I have recently purchased a second hand 525d M Sport. Lovely car.
Only problem is that I am getting about 19mpg (avg. fuel consumption counter on car says 19.2)
It's driven mainly during the rush hour but even so 19mpg is shocking (I had better mileage from my petrol 4ltr Jeep Cherokee)
Surely this can't be right for a diesel?!?
Could it be that the driving characteristics of the previous owner are still in the cars memory / ECU?
Can anyone shed some light?
Thanks

 

That is shocking ... I get 31.7mpg in my 535d and I drive that thing SO hard .... ! If I drove more sensibly it would be closer to 40. 19mpg is 550i/M5 territory.

Post some more details about your car, what country are you in, what model year is the car, what is the mileage, how many miles have you done since you got the car, is it still in warranty, was it bought from a dealer or private, etc etc. The more info you post, the more accurate and more helpful the replies will be.

Best thing to do is update your signature with your car spec, and your member profile with your location.

PS - Welcome to the forum

 

WOW!!!!

That was amazing how quickly you replied.
My car is a 525d M Sport, 2006 (56) with 24.5k mileage.
I have done about 500 miles since I bought the car on 4th January
I live in the UK (London) and I bought the car from a dealer.
It's still in warranty so I may take it back to them for it to be checked but pretty sure I'll be told there is nothing wrong.
I've reported it to BMW within the 30 day used car guarantee which states that "if we are unable to resolve a demonstrable fault arising within the first 30 days/1000 miles of your ownership (whichever is sooner), you will be entitled to an exchange, or a refund if an appropriate exchange cannot be found" but I'm pretty sure no "demonstrable" fault will be found.

PS - Thanks for the welcome

 

That's very new, so consumption should be way better than that. BMW UK website states the combined cycle of the current model as 45.6mpg manual / 43.5mpg automatic. I know it's improved recently with the revised engines, but I'd guess that a 2006 would have a book value of maybe 40mpg, somewhere around that. That would be the usual optimistic laboratory condition mpg, so in real life driving you should still be looking at mid 30's.

Are you relying on the trip computer or have you done a real calculation ... eg, fill the car and see how many gallons it takes, see how many miles you get from the tank, then do some maths to get the true value? Some people have reported that the on board computer is not very accurate (although many, me included, find it very accurate).

It may be possible that a previous owner has had the engine remapped (retuned) to give extra performance (at the expense of higher consumption), but even then I wouldn't have thought the effect would be that drastic.

EDIT: Just found this car on BMW UK approved site, 2006 525d Auto, 18k miles. It's listed as having a combined cycle of 42.4mpg http://www.bmw.co.uk/bmwuk/auc/car_details...ANC52090CU29883 . See if you can dig out the advert for the car you bought, it might still be on the dealer website, or if not, at least a very similar one, and quote the mpg from that to them when you take it in.

 

19 MPG UK is M5 territory : my 545i does more than 9 km with a litre (25 MPG) .

 

I assume you've reset the trip meter yourself and it's not just the average since it was last reset (ie before you got it).
Does sound bad to me if that's the case. I drive in heavy traffic with a 530D auto. Traffic does kill the fuel consumption, especially stop start.
In that situation I get about 26mpg. On a motorway run I can get just over 40 at 80/90 mph. Would get even more at slower speeds but that wasn't the point of getting a 530D!

You might also want to check the iDrive is set up for UK gallons and not US gallons. It's in the settings menu.

 

Thanks guys, I really appreciate your answers.

I reset all the counters when I got the car so I would know exactly what mpg, time in car etc.

I have contacted the dealer today and I am taking the car in for inspection on the 13th Feb.

I've also told them that as I have reported it before the 30 used car approval guarantee I expect them to either refund or replace the car (hope it doesn't come to that)

I'll keep you guys informed.

 

Which dealer is it, if you don't mind me asking?

 

BMW Wimbledon although I bought the car from BMW in Banstead

 

...honestly speaking, these numbers dont scare me. I get something like 23 mpg on my car in mild traffic through vienna, so 19 really does not scare me in london city traffic. on top of that, the 525d from 06 is not considered to be the most economic engine in this world... If your diesel particulate filter is only active (you cant tell except from the higher revs etc.), then the consumption goes up again. the viscous circle about this is that the more city driving you do, the more your particulate filter suffers...

bottom line: for london city traffic, the 525d is definitely the wrong car - something like 520d would be appropriate... i have done quite a bit of homework on this in the last year or so, even changed cars becuase like you i thought there was something wrong with the car...