What I don't understand though is that I used to have a 4ltr Jeep Cherokee (petrol) which returned 22mpg and a Freelander TD4 (diesel) that returned 26mpg. Considering these cars had the areodynamics of a brick I find it hard to swallow such low figures from the 525.

And to top it all, the Freelander had a BMW engine

 

How does the economy (or lack thereof!) calculated by the computer compare to a manual calculation?

 

Computer says 19.2mpg. My calculations put it at 20.25.

I work it out by dividing the total mileage by the litres pumped in and then multiplying that by 4.4 to get the mpg.

Is that correct?

 

litres -> UK gallons is done by dividing by 4.546 and then divide the miles by the amount of gallons...

However, still sounds like something is wrong but I doubt you can prove it/get BMW or dealer to admit it... There was someone around here with a 525d that was reporting terrible mpgs and BMW had concluded it was within spec... It looks like just some cars really are lemons but you cannot prove it!

I presume you've checked the basics such as tyres pressures?

 

I'm running a '04 525d estate and have yet to dip below an average of 30 mpg and while not an urbanite, the day in London recently did nothing to damage this. Between 70 and 80 sees a shade over 40 mpg but that is driving economically. Overall, average is between 34 and 38.

Hope the stealer sorts it out.

 

hello nephs
was it coopers BMW ??

i have just got a 525D Msport 55 plate from coopers

and today i got 40.9 mpg and car is showing 650 miles to next fill up

sounds like you might have a bad one.

sorry to hear mate


i love the 5 series

 

Got a 530xd (E61 from march06), and as french I use litre / 100km as unit. I do 2 trips M4 heathrow to cardiff per week and town driving rest of week, and once a month a trip to paris area through the tunnel. In average I barely reach 8l/100km. And I dont try to drive looking at gas consumption, but neither blasting the car all the time (about impossible on the M4 on monday morning or friday evening). On top I think x-drive does increase consumption slightly (but try to spend winter in the alpes without it...
Not sure what this make in MPG. Now when talking MPG you should check if gallons are set to imperial or US. That is adjustable through idrive.
At last you can calibrate the system to. I recall a post in the forum was describing this. Just cannot find it at the moment.

Ciao

 

Found the post:

http://forums.e60.net/index.php?showtopic=41536

Cheers

 

Is your 525D auto or manual?
Were the Jeep and Freelander auto or manual? I think the auto really kills consumption in heavy, slow moving traffic. I know in my 530D, if I'm stop-start/crawling at no more than about 10mph the instant mpg needle goes right over to the right (16mpg or less). Once it gets over that and into 2nd gear it will crawl along on it's own without me touching the throttle and shows over 30 or 35mpg on the needle.
I personally don't think diesels (whichever ones) are that great in city traffic consumption-wise. Their advantage over petrols seems to increase massively once you're in free moving traffic/clear roads.
The combination of big diesel and an auto box in my case is giving lower consumption than I had expected.
My last car was a manual Alfa 156 2.4JTD and I was averaging 42mpg overall, including my journeys to work in traffic. My current overall average is about 30mpg in the BMW! OK, it's got a 25% bigger engine and 25% more power but that's still worse like for like. I believe it's the auto box that's making the biggest difference.
Still haven't managed over 41mpg though. Did a motorway run recently and at 80 to 90mph that was the best I got. Could have got more at lower speeds I guess.

Have you been on a long run with yours without traffic? See what mpg you get then. If it's still really bad then there must be something wrong.

 

Hi guys

Thaks to everyone who has taken the time to reply to my post, it is much appreciated.
It certainly sounds like I've been stung and have ended up with a lemon.

Considering this is my first BMW, it does not hold well for getting another one when I want to change the car in the future.

I'll let you know what the dealer says after I've taken it in.