Ok, so I knew i was getting no toyota echo when i bought the car, but I'm averaging 15.8 mpg, mind you this is when i drive nicely, all street, no freeway. Is that normal? Should i replace the plugs or do something? Car has 48k on it....

TIA,

Leo

Ok, so I knew i was getting no toyota echo when i bought the car, but I'm averaging 15.8 mpg, mind you this is when i drive nicely, all street, no freeway. Is that normal? Should i replace the plugs or do something? Car has 48k on it....

TIA,

Leo

I get about 12 mpg in the city with the way that I drive. I have a 6 speed and really like to stretch out first and second. The good thing is that on the highway I get great gas mileage, about 27 mpg eventhough I drive just as hard. The EPA numbers are 15 city and 23 highway for the 6 speed and 15 city and 21 highway for the auto which means you are getting great mileage for the city. Maybe you should have researched this before you purchased the car. When I first got my car I was so amazed by the torque and the 6spd gearbox that I was driving fast all the time. I was getting about 9 mpg then. :eyecrazy

I get about 12 mpg in the city with the way that I drive. I have a 6 speed and really like to stretch out first and second. The good thing is that on the highway I get great gas mileage, about 27 mpg eventhough I drive just as hard. The EPA numbers are 15 city and 23 highway for the 6 speed and 15 city and 21 highway for the auto which means you are getting great mileage for the city. Maybe you should have researched this before you purchased the car. When I first got my car I was so amazed by the torque and the 6spd gearbox that I was driving fast all the time. I was getting about 9 mpg then. :eyecrazy

Damn that's some low mileage. I did research (duh),

http://www.edmunds.com/used/1998/bmw/5series/17336/specs.html?tid=edmunds.u.prices.leftsidenav..6.BMW *

18/24, which is fine, even 17 is fine, i just wanted to make sure something wasn't wrong with my car ;)

Damn that's some low mileage. I did research (duh),

http://www.edmunds.com/used/1998/bmw/5series/17336/specs.html?tid=edmunds.u.prices.leftsidenav..6.BMW *

18/24, which is fine, even 17 is fine, i just wanted to make sure something wasn't wrong with my car ;)

The numbers on MSN are different that's the reason for the confusion. The city figure on MSN is 15 therfore if you saw those numbers I couldn't understand why you would be worried because your mileage is greater than that. Get it.

Since its a V8 i dont think its that bad.

coo, is long as its normal i'm coo, thanks guys!

Ok, so I knew i was getting no toyota echo when i bought the car, but I'm averaging 15.8 mpg, mind you this is when i drive nicely, all street, no freeway. Is that normal? Should i replace the plugs or do something? Car has 48k on it....

TIA,

Leo
:lol :lol :lol

Actually, I've been averaging 17 mpg so that is about right. I actually bought this car to save gas as my 750il used to get me 12 mpg. My 525iT gets me similar mileage to the 540. I guess new technology makes a difference.

I get 17.5mpg on my '91 M5 and that includes city/hwy driving with at least 1 full throttle blast per day.

city i see 12.
stop complaining and put your foot down u wussies! :D
or move to a real city :bluecry1

I average about 15-17mpg and I'm quite happy w/ those numbers since I'm a leadfoot. :cool

i dont get what you guys are moaning about, i drive a 540ia in the uk and i reckon that we pay loads more than you - check this out

according to this http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/oog/info/gdu/gasdiesel.asp
you pay around $2.00 a gallon o.k call it 2.50.

according to this http://www.whatprice.co.uk/car/petrol-prices.html
we pay 81.9 pence per litre

there is 3.78 litres to a u.s gallon 20 81.9 x 3.78 = £3.095 £3.10 (rounded)

using this http://xe.com/

the price i pay for normal unleaded petrol is $5.56 usd (gulp) per us gallon.

so the nezt time you fill up, double it and thats roughly what it would cost you in the uk.

i have shown my working out and posted references just like my teachers taught me.
p.s thanks tony blair

andy

Here we go again. Another guy from UK complaining about their gas price. You guys have to understand that people in the US drive twice as much as you brits. And it not by choice, the country is just bigger:D

2000 Dinan S1 540/6spd here. I work in a city thats nothing but millions of stop signs and 25mph speed limits, and i am a lead foot. 17.9MPG here :)

Here we go again. Another guy from UK complaining about their gas price. You guys have to understand that people in the US drive twice as much as you brits. And it not by choice, the country is just bigger:D

Im not complaining, i was just trying to highlight an issue relating to fuel consumption and the difference between the uk & the usa in the cost of petrol. With regards to distance driven it is true that you guys probably drive more, although i dont consider this as a reason for cheaper fuel, in the eyes of our government you should drive a smaller car.

But honestly - could you afford to run your car if you were paying twice as much at the pump? - i think a newspaper once higlighted that in a fuel tanker - 70% of the fuel contained within goes directly to the government in tax.

andy

Right at 15 miles a gallon , city driving. If I drive a bit wild it goes down to 14, if I really get on it, your lookin at 12.5 or so. ON the highway its well into the 20's.

BY the way , isnt the high cost of gas in the UK mainly because you let them get away with charging those rediculous taxes?

One of our presidential hopefulls named Kerry is no enemy to another 50 cents tax on a gallon also. He will probably never get it, we have too many low income drivers in the US for something like that. The economic impact would be quite serious.

My assessment of BMW V8 is dismal fuel economy. I've gotten similar efficiency from a 20 year old cars with a 4bbl carburetor (5L HO Mustang).

My 540i runs smooth like a swiss watch with no check engine lights, but it can't match the gas mileage of a similar vintage full-sized Lincoln or Cadillac barge.

I shortshift the car to keep rev's down, but it's 100% city/suburban mileage is around 15 MPG with a 6spd stick. One thing I notice is the gas miileage drops like a rock if you spin the motor at higher rev's. Try upshifting at around 2K RPM for max economy. My Lincoln and Corvette showed around 18-20 MPG under the EXACT same conditions. We're talking 20% differential...a lot.

My 4.4L 540i gets "OK" gas mileage during highway cruise...around 23-24 MPG. My 5.7L Corvette got exactly 31 MPG at same speed (steady-state 72 MPH).

On 20 mile long (each way) daily commute...mostly highway, the 540i averages 21 MPG....includes engine warmup for first few miles.

From what I've seen, a GM 350 cu in V8 in a Corvette will match the economy of a 5 series sedan with a 6 cylinder.

I'm still not clear what BMW hype is all about. The engineering is notable but the inability to buy individual repair parts for differential, transmission and internal engine parts is unbelieveable. This "dealer service only" hostage crisis is an outright attack on the back yard mechanic &/or amateur racer (me). Foreign service garages are clueless about E39 and have no drivetrain or powertrain parts & no electronic service instrumentation. TSB's are secret and BMW has taken action to suppress service data (Alldata, wiring diagrams etc). IMO, future sales will suffer. BMW seems to be built for the lease and CPO owners only with a 7 year lifespan. I'm not willing to buy a $4K tranny when a $60 synchro needs replaced. I will not buy another BMW if drivetrain & powertrain parts do not become available. I ain't paying $8K for a shortblock when I need a crankshaft or connecting rod...and $4K for a limited slip diff! No differential rebuild parts sold & proprietary bearing configurations?! Holy cow.

If individual parts for repair or rebuild aren't sold, I'm going back to domestic. It's just that simple. You can buy any tranny or motor part you want for a Corvette or Viper.

im pulling 19.1 in my 2.8 Liter.

I shortshift the car to keep rev's down, but it's 100% city/suburban mileage is around 15 MPG with a 6spd stick. One thing I notice is the gas miileage drops like a rock if you spin the motor at higher rev's. Try upshifting at around 2K RPM for max economy. My Lincoln and Corvette showed around 18-20 MPG under the EXACT same conditions. We're talking 20% differential...a lot.

My 4.4L 540i gets "OK" gas mileage during highway cruise...around 23-24 MPG. My 5.7L Corvette got exactly 31 MPG at same speed (steady-state 72 MPH).

That's awful, are you sure?

I just got back from a trip to Philadelphia (450 mile round trip) and used less than a full tank of gas. This was mostly highway driving, but I spent a total of about two hours in stop and go traffic at the GW Bridge and a half hour driving around Philly, hopelessly lost.

I shift around 3000rpm in 1st, 2500rpm in 2nd, and about 3000rpm in 3rd. On the highway I drive mostly in 5th gear, because I find that I burn more gas in 6th unless I'm driving over 85mph or on perfectly flat ground. Sometimes I drive in 4th on the highway.

I normally get 450-500 miles to a single tank of gas in a week and I do primarily local, non-highway driving. This has actually been a more fuel efficient car for me than my '97 Maxima.

(my car is a '98 540i/6)

edit- While the fuel economy gauge is probably grossly inaccurate (Which is why I don't track fuel economy with the OBC), it's still worth watching it every now and then. I find that there's a very thin line between excellent highway mileage and very poor gas mileage. For instance, if I'm cruising at 75-80mph in 5th gear, it takes maybe half a millimeter of foot movement to get the gauge to go between 20mpg and 40mpg, even though in either case I'm only maintaining my current speed.

This was actually something I noticed on my old 740iL, and I managed to pull great fuel economy with that car as well. Driving for fuel efficiently takes a little amount of attention, but after a while it's become like second nature to me. If I drive hard, though, my gas mileage definitely suffers, but I find 16-18mpg in the city under hard driving to be perfectly acceptable.

Since I've owned this car I've never gotten less than ~400 miles from a single tank of gas, so I guess somehow I'm maintaining at least an average of 22mpg.

I get 18.5mpg around town (with a lead foot), and 27-28mpg on the motorway.

My assessment of BMW V8 is dismal fuel economy. I've gotten similar efficiency from a 20 year old cars with a 4bbl carburetor (5L HO Mustang).

My 540i runs smooth like a swiss watch with no check engine lights, but it can't match the gas mileage of a similar vintage full-sized Lincoln or Cadillac barge.

I shortshift the car to keep rev's down, but it's 100% city/suburban mileage is around 15 MPG with a 6spd stick. One thing I notice is the gas miileage drops like a rock if you spin the motor at higher rev's. Try upshifting at around 2K RPM for max economy. My Lincoln and Corvette showed around 18-20 MPG under the EXACT same conditions. We're talking 20% differential...a lot.

My 4.4L 540i gets "OK" gas mileage during highway cruise...around 23-24 MPG. My 5.7L Corvette got exactly 31 MPG at same speed (steady-state 72 MPH).

On 20 mile long (each way) daily commute...mostly highway, the 540i averages 21 MPG....includes engine warmup for first few miles.

From what I've seen, a GM 350 cu in V8 in a Corvette will match the economy of a 5 series sedan with a 6 cylinder.

I'm still not clear what BMW hype is all about. The engineering is notable but the inability to buy individual repair parts for differential, transmission and internal engine parts is unbelieveable. This "dealer service only" hostage crisis is an outright attack on the back yard mechanic &/or amateur racer (me). Foreign service garages are clueless about E39 and have no drivetrain or powertrain parts & no electronic service instrumentation. TSB's are secret and BMW has taken action to suppress service data (Alldata, wiring diagrams etc). IMO, future sales will suffer. BMW seems to be built for the lease and CPO owners only with a 7 year lifespan. I'm not willing to buy a $4K tranny when a $60 synchro needs replaced. I will not buy another BMW if drivetrain & powertrain parts do not become available. I ain't paying $8K for a shortblock when I need a crankshaft or connecting rod...and $4K for a limited slip diff! No differential rebuild parts sold & proprietary bearing configurations?! Holy cow.

If individual parts for repair or rebuild aren't sold, I'm going back to domestic. It's just that simple. You can buy any tranny or motor part you want for a Corvette or Viper.

I think something maybe wrong with your car because on my last road trip I was getting 400 miles only using 3/4 of the tank. With a 18.5 gallon tank that means that for every 13.9 gallons I used I got 400 miles which is an average of 29 mpg and I drove between 80mph and 130mph during the duration of the trip. The mileage returning was the same which rules out downhill driving as an affect on my mileage. I get horrible city mileage because of my short trips and fast driving. This horrible city mileage is not uncommon for any V8 that I've driven because my father's SL500 gets identical city mileage when I drive that. What can I say I like to drive fast, why buy these cars if you aren't going to drive fast? Also, why buy these cars if you are going to complain about gas mileage and repairs? If that's the case maybe you should have stuck to an american car because they are much more economical in every sense. Think about it, an economic luxury car sounds like an oxymoron. :confused

My assessment of BMW V8 is dismal fuel economy. I've gotten similar efficiency from a 20 year old cars with a 4bbl carburetor (5L HO Mustang).

My 540i runs smooth like a swiss watch with no check engine lights, but it can't match the gas mileage of a similar vintage full-sized Lincoln or Cadillac barge.

I shortshift the car to keep rev's down, but it's 100% city/suburban mileage is around 15 MPG with a 6spd stick. One thing I notice is the gas miileage drops like a rock if you spin the motor at higher rev's. Try upshifting at around 2K RPM for max economy. My Lincoln and Corvette showed around 18-20 MPG under the EXACT same conditions. We're talking 20% differential...a lot.

My 4.4L 540i gets "OK" gas mileage during highway cruise...around 23-24 MPG. My 5.7L Corvette got exactly 31 MPG at same speed (steady-state 72 MPH).

On 20 mile long (each way) daily commute...mostly highway, the 540i averages 21 MPG....includes engine warmup for first few miles.

From what I've seen, a GM 350 cu in V8 in a Corvette will match the economy of a 5 series sedan with a 6 cylinder.

I'm still not clear what BMW hype is all about. The engineering is notable but the inability to buy individual repair parts for differential, transmission and internal engine parts is unbelieveable. This "dealer service only" hostage crisis is an outright attack on the back yard mechanic &/or amateur racer (me). Foreign service garages are clueless about E39 and have no drivetrain or powertrain parts & no electronic service instrumentation. TSB's are secret and BMW has taken action to suppress service data (Alldata, wiring diagrams etc). IMO, future sales will suffer. BMW seems to be built for the lease and CPO owners only with a 7 year lifespan. I'm not willing to buy a $4K tranny when a $60 synchro needs replaced. I will not buy another BMW if drivetrain & powertrain parts do not become available. I ain't paying $8K for a shortblock when I need a crankshaft or connecting rod...and $4K for a limited slip diff! No differential rebuild parts sold & proprietary bearing configurations?! Holy cow.

If individual parts for repair or rebuild aren't sold, I'm going back to domestic. It's just that simple. You can buy any tranny or motor part you want for a Corvette or Viper.

Are you serious??? I am a new BMW 540 6sp owner....and the previous reply you posted concerns me! Is this for real...?...if I have a trany problem, the fix is a whole new trany!? Can anyone else back this up....

Are you serious??? I am a new BMW 540 6sp owner....and the previous reply you posted concerns me! Is this for real...?...if I have a trany problem, the fix is a whole new trany!? Can anyone else back this up....

Parts are hard to come buy but you can acquire parts, I have a friend who rebuilt his gearbox because he money shifted from 5 to 2.

a corvette weighs around 700lbs less too...not to mention that they turn a lot less than 2000 rpm going 70.