Fuel Economy

Then don't buy a BMW. My '89 525i 2.5l averages 20-25 in town and a little better on the highway.

Jim

Is that the 12 valve engine? The 24 usually manages more than that. I average over 30 (imperial) from my E36 328i and have had 40mpg on a long run with cruise control.

The original poster was talking about the diesel, I've heard of folk managing 45 with a light foot but I imagine the average is nearer 35. It's a heck of a powerful engine, most owners will rave about it :-)

Smart car seems Ok for you or even a diesel Nissan Micra. 25MPG and you want MORE!

Sir Hugh of Bognor

The difference between men and boys is the price of their toys. Intelligence is not knowing the answer but knowing where and how to find it!

Hugh Gundersen snipped-for-privacy@h-gee.co.uk Bognor Regis, W.Sussex, England, UK

The BMW UK website gives the following figures:

Urban 30.7 Extra Urban 53.3 Combined 42.2

But that is for the manul version.

I can't help but wonder how you can afford a '98 BMW if you can't afford

25mpg.

Quite simply...

Discovery worth £5000 and does 25mpg Purchase BMW for £5500 and does 40mpg

600 miles week @ 25mpg = £100 / week fuel

or

600 miles week @ 40mpg = £65 / week fuel

So the BMW would have paid for itself after 3 months and I'd be £35/week better off

I'm guessing maths isn't your strong point...

To get 40mpg you're going to need a 530d not a 525d - and you'll need to double your budget or settle for one with over 100k and pay for suspension,bushes,discs etc as they will come up for replacement before long. They are out there within your budget however. Much more fun to get an M535 for 2-3k and spend the rest of the money of fuel though......

Steve

From the E39 Owners Handbook. Imp mpg figures.

Manual box Town 26.4 mpg Country 48.7 mpg Total 37.2 mpg

Auto box Town 22.8 mpg Country 42.2 mpg Total 32.5 mpg Mike.

Gotta remembver Jeff, they have big expensive gallons over there.

-Fred

Jeff Strickland wrote:

Don't I know that ... =;^)

-- C.R. Krieger

1988 535is (pretty much US-equivalent to your M535i)

"John Burns" wrote

That's a typical US mileage for the M20 or M50 engine. However, you and the OP are talking UK/Imperial, which he probably didn't notice.

FloydR

For many years I drove an '84 e30 318i which I replaced with a '91 e30 318is last year. I've driven the 16 valve engine long enough to be very sure that it gets about 10% better mileage than the 8 valve engine. I've always attributed the improved fuel economy to the updated fuel injection system on the newer car because I couldn't think of any reason that more valves should increase mileage. It's very clear that more valves should increase the horsepower available from the same displacement but I can't think of any reason for the increased mileage. These two cars and engines are very nearly identical except for these two items. Anyone have an explanation or similar experience to share??

"Jack" wrote

There are so many things that affect fuel economy that the difference between a 2-valve and 4-valve engine is insignificant. For instance, the 4-valve engine makes more power, so that allows minor but very significant changes to the rest of the drivetrain, like a lower numerical differential that allows lower rpm at cruise, revised gear ratios in the transmission. Don't forget that a cleaner burn due to 4 valves allows the engine to run closer to stoichometric lean conditions.

It's true that the M50 engined cars had lower mileage than their earlier M20 brothers, but they put the gains into power and performance rather than mileage.

FloydR

In general greater efficiency of the engine either results in greater power and/or greater mileage althoguh one could argue whether a 16v engine is always more efficient than an 8v one.

As far as advances in engine management goes, I get the same mileage out of my '96 4.4 740 as my dad used to from his '86 2.0 Saab 900i

I do 300+ and it costs me about £65 but then I do have a nice high speed road with NO cameras and very little traffic and can average over 60 per to work and back often over the 100 faster if the bloody transits get out of the outside lane!

Sir Hugh of Bognor

The difference between men and boys is the price of their toys. Intelligence is not knowing the answer but knowing where and how to find it!

Hugh Gundersen snipped-for-privacy@h-gee.co.uk Bognor Regis, W.Sussex, England, UK

You JUST said it - more power = less throttle for the same power as the 8 valve engine therefore less fuel.

Power = fuel burnt More power = more fuel but if you don't use the more power you use less fuel.

Boom Boom

Hugh

Sir Hugh of Bognor

The difference between men and boys is the price of their toys. Intelligence is not knowing the answer but knowing where and how to find it!

Hugh Gundersen snipped-for-privacy@h-gee.co.uk Bognor Regis, W.Sussex, England, UK

Steve you hit the nail right on the head.

I went shopping for a new car for my wife the other day. I could buy a new small car for x amount of money. This would probably have power steering, but nothing else in the luxury catagory.

In the end we bought a 2nd hand 316i for less than half of the price of an entry level new car. Full service history and after spending a little money it is now spotless. Fuel consumption is not even 20% worse than that of the really small entry level car. And it has all the luxuries, AC, PS, EW, SR leather seats, alloy wheels.

She does less than 1000km per month, so it will take her for ever to use the difference in cost due to fuel consumption...

MW