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Pathetic Fuel Consumption....Do something about it!

37K views 59 replies 23 participants last post by  CCroker 
#1 ·
I hope you have all seen the Topic below?

http://www.mini2.com/forum/mini-countryman/184253-mpg-your-countryman-6.html

It seems that an awful lot of us are unhappy with the obtained fuel economy.

I'm driving around so steady yet am at least 33% away from the official figures. I never really expect to achieve what the Manufacturer states. But I do expect to get close to it. I've managed that on all my previous cars. We can even get close on my wifes Cooper Hatch.

On my Countryman SD 2wd manual, country driving (extra urban?) I am getting 42 to 43 mpg yet Mini shows.....

Fuel consumption mpg - Manual (urban) 54.3 mpg
Fuel consumption mpg - Automatic (urban) 38.7 mpg
Fuel consumption mpg - Manual (extra-urban) 65.7 mpg
Fuel consumption mpg - Automatic (extra-urban) 58.9 mpg
Fuel consumption mpg - Manual (combined) 61.4 mpg
Fuel consumption mpg - Automatic (combined) 49.6 mpg

I've written to Mini and get their standard response which is below.

Thank you for your email dated September 17, 2012, regarding the fuel consumption of your MINI Countryman. Please accept my sincere apologies for the reasons which have given you cause to contact us on this occasion.



I certainly appreciate your concern and disappointment in relation to this matter. However, I can confirm that the fuel consumption figures published are independently regulated and monitored by the Vehicle Certification Agency (VCA) and are achieved in accordance with their recommended testing conditions. On the VCA website it is advised that "because of the need to maintain strict comparability of results achieved by the standard tests they cannot be fully representative of real-life driving conditions. Firstly, it is not practicable to test each individual new car; thus only one production car is tested as being representative of the model and may therefore produce a better or worse result than another similar vehicle. Secondly, there are infinite variations in driving styles and in road, car and weather conditions, all of which can have a bearing on the results achieved. For these reasons the consumption achieved on the road will not necessarily accord with the official test results."


We have published the figures that have been achieved and approved during testing and it is accepted by the regulating body that these figures may not be achievable in normal driving conditions. The VCA website also advises that "the fuel consumption testing scheme is intended to give car buyers comparative information about the fuel consumption of different models in standard tests."



"I understand that you have approached MINI UK Customer Service directly, with a view to obtaining information on this issue. However, from a practical perspective, our network of MINI Approved Dealerships are best placed to offer you this advice. As your dealership have inspected the vehicle and stated that there is no defect, we would stand by their diagnosis. Nevertheless, should you remain unhappy, you can seek a second opinion from an alternative approved dealership, if you wish to do so."

So if you are unhappy with your cars economy, please in the first instance write to MINI. The more the merrier.

customer.service@mini.co.uk

Also write (like I have) to BBC Watchdog, if we write to Watchdog we may get some action and it will at least highlight the issue. What have we to lose? Link below, it's easy enough.

BBC - Watchdog - Send your story

I am seriously thinking of selling my Countryman SD. Whilst I like the car if I'm going to drive round in something so slow and get such poor mileage I might as well get something a little more exciting and get the same mpg.

Come on pick up your pens (so to speak) and do something. Please post on here if you've written so we get some idea of the level of contact.

STEVE.................
 
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#4 ·
The UN and EU are looking at a new 'realistic' set of tests, but they are unfortunately still some years away.

Until then all manufacturers have a free 'Get Out of Jail Card' from the DfT in the UK. It has been noted recently that the UK figures are far more optimistic than those conducted under the auspices of the EPA in the US - and 30% seems about right.

It isn't right, but that's the system we are currently stuck with. I suspect that some of it will be to do with manufacturers and governments trying to make their attempt at improving Carbon emission levels more positive than is really the case.

A What Car report in April did list Mini (amongst others) as being too wide of the mark, but BMW/Mini simply spout the DfT response to all queries. For the 1.6D the official figures are between 70-75 mpg but the real figures are more than 20mpg less - as we Owners are finding.:angry:
 
#7 ·
In the days of government run Radiocoommunications equipment type approval tests some manufacturers tried it on and sent us special 'sample sets' for testing which had added components for the testing to make sure they passed. We called them 'golden sets' and rejected them as being 'unrepresentative of the product to be marketed'. I wonder how much truth there is of the same thing in the motor industry, and these days we have 'self-certification' allowed too. Or maybe I'm a tad cynical?

Mind you, my X6 is within 3-5mpg of the 'official' data most of the time. Perhaps it's a Mini thing due to the target market and level of competition in that sector?
 
#8 ·
I am surprised to hear about fuel consumption complaints. What engine does the SD countryman have?

I have owned a 2007 cooper s now for about a month and I am staggered by how good it is on fuel and yet it goes like stink. The official figures are as follows for me

Urban: 35.8
Combined: 45.6
Extra Urban: 54.3

Well so far I think I have had 3 tanks of fuel and have averaged 36/37mpg so I have been very chuffed, also I certainly dont hang about it in before you say I must drive like a grandma, I am a 21 year old male. Cant understand how a diesel engine would only be doing slightly better MPG than that, definately think its worth you guys sticking together and going to someone like watchdog over this.

Nick
 
#9 ·
We were averaging 28 mpg in town, until broke in and then averaged 30.3 mpg for quite a while until I read the fuel requirement and put in 93 Oct and get a 34.6 mpg in town and have seen over 40 mpg on highway, if I keep my foot out of it. :)
 
#11 ·
My wife has a Mini Cooper Hatch, petrol and we are pleased with that. The consumption on that is close to the official figures.

But my Countryman SD struggles to get past 46 mpg on the Motorway at 70mph on the cruise. My neighbour has an Audi A6 2 litre Diesel and he thrashes it everywherer he goes. He works in Leicester yet averages 49 mpg....? My close friend has a Golf GTD and easily gets an average of 55mpg.

The SD should be much closer to the official figures. I certainly realise I'm never going to hit them. Slow Country driving is getting me 42mpg, combined (never mind extra urban) is shown as 61.4 mpg.
 
#13 ·
I have a Countryman SD All4 manual with 11k on the clock. I do a regular run of 35 miles over country roads rising to a height of 1350ft and then dropping to sea level. If I drive with a very light foot I can achieve 53 mpg for the trip. However, if I use the sport button and push along this drops to 45 mpg.

Last month I did a long trip of 750 miles over motorways and A roads with some town and traffic driving and averaged 48mpg overall.

I have found that the diesel I use makes some difference with the best results achieved on Esso or Shell and try to stick with these brands when I can.

For my part I can accept this considering the roads I drive on and type of vehicle the Countryman is. I previously had a Nissan Xtrail 2.0 dCi and the best I could achieve was 38mpg.

I agree that the fuel consumption is a long way off that stated by Mini but as we all know, the current test is in laboratory conditions and I did not pay much attention to their claimed figures when considering a Countryman.
 
#14 ·
My Cooper SD is 2wd not four.

As mentioned before I have no expectations to get the published enonomy numbers.

But past experience with many different cars tells me that I should not expect to be at least 33% off the published numbers.

The Countryman is Golf, A3 and Focus size (actually its quite a bit smaller) the actual consumption figures for those vehicles is much closer to those provided by their makers.

A relatively small car with a 2 litre diesel engine should do better than 43'ish to the gallon. I had expectations of getting at least 50 mpg based on the combined figure of 64.1.

I honestly believe that Mini's published figures are incorrect or fudged as they are so far away from what most people seem to be obtaining.

Manufacturers make big of the published figures in the vehicle advertising. Having worked for a vehicle manufacturer for almost 40 years I am well aware and knowledgable of type approval, homologation vehicle certification etc etc.

In this case I feel Mini are not being honest.
 
#17 ·
The Countryman is Golf, A3 and Focus size (actually its quite a bit smaller)....
But where it matters, in cross sectional area, the Countryman is quite a bit bigger - it's the same body width as an A3 but almost 150mm/6" higher. So that's 11% more cross-sectional area and that has to be multiplied by the difference in drag coefficients (0.36 .v. 0.33) and you would expect the Countryman to use at least 20% more fuel at motorway speeds.

As you say you are in the trade, you will know that there isn't a significant high speed component of the fuel consumption tests and so that's why the Countryman's poor high speed drag and fuel economy doesn't show up in the official figures.
 
#18 ·
I have a Honda CRV, its loads bigger, Heavier & has an older engine design 57 plate & can do almost 50mpg at 70mph if i accelerate gentle, pre-empt traffic conditions etc Now tell me why the Countryman D cant do what the bullshitters (MINI) say it could do.. btw exchanging for a countryman (arrives next week) cause my wife always wanted 1.
 
#24 ·
Ok its Urban that is quoted. However mine gets it best mpg figures on good dual carriageways or motorways.

If you want honest mpg figures then look at the US Mini site, they dont inflate theirs due to stronger consumer protection laws. See my post in the fuel consumption topic.
Dont you think it's strange that the UK car is quoted as being 14 mpg (imperial) better than the same car in the US?

As for EU having unrealistic procedures it seems to work for most other cars. Even my wifes Mini Cooper Hatch gets pretty close to published figures, It seems that the Countryman is the one so out of step.
 
#25 ·
Which? (as in the Consumers Association) have recently tested the new Volvo V40 and got nearly 20mpg worse than Volvo report - and again it appears to be motorway economy that makes a big difference. But even on the urban Which? were 13mpg worse than Volvo - and they've even got slightly better results than BMW on a 1 series.

They suggested they will take the question further and as they have power to issue a super-complaint (a complaint which bodies like the Fair Trade Office must respond to), we must hope they will do so.

What is needed is to persuade the European Commission to change their economy tests in exactly the same way that the US did a couple of years ago in order to make them more realistic - that's the reason why US figures are different.

Wingeing about manufacturers isn't going to do anything - they have an official test that they must follow and to expect them to break the law - in order to show worse results - is pointless.
 
#26 ·
I know that the manufacturers do their own tests, there is little over sight by the certification bodies. The tests in the EU and USA are quite similar. The main difference being class action law suits in the USA

Hence the USA numbers are much more realistic.
 
#27 ·
You must have missed that the EPA changed the US tests a few years ago, specifically to make them more in line with drivers' experiences.

I saw an amusing discussion by some conspiracy theorists (victims?) that the US government was intentionally making car fuel economy worse..... :rolleyes:
 
#36 ·
the EPA did not change the test, they just doctor the data by subtracting 25% from the observed results ... the doctored numbers are very close to actual observed MPG

personally, my 2012 all4 is beating the EPA MPGs by about 1-3 mpg across the 3 ratings

my overall mpg since new is 28.5 ... total miles / total gallons used since new
 
#35 ·
i have just got sent by mini "the mini international" issue 41 and in there they state the new mini cooper d has a combined mpg of 80.7.
this is tested on the road to meet the eu6 standard on the ece driving standard,
THEY ARE KIDDING ARN'T THEY

on picking up our car we walked out of the showroom after our car had been in there for a week with them testing it, they managed 50mpg on the motorway at under 60mph [the bit they used was flat].
they would not say about anything else, just said it is acceptable to mini, he did keep saying "sorry" though.
i did ask what about the rest, around town or a roads-------no answer was given.
as for the pile of **** [mini one]they gave us for a week------thats another story
dealer----would we like a deal? on another mini from stock "i'm sure we could work something out".
us----have you got an evouge? it didn't bode to well.
will we buy another mini--------NEVER

angib---------that was my point----it should do what they say [as in usa] not what they think or would like it to do.
10 years ago our mini did exactly what they said it would and that was the reason we bought another one @£26k------ NEVER AGAIN
 
#38 ·
I think part of the issue is that it's the size of the difference at between 25 & 30%.

Other European manufacturers can manage to get their data within 5% of the real world.

A friend has just bought a 5 year old BMW 318d tourer and is getting nearly 60mpg on the motorway. Now that has a 2-litre engine producing similar BHP but is a lot bigger and heavier than the Mini. So if that can do it, why is the Countryman so bad in the real world?

I did read an interesting comment a couple of years back that the EU is trying to stick to the 'party line' about the efficiency tests because to do otherwise would show the real carbon emission figures were in reality not even close to what is required and published.

Certainly our All4 SD is going back in just over a month - because of the 'spin' attached to the economy data. Even my X6 with a 3-litre twin turbo diesel IL6 and 2-tonnes of metal can get to within 6mpg of the Countryman!
 
#39 ·
right then, the original post was "do something about it"
i have moaned on enough as they say on this an other threads and most of all to Mini.
so when Mini had the car in for a week in March and "done nothing to it" as i remember, well they did do something but they can't recall what----------------
but the car the very next day [when checking] running around local did something amazing------48mpg-------
so rechecking the car over the next 6 weeks, we now get
short trips- 46-48 mpg instead of 31mpg
a roads----58-64mpg instead of 44mpg
don't use motorways that often so cant compare anything.
Mini service department say "the computer might have reset something"

strange or what------------------------it only took 12 months
 
#41 ·
I am disabled and my car is on motability, I got this car mainly because it stated reasonably high fuel figures, two years down the line its costing me a small fortune for fuel, When my Countryman Cooper SD ALL4 was in for a recall, i mentioned and was greeted with, "yeah, they are all like that", and that was it, I now, hardly use the car, because I cant afford to fill it up, I really cant wait for this car to go back at the end of the term.

I have written to Watchdog, but I doubt they will do anything about it.
 
#42 ·
Poor mileage Countryman Cooper SD all4 auto

This car is a joke light foot 37.9 mpg my last car Honda C-RV 44.5mpg that is a close to 2 tonne car and 2.2l engine

Ride with run flat just as advertised like a go cart would be over uneven roads

It is time that things changed MINI test these cars over millions of miles they know the actual achievable range and it should be published (then again if they did no one would buy them) the only guide we have is the ones that are published lets get back to the old days before carbon tax when surprise the figures were basically honest and achievable.

Satnav expensive media system lacks connectivity maps not that good hands free leaves much to be desired

Donot MINI have a moral position regarding customers

Brand image bah humbug>:D will never touch one again
 
#44 ·
This car is a joke light foot 37.9 mpg my last car Honda C-RV 44.5mpg that is a close to 2 tonne car and 2.2l engine

Ride with run flat just as advertised like a go cart would be over uneven roads

It is time that things changed MINI test these cars over millions of miles they know the actual achievable range and it should be published (then again if they did no one would buy them) the only guide we have is the ones that are published lets get back to the old days before carbon tax when surprise the figures were basically honest and achievable.

Satnav expensive media system lacks connectivity maps not that good hands free leaves much to be desired

Donot MINI have a moral position regarding customers

Brand image bah humbug>:D will never touch one again
Waah waah waaah. By a Civic or a Corolla and stop whining.
 
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