[StarFlyr]

I assume you have a standard Mini. About 2 years ago, I bought a used '05 standard Mini stick shift. It was geared so low that the RPM was almost always around 3000. The noise drove me nuts, but I did like the Mini so well that last year I bought a new '13 Mini S. More power (turbo) allowed the vehicle to run closer to 2000 RPM at roughly the same speeds that the '05 did. As with other replies, I agree that 2950rpm is nonsense, but if you do have a standard (base model), that's what you will run mostly.