Since I went back to Uni, my 530i Sport now does only town miles - I can't remember the last time I exceeded 50mph!
It's a manual gearbox model and I am currently averaging 21.9 on the OBC, although with more spirited driving and the air conditioning on, I've seen as low as 20.3.
I'd say your figures are not miles out for a car of this size and engine with an automatic gearbox.
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Ouch! I'm going to have good long think before commiting myself to one of these next year, I'd thought that 25mpg may be acheiveable, clearly I was wrong!
Blue
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Ouch! I'm going to have good long think before commiting myself to one of these next year I'd thought that 25mpg may be acheiveable clearly I was wrong!
It's offset by the fact that if you only drive around town, and thus return this sort of awful mpg, you can't really do that many miles. My car does 20mpg but I've only filled it up twice since 1st September.. (although it's nearly on empty now).
If you do enough miles to mean that you stretch its legs, it'll reward you with better economy.
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wish i had a bmw 530 when i was at uni!
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Well I do about 250 miles per week, on a semi-urban cycle, some of it through the heart of the city and some of it out and about on the A1, the Mondeo is returning 23 - 24mpg over my normal route.
I wish that two tankfuls would last me that long Michael, I'm currently on one tank per week at circa £50, and it really is every 7 days without fail. The TF should reward me with some reduced fuel bills when I get her back out of hibernation. If I didn't have such stupid taste in engines I would be able to afford to buy my 5 series a lot more quickly!
Blue
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But think about it, the difference between 20mpg and 24mpg at 250 miles a week, 12k a year is..
£450 a year. Thats it. Not much really when you've spend a lot more than that on the car.
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I know, but by the time I have the 5 Series and the TF on the road I'll be stretching my meagre income to it's limits! I guess it's mainly a psychological thing really, and if I do manage to run both cars I'll more than likely use the TF whenever the weather is good which should save some money.
To be honest, after seeing the one that I want (manual, blue, 530i Sport with the factory fit Sat Nav), I've been racking my brains to think of ways that I can come up with £8K without selling the TF. I should really have the Autotrader website blocked from my laptop as it is killing me looking at the things that I can't afford!
Blue
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Clearly the TF needs to go :)
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But then I'd miss out on all of the bits that I love about the TF during the warmer nights, there's nothing like getting away from the light pollution with the hood down and seeing the stars overhead whilst driving!
It's not fair, I want both!
Blue
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Lordy.
23-24 mpg round town, average, and 26-32 on a run.
4.3 litres, auto, not wussed, just sensible.
It can be done!
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23-24 mpg round town average and 26-32 on a run. 4.3 litres auto not wussed just sensible. It can be done!
Lexus LS430 ?
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"Lexus LS430 ?"
That's the one.
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£450 a year. Thats it. Not much really when you've spend a lot more than that on the car.
I've been reading a few posts you've made along these lines and I really think you are not in touch with how much money your average Joe has to work with on a day to day basis (I'm not talking about income necessarily, but walking around money). After mortgage and childcare payments, heating bills and all the rest, £450 is a significant sum to throw away for most people. Look at it another way: at £50 a tankful £450 is nine weeks of driving on 'free' fuel. Most people wouldn't turn down £450 if offered with no strings.
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But £450 in the context of a new car purchase is nothing. Simply spend, say, £9k on the 20mpg car you'd like instead of £10k on the 25mpg car you feel you need and the fuel difference is paid for for 2 years..
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I can see both sides of the argument, I think it depends upon your own circumstances, I'm lucky that my bills are relatively low, the car accounts for three times my other living expenses such as utility bills etc. therefore whilst £450 is a lot of money, it's not a large percentage of my total motoring expenses.
Blue
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But £450 in the context of a new car purchase is nothing. Simply spend say £9k on the 20mpg car you'd like instead of £10k on the 25mpg car you feel you need and the fuel difference is paid for for 2 years..
People very often don't pay up front for items like cars because they can't afford it. They don't pay £9K because they don't have that much cash available (or don't want to use up their emergency reserves). Instead they pay £150 (or whatever) a month. Over two years it may cost them a more, but people care a lot more about balancing the monthly budget for the very good reason that they spend their entire monthly income, or near to it, every month. Even if they do have the cash to pay up front, the monthly budget thing still applies, because they will carefully be putting money aside to buy the next car. The more you blow today, the more you need to save each month and lower fuel costs will help with that. It is a great luxury to be able to drop £9K today and not worry about where the next £9K is coming from in a few years' time.
All this assumes of course that the 25mpg car costs £1K more. Maybe it won't.
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If they live monthly then its only £37.50 a month. Less than the cost of the full sky package.
My point was not that a 25mpg car would cost 1k more, more that you could reduce your budget by 1k to take into account the extra running costs.
Before I decided to get my 5 Series I initially had a budget of circa £10k. I simply reduced this budget to offset the running costs of the 5 over that of getting another Mondeo.
It is also worth considering we are not discussing the average joe for whom a car is a tool, we are discussing Blue, for whom the car is an item of personal enjoyment.
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Well said :-)
Although really, we're actually talking about BMW530 who's querying his high consmption, I just hi-jacked his thread, sorry BMW530, I didn't mean to!
Blue
Edited by Blue {P} on 09/11/2007 at 11:35
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If they live monthly then its only £37.50 a month.
I love that word 'only' but you missed out the word 'extra'. Do you study marketing by any chance?
It is also worth considering we are not discussing the average joe for whom a car is a tool we are discussing Blue for whom the car is an item of personal enjoyment.
Sure, but in your '£450 is nothing' post you made some pretty big assumptions. For most people, including Blue and indeed also average Joes, the trick is always to balance enjoyment/practicality/financial liquidity.
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On a usage cycle like Blue's (not quite as many miles per week but a similar mix of short journeys from cold and open road) I'm knocking on the door of 30mpg from my manual 523i and, in principle, there's no reason why a (manual) 530i shouldn't match that with the bigger engine being offset by improvements in efficiency from the newer car and using less of the car's potential to achieve the same performance. After a week off work and stretching its legs a bit more I'm seeing 32mpg from the current tank.
That said, 16 - 17 mpg sounds low compared to most of the posters on www.bmwland.co.uk even allowing for your usage cycle. If you only ever drive 2 miles at a time, stop start, then it's reasonable but I'd expect a few longer runs to see that figure improve markedly.
If that isn't happening then I'd look at the MAF sensor first of all but really you would need to run a diagnostic as the likelihood is that it is some sort of sensor issue.
If it is the MAF (mass air flow) then you can disconnect that sensor and, if it is faulty, you'll notice an improvement in responsiveness, somewhat smoother running and better fuel economy. Replace the MAF and you'll see a further improvement in the same way.
They are definitely cars that benefit from long journeys though - 40mpg on a gentle run isn't impossible as long as it's motorway all the way: the flip side of that is, with average mpg being around 26 mpg (and say, 28 mpg for a manual) it's the short, urban runs that drag it down.
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For your comparison, I used to run a Nissan QX 3.0 auto weighing in just under 1400kg averaged 18 mpg.
My daily commute is from Limehouse (near Canary Wharf) to London Bridge (around 4 mile), free-flowing traffic at 7am in the morning and 7pm at night (journey time around 20 minutes)
My other cars' consumption were/are
- Mondeo 2.0 TDCI Ghia X (just under 1550kg) did the trip in 32 mpg
- Mondeo 2.0 petrol Ghia X (under 1450 kg) did the trip in 24 mpg
- SMART Roadster-Coupe (under 800kg) did the trip in 40 mpg
All brim-to-brim measurement.
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another comparison...Jag S type 3.0 auto
OBC figures..v.heavy stop/start peak time traffic with very little free flow............= 15.5mpg
..similar roads, off peak, slightly longer roads i.e. less back doubles..= 18.5mpg
.. country A roads, not going mad, but nipping along........................= 25mpg
.. good long run on m/way at good o/s lane speeds inc kick down.....= 26.5 mpg
..18 miles of very careful 70 on m/way inc 5 miles at 50 in r/works..= 34.4mpg
as said above, the figs are approximate as it's not brim to brim, although some years back i compared the two (OBC and brimming it) and although different, it wasn't far out
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