Petrol Economy Question

[tjdixon911]

Just a quick one.

We are considering a Mini as a replacement for my Girlfriends Rotting 2000 Fiesta 1.25 zetec, looking at the figures on paper of the Mini a petrol should be more economical.

The car will be doing 20k / year so economy is a big factor, Petrol ones look so much better value for money than the Diesels and there are some Copper S's around within budget but I think more realistically we would look at a One or Cooper.

So what are people acheiving with theirs?

[mike9009]

Hi

We have owned a Cooper S and a One in the past. I presume you are talking about the R53 (2001-2006) Minis and not the R56 (2006 to date)

The Cooper S would return between 28 and 35 mpg (driving very sedately!)
The One would return between 35 and 45 mpg

So not too bad.... not sure what the diesels do though - but they do attract a premium as you have observed!

Mike

[tjdixon911]

mike9009 said:

Hi

We have owned a Cooper S and a One in the past. I presume you are talking about the R53 (2001-2006) Minis and not the R56 (2006 to date)

The Cooper S would return between 28 and 35 mpg (driving very sedately!)
The One would return between 35 and 45 mpg

So not too bad.... not sure what the diesels do though - but they do attract a premium as you have observed!

Mike

Thanks for the reply, we would be looking at the earlier model, on Paper I think the Std Cooper is more economical than the One, is that right? We have a few Coopers for sale locally.

[bobr]

We run a 54-reg Cooper for a similar number of miles per year, get about 28mpg average, but this is rural driving, and not driven sedately

[Tsippy]

I have a Mini One (mk1 56 reg) and after recently changing the air filter, I am now achieving 36.6mpg with city driving

Prior to that I was getting 32mpg city, with approx 44mpg on the motorway so am looking forward to seeing my extra-urban figures when I drive to Cardiff this weekend

[c4c23]

i have a MCS 2003, it dosnt matter how i drive it i only get about 25-29mpg, my mrs can get a little over 30 but am not being funny if you want a mpg's dont buy an 'S'..there not for driving like a saint! not to sure on a std cooper, you should get 36-44mpg, i would say even more with a deisel but you pay more for it with the ridiculous prices its at nowadays! i wouldnt put any1 off buying a mini purely of the buzz you get every time you get in the thing but have you considerd a golf blue motion/ polo blue motion? simply if its for motoway miles you cant go wrong! hope this helps

[tjdixon911]

Tsippy said:

I have a Mini One (mk1 56 reg) and after recently changing the air filter, I am now achieving 36.6mpg with city driving

Prior to that I was getting 32mpg city, with approx 44mpg on the motorway so am looking forward to seeing my extra-urban figures when I drive to Cardiff this weekend

That sounds pretty reasonable, the main use for this car would be a 35-40 mile trip up the Motorway and Back so should be looking to achieve the 40+ mpg constantly..

When you say you have changed the air filter, is this to anything special or just a direct replacement?

[tjdixon911]

c4c23 said:

i have a MCS 2003, it dosnt matter how i drive it i only get about 25-29mpg, my mrs can get a little over 30 but am not being funny if you want a mpg's dont buy an 'S'..there not for driving like a saint! not to sure on a std cooper, you should get 36-44mpg, i would say even more with a deisel but you pay more for it with the ridiculous prices its at nowadays! i wouldnt put any1 off buying a mini purely of the buzz you get every time you get in the thing but have you considerd a golf blue motion/ polo blue motion? simply if its for motoway miles you cant go wrong! hope this helps

The Golf / Polo Bluemotions are quite hard to come by and generally more than what we (she) want(s) to spend. We're probably more likely looking at 2002-2004 Mini's which can be had for 4.5-6k.

I am searching for a Polo 1.4TDi as my "business" car as I need something under 6years old for my allowance, there may be an element of car sharing going on between us so we should both benefit from that and potentially reduce the possible 20k/year miles on the Mini!

[tjdixon911]

c4c23 said:

i have a MCS 2003, it dosnt matter how i drive it i only get about 25-29mpg, my mrs can get a little over 30 but am not being funny if you want a mpg's dont buy an 'S'..there not for driving like a saint! not to sure on a std cooper, you should get 36-44mpg, i would say even more with a deisel but you pay more for it with the ridiculous prices its at nowadays! i wouldnt put any1 off buying a mini purely of the buzz you get every time you get in the thing but have you considerd a golf blue motion/ polo blue motion? simply if its for motoway miles you cant go wrong! hope this helps

The Golf / Polo Bluemotions are quite hard to come by and generally more than what we (she) want(s) to spend. We're probably more likely looking at 2002-2004 Mini's which can be had for 4.5-6k.

I am searching for a Polo 1.4TDi as my "business" car as I need something under 6years old for my allowance, there may be an element of car sharing going on between us so we should both benefit from that and potentially reduce the possible 20k/year miles on the Mini!

[RKDE]

As a tip, do not buy a mini for for economy, you can get some good results from them but you can in turn get some shocking figures too. Buy it for fun and enjoyment but by far not economy. The new shape is much better on fuel than the older shape (2000 - 2006)

The diesel in the current shape is very good though the diesel in the early models out of the yaris is not all that good.

I have driven and owned a fair few minis now, some which do 40mpg some which struggle to do 25mpg, the cooper real world mpg is about 30mpg and 35mpg on the motorway, the digital gauge will show quite high, however the most fuel efficient on the motorway is an S. All town driving will nail the mpg down to the low 20s no matter what mini you drive.

They also seam to differ lots, some do really good and some do quite poor, there is no real link with services to mpg

Good luck

[Chr1sch]

As ever RKDE speaks the truth - don't buy a mini for economy. The wife had a ONE convertible that did about 34mpg and the R53 Cooper S we have now does about 26 combined mway and town. If you like a bit of toe down driving ours does 24 lol

[Tsippy]

tjdixon911 said:

Tsippy said:

I have a Mini One (mk1 56 reg) and after recently changing the air filter, I am now achieving 36.6mpg with city driving

Prior to that I was getting 32mpg city, with approx 44mpg on the motorway so am looking forward to seeing my extra-urban figures when I drive to Cardiff this weekend

That sounds pretty reasonable, the main use for this car would be a 35-40 mile trip up the Motorway and Back so should be looking to achieve the 40+ mpg constantly..

When you say you have changed the air filter, is this to anything special or just a direct replacement?

I bought mine on the Mini Cherished scheme..... which means that it has service book stamps but no servicing done The air filter was clogged and so I changed it for a K&N panel filter and have seen hell of a difference

If you're going up the motorway on commutes, I'd expect mid 40s at least based on mine

[Nigel H]

We have an R56 Cooper which does an honest 45mpg on a A road / dual carriageway commute. Not had the earlier model for direct comparison, but it's my understanding that the R56 is quite a lot better. Maybe better to spend more on a later one when you're doing that sort of mileage.

[gonzales]

My R53 MCS gets 32 mpg on my daily commute, a mix of motorways and quick a-roads. On a long motorway journey I have had 36mpg out of it though. These are properly worked out figures not the random garbage that the on board computer tells me.

[Christoffer]

RKDE said:

however the most fuel efficient on the motorway is an S.

I just posted a thread asking the differences between the new and old Cooper S on the motorway so this quote intrigued me - are you saying the Cooper S is more fuel efficient when driving fast?? Can you elaborate a bit? Thanks.

[will bowden]

Another vote for the 'Don't buy a Mini to save fuel' camp.

Our 09 Cooper does less MPG than my 1989 Land Rover 110 Tdi and the Land Rover runs on cheapo chip fat and DERV mix so is cheaper to fill up!

Will

[RKDE]

Christoffer said:

I just posted a thread asking the differences between the new and old Cooper S on the motorway so this quote intrigued me - are you saying the Cooper S is more fuel efficient when driving fast?? Can you elaborate a bit? Thanks.

The gearbox ratios and less strain on the engine enables it to cruse better than the cooper don't know if this is the case for the new shape I do not like the newer models so aim not to ever touch them, had a couple and I can describe them as a mom car and just not for any serious petrol head, too soft and rolls too much then the older models are harsh and the supercharge makes the world a better place to be