Gen 2 cooper s - 18mpg can that be right?

Gen 2 cooper s - 18mpg can that be right?

Author
Discussion

CoolHands

Original Poster:

19,465 posts

202 months

Monday 18th November 2019
quotequote all
I decided to see how much we spend on petrol in my wife’s mini as we’re trying to budget. She does 4 miles each way in heavy traffic commuting. (Although it seems further?!)

I brimmed it last Sunday then this Sunday, so I was very surprised she had only done 68 miles and it cost £21 quid and was 16.5 litres. I’ve never checked before.

What the hell! I always assumed it was probably 28 mpg or something. Bit pissed off. The car is in good order no faults.

Skyedriver

18,930 posts

289 months

Monday 18th November 2019
quotequote all
CoolHands said:
She does 4 miles each way in heavy traffic commuting.
This a serious question?

Chrismawa

565 posts

107 months

Tuesday 19th November 2019
quotequote all
Im getting low 30s in my JCW with mixed town driving.

If thats all shes doing, creeping in traffic and the car wont have warmed up either, sounds like it could be right.

loskie

5,671 posts

127 months

Tuesday 19th November 2019
quotequote all
she is (and I hate to admit it) an ideal candidate for ELECTRIC or a bike.

Such a short commute even the electric flex will reach!

budgie smuggler

5,540 posts

166 months

Tuesday 19th November 2019
quotequote all
I'm not surprised at all. When I had a short commute in bad traffic I got 15mpg in a 1.25 fiesta that normally does 38mpg average with no effort. It's the stop/start traffic combined with an engine that's not up to temperature.

irocfan

42,391 posts

197 months

Tuesday 19th November 2019
quotequote all
I'm running an auto Clubman Cooper S (57) for my daily commute - the huge distance of c12 miles per day in moderate traffic and I'm seeing substantially more.

CoolHands

Original Poster:

19,465 posts

202 months

Tuesday 19th November 2019
quotequote all
Damn ok. So I’m stuck in that zone of sell the car and lose a couple of thousand to buy a more ‘economical’ car!

Chrismawa

565 posts

107 months

Tuesday 19th November 2019
quotequote all
Or tell her to walk.

Hub

6,576 posts

205 months

Tuesday 19th November 2019
quotequote all
These engines do suffer from a build up of carbon don't they? Certainly if always driven in traffic for short journeys this could be an issue. Look after the car and take it for a decent longer run from time to time to clear the cobwebs.

CoolHands said:
Damn ok. So I’m stuck in that zone of sell the car and lose a couple of thousand to buy a more ‘economical’ car!
£20 a week isn't a huge expense - you'd save a fiver or so a week if you found a car which did 25mpg in the same stop-start circumstances, so almost certainly not worth the expense of changing. She'd be better off working flexibly somehow and travelling at times when the traffic is not so heavy!



budgie smuggler

5,540 posts

166 months

Tuesday 19th November 2019
quotequote all
I guess cycling to work when the weather is good would be the easiest way to save some dosh while avoiding walking.

Car wise, I would have thought a small electric car like the Zoe or Leaf would be quite well suited.

Woolfie

674 posts

279 months

Wednesday 20th November 2019
quotequote all
When I had a track oriented '05 R53 Cooper S - it was doing 8 to 12mpg round the track. It was set up with 240hp and my right foot was mainly pressed firmly to the floor. I now have a Cooper S JCW and it does brilliantly on longruns (way over 30 mpg).

kiethton

14,071 posts

187 months

Wednesday 20th November 2019
quotequote all
Doesn't seem too off tbh, my wife commutes a similar distance....well 3 miles each way....in her M135i

Doing this journey and other, suburban driving (all typically <5 miles) at the weekend the car will get ~170 miles to a tank, 16mpg and its a more modern car with start-stop etc.

watchnut

1,197 posts

136 months

Friday 22nd November 2019
quotequote all
I just think she is enjoying ragging it when your not looking smile

TTmonkey

20,911 posts

254 months

Friday 22nd November 2019
quotequote all
She thinks it’s an automatic...... goes everywhere in first gear....

Dickie-D

60 posts

76 months

Sunday 24th November 2019
quotequote all
I do mostly short suburban journeys in my R53 Cooper S, typically 2.5 miles (4 km) and back again. Also lots of trips to take my wife to the station - 1 km and back again - so the engine doesn't fully warm up.

I got 29 miles per gallon from my most recent half tank of Shell V-Power, driving relatively sedately and short shifting. One thing I only discovered last year (having started driving in 1987) is that my Mini does not require the use of the throttle pedal at all when crawling in traffic.

The car is taken for a good blast every now and again, when I make sure the entire rev range is used at least a few times.

Edited by Dickie-D on Sunday 24th November 10:39

CoolHands

Original Poster:

19,465 posts

202 months

Sunday 24th November 2019
quotequote all
Just filled up again, 57 miles this week but 23mpg! Overall average now 20.3mpg! Not much I can do so I’ll stop looking

budgie smuggler

5,540 posts

166 months

Monday 25th November 2019
quotequote all
CoolHands said:
Just filled up again, 57 miles this week but 23mpg! Overall average now 20.3mpg! Not much I can do so I’ll stop looking
Brim it, take it for a long-ish drive at 70mph and brim it again then manually calculate the MPG (or use an app or whatever, not the car's computer).

If it's still low, then take it to a garage in case for example the thermostat is not working smile

.richard

74 posts

226 months

Friday 29th November 2019
quotequote all
Lowest I’ve seen with a thirteen year old Mini One is 36mpg. Suppose that’s progress. Doesn’t get there very quickly though!

CO2000

3,177 posts

216 months

Tuesday 3rd December 2019
quotequote all
Dickie-D said:
One thing I only discovered last year (having started driving in 1987) is that my Mini does not require the use of the throttle pedal at all when crawling in traffic.
Edited by Dickie-D on Sunday 24th November 10:39
This may blow your mind but you can probably get up to 20-30 through the gears with no use of the throttle pedal biggrin

E-bmw

9,978 posts

159 months

Tuesday 3rd December 2019
quotequote all
CO2000 said:
Dickie-D said:
One thing I only discovered last year (having started driving in 1987) is that my Mini does not require the use of the throttle pedal at all when crawling in traffic.
Edited by Dickie-D on Sunday 24th November 10:39
This may blow your mind but you can probably get up to 20-30 through the gears with no use of the throttle pedal biggrin
As indeed you can in pretty much any modern FI car.