I love it ! My neighbour bought a 6 cylinder X5 at about the same time I got my V8 X5 , after 20,000 KM (12,000 miles ) our avg. L/100Km is virtually identical and she drives the hell out that thing ( and likewise for me).......I had the same conclusion, sure the up front cost was 10 G's more but so is the resale ............. but the driving pleasure is considerably more in my case , she is now trading hers in for an O8 4.8L ..........

 

I read a post a while back about MPG and was surprised at the mileage some others claim to get. Yours is similar to mine (note the 525 here is Aus is the 218hp 2.5l 6 which actually uses slightly more fuel than our 272hp 530i! I guess it may also use a bit more than the US detuned 218hp 3.0l 525 too).

My daily drive to work is 18.75 miles and 11 miles of that is at under 20mph (stop start bumber to bumper) and the other 8 miles at about 60mph on a busy but flowing freeways. It takes 45m so my average speed is 25mph.

On my daily I get just over 20mpg in my normal driving style - no attempt to conserve fuel. The best my car will get (according to its OBC) on a long highway run at about 60mph average is just under 27mpg.

 

Yes, but which is worse on overall economy, 5 seconds at 10mpg or 20 seconds at 15mpg?

My theory always has been moderate throttle and shift right around the torque peak (3500-4000 RPM). The engine stays in its most efficient range (power generating wise) throughout the acceleration.

FYI, in 8500 miles, my average in the 550i is 20mpg. That includes a driving school and lots of recent hard mountain driving.
My comute is 17 miles each way, some country roads, some stop & go interstate, and a few traffic lights.
I can also get 27mpg on a 70mph highway trip.

 

At about 5000 miles in mine, same economy - 20mpg all around since new, including a "less enthusiastic" day at the track than Richard in NC's, but still burnt up some 100 low-mpg miles (and probably 2000 brake-miles!). Average speed since new is 35 mph, yielding that 20mpg. Driving mostly in DS and S mode, probably 5% in M mode and 5% in straight D mode. I'm not a jack-rabbit on the starts and ease to the stops about average I'd say.
Cal

 

We owned 8 cars in 4 years that I got married.
3 of these cars were my "babies".
My chipped TT AWD M/T got 23mpg on average.
My G35 coupe M/T got 18.8mpg (what a slow car).
My 545i M/T gets 19 to 20mpg (my V8 gets better mileage than my V6 G35)!

I'm driving a 328i loaner for 5 days now and I'm getting 22-23mpg.
Almost consistent driving throughout these cars so I am not guilty driving a V8 daily to work.

Heck, our family van gets 20mpg and I drive it like a gramma :-)

 

Driving fats off the start to desired speed is more fuel efficient. You must have patience and a "driving shoes" to ensure you have the necessary foot pressure on the gas pedal. what I have noticed- you can maintain a high speed with a light foot touch and achieve better gas mileage rather than increase foot pressure which yields no added speed result, yet wastes more fuel. A .5" in foot pressure makes a huge difference in fuel economy. Play around and watch the needle!

 

My overall experience as well.

With brisk, but not brutal initial pedal work, the car gets up to speed quickly. Then just find the proper "terminal" pedal position according to the meter and cruise. Soon you'll find you can feel the car at its best and occasionally verify how good you are by looking at the mileage needle. Incredible mileage results and fun as well.

I'm fun at parties, too.

 

No need to apologize, jmsod - a little lively discourse on this topic is what this country needs.

But you may have missed my point - I agree that the price of gas is not the real issue, especially for those of us that have spent $50K to $80K on a car. The issue is the excessive consumption of a product that is, for the most part, supplied by our enemies. It should be our patriotic duty to pitch in - not necessarily by ditching our fun cars (but for some people who don't enjoy driving, then why waste your money pushing an Excursion around?) but by finding a way to consume less with what we have. Trust me, I'll always have some fun driving my cars, I just may do it a little less often. When I'm not having fun, I do what I can to conserve.

We can debate slow start vs. fast start all day, but either way you need to minimize braking. Braking is essentially converting fuel energy into heat and brake dust instead of forward vehicle motion. Anticipate stop lights and traffic slow downs, and coast a little more.

Unless you're in a real hurry, of course

 

driving economically a 520d on a 50 mile journey improves from approx 44mpg to 60mpg. Thats significant!

 

I can manage about 33mpg wire that "extra care" and lots of traffic - but its possible to get more like 37mpg without rush hour start-stop. Its true that pressing on in any way in the 525 drops mpg to less than 30 easily. Rushing around ? well much less than 30!

One wierd feature of the 525 is it hates going at 40mph - it would rather be at 50 for better fuel. This could be because at 40 its in 5th gear.

Cheers
Kirk
recent 525auto