N]

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.

Good points but 9 years ago fuel was 70p a litre and most probably never though too much about consumption I think we are all feeling the higher fuel costs now for sure. If anyone thinks btw their fuel is bad we are 131p a litre just now

[ELFMAN]

You're quite right Greig, 'back then' we could sort-of 'afford' the fuel costs of the earlier cars. I was lucky that I also did low miles every year, so that wasn't so much of an issue.

I must admit, however much I loved my JCW 210 (and I DID love the wee beast!), latterly the consumption was more of a worry - not just the £££, but particularly when on a long-ish run out in the wilds - especially when you should be putting high-octane fuel in the tank, which could prove problematic. Finding a petrol station was bad enough, but one which sold V-Power (or Shell Optimax as it was then) was almost impossible. I used to take a jerry can or octane-booster with me. With my new car, while because of my annual mileage the fuel consumption certainly wasn't the prime mover, it's VERY handy to be able to fill the tank with V-Power in Larkhall, have 'spirited' drives to and from Mull, having driven about a wee bit there, and still have a stated 89 miles in the tank when I got home.

I suppose if you drive an earlier MINI, you just have to accept that it's not going to be the most economical vehicle to own, and that the looks and the performance are the trade-off for the extra cost.

BTW thanks for making me feel old.

[Crombers]

I've just checked in the garage today & my 2004 R50 is sitting at 36.2 average which I'm rather OK with as I drive far too fast & there's 65000 on the clock

[satans little helper]

the obc's are inacurate,or atleast in mines it is! it always says i get an average off 38.1 but when i work it out properly i get 32/33mpg from every tank. best ive had (50 litre tank) is 400 miles from 1 full tank which works out to be 39mpg. I usually only get 330 though which is mostly town driving....
2006 r50 cooper btw lol

[Doug_m]

My R53 got an average of 38.3 after the liverpool trip.

And anyone who went down knows my foot did sink once on twice... :)

And before any funny bast***s say, i only got towed abt 17 miles

[stoney]

My R53 got an average of 38.3 after the liverpool trip.

And anyone who went down knows my foot did sink once on twice... :)

And before any funny bast***s say, i only got towed abt 17 miles

thats good i got 30.1 my OBC said and also did it my self and turnd out the same