I am becoming somewhat obsessed at the max distance I can cover with one tank of fuel. Slightly sad I know, but there you go - OCD tendencies.
Anyway, I have a few questions that I wondered if folks could help with:

1) When the fuel management computer's 'miles to fill up' reaches 0.00 and then --.--, how much fuel is left? (After having filled up at this point I seem to be able to get around 36 litres in, which would imply 4 litres, but how accurate is the 40 litres capacity?)

2) How big a deal is running out of fuel with the Cooper D? (I know there are strong arguements from MINI against letting this happen, and that a 'prime' is then necessary, but how hard is this? Could I learn to do this? Is this something that an AA/RAC guy could easily do? Or are we talking about a trip to a dealers and some specific expertise?)

3) What is the optimum speed for maximum MPG? (I am currently assuming as slow as comfortable in 6th? Does this make sense? This would seem to be about 50mph. Any thoughts/comments?)

4) Any tips? (I am thinking: everything electrical turned off - especially A/C, radio probably ok; nice gentle run on the motorway - keeping speed steady, no traffic problems [hopefully], no roundabouts, traffic lights - no gear changes; minimum weight in car. Anything else?)

5) Any thoughts on what is possible? (I am thinking at least 600 miles, maybe 650, maybe more. I have done 544 without really trying too hard already. Anyone done a similar 'mileage run'?)

Any thoughts, comments, tips would be appreciated. Will post results when completed. Probably not anytime too soon.

Cheers,

Mike

A very different performance thread

Use to have a diesel citroen ax and if that ran out of fuel it had a primer under bonnet which you just had to squeeze a couple of times to get it working again... but that was a very old car and didnt even have a turbo - could manage 400 miles/ tank which was about 30litres before i lost my bottle and had to fill up but it had a 40litre tank so could have done alot more than what i managed, i think my fuel gauge must have been broken on that...

I would say the mini is perhaps a bit more sensitive - it kinda depends on how clean the fuel tank and fuel your using is as a big problem with runnning to nearly empty is the fuel pump sucking up and spitting towards the engine any grit from the fuel tank which could need flushing out perhaps ?? In short I dont think its worth running empty just to get an extra couple of miles

Other than the points you raise above you could try to reduce weight in the car by removing rear seats etc if not needed, lighter wheels may help (but the cost of buying may negate the saving) or you could try taping up the panel gaps to improve the drag coefficient...

Try following something thats going at your speed as that will cut wind resistance too... they will pull you along quite nicely and improve the mpg...

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Apparently 56mph is the best speed for good MPG.

When you prime the car it's a way of forcing the fuel through the system to enable you to start the car. I thought this issue had been solved tbh. On older diesels it was a right nightmare. Just adding fuel didn't help... Always resulted in a call to the RAC/AA

Having AC off will definitely help.

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Indeed - not sure if the mini has a version but the AX i had used a rubber pump that you could manually prime the car with under the bonnet for instances of running out of fuel and stopped you from having to call out for roadside assistance.

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