I won't discount the possibility that he's right, for two reasons. First, I find the mileage reported by others to be absolutely alarmingly poor, relative to reasonable expectations for a small car and small engine. It's shocking to think that you WOULDN'T get 30mpg on a MINI Cooper S. I do accept the truth, of course, but I have to also believe that the potential is there for much better performance under good conditions. Which brings me to my second thought:
My 1992 Nissan Maxima SE (3 liter DOHC V6, 190hp) is rated for something rather sad, like 21mpg city and 23.5mpg highway-- I was always amazed at how small the expected difference is. Anyway, on a trip across the south a few years ago, driving many hundreds of miles each day at 74mph with the cruise control on and A/C off (windows down), I got an AMAZING efficiency of over 30mpg, tank after tank. That's almost 50% better than rated. ...To get 20% over the rated efficiency would have surprised and delighted me, but 50% was almost not credible; yet, it was verified, and clearly true. Whereas I have to refill the tank every 260 miles in city driving, I was going over 400 miles at a stretch on one tank for that journey.
Which just goes to show you that when the conditions are right, this is one of those ways that your car might exceed expectations.
...Regarding the otherwise-observed poor figures we've seen for the Cooper and Cooper S, is that just because there's really too little engine for the weight of the car? That's my theory, but I'm an expert on Dr. Seuss, rather than cars.
wynn