CVTBenhogan

Wow. That aint right, unless your really driving hard. Like reckless.

Take it easy if the car is in break in period. You should attempt to estimate the mileage on your own, to get idea if the car's computer is off. I'd do this at least once.

If easy driving doesn't deliver 17 to 18 city or 25 highway, something isn't right. Winter gas blends deliver approximately 2 mpg less in my experience.

My two cents.

CVT Benhogan

tachyon

LA traffic = 15 MPH? Ugh. That can't be much fun.

I typically get 15-16 MPG per tank with an average speed of 20-21 MPH.

lynx10

2008 550i Sport, 6 spd manual, 10K miles on odometer.

Generally 17-18 in city driving, 22-23 on the highway to cities nearby.


On long stretches of Interstate driving this past summer, 25 mpg on several occasions. (Haven't seen that since.)

JeffNNJ

I would love to know how GM manages to squeeze out 30MPG in a 400HP Corvette engine. There's not even a gas guzzler tax.

MRV99

Cylinder Deactivation. GM and Chrysler use this quite a bit on there V8's. What it does is when the computer senses that it does not need all 8 cylinder to maintain the cars speed it will effectively only use 4 or 6 cylinders to keep the car going. I drove a 300c Hemi for about 250 miles on the highway and when I was cruising at 75 mph on the flats the car was only running on 4/6 cylinders and when I would hit a hill or go to pass someone it would start to use all 8 cylinders. If you really paid attention you could tell when the car was deactivating/reactivating cylinders. This is just like the power button on the M5. The reason this button exists is for MPG and Emissions reasons.

Heelsonwheels

Cadillac used that in their 8/6/4 engines for 2 years or so....it sucked.

doug_999

Now that was a long long time ago. With today's computer technology you can do it and do it well - many mfgs now do it (Honda, GM, etc).

kscarrol

This sort of discussion has been going ever since I got involved with my 545 and likely long before that. Frankly, if gas mileage were my main concern I doubt I would own an E60, and if I did it wouldn't be the 550. But then I previously owned a 545 and now own a 550...

Richard in NC

I don't think the Corvette has cylinder deactivation. But it does have very tall 5th & 6th gears. During a test drive if I recall, 60mph was 1200 rpm and 80 was still under 2000. You had to downshift to get any decent acceleration.

1esquire

The manual vettes also have (or at least had) the gear shift lockout that would make you go from 1st to 3rd or 4th gear under certain conditions. That was another way to improve fuel mileage.