Economy Run

[MONSPORT42]

Just got back from a touring holiday in my 2.7 Sport auto, from Portsmouth to the Lake District, on to Loch Lomond in Scotland and then back down the East Coast via Whitby, Scarborough, etc an d back to Portsmouth. As I was in no hurry, I thought I'd try an economy run. I'm usually lucky to get about 270 miles from full tank to reserve light and am ecstatic if I get 300!
I was amazed at how economical the car could be when driven with a light right foot (not something I'm known for!). These were the figures:
First fill up from full to reserve light = 399 miles - 32.34 mpg
Second fill up from full to reserve light = 361 miles -29.18 mpg
Third fill up before reserve light = 279 miles - 30.04 mpg
Fourth fill up before reserve light = 341 miles - 36.03 mpg
Fifth fill up before reserve light = 272 miles - 34.3 mpg

I put in 236 Litres of fuel and totalled 1652 miles at an average of 31.78mpg.

As you can see from the above figures the car went like a dream but I wouldn't recommend lowered suspension and rock hard billes for mountain passes!!

[Ziggy]

Good work!

You can get 55L in from the reserve light from those figs? I only get 45L on my li'l tank, but that makes mpg calculations easy at least.

I keep meaning to do an economy run, but I always end up getting bored & knocking the cruise up a notch... I really should get my LPG kit fitted!

[Widge]

Yeah 400 miles on a tank in a 325 can be done, and you don't even have to go too slowly. Just avoiding speeding up and slowing down on the Motorway makes a huge differance. Cruise does make it very easy though.

[Gwynleym10]

I'm amazed by my IS i think its more fuel efficient for my *style* of driving than my old 316i which drank like an englishman in germany on the motorways. While the IS will still be sipping at 130mph (in germany..)


A large percentage of fuel economy is about how well serviced the car is. I bet lots of our "older" cars can get better MPG to their newer equivlants in many cases!

[Gwynleym10]

For the ultimate fuel economy you need to "slip stream" a lorry. I was running low when i was a student on the motorway and didn't have much money so I followed a lorry for ages! Boring, but hardly used any fuel!

[Turbo-Brown]

For the ultimate fuel economy you need to "slip stream" a lorry. I was running low when i was a student on the motorway and didn't have much money so I followed a lorry for ages! Boring, but hardly used any fuel!

did that on the way to the peak district once, also as a student. Think the guy sussed what I was doing in the end cos he gave me a flash of his loading light and a cheery wave when he turned off

[320Touring]

For the ultimate fuel economy you need to "slip stream" a lorry. I was running low when i was a student on the motorway and didn't have much money so I followed a lorry for ages! Boring, but hardly used any fuel!

what lorries do 130mph?

Last weekend I got 220 miles out of £25 worth of unleaded (@92.9p), doing 150 miles on Mway/Dual carriageway, 50 on A roads and 20 on B roads.

Car has recently had new sparks/coolant/oil and thremostat, and I was running with sunroof up, windows down (more drag).

Car also had 4.27 diff as per and running 195/50/15 tyres.

so can say i was well chuffed with mpg...

£25@92.9 = 26.92litres

26.92/4.54 =5.93 gal
(litres into gallons)

so mpg= 220/5.93

=37.09mpg....


not too shabby for a flathead 731

[jcjdavis1]

Hi I filled up my 316i the other week to see how many mpg I would get,when red light came on was not very impressed.i heard what I thought was a tappit noise investigated this mornig a found a spark plug loose.I think i was running on 3 pots.Engine sounds nice and sweet now.

[Gwynleym10]

Hi I filled up my 316i the other week to see how many mpg I would get,when red light came on was not very impressed.i heard what I thought was a tappit noise investigated this mornig a found a spark plug loose.I think i was running on 3 pots.Engine sounds nice and sweet now.

Sorry but m40's never sound "nice" or "sweet" even when new...

[bmwe30mtech]

I am getting 250 miles to a tank in my M40. I am amazed at this, as it seems like a good engine all in all, and has new fuel lines so not leaking. Thats a combination of motorway and arround town driving.

Im a bit heavy with my right foot, but can it realy make it only go 250. I got 255 on the last completely full to completely empty tank.

Whats wrong?

Paul

[jcjdavis1]

Hi M40 sounds nice & sweet to me compared to the dagenham dustbin I used to drive or Rover Maestro.

[tannerman8807]

Only jealous as he short by "2" !!!!!

[bmwe30mtech]

Hi I filled up my 316i the other week to see how many mpg I would get,when red light came on was not very impressed.i heard what I thought was a tappit noise investigated this mornig a found a spark plug loose.I think i was running on 3 pots.Engine sounds nice and sweet now.

Sorry but m40's never sound "nice" or "sweet" even when new...

M40's sound crap. All of them do as you say. Its a crap engine that i cant wait to move on from.

[bmwe30mtech]

Oh, and why does mine only do 250 miles to a tank. I am trying an economy run, but so far havent been too strict

[Simon13]

i always get about 270-400 plus in my 325i auto.

the only car worse than this is possibly a fat 320 auto i expect!

if i did LPG then it would be a really cheap turd to run

[bmwe30mtech]

i always get about 270-400 plus in my 325i auto.

the only car worse than this is possibly a fat 320 auto i expect!

if i did LPG then it would be a really cheap turd to run

I dont drive mine that heavily, whats up?

[Simon13]

it just shows u that the smaller engined E30's are really not alot better on juice than 325's tbh

Paul i don't know it could be alot of things, town driver? fuel leak? (rusty filler neck), knackered dizzy+rotor+sparks. AFM faulty, Throttle position switch given up the ghost. Blue temp sensor, thermostat.

OR

your driving style!!!

[MONSPORT42]

I think the M40 only has a 55 litre tank. The Sport has a 65 litre one.

[bmwe30mtech]

it just shows u that the smaller engined E30's are really not alot better on juice than 325's tbh

Paul i don't know it could be alot of things, town driver? fuel leak? (rusty filler neck), knackered dizzy+rotor+sparks. AFM faulty, Throttle position switch given up the ghost. Blue temp sensor, thermostat.

OR

your driving style!!!

I do a lot of town driving, but some carrageway also, its a mix. Fuel pipes i have replaced due to strong fuel smells (this fixed it), AFM etc all changed due to another problem (all fixed), surprisingly also has a new dizzy and rotor! As for the others, maybe.

I tend to pull away flat out quite often, especially up hills, because M40's seem to need thrashing sometimes to keep up with the traffic flow!

Recently i had a car full of people and was going up a fairly shallow hill, and the car wouldnt take 3rd gear, so it was flat out in second and struggling. And yet its one of the faster M40's i have been in, and i have been in a few of them.

Oh, and cheers for the help Si

Paul

[thesaint]

i managed about 35mpg (cant rememer exactly) when my ball joints where knackered and about to drop of, vibrated a lot, so i kept to about 50ish on main roads and 70 on the motorway, notmally average about 22

[gareth]

that's good economy....
with the 2.5 M20 in my tourer i used to get 190 - 200 miles to a tank usually.
with the 3.5 M30 i get nearer 180 miles to a tank.

that said, a normal tank is almost totally 2 - 3 mile cold runs. on holiday with the 2.5 M20, fully laden (4 people and filled to the roof with clobber) i was getting near the 300 mile mark but never made it!!!!

maybe i'd better get some lighter shoes!!!

[slinky]

Hello!
I get between 320 to 350 miles to the tank (from full to reserve light) in my 318i (M40 engine) with me driving it relatively lightly with the right foot. It's a fair mix of dual carriage way and country roads and town driving. That's from about 45 litres of fuel, not sure what that is in MPG. Pretty pleased really! As for the M40 engine, it's fair bit better than my old 1.6 golf driver!

[lukeb]

My fuel economy doesn't seem to change much depending on driving conditions. if i cain it all the time i get 270-280 miles to tank. if i drive it really like a granny, using as little throttle as possible i get 280-300. i thought it would make more difference than this. My mate has a 3.5 in his, and for him to go to work its mostly motorway miles and he gets more miles to the tank than me, even if i do an equivilant run, and even people i know with 2.5's get better then me. The m40 is just a crap engine.

[bmwe30mtech]

The M40 is crap, it gives bugger all mpg. It annoys me that it would be chaper for me to run a real sport to my fake 318i 'sport'. Fuel economy is about the same/if not better in a sport, and my insurance has all mods declared (to make it a 'sport'), and insuring a non modded sport comes up cheaper!!

[lukeb]

i just find it wierd. in most other cars a smaller engine gives better economy, but bmw would make it so a 1.2 has poorer economy than a 5lt v8 (exaggeration i know)

[jcjdavis1]

I thought driving the E30 was for pleasure and keeping them going rather than for economy even those driving M40 CRAP

[bmwe30mtech]

I thought driving the E30 was for pleasure and keeping them going rather than for economy even those driving M40 CRAP

M40 isnt total crap, can be nippy sometimes, its just crap on noise and mpg. It is about the pleasure, but for those of us using them as daily drivers things like mpg become an issue.

[jcjdavis1]

Nice to know I am not driving total crap,I am lucky as I only travel 6miles a day to work and back so mpg is not an issue. Engine still sounds sweet to me [no expert]no top end noise yet.

[bmwe30mtech]

Nice to know I am not driving total crap,I am lucky as I only travel 6miles a day to work and back so mpg is not an issue. Engine still sounds sweet to me [no expert]no top end noise yet.

Thats lucky about the noise, mine is slightly tappy, as are all the ones i have been in. Just make sure you dont rev yours when cold or it will tap soon enough!

Oh, and unlucky, you only get a short drive in your E30 to work

[Ziggy]

The m40s are economical enough if you don't wish you had a 6-pot.

Need some explanation?! If you've got an m40, then (turbos aside!) it's never gonna be fast. If you try and keep up with faster cars you're gonna be ragging the ar$e off it, hence no mpg.

Also, BMW made what I consider to be a rare mistake (as well as replacing the m10 with the m40!) by fitting too low a diff ratio to the 4pots. I'm probably gonna put my old 3.64 diff in my brother's 316i tourer - the silly low ratio in it at the mo makes it a bit nippier but not enough to make it remotely fast, and it makes the economy worse than my car!

[hezicar]

Last two fill ups:

1/4 tank left 257 miles - 30 mpg

Light nearly on - 333 miles - 30.5 mpg

Latest tank will be well into the 30s currently reading 29.1 on the obc which I find is not that accurate.

325i cabriolet doing steady 75mph on motorway with the roof down and a wind deflector!

When I rescued it from Widge was reading 21 mpg on the OBC.