I have a E60 530D Sport with 8000 miles on it. I get around 30 to 35 mpg on average. This can be improved with a light right foot but who wants to do that all day.

 

My 530d has now done 90,000 miles and i hammer it and i mean hammer it. roughly 25% motorway 55% a roads and the rest in town. As the engine gets more miles on it and i have never zeroed it for 10,000 miles it has went from around 30 mpg to 32.1mpg. I dont know how accurate the computer is my front brake pads showed 45,000 miles and overnight went to 8,000miles.
I have found the best way is to fill it from empty write down how much you put in and trip the miles to zero and work it out that way.

 

There clearly is some issue around the 530d's fuel consumption which we have never quite discovered - as many cars seem quite reasonable consumption, others like KeithL and mine are dire - 20mpg around town, 26mpg checked by physical records over 8,000 miles, and event on the most gently motorway runs rarely exceeds 33mpg (never ever seen 40mpg even with granny on board)

I gave up on this two years ago after repeated visits to the dealer - and got of formal written leter stateing this is normal

Software has been updated 3 times and made no difference - certainly no visible leaks and UK MPG on the computer checked to actual consumption.

If anybody does have any new ideas ...............

 

Fraseman,

That is the "brim to brim" method and I believe it is the only accurate method.

The computer only guesstimates how much fuel is in the tank.
Haven't you wondered how you can cover the first 200 miles between fill ups and the fuel gauge shows only slight movement, then the last 100 miles suddenly causes the gauge to hover near empty!

Keith

 

I can cruise at 80 on the motorway, and the gauge indicates 50MPG. Long-term average is 34MPG. Between fills, I get around 550-600 miles. Down to 500 miles per tank of it's just town driving (with enjoyment).

After fillup, your dash should read something similar to this

 

Indeed, me too! However, some poor souls seem to have got a duffer and BMW won't do anything about it... :thumbsdown:

 

I have a 2004 e60 530D.

I used to get brilliant fuel consumption averaging between 37 and 42mpg at CIP 18. That is 25% city and 75% motorway.

I have now CIP 25 and am down to about 32mpg average. Seems down to engine management I guess

But then again, on the motorway its like 90mph average. If I'd take it easy, its more like 35mpg average, but this used to be 42mpg for me, so quite a difference!

 

My 4th brim to brim has given me 304 miles for 62.52 litres which is 22 mpg (UK gallons). That's mostly town driving with no heavy traffic. I don't know where you guys are getting figures in the 30 mpg range. Are you sure you are doing brim to brim calculations?

 

Yep, I keep my fuel purchase and mileage in a spreadsheet.

Over the last 22,000 miles it has averaged 32.13mpg.
Worst tank 28.39, best tank 36.51.

 

I find that using "mpg" a bit "old world". I'm more interested in how far I can travel between pit stops (since the size of my fuel tank is fixed) and, like the rest of us, brim it anyway.

I tend to use the "accrued range" idea which, using a zeroised odometer on fillup, I add the current distance travelled at any time to the remaining range.

Using that method I get "up to" 575/600 miles per tank if mainly motorway, 500 miles mixed and down to 400 if mainly city.

My 2c.

ABC