MINI MPG/Tyres

MPG
Date--------Cost--Litres--Gallons--Mileage--ltrs/mi--MPG--Total--Type-
28/10/04--£40.00--44.99-----9.90-----315------0.14---31.8-18367-OPTIMAX

First mpg report for the new car.
Calculations say 31.8MPG whereas the Trip Computer stated
35.1MPG (avg) :: 31.2mph (avg) :: 21miles est to empty
Apparently you can adjust the trip comp's adjustment factor....
Whatever its still good.

MINI seems to drink fuel when driven spiritedly or during the warmup phase from cold.
Once warm and cruising tho the mileage seems excellent.

FlyByWire throttle can be annoying. It seems to have 3 positions.
Off/Middle/Full Throttle. Mapping for the car from cold is awful , you can feel the car go through huge flat spots at 1500 and 2200 rpms.

Tyres
Did some research about run-flat tyres for 17 inch wheels.
First thing that strikes me is the sheer weight of them!!!!!
The good news is that I can get my favourite tyre (Goodyear Eagle F1) in a run flat config.
Autocar reported that Pirelli's give a hard ride compared to Dunlop or Goodyear equivalents.
I have the Chilli Pack so I run...(data courtesy of www.mini2.com)
17" x 7" alloys fitted with 205/45 run flat tires:
R85 S-spoke (aka LeMans, S-lite) ET50 25.1lb (11.4kg)
which have OEM options of

205/45-17 TIRE WEIGHT (*)
------------------------- --------------- ---
Dunlop SP Sport 9000 DSST 21.8lb ( 9.9kg) P
Pirelli Eufori@ 22.0lb (10.0kg) P
Goodyear Eagle RS-A EMT 30.4lb (13.8kg) A
(*)
---
P = performance (summer) tire
A = all-season tire

I run Pirelli Eufori all round with 2 new fronts put on when we bought the car.
I simply cannot believe the unsprung weights!!!!!
If I choose to go to F1's then I add 4kg per corner which as unsprung is massive.
A MINI with new wheels and non run flats must be truly amazing as the car is it is feels great.
Need to find normal wheel and tyre weights to compare.
The pirelli's are good but let go too soon in the wet and provide little feedback at the limit.
I have yet to try the dry weather limits!

Later...

The artist in me....

Leaving work last night it just so happened to look like this........

What a picture if I do say so myself !
Enjoy

Its a Mini Adventure : The Lake District / Insurance /Plates

Well lots to say so heres a summary...

New Car
Car buying 08/10/04 from Henry Bros in Glasgow.
Excellent service (aside from only half a tank of fuel when a full tank was agreed !)
Twas a lovely day and the car looked fab.

Car is an Aug03 Mini Cooper S in Electric Blue (roof in body colour) with chrome mirrors.
Car has Chilli Pack /Xenons/Visibility Pack/Full AirCon/HK Stereo/CD changer/MFSW with Cruise Control


Insurance
I have been with Greenlight Insurance for the Fiat coupe and previously my Mk2 Golf GTI,
they provided excellent service no question.
However they obviously dont want a Mini on the books as they quoted over 1k for a years insurance.
Soooo I looked elsewhere , using the confused.com website as a start.
Quotes were surprisingly high , especially as in my eyes the performance was way below the coupe levels!!!!!
The cheapest was Admiral , so I arranged cover online and went with them.....
All was fine until I was searching through the mini forums
[www.mini2.com and www.newminiscotland.com] and noted that there may be a problem with Admiral and mini cover.
Specifically coverage of the many extras available. My heart sank.....
So I phoned Admiral....
1st call : Yes , they only replace with std parts but if I declare modifications (which are all manufacturer optional extras!!!) they are covered...added chilli pack(130 UKP more!) and decided to phone back to confirm all car options...
2nd call : Total muppet on the phone answered , no idea about cars let alone the options. I detailed all the options on the car which took ages , then he debited my card for another 30UKP...
then I go away for a week in the lake district....on returning my adjusted details have arrived , which state chilli pack(correct)and only one other option which is 'modification due to disability' FFS !!
(For what its worth , my 'disability' was cruise control on the steering wheel ie its not a fecking disability ........)
At this point Im getting really annoyed.
So I phone up again
3rd call : I ask them to tell me what modifications I have stated on the policy to see if they have the right details. The answer is 'chilli pack and disability mod' nothing about ANY of the options I had previously spent ages confirming!!!!!!
Useless , not only that they had charged me for mods , but couldnt even tell me what they were. I re-asked if the car would be fully covered.This time they said NO and that even though I declared options(mods) AND the policy was loaded accordingly THEY WOULD BE REPLACED WITH STANDARD PARTS ONLY!!!

It was at this point I decided to go elsewhere.....ESURE to be precise.
Good quote and a friendly person who actually listed all my mods on file and that they would be covered AND told me that even though the covernote may state slightly diffferent text , that they had a full list of options on file.
Job done and changed over , not only that but also a UK call centre.

If you want my advice NEVER deal with ADMIRAL insurance. ESPECIALLY if you have a new mini.
I will only receive an 80% refund from them when cancelling my policy but Id much rather that , than deal with useless idiots.

Lake District holiday
A week away with friends at Boot in the Lake District.
Car went really well and is surprisingly spacious. Averaged 38mpg
Also went up the steepest road in britain a 1 in 3 !
My only complaint is the lack of overtaking ooomph on back roads compared to the 20VT coupe.
Heres a quick pick taken near the top of Hardknott pass.



Numberplates
Decided to take a risk and order a 3/4 sized front and full sized rear plates from www.fancyplates.com
I removed the standard mini front plinth which is enormous! and stuck on the plate.
Only downside is that I had to refit 2 outer screws to cover plinth holes.
Looks superb though

The End.....

Yep , thats it finished :-(
My coupe days for now are over SOB.
The first person to actually come see the car bought it , and who wouldnt ? She looked superb driving away for the last time. All polished up and fancy free LOL.
Coupes really do look superb when seen driving past ......

Good Luck and I hope the new owner enjoys her as much as I did.

And so onto my new car a Mini Cooper S ....... guess I might have to rename this blog !!!!

SOB : car goes up for sale on FCCUK

Right well , its all very sad but today my 20VT went up for sale on fccuk forum.
http://www.fccuk.org/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=310854&page=0&vc=#Post310854

:-(

Lets hope somebody buys it !

oh no! / possible car change looms.../ mpg update

Well the car runs great after the recent enormous spend.
Brakes are much better and Ive now started to 'push' them a bit more ....

Annoyingly I managed to bump into a very low bollard while parking at work this week !!!
What a muppet , a moments carelessness not thinking while reversing
Damage limited to some lower bumper scratches thankfully.


On a side note we are now considering a new mini cooper s !
My wife wants to drive again and thinks they are really cool :-)
So I guess we will get a test drive soon and take it from there......

Date-------Cost--Litres--Gallons--Mileage-ltrs/mile---miles/gallon---TotalMileage---Type
21/09/04-44.05--51.28--11.28-----308---0.2------------27.3--------60805 -----OPTIMAX

wahey , now up to 27 MPG after the manifold replacement , and Im telling you thats good for the last week or so as Ive really been pushing the car hard. Had a training course which required some high speed back road testing LOL...
Lets just say I needed a 6th gear more than once ......


Re : Manifold failure..
For other coupe owners , I bought the car with a new style (ribbed) manifold already fitted.
This had failed at the base where all the ports join into one. Just a small hairline crack.
From the fccuk forum it appears that this is the common failure point for later style manifolds.
This has been replaced with the same style which should hopefully last at least a year.

While I remember the noise it made when cracked was a lot like a bearing / low oil pressure problem!!!
Symptoms were a loud tick under light load when cold. At idle is was quiet.
This would go away after 10 mins driving. But return after even a very short stop (even if oil was warm) , presumably because the exhaust cooled very quickly.

Thankfully the car is now silent (and no tappet noise either) when started from cold.


J