[kDot911]

I’ve got a 2008 e92 320d m sport auto, and I’m averaging about 30mpg. My drive to work is only about 3 miles but I warm that car up for 5 min before, then in the evening I do about a 10 mile trip through town. Bit disappointed because as soon as I put the foot down a tiny bit the mpg bar just goes right down. Cars not remapped or anything, plus just serviced had lots of work done like the fuel pump, new turbo etc... is this normal mpg or if not what could be causing this low mpg figure.
This is also really annoying because it seems that my previous car (golf mk3 1.6 8v petrol) was a bit better on fuel.
Thanks

[ppointer]

Originally Posted by kDot911

I’ve got a 2008 e92 320d m sport auto, and I’m averaging about 30mpg. My drive to work is only about 3 miles but I warm that car up for 5 min before, then in the evening I do about a 10 mile trip through town. Bit disappointed because as soon as I put the foot down a tiny bit the mpg bar just goes right down. Cars not remapped or anything, plus just serviced had lots of work done like the fuel pump, new turbo etc... is this normal mpg or if not what could be causing this low mpg figure.
This is also really annoying because it seems that my previous car (golf mk3 1.6 8v petrol) was a bit better on fuel.
Thanks

I am pretty certain you're getting zero miles to the gallon when your car is warming up for five minutes. That will hurt your average. My suggestion is to eliminate that warm up period for a tank or two and recheck your mileage.

[weehe126]

How did you calculate that 30mpg? I'm guessing you are looking at the instant mpg if it moves at all fast.

[lowrydr310]

You might not get the answers you're hoping for since this is a US-centric site, and we don't have the 320d available here.

I'd be thrilled if I got 30mpg with the type of driving you describe. 30 miles per your gallon is only 25 miles per US gallon, however that's still better than any E90 in the United States will get for the short trips that you describe.

I drive about 90% city and 10% highway, and the average for my 3.0L N52 ('petrol') E90 over the past few months is 17MPG (20 miles per imperial gallon).

[Tambohamilton]

Originally Posted by ppointer

I am pretty certain you're getting zero miles to the gallon when your car is warming up for five minutes. That will hurt your average. My suggestion is to eliminate that warm up period for a tank or two and recheck your mileage.

This ^

Also short trips will always hurt your average, for a variety of reasons. Lose the warm up periods, and drive economically (low revs and light throttle, cruise control on the flat), and you should see 35mpg+

[kDot911]

Originally Posted by weehe126

How did you calculate that 30mpg? I'm guessing you are looking at the instant mpg if it moves at all fast.

I’m just looking at the average mpg on the little screen on the dashboard.

[kDot911]

Originally Posted by lowrydr310

You might not get the answers you're hoping for since this is a US-centric site, and we don't have the 320d available here.

I'd be thrilled if I got 30mpg with the type of driving you describe. 30 miles per your gallon is only 25 miles per US gallon, however that's still better than any E90 in the United States will get for the short trips that you describe.

I drive about 90% city and 10% highway, and the average for my 3.0L N52 ('petrol') E90 over the past few months is 17MPG (20 miles per imperial gallon).

Oh shit I thought us and uk gallons were the same my bad. Also how come you guys don’t have the 2.0l diesel they’re super torquey and pull like a train. Also your probably right because when I’ve been driving for a bit of time the mpg is easier to keep above 50 on the little meter that moves.
So yeah maybe I’m just being a bit stupid and being paranoid, because I thought I would be achieving 45+mpg. Thought there might be something wrong but I guess not.
Sound for the replies anyway guys

[Tambohamilton]

Originally Posted by kDot911

I’m just looking at the average mpg on the little screen on the dashboard.

The displayed MPG could well be wrong. It's far more accurate to calculate based on mileage and fuel used, full tank to full tank. You can then calculate the calibration factor for the MPG display, and amend that accordingly.

[colorado.e9x]

I reccommend using a phone app like GasBuddy, you log your mileage, fuel cost, price per gallon, and mileage at fill up and it automatically calculates your MPG after a few fill ups. Much easier than trying to go back and read my horrible hand writing in a small booklet

[marvinstockman]

With car warmed up, fill tank, get on highway and drive 50 miles, get off and fill tank. Calculate mpg. This is called a 'sanity' check.

[Tambohamilton]

Originally Posted by colorado.e9x

I reccommend using a phone app like GasBuddy, you log your mileage, fuel cost, price per gallon, and mileage at fill up and it automatically calculates your MPG after a few fill ups. Much easier than trying to go back and read my horrible hand writing in a small booklet

I take a picture of the dash (mileage and calculated MPG), then use the till receipt from filling. Pop it into a google sheet, and it works out everything I want it to.

[david in germany]

If you use an iPhone download the app road trip, you can get a true mpg reading based on. Fuel usage and fill ups. It is also great to track your costs with the car. ( I have no association with the app app or app maker it is just an app I found and use.)

[colorado.e9x]

Originally Posted by Tambohamilton

I take a picture of the dash (mileage and calculated MPG), then use the till receipt from filling. Pop it into a google sheet, and it works out everything I want it to.

That takes so much time but I like it lmao

[Tambohamilton]

True, but it makes calculating the correction factor super easy!

[nsjames]

I've found the average MPG calculation from the computer to be so close to what I hand calculate that I don't bother hand calculating anymore.

and america doesn't have small diesels because we hate them, and so does our EPA.
it's super dumb, because a 335D would have been at the top of my shopping list.

[kDot911]

Originally Posted by nsjames

I've found the average MPG calculation from the computer to be so close to what I hand calculate that I don't bother hand calculating anymore.

and america doesn't have small diesels because we hate them, and so does our EPA.
it's super dumb, because a 335D would have been at the top of my shopping list.

Oh never knew that, I always thought US would have lots of diesel cars. But it doesn’t really matter anyway because your guys gas prices are soo much cheaper than ours in the uk.
Prices for petrol are around £1.20 per litre and for diesel it’s about £1.28, absolutely outrageous I think

[Tambohamilton]

I've paid £1.50/l for petrol before, about 8 years ago. Only because I had to, mind. I remind myself of that, whenever I'm feeling grumpy about fuel prices

[lowrydr310]

Originally Posted by kDot911

Oh never knew that, I always thought US would have lots of diesel cars. But it doesn’t really matter anyway because your guys gas prices are soo much cheaper than ours in the uk.
Prices for petrol are around £1.20 per litre and for diesel it’s about £1.28, absolutely outrageous I think

Small diesels just never caught on, and I don't get it. I personally love them, and whenever I rent a car in Europe I always make it a point to rent a diesel with manual transmission because I love the torque and because I usually end up driving a lot, and they're incredibly efficient. Best MPG was from a VW Polo that averaged 60MPG (us gallons) which is incredible. Other cars I've had were large wagons (estates) or MPVs that were much larger cars but still averaged close to 40MPG which is also impressive considering their size.

I've been reading that it's difficult for manufacturers to meet the modern US emissions requirements and still achieve decent performance and retain the high MPG.

One thing I've noticed however is that with the advances in automatic transmissions (10 gears now, or even CVTs) and most automakers using direct injection engines along with turbochargers, the gasoline engines are much more efficient, closing the gap with diesels but not quite there yet. I had a gasoline powered Honda Accord 2.4 CVT with direct injection and that easily averaged 38MPG on long highway drives, not bad for a relatively large vehicle.

I had been looking to buy a VW Golf or Golf Sportwagen TDI 6MT, however I don't do many long trips and sadly a boring automatic transmission hybrid would be much more efficient for 95% of the driving I do in stop and go city traffic. I'd love a E90 335d or a F20 328d Wagon, but they're both auto-only transmissions, and I'm not willing to take the risk with all the emissions equipment having a not so good reputation for reliability.

But you're right, our gas prices are much cheaper. Even in CA right now where it's close to $4 a gallon for regular 87 octane (91 RON in Europe), we can drive our large inefficient pickup trucks and SUVs and still pay less per mile in fuel than most Europeans driving tiny hatchbacks. The extra space from these vehicles accommodates our oversized waistlines, providing a lot of comfort on the one hour drive to the nearest Wal-Mart.

[ricx]

I changed my coolant now my mpg is up