jmsod

I now have about 7000 miles on my 535i and up until recently I was averaging about 14.5 mpg (most of my driving is city). I did not reset the guage, but now it is up to 16.8mpg over the past couple of weeks. My driving pattern has remain unchanged as has my style, so I guess I am experiencing what others have. When (how many miles on the odometer) did you guys and gals notice better mpg? Just curious.

boukehj

That jump seems to be too big to be explained by better fuel economy. If you did not reset the gauge, and, say, you've driven 1000 miles in the past two weeks, this would imply that the car actually produced gasoline in the past few weeks instead of using it! Seems unlikely.
Proof: you used 483 gallon to drive 7000 miles at 14.5 miles/gallon. For 8000 miles at 16.8 miles/gallon you used 476 gallons
You probably did experience an improvement in fuel economy, but you must have reset the gauge (this may also happen if you e.g. had a 'high battery drain' message.)

A list of alternative reasons why this may happen:
- better grade fuel
- slightly less traffic jams in the past weeks.
- changed mix of highway/city traffic.

measure it over a longer period and you'll be sure.

mag75

I am averaging around 21.7 in the city. I have an 04 530 with 54k

What gas are you using ? I filled up using only 89 and my mpg dropped significantly.

E60BEEMER

wow thats quite harsh mate, thats like around waht M5S/550i get

but surely yours is quite new, and may need to be opened and run in................!!

quite shocked at the low milage though, compared to my 535d remapped, i get 38-42 in city, and much more on highways!!!!!!

sixcard

For one, I would not rely too heavily on the "gauge". The only true measure, IMO, is gallons/liters added and compared with actual distance traveled. I have seen up to a 2 mpg variation between my gauge and the actual.

Several months back some E60er posted a procedure for resetting the ?gauge? fuel efficiency. I fooled with that but I think it adjusts the mileage by tweeking the distance. I don?t remember who/when it was posted but I copied to a word document and would PM it to you.

At one time I questioned the distance indicated on my odometer. But I have verified that several times with a high quality hand held GPS over several hundred miles.

Unless the fuels were somehow contaminated I would doubt if better/worse grade of fuel would account for a 2.3 mpg variation.

It is expected to see fuel efficiency improve as the engine "breaks in". How much and when the improvement varies and that is arguable.

Many of the more experienced E60ers have discussed this whole issue at length. A search probably will generate more (better) opinions.

mag75

I agree with this as well. I normally do the math after I fill up and the mpg is not as high as I would like

Ricracing

This is very typical for BMW engines.

Some say you need up to 25,000 miles before the engine is in its peak,
but it seems that progress starts from 7,000 miles.

jjsigpi

+1 Just do the simple math to see if you are actually getting better mpg's: (Total Mileage / total gallons used)... do not rely on the computer... it's just an approximation.

bimmerturn

Well, I already have 32000 miles on my 2008 550i and I am consistently averaging 22mpg with 50/50 driving. I know if I lighten my foot on launches then I definitly would hit 24mpg. I have been noticing incredible mpg on the highway on cruise doing 70mph, I am averaging 29mpg.

In the begining I was getting average 15 to 18mpg but it started to creep up as I got over 10000 miles.

safetywork

You're mpg seem really low but I guess it depends on what environment you drive in and how you drive. My relatively new 550i (6,500 miles) gets 24mpg in mixed driving (hand calculated) with aout 75% highway use. On two mini road trips to LA, I got slightly over 26mpg.