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Fuel consumption for a 325i

Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2007 8:09 pm
by SM AUTOS
Right, deep breath :roll:

How far does your 325i go on a tenners worth of petrol?

Just put a tenners worth in mine and it was gone in a grand total of, wait for it, 27 miles 8O

Now to be fair this was all town driving, short trips etc. It does have a 318i diff in it, but this was sensible economic driving, so a pounds worth of petrol for 2.7 miles??

God knows what it would do with some energetic driving........

I'm going to have to put my Mrs on some street corners me thinks :wink:

Re: Fuel consumption for a 325i

Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2007 8:36 pm
by Philwild
Mine seems to do about 50 miles to a tenner. My average commute consists of some traffic, some 70-80ish cruising and some flat out blasts. I filled it up last week which cost £50 and it has done 250 miles and needs more juice. Not good really. But it does sound nice at full chat

8)

Re: Fuel consumption for a 325i

Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2007 8:40 pm
by billgatese30
not sure, i normally just fill her up, can't be arsed to going there every two or three days when i can fill up every week/10days when its gonna cost me the same untill i get paid in the long run

but on an out and out cruise at 80-85 with a few town miles 30mpg shouldn't be too wide of the mark, and as for purley round town at speed limits and fairly sensible driving with the odd foot to the boards up slip roads etc then 23/24mpg, again, shouldn't be too far wide of the mark

Re: Fuel consumption for a 325i

Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2007 8:52 pm
by fowler
depends how you drive it
on motorway look fo ar about 19-25 mpg
around town forget it

Re: Fuel consumption for a 325i

Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2007 9:00 pm
by billgatese30
fowler wrote:depends how you drive it
fowler wrote:on motorway look for about 19-25 mpg
i must admit, i obviously don't drive as hard as you do on the motorway, but i would be seriously pissed off when i filled up if i got that the way i drive on the motorway :P

Re: Fuel consumption for a 325i

Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2007 9:10 pm
by StuBeeDoo
steve325i wrote:Just put a tenners worth in mine and it was gone in a grand total of, wait for it, 27 miles 8O
Unless your tank was completely empty - ie the engine wouldn't start for lack of fuel - then you put in £10 of petrol and drove it until it ran out again, you just can't quantify consumption this way. It's wildly inaccurate!
27 miles on £10 of petrol (roughly 10.5ltr, depending on exact price per litre) equates to a bit over 11mpg. To get that sort of consumption, you'd need to be spending 50% of your time in standing traffic, 40% with your foot hard to the floor and the other 10% braking heavily. The exhaust would have to be smoking big-time too.

Re: Fuel consumption for a 325i

Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2007 10:08 pm
by snoops
my dad gets around average 50 miles, about 40 if ragged everywhere or 55 if driven slowly but petrol price has gone up recently, thats with a 3.64 diff and modifications, the centre box is rusted and has a big hole in it too

Re: Fuel consumption for a 325i

Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2007 10:20 pm
by tailoutcharlie
this is my best effort, empty motorway never going above 80 (as it shakes like a bitch any speed over that lol.), quite hilly.

standard 325, standard facelift open diff
Image

8O

Re: Fuel consumption for a 325i

Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2007 10:51 pm
by SM AUTOS
Thanks guys,

I guess my mpg is pretty poor then.
It needs the mixture setting up, so that will help.

StuBeeDoo, I know that my method of miles on a tenner is completely inacurate. It was purely a real world question, thought it may be easier to get an idea that way then getting people to work out accurate mpg figures.

If I could get 20 ish mpg I'll be quite happy :)

I had a 7.4 litre Transam that used to do 10mpg and that had 2 more cylinders and another 4900cc :)

Forty or fifty miles(ish) on a tenner would be quite acceptable to me

So in putting a 2.5 in my 318 I have managed to turn a slow frugal car into a fast uneconomical one..oh well ho hum................. winkeye

Re: Fuel consumption for a 325i

Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2007 10:53 pm
by tailoutcharlie
you know it makes sense the first time you drive thru a tunnel witht the window down winkeye

Re: Fuel consumption for a 325i

Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2007 11:13 pm
by HairyScreech
yikes, £15 gets me from swansea to home, thats 115 miles combined driving, and i drive like jamiroquai and have a 320 diff.

70mph is about 3k and showes just over 30mpg on the trip meter thingy
***mph is just under 5k and gives about 25 on the trip thingy.

Re: Fuel consumption for a 325i

Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2007 11:18 pm
by dannyboy759
That seams pretty bad to me,
the book spec for a 325 is 28-30 mpg which i can get out of mine quite easy and i dont drive like my mum either.
But as a rough guide id say 25 was good, bit of motorway, bit of lead foot, bit of town!

Re: Fuel consumption for a 325i

Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2007 11:24 pm
by Steve-E30
I get 5.9 when giving it some beans , On a tenner i get about 30 miles or so , Tbh a tenner is not enough fuel to compare
£10 = 30 miles - 3 miles to £1
£40 = 200 miles - 5 miles to £1

I usually fill up and with mixed deiving if i get over 200 miles im happy :wink:

Re: Fuel consumption for a 325i

Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2007 3:23 pm
by pnd
a decent 325 should return 25-30 on mixed use(based on having driven them for the last 8 years) the early cars were better for fuel economy and a friend of mines has an obc reading of about 33 with mixed use. if you are gtting less than this and not driving one of the heavier and therefore less fuel efficient models (touring,cab) then either you are very heavy footed or the car isn't running right.

Re: Fuel consumption for a 325i

Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2007 4:17 pm
by SM AUTOS
Have just got back from the local friendly MOT station.

The guy there let me put it on his CO machine and it was running nearly 6% at idle

I have now adjusted it down to just under 2% so we'll see if that improves matters :)

pnd the car is a 91 318i with a early 325i engine in it..

Re: Fuel consumption for a 325i

Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2007 4:21 pm
by hubble
Ten pounds will get me around 80 miles

Re: Fuel consumption for a 325i

Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2007 4:30 pm
by hubble
billgatese30 wrote:not sure, i normally just fill her up, can't be arsed to going there every two or three days when i can fill up every week/10days when its gonna cost me the same untill i get paid in the long run

but on an out and out cruise at 80-85 with a few town miles 30mpg shouldn't be too wide of the mark, and as for purley round town at speed limits and fairly sensible driving with the odd foot to the boards up slip roads etc then 23/24mpg, again, shouldn't be too far wide of the mark
Hi Chris. I would have thought by not filling up the tank would be more economical. In other words filling it right up would put more weight on the car thus using more fuel. Do I need to get out more??.....

Re: Fuel consumption for a 325i

Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2007 5:45 pm
by Steve-E30
hubble wrote:Ten pounds will get me around 80 miles
Thats 40 to the gallon close on , At the end of the day i dont care what mine returns , Its the grin factor driving it :D

Re: Fuel consumption for a 325i

Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2007 5:54 pm
by k10
I've had 4 or 5 325i e30's and the average is around 27mpg, or 14 pence ish per mile.

Your's sounds like it's got a problem or you :mad: get stuck in a lot of traffic, your commute isnt on the M25 is it?

Re: Fuel consumption for a 325i

Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2007 9:25 pm
by beemer_twins
how do u sort out the idle and mixture problem?

Re: Fuel consumption for a 325i

Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2007 9:33 pm
by kam-325i
i get around 60-65 miles around town for £10 in my 325i.

Re: Fuel consumption for a 325i

Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2007 11:34 pm
by SM AUTOS
The mixture is adjusted by a allen screw on the airflow meter.

Anticlockwise to weaken, clockwise to ritchen if I remember correctly...But you need a co machine to see what your adjusting it to!

kam-325i, where abouts in Telford are you mate?

Re: Fuel consumption for a 325i

Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2007 11:37 pm
by kam-325i
steve325i wrote:The mixture is adjusted by a allen screw on the airflow meter.
Dont mess with it !!!!!

It only adjust's the air for idle, thats it. after that its contolled by the ECU.

South Telford.......Unfortunatly.......

Re: Fuel consumption for a 325i

Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2007 11:43 pm
by Jesus325iTouring
steve325i wrote:
I had a 7.4 litre Transam that used to do 10mpg and that had 2 more cylinders and another 4900cc :)
I had a 1978 2.7 V6 Volvo for a while,it's now in a museum,that was returning,on a day to day basis of school & work runs,8.6mpg 8O

The touring returns about 67 miles to a tenner :D

Re: Fuel consumption for a 325i

Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2007 11:46 pm
by SM AUTOS
Lol, mmmm south Telford...is that bad :wink:

I've only lived here for just over a year, moved up from London, (well Surrey) and no I'm not posh before anyone asks :)

I'm in Oakengates

Re: Fuel consumption for a 325i

Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2007 11:55 pm
by kam-325i
steve325i wrote:Lol, mmmm south Telford...is that bad :wink:
I'm in Oakengates
Well that depends.............It is for me as i am originally from Ketley Bank, near your neck of the woods......

Which bit of Oakengates are you in ?

Telford is getting to be a hotspot for E30's !!!!

Re: Fuel consumption for a 325i

Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2007 12:02 am
by SM AUTOS
Yep I know Ketley bank, one of my girlfriends daughters friends lives that way.

Outskirts of Oakengates mate, not town centre thank god :mad:

I've seen a few E30's around up here, but not as many as down south...

Re: Fuel consumption for a 325i

Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2007 1:04 am
by jbh
when i had my 87 prefacelift sport on the road iwas using it to my work and back which involved b roads all the way i was getting around 60 to 65 miles to the tenner and i wasnt being shy with the pedal winkeye i used my mates 318ise e36 for 2 weeks and nearly had a heart attack as i was using more fuel with that than my tec1 on a run on the motorway i could average around 85 mile out the tenner.. looking at some of your fuel costs im wondering why mines is getting what it was out of a tenner mines has done 135k with full bmw service history and purrs like a kitten mechaniclly shes spot on just a shame she spent her life by the sea :cry:

Re: Fuel consumption for a 325i

Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2007 11:43 am
by Aaron191
how accurate is that mpg gauge below the instruments though?????

Re: Fuel consumption for a 325i

Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2007 12:50 pm
by StuBeeDoo
Aaron191 wrote:how accurate is that mpg gauge below the instruments though?????
I suppose it's fairly accurate, but it's only an instant read-out not what you're averaging - like the reading on the OBC.

Re: Fuel consumption for a 325i

Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2007 1:32 pm
by SM AUTOS
My engine has done 120k with full BMW service history.

It is running spot on now all the emissions are really good.

I try not to look at the fuel economy guage when driving, only depresses me :cry:

I am enjoying the straight six wail though, I'm sure thats half the problem :D

Re: Fuel consumption for a 325i

Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2007 2:42 pm
by billgatese30
hubble wrote:
billgatese30 wrote:not sure, i normally just fill her up, can't be arsed to going there every two or three days when i can fill up every week/10days when its gonna cost me the same untill i get paid in the long run

but on an out and out cruise at 80-85 with a few town miles 30mpg shouldn't be too wide of the mark, and as for purley round town at speed limits and fairly sensible driving with the odd foot to the boards up slip roads etc then 23/24mpg, again, shouldn't be too far wide of the mark
Hi Chris. I would have thought by not filling up the tank would be more economical. In other words filling it right up would put more weight on the car thus using more fuel. Do I need to get out more??.....
ah, but what about the extra fuel used to divert to the petrol station and back more often...............



...........ok, we both need to get out more often :P

and as far as wieght saving goes, i would be better off going on to a diet...........alternativly though i will just start wearing thinner socks, that should save some bulk and be less boring than dieting :lol:

Re: Fuel consumption for a 325i

Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2007 5:56 pm
by e30bmlover
HairyScreech wrote:yikes, £15 gets me from swansea to home, thats 115 miles combined driving, and i drive like jamiroquai and have a 320 diff.
wow! i would be more than happy with that! i got 250 miles to my last tank in the 320.

Re: Fuel consumption for a 325i

Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2007 7:08 pm
by gare30
325 sport 14 mpg butt well worth it not worth puting tenners init realy

Re: Fuel consumption for a 325i

Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2007 1:52 pm
by jas325sport
Running my 325 sport on std supermarket petrol gives me 24mpg and optimax or whatever it is called now gives 26mpg.
This is driving pretty much town and by-pass and not giving it more than 3-3500 rpm.

Ohh for my little Fiat 1.2 and 40 mpg. aaaarrrrrrrgggggggggghhhhhhhhh
Just realised what i said there, I think I must be on drugs.