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Bad Gas Mileage with 2005 330i BMW with Performance Package
I recently purchased a 2005 BMW 330i with performance package and
absolutely love driving it. Unfortunately, I've been alarmed by the poor gas mileage thus far (3 tanks worth): 14 city/24 highway. Has anyone had this experience with their 330i with performance package? The brochures say it should get 21/30 and the sticker on the car said 17/27, but I don't think Humvee mileage is acceptable for a 3 series. My research indicates the larger tires and aero kit may be hurting top end mileage, but I don't think the chip and exhaust should hurt city driving. The dealership is getting back to me on this issue. I appreciate your insights. -Bummer Owner |
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On Tue, 30 Nov 2004 21:02:08 -0800, Kent Lewis wrote:
> I recently purchased a 2005 BMW 330i with performance package and > absolutely love driving it. Unfortunately, I've been alarmed by the > poor gas mileage thus far (3 tanks worth): 14 city/24 highway. Has > anyone had this experience with their 330i with performance package? > > The brochures say it should get 21/30 and the sticker on the car said > 17/27, but I don't think Humvee mileage is acceptable for a 3 series. My > research indicates the larger tires and aero kit may be hurting top end > mileage, but I don't think the chip and exhaust should hurt city > driving. The dealership is getting back to me on this issue. > City mileage can vary significantly from the advertised values depending on roads, conditions, and driving style. However, extended highway driving at posted US speed limits on relatively flat roads with few stops should be about as good as advertised values. FYI: From the EPA documents on mileage tests (so you have a basis for comparison of your driving): " Vehicles are driven over identical driving patterns by professional drivers in controlled laboratory conditions on a dynamometer. Road forces and aerodynamic forces are fully accounted for in this test." "The city test is approximately 11 miles long and is a stop and go trip with an average speed of about 20 miles per hour (mph). The trip lasts 31 minutes and has 23 stops. About 18 percent of the time is spent idling (as in waiting for traffic lights). A short freeway driving segment is included in the test. The engine is intially started after being parked overnight." " The highway is a 10 mile trip with an average speed of 48 mph. The vehicle is started "hot" and there is very little idling and no stops." -- The instructions said to use Windows 98 or better, so I installed RedHat. |
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Kent Lewis wrote:
> I recently purchased a 2005 BMW 330i with performance package and > absolutely love driving it. Unfortunately, I've been alarmed by the > poor gas mileage thus far (3 tanks worth): 14 city/24 highway. Has > anyone had this experience with their 330i with performance package? Interesting. My 1994 530i averages about 19 city, 25 highway. Average speed for city driving is about 25 mph. I'm obviously pulling more metal than you (3 series weigh less than 5 series, don't they?) so it would stand to reason you should be getting similar mileage. All I can say is that driving styles may be involved. I tend to coast a lot if I can. Vern |
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In article > ,
Vernon Balbert > wrote: > Interesting. My 1994 530i averages about 19 city, 25 highway. Average > speed for city driving is about 25 mph. I'm obviously pulling more > metal than you (3 series weigh less than 5 series, don't they?) so it > would stand to reason you should be getting similar mileage. All I can > say is that driving styles may be involved. But isn't the E34 530 a V-8 and these are always more thirsty than a 6, like for like? -- *If you don't pay your exorcist you get repossessed.* Dave Plowman London SW To e-mail, change noise into sound. |
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"Dave Plowman (News)" > wrote
> In article >, > Kent Lewis > wrote: >> I recently purchased a 2005 BMW 330i with performance package and >> absolutely love driving it. Unfortunately, I've been alarmed by the >> poor gas mileage thus far (3 tanks worth): 14 city/24 highway. Has >> anyone had this experience with their 330i with performance package? > > What mileage did you get with your previous car doing similar journeys, > and what was that car? Dave's question is very incisive. Mileage mostly depends upon the driver. For instance, my '01 330xi gets around 28/29 mpg highway (usually with the cruise control set on 75 mph) and around 23 in my usual mix of city/arterial driving. Your car should get similar to mine. Your car is brand new, and the mileage will bump up about 1 mpg when well broken in (5K miles or so). Have you been following the break-in recommendations? Floyd |
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Mileage is GREATLY affected by how agressive you press on the pedals. The
numbers onthe brochure should be expected if you shift early, and drive in a VERY mundane manner. If you are like most of us, you enjoy the spirited trips to 5000 RPM, but this is what is dragging your mileage numbers way down. As boring as this may be, try shifting earlier, say about 2500 RPM, and watch your mileage go up. Instead of driving in slow traffic in a low gear, 2nd for example, see what happens if you are in 3rd or even 4th. You can't rapidly accelerate anyway, and there is nothing at all wrong with poking along in 4th at 1500 instead of 2nd at 3000. Sure, you may need to downshift if the traffic speeds up, but in my experience, you can go from around 5mph in 3rd all of the way to 70. You can do 10 or 15 in 4th, and carry that gear all of the way to 110. When the traffic light turns green, you are limited at how fast you can accelerate, so you may as well shift as early as the car will tolerate, my typical shift points come at between 2000 and 2500, and sometimes as late as 3000. When I am wanting to have some fun with my car, then I shift in the 5000 range, but I expect my mileage to suffer when I drive that way. "Kent Lewis" > wrote in message om... > I recently purchased a 2005 BMW 330i with performance package and > absolutely love driving it. Unfortunately, I've been alarmed by the > poor gas mileage thus far (3 tanks worth): 14 city/24 highway. Has > anyone had this experience with their 330i with performance package? > > The brochures say it should get 21/30 and the sticker on the car said > 17/27, but I don't think Humvee mileage is acceptable for a 3 series. > My research indicates the larger tires and aero kit may be hurting top > end mileage, but I don't think the chip and exhaust should hurt city > driving. The dealership is getting back to me on this issue. > > I appreciate your insights. > > -Bummer Owner |
#8
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In article >, Jim Levie says...
>" The highway is a 10 mile trip with an average speed of 48 mph. The >vehicle is started "hot" and there is very little idling and no stops." There ya go, keep it under 48mph and you should be fine. I don't think you have a problem. -- Jason G "This isn't a matter of being tolerant, it's a matter of being sane." --REP, a.s.c. |
#9
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Thanks ya'll for the responses. A little more background for you:
My previous car was a 2000 BMW 323Ci with a few mods (cold air, chip and exhaust). It was a manual tranny, and sport package. After mods and 2 year breakin period, I took it on a 4,000 road trip around the West and averaged 33 MPG. I even top-ended outside of Grand Canyon at 146 MPH. But usually, I averaged 20 city and 30 highway (same as indicated in the brochure). A great car around town and on the track. My new 330i is a steptronic automatic with 18s, and as you may already know, modified chip, camshaft and final drive (as part of the Performance Package). After getting 14 MPG on my first tank, I took it "easy" on the second and third tanks (I'm at 720 miles total now) and the best I could get was a 14.5 average. When I reset the MPG trip computer for a long highway trip, I managed a whopping 24, with no city driving. I just refilled and am doing city driving and kicking ass with a 12.8 MPG average after a quarter tank. I stopped by the dealership today and talked to my trusty tech, and he said the following could be factors: -new engine needs to break in (as stated by another post, this may improve MPG by maybe 1 or 2 points at most) -winter gas is lower octane and gets worse mileage (which didn't explain my extremely poor mileage and the fact that a buddy of mine is getting 18 city in his new 325Ci auto on the same fuel). -the chip runs richer mixture (very possible, but I would say if that's true, then the factory chip is garbage. On my 323, the Dinan chip and Remus exhaust gave me similar acceleration enhancement without compromising mileage - in fact, it improved.) -the bigger tires (255/35/18s in the rear offers more meat, but even with low tire pressure, they can't affect mileage that much.) -the car's weight and aero kit (doesn't explain the city mileage and it's a negligible difference at best.) -my driving style (as I said earlier, after my first shocking tank experience, I basically putted around at 2K RPM and it doesn't seem to make a difference.) -my commute (I drive 2 miles to work, less than 10 minutes, and my car likely doesn't warm up fully, so it's running a richer mixture, which may be the primary culprit, but still not an acceptable answer.) So I set up an appointment to have the techs run diagnostics and check tire pressure, etc. and I'll continue to document my mileage for a few more weeks or months and see what happens. If any 330i owners with performance packages out there can share their mileage/experience, I would appreciate it. Let me know if I missed anything. Thanks - KjL (Kent Lewis) wrote in message . com>... > I recently purchased a 2005 BMW 330i with performance package and > absolutely love driving it. Unfortunately, I've been alarmed by the > poor gas mileage thus far (3 tanks worth): 14 city/24 highway. Has > anyone had this experience with their 330i with performance package? > > The brochures say it should get 21/30 and the sticker on the car said > 17/27, but I don't think Humvee mileage is acceptable for a 3 series. > My research indicates the larger tires and aero kit may be hurting top > end mileage, but I don't think the chip and exhaust should hurt city > driving. The dealership is getting back to me on this issue. > > I appreciate your insights. > > -Bummer Owner |
#10
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In article >, Kent Lewis says...
> 323Ci >330i Keep that in mind. 700cc is a lot of gas volume! As I said, your city+hwy/2 is about the same as mine, so not sure you have a problem. If you DO find a problem, please let me know, as that means I probably do too. -- Jason G "This isn't a matter of being tolerant, it's a matter of being sane." --REP, a.s.c. |
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