Hi, ladies and gentlemen.

I have a 1999 BMW 523I SE with 19" rims. front 245/35/19 and rear 265/30/19. Lowered too but dont know by how much.

I get approximately 30 miles in city for £10 (about 14 mpg)
and approximately 65 miles in motorway for £10 (about 30 mpg)

This is normal driving not too harsh and not too slow. I am just wondering is this normal fuel consumption? What is your car MPG?

average on obc is 15.7, mostly city and a heavy foot.
We'll se if it gets better with my new fuel filter.

BTW, this is on a 540 6speed.

15-18 mpg

I have managed up to 20mpg, I think i need new O2 sensors

15-17

20 to 21.

18.0 MPG - mixed driving.

Over the last few months of reading these threads, I've observed something interesting. It seems the guys on bimmerfest report their gas millage to be significantly better then the guys here.

I read these threads on this forum and feel like everything is hunky dory, then I read the fest and start wondering which sensor is going.

City: 21.9 mpg

Highway: 25.6 mpg

:D

I can get up to like 34 highway if I set cruise control....


city about 15 :shifty

21 in the city
26-28 highway

A light foot on my 99 528 Touring. Prolly need a fuel filter though...

Over the last few months of reading these threads, I've observed something interesting. It seems the guys on bimmerfest report their gas millage to be significantly better then the guys here.

I read these threads on this forum and feel like everything is hunky dory, then I read the fest and start wondering which sensor is going.

I always trust the lower readings...seriously I have found it with so many makes of cars, MPG polls returning ridiculous claims which I could never hope to match.
I think the abnormally high claims are often cherry-picked results as opposed to average.

Anyway, my long term average 528ia has been 22.7mpg mixed driving. I dont drive hard, though and not too much stop-and-go.

99' 528i sport: 21-24 mpg city 31-35.1(max) highway.

I love it when 540i guys say they drive it hard and fast and still get 30 plus miles to the gallon. Hell with that reasoning, if they drove is easy and slow they would get better gas mileage than a prius. Right!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :shifty

16 city
20-22 highway

Same model as you.
Around town 20MPG
Motorway 35MPG (if driving smoothly of course)

25 average

OBC currently reading 15.6. The car is still pretty new to me, so I'm still indulging in the BMW V8.

20.2 All city with a heavy foot:buttrock

i have a 523 too and my trip says im getting 30mpg average right now mostly town use with some motorway your numbers do seem a little low on a pure motorway run i can get 40+ mpg but thats at aprox 55/60 mph

20.2 All city with a heavy foot:buttrock

A heavy foot and a 2.8 liter engine. ;)

21 mpg city, 26 mpg highway. Lifetime average which is probably 85% city is 22.8 mpg.

FWIW: I hardly ever get less then 400 miles per tank. Thats not range either thats 400 miles on the odometer when I fill up.

97 540i/6 not babied to say the least :)

My last fill up netted me 29 mpg. I have been pretty much babying it at stop lights. I drove about 75% highway this time and haven't been cruising at 70 while on the highway. I could get better on an all highway trip of course but this is realistic for me.

My OBC reads 18-20 mixed driving... It said 121 once when I reset it while coasting downhill.

scratch that. 121 average, constantly flooring it, city driving, with the a/c on,
...and 6 passengers.

i get around 19.4 when i drive into the city using the tollway i get about 25

1997 540i/6 97k miles - 27.6 (OBC), 27.1 (Actual) on the 450 mile drive home (Atl to Cape Girardeau) at avg speed of 77.4 mph.

Tom

At 80mph in 6th gear on the highway, I get 27mpg. In town I stick around 16mpg. However the in town reading greatly depends on traffic.

I love it when 540i guys say they drive it hard and fast and still get 30 plus miles to the gallon. Hell with that reasoning, if they drove is easy and slow they would get better gas mileage than a prius. Right!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :shifty

I don't think anyone has said that in this thread at least. I'm sure you're probably all jazzed up about having a super efficient I6 instead of an evil planet ruining V8. But give us a break man. Stop trying to stir shit up.

Alom,

Make sure you calculated consumption based on US gallons instead of Imperial. Most folks on the board are American so their MPG numbers will be different than yours. You'll need to convert to do a straight up comparison.

2000 528iT I get about 23.5 with a good mix of driving.

IM getting 15-15.6, mixed very little highway and lots of city. Live in New york city. 528i 26kmiles.

With occasional (more often than usual) spirited driving and 91 octane, I get between 21 and 23 mixed driving. Hwy - about 26-27 on 91 octane.

I have tried 89 successfully with no pinging (as my gas cap says minimum 89 octane), get 22.3 in mixed driving

Well I drove up to Montreal with the car full and luggage. I ran out of gas...20minutes outside of Montreal and that was at steady and aggressive speeds going uphill. So from NYC to Montreal is 380/390 miles so I would say about 22 on the highway even some jaunts even saw 28mpg. Everyday is mixed driving, highway and local. I do 250 miles per week easily.... that is about half a tank +/- when I am not driving like a raped ape. So I would say I get 28mpg +/-2. The easier I am during acceleration the better off it is for me.

2001, 530i sport, 5 speed

Completely around town driving is around 20MPG, mixed is about 22 MPG and highway only goes up to around 28MPG

15-18 mpg

I have managed up to 20mpg, I think i need new O2 sensors

Yea, that's bad. I get 17-low 20's in the city (without much traffic and in the lower gears) and the highest I've seen on the freeway was 27mpg.

Have you checked your MAF's? This could be causing it as well? Mileage on your car? Maybe a fuel filter/spark plugs if you're high miles.

I average in the mid 20's (~25mpg).

15-17

Do you ever get out of 1st gear in the city? That's a horrible MPG, get your car checked (specifically, your O2's).

I dont stomp on the gas, but then I dont drive like g'ma either.
Once when I filled it up it said I could go 500 miles on the tank..(I've never gotten that again), but easily in the 400+ tank... I'm always impressed what this will go on a few bucks of fuel...(see sig)
I wonder what my mechanic does to keep it running as well as he does...???
must be becuase it's always washed.. yea, thats it.

I'm getting somewhere around 2.403x10-10 parsecs per cubic meter of fuel.

Using 91 octane of course.

I'm getting somewhere around 2.403x10-10 parsecs per cubic meter of fuel.

Using 91 octane of course.

I average 16-18 mpg in town. Depends on how hot it is most of the time.

Driven.

OBC has a lifetime average of 24.2 mpg since I've owned it. I do everything I can to try to max out fuel economy (more air in tires, a lot of coasting, easy on the throttle).

Mileage drops horribly after an indicated 80 mph (really about 77 mph via GPS).

Maybe 70-75% of my driving is on deserted AZ highways (I live in the middle of nowhere) tooling along at around 70 mph. I get up to 85 mph once in awhile which kills mileage.

Also I have an autotragic transmission which hurts mileage. My car has almost 196,000 miles on it now. It's a 528i. Anyone with a 540 that claims 30+ MPG is full of it or only driving 55 mph for the entire tank of gas in a straight line.

Just got a '99 528it two days ago! On the drive home to Houston, TX from Springfield, IL (doh!), I averaged 28.2mpg. So far in mixed driving, I'm at 20+.

Edit: she's a 5spd.

1997 528iA 152k mi. 27.5 - 29.5 almost all highway driving. That's cruising at 75 - 80 w/ AC. Key to good mileage (even) at that speed - watch your accelerometer and keep it steady!!!!

looking at all the replies, I guess my car is average on fuel consumption.

Thanks to everybody

OBC has a lifetime average of 24.2 mpg since I've owned it. I do everything I can to try to max out fuel economy (more air in tires, a lot of coasting, easy on the throttle).

Mileage drops horribly after an indicated 80 mph (really about 77 mph via GPS).

Maybe 70-75% of my driving is on deserted AZ highways (I live in the middle of nowhere) tooling along at around 70 mph. I get up to 85 mph once in awhile which kills mileage.

Also I have an autotragic transmission which hurts mileage. My car has almost 196,000 miles on it now. It's a 528i. Anyone with a 540 that claims 30+ MPG is full of it or only driving 55 mph for the entire tank of gas in a straight line.

Surprised yours is that low really if you're looking after it, my obc is showing 24.3 now which is pretty much since i've owned it. do 80 when cruising but don't really look after the economy side of it too much cos it's just too tempting to floor it. Strange really, maybe its to do with the mileage on yours or something. I don't want anyone to throw a strop or anything, but when i look at the figures for the 528s and the 540s they're not a million miles apart which is a bit of surprise.

27-30mpg highway

Alom,

Make sure you calculated consumption based on US gallons instead of Imperial. Most folks on the board are American so their MPG numbers will be different than yours. You'll need to convert to do a straight up comparison.
Do you know if the obc is different in the us or european cars then? It should be I guess, I've never really thought about it before but of course that'd make a massive difference to mpg comparison if so.

HA! Nero's Supercharged 3.0 liter E39 would probably spank the pants off your beloved 540 and still get twice the fuel economy!

I don't think anyone has said that in this thread at least. I'm sure you're probably all jazzed up about having a super efficient I6 instead of an evil planet ruining V8. But give us a break man. Stop trying to stir shit up.


The pot has been stirred.

20.1 mixed with normal to heavy foot using automatic only. Average speed 35 mph...is this good or bad? :eatpop:

my avg speed is about 35mph and I drive pretty fast when I can. :)

HA! Nero's Supercharged 3.0 liter E39 would probably spank the pants off your beloved 540 and still get twice the fuel economy!




The pot has been stirred.

As I've said before, I'm lucky to get 300-310 miles out of my tank driving around town. And thats driving a low RPM's, not gunning it when the light turns green, and driving in the highest gear when possible...But I don't know how to compare this to others when there are SO many factors to consider: There are like 12 lighted intersections between my house and work and about 4 elevation changes as well. On average, I have to stop at about 6-8 of those lights between work and home. Not to mention this area has seen a 100-104 degree heat wave; which I'm sure will hurt my mileage. Lots and lots of factors to consider...

I don't mind driving easy when just going to work and back considering the amount of traffic in this area and an overwhelming number of our "city's finest" regulating the roadways (jerks!). However, I do have my 'lead foot' fun on vacations and weekend getaways since I budget for extra gas.....:devillook

~18 city with heavy foot and sport shift, 25 highway.