tony4449

BMW UKHAVE NOW CONFIRMED IN WRITING THAT IF YOU ARE GETTING 25mpg ON A COMBINED RUN, IT IS AN ACCEPTABLE FIGURE.

WHY BY A OIL BURNER, PAY MORE AT THE PUMPS AND ACCEPT 25mpg.

aybeesea

You have a 3 litre turbo diesel automatic and we cannot recreate the DTI "combined" driving pattern no matter how hard we try.

The DTI figures are only meant to be comparative (between models) and a baseline to work from - rather than any kind of "guarantee".

ABC

KAF

As ABC says plus;

Because if you bought a petrol burner with the same power you would get 18mpg.

the-oneil

25 MPG combined from a 530d Auto is excellent (from where I stand). I had one (05 model) and used to get 21 MPG (mostly city driving).
I now get 18 MPG from my 530i and VERY happy. Why? Because the difference between 18 & 21 MPG is 14% and since in the UK Diesel tends to be circa 6% more expensive than petrol, then the diffrence is 7%; which I can live with considering the refinement & responsiveness of the petrol (It just suits me & my driving style more).

As for getting 25 MPG (I think it is not bad at all).
If I got 25MPG+ from my 530d I wouldn't have sold it, but 21MPG was miserable for living with a time bomb (a turbo car than could fail at any time).


I would scan & post this letter from BMW if I were you, as I believe BMW figures for fuel consumption on diesels are misleading to say the least.

aybeesea

Another UK government scandal? Aren't the consumption figures provided by DTI in their weird "test cycles" rather than by BMW?

That's why they're impossible to replicate in real-life driving.

ABC

fraseman999

Sorry, do not agree 25mpg is not acceptable. When i bought mine i planned on the quoted figures and thought i would get around 35 mpg. As it is i am getting around 30-32mpg combined. That is a manual 530d.

What is strange though, i ran a passat diesel for a month or two when i put the e39 of the road. The computer said it was getting around 45mpg. I do around 1000 miles per week. I filled the passat up twice a week with ?55 per fill up.

The 530d takes two fill ups of around ?60 per fill up.

So can someone explain to me why one computer says 45mpg and the other in the bmw says 32mpg and in 1000 miles i am only paying ?10 more.

I would not read too much into the computer reading.

Hawkwing

Ummm.......not to rub salt in an open wound here but I've never had less than an indictated 32mpg in 30,000 miles with my 06-530d - we all know that a heavy right foot, combinations of traffic an speed conditions affect outcome, however 25mpg seems on the low side to me.

the-oneil

Agreed, but it is advertised & promoted by the car manufacturer.

aybeesea

It is the case that the manufacturer is compelled by law to state the government figures.

How we interpret them is up to us.

I choose to interpret them as comparative figures between models derived by a strange (but replicable in laboratory conditions) cycle that is unachievable in practice.

ABC

tony4449

I have owned many cars in my life, and all but the current 530d (E61) have been close to the manufacturer figures. This includes M3's/ ZM3/and 2 other 530d, both of which maintained the official figures.

Perhaps BMW have a problem with certain 3.0ltr diesels but won't admit it, as some owners achive the correct figures, and others are wide of the mark.

If the Goverment are testing the cars and they only achive 60% consumption, then it needs to be investigated!!