Mulley's New 19TXD

[MULLEY]

The new mini cooper d clubman that we've recently bought has managed to return an astonishing 67mpg, that equates to 215 miles on £20 worth of diesel @ £1.389 a litre. Thats without trying any sort of hypermiling techniques yet, that & the £20 a year road tax, its all looking rosey at the mo

[mat_fenwick]

That sounds rather good, and I bet depreciation (although more than your BX ) will be less than most current cars. Lana was half looking at a newer MINI diesel (i.e. not the 1.4) and would probably lean towards a Clubman too so will be interested to hear how you get on. Mind you, hers hasn't given any problems in 30k miles so in a way why get rid of it?

The only worry I'd have is that modern diesels seem to have got a poor reputation - I don't know whether it's justified or because a few problems have been blown up out of proportion.

[MULLEY]

The issues i've heard seem to mainly revolve around the turbo's going pop because of the insanely long service intervals. I'll be making sure our's gets an oil change every year even though it doesn't have to. If she is going to get a diesel clubman, i can heartily recommend the one's that have the proper BMW engine rather than the BMW/PSA engine. The BMW engine is better on fuel, emissions, power, torque & noise levels. The other engine is very good though, just something to bear in mind. Its so quiet that its unreal. At 70mph its only doing 1900rpm

[MULLEY]

Today i bled the front brakes, something i'd been meaning to do for ages since i'd done the lhm change. Also did the rear driver side, couldn't do the psgr side one though as the bleed nipple was fucked & even with mole grips just refused to budge Well pissed off, i guess i'm going to have to get my local mechanic to drill the fucker out. I've got replacement nipples though Also changed the rear pads, took bloody ages, but got there eventually. The old ones were nearly down to the metal, so i got my monies worth out of those one's Not sure when they were fitted, but it must have been at least 3 odd years ago i think or possibly longer? Painted some hydraulic pipes with Ken's magic solution, hopefully keep the rot at bay for a while longer. Looking underneath where the rear wheels are, it looks rather bad as the rusty sections now have gaping holes, so i'm going to have to get that looked at sooner rather than later as i've no idea if its structural or not & even if it isn't, its only going to spread. I topped up the lhm after the bleeding, took the car for a quick spin to check that everything worked ok & it does, roll on CXM on Sunday Mileage now is 163604.

[rd27]

Mileage now is 1636404.

Impressive seven figures

[MULLEY]

Now edited for accuracy

[MULLEY]

After attending CXM i chanced driving back to Sunny Clay Cross without fillng up, i've got a spare 5 litres in a can in the boot just incase. I managed an impressive 779 miles on this tank, which equated to just a tad over 58mpg, pretty damn amazing, this included commuting mileage & the previous week going to Stratford on both days, so those long runs must have helped to eak out the mileage. I was doing some hypermiling on the way home though & was just waiting for that all important spluttering to start, but it didn't. I still had an impressive 5 litres left in the tank should i have had to rely on it So all those ideas about a carb 1400 petrol being almost as economical as a n/a diesel, nah

[mat_fenwick]

I can beat that...managed 62 mpg in a TD BX once. Problem was I was so bored I was half hoping to run out, or for someone to run into me, just for a bit of excitement

[Thread Bear]

My tests are ruined as the speed cable broke. Back to the drawing board for economy tests.

[citsncycles]

It does seem that the TD's when driven gently are more economic than the NA diesels, I guess because of their general state of tune and efficiency. It's a pity that for many manufacturers the quest for petrol performance out of a diesel seems to have reduced the economy of later vehicles.

[MULLEY]

I think the td's are only more economical on long runs due to the higher 5th gearing, otherwise they can't be, unless you drove it off boost all the time which would make it painfully slow & would make a n/a 1900 seem quick.

[mat_fenwick]

Turbo engines have a higher volumetric efficiency (better filling of the cylinder) so are more efficient overall. Whether you use that extra efficiency in quicker acceleration or higher speeds will determine which gives better mpg, but all else (even gearing) being equal, the TD will use less fuel.

[MULLEY]

Must be most peoples right foot thats the issue then, once you've felt that turbo surge

[Tinkley]

A friend who is a driving instructor has a 12 plate C4 110hp 1.6 diesel and it does 60+ doing the instruction! On a long run to Manchester from SW London 4 up in excess of 80 mpg so these turbos do work.
Mind you his old C2 with 1.4 diesel did 72 mpg doing the lessons, not bad eh?

[MULLEY]

Modern diesels can be capable of amazing mpg, downside is that they are more likely to break down due to the complexity of them.