2005 MINI One D Reviewed

Sections: In the Press May 18th, 2006 19 Comments

While this review is a year old, it’s probably one of the few MINI One D reviews I’ve ever seen. And since better gas mileage seems to be on the minds of so many these days, we thought all the Americans out there might like to get a sneak peak at the “other” MINI that we don’t get a chance to drive. Also worth a mention, the MINI One D reviewed here doesn’t have the updated Toyota Diesel engine. You can read about all the 2006 engine updates here. Now, onto the review:

The diesel Mini’s real forte is in urban and city operation where it is a staggering 50 percent more fuel-efficient than the Mini One. While the petrol Mini turns in an only average 8.7 litres/100km (32.5mpg), or just slightly better than the more powerful Cooper, the diesel sips fuel at a conservative 5.7 litres/100km (48.7mpg) in the urban cycle.

More than this, the car drives so well around town, with the diesel engine brilliantly matched to the car’s unique gear ratios. Key to this is the high torque at low revs. Forget for a moment that the diesel produces a modest 55kW (75bhp) at 4000rpm against 66kW/5500rpm for the One and 85kW/6000rpm for the Cooper.

You can read the entire article below:

[ Mini Cooper Diesel ] Car.co.nz

Written By: MF Staff

Pedro

Combined 58.9mpg!!!!! We need to get these cars over here in the states!
jarrett

58.9 combined, who needs a Prius or Insight. 13 gallons of diesel would get you 5/6 the way across texas. come on miniusa, step up to the plate and get us this option.
agranger

Isn’t there an issue with the relative low quality of disel here in the US? I think thats why we don’t get a bunch of the cool disel engine options…
http://www.hrmini.com AprilWhine

Hope MINI decides to offer the diesel in the US when our diesel standards are raised.
heyduard

Nice review.

“Updated”, eh? TFA mentions that the convertible coopers will be making their debut next year. Methinks the review is several years old, unless the kiwi’s are getting the convertibles next year. Not! I believe the mpg are in imperial gallons. anyone know for sure? If so, the mpg in us gallons will be lower. Perhaps a better measure would be miles per dollar. :)

Plus, they mention the Toyota lump powering the D. There’s a new powerplant in the 06 model. Cleaner and more power.

With the mandated lower sulpher content, let’s hope BMW will bring the new D to the states.
Aqualung

yeah, it relates to the (relatively) high sulfur content. By next year, the oil barons are due to have a new “diesel” that they hope will meet the requirements of many states i.e. Mass, Calif, etc.

I’ve seen other articles where car makers like BMW & MB are ramping up for their luxo diesel sedans to be marketed here as well.
IanF

I want… if MINI USA brings the D to our shores, my TDI wagon will be scared…
tim

Will the Mini D also run off of used cooking oil? I think that’s cool that some cars will do that. A friend of mine drives an old Volvo and runs it primarily off of used cooking oil. It doesn’t get the same gas mileage but the Oil is free.
Frank

I would be very interested on a MINI diesel option specially if it offered in the upcoming R55 Traveller wagon.
Jake

Mercedes and VW have been the only importers of autos with diesel engines over the last couple of decades up here in Canada (and I suspect also in the US). It would be great to have more options.

Also, Mercedes, BMW and VW all have various forms of high performance diesel engines in some of their models. It would be amazing to have a Mini diesel that could approach the performance of the MCS, yet benefit from the fuel economy rewards of a diesel engine.

Cheers,

Jake
heyduard

tim May 18th, 2006 Link Will the Mini D also run off of used cooking oil? I think thatÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢s cool that some cars will do that.

All diesels have the potential to run biodiesel (eg, used cooking oil). There’s a kit one can fit to diesels stateside.

If the PSA diesel makes it into the D, I’m standing in line.
LTZMTOR

If the D becomes or is a turbo diesel I might otherwise, not interested.
beken

Last year, transport Canada had an exhibit of cars they were evaluating for the Canadian market in relation to better fuel economy. One of the cars was the MINI D. However, the rep told me it had to wait for the “clean” diesel to appear in the US. Volumes sold in Canada would not make it economically viable to import to Canada alone.

I asked what the issue with the diesel was as Canada already sells the Smart Car. I would assume the diesel in Canada and US are similar. The answer went over my head.

I’m not sure the US would ever embrace diesel as Americans seem to like the idea of developing Made in USA solutions to problems. The push seems to be for ethanol, biofuels or hydrogen fuel cells. The latter two seem to be quite a few years away still.
Dave Stewart

Well, I for one would truly consider a MINI One. BMW get you fricken collective heads out of your asses and bring the MINI One to the North American market soon! Tune it for North American diesel fuel…probably a different engine computer, and give Toyota a run for their money.
Andrew

On reason why diesel passenger cars haven’t taken off here in Australia like they have in Europe is that diesel fuel doesn’t enjoy the same tax brakes that it does in Europe. Over there, they are considered to be more environmentally sound than petrol vehicles due to their lower fuel consumption. Unfortunately here in Australia, and I would imagine the southern parts of the US too, the interaction of diesel smog with our stronger levels of sunlight and warmer temperatures creates big problems with photochemical smog in cities.

Another reason diesel hasn’t taken off here is that Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG) produces lower levels of emissions than petrol and, due to it’s tax free status and Australia’s considerable reserves of LPG, is cheap as chips – more than half the price of petrol IIRC. Most of our taxi fleet run on LPG.
http://dbmini.us DB

I believe the mpg are in imperial gallons. anyone know for sure? If so, the mpg in us gallons will be lower. Perhaps a better measure would be miles per dollar. :)

I remember seeing that the MINI One -D was rated to go 1K KM on a tank of fuel. That’s roughly 600 miles. If you use all of the fuel in the tank you would be getting about 45MPG. Not the crazy 59 mentioned in this review, but still close to 50% better than what I’m getting now.

I’d be all over this car like a bum on a ham sandwich! Now, if we can only get the ‘clean’ diesel.
http://users.skynet.be/forbes/minicoopera.htm ForbesT

I was just check’n out a 7 edition One D at my local dealer (in Belgium). The owner was just picking it up. We started talking about why the D is not in the US. The first thing he mentioned was the sulfur change issue and the lack of diesel pumps in the US. Once thatÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢s fixed we both agreed that could open the door to a D in the US. Turbo-diesel would sweeten the deal, LTZMTOR.

Though some kind of alternative fuel would be great, we wonÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢t see it for another 10 years at best. Hhybrids MPG arenÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢t all they seem to be and they cost 2 – 10k more. If MINI offered the D in the states, I bet they could not keep up with demand. Hey they could even make them in the US. ;)
diego

Andrew,

As a Southern US’er (Dallas, TX) I found your comment very enlightening as I had never given thought to the pollution that could be caused by photochemical smog. Do you have any links where I could learn more about this?
http://users.skynet.be/forbes/minicoopera.htm ForbesT

http://www.epa.gov/otaq/regs/fuels/diesel/diesel.htm

http://www.nrdc.org/air/transportation/psulfur.asp

http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_vehicles/big_rig_cleanup/california-diesel-risk-reduction-plan.html

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