After making a conscious effort to switch the Mini into its most economical ‘green’ driving mode on every journey, I can happily report that I am starting to see results.

As a rule of thumb, we reckon 75% of the official combined economy figure is a good target. The Mini’s official figure is 78.5mpg, so 58.8mpg is the magic number.

After seeing lows of 41mpg, I’m now up to 53mpg. That result came from some motorway and winding country road journeys out to a B&B in Wiltshire for the recent Bank Holiday weekend. More needs to be done to get closer to 58.8mpg, and I hope it’s possible, although the majority of commutes involve the drudgery of London traffic.

Mini Hatch 5dr Cooper 1.5D 116

Mileage                                                                 6589
Official consumption                                       78.5mpg
Our average consumption                               50.3mpg
Forecast/actual CPM                                  42.2p/44.2p
P11D price                                                        £20,420
Model price range                               £14,350-£21,860
Residual value                                                     40.6%
Depreciation                                                      £12,120
Fuel cost                                                              £4125
SMR cost                                                              £1918
VED                                                                            £0
National Insurance                                                  1353
CO2 tax (tax)                                            95g/km (15%)
BIK 20/40% per month                                     £51/£102