one4thethumb

Had my second (and definitely longer, by a factor of 8x) long trip in the E60; a weekend trip to Pittsburgh to visit family. Predominantly highway miles to and fro with a bit of 2 lane State Highway driving mixed in yesterday while circumnavigating the roadways of my youth with my 13 year old as my co-pilot (my wife and our 9 year old wanted no parts of our foray into the country).

As for the 2 lane serpentine roads of Washington County, the E60 performed as expected; sticking to those roads; taking bends at times 15-20 MPH faster than the posted speeds. In a word, effortless. I look forward to our next trip in early August to hit those same roads and a few new ones.

The drive is 310 miles one way. We left mid morning on Saturday in warm weather. I closed the roof vent and clicked on the AC about 40 minutes into the trip and kept it on for the duration; and had the cruise set at 74 MPH for most of the trip.

I reset the dash computer as we pulled out of our driveway and checked it periodically on the trip down (I had filled up a half-mile from home before heading out)). The avg MPG reached as high as 31.0 on the trip down. I thought to myself, this can't be correct. I will have to check it once I fill up. Well, a trip to the mall later that day followed by a Sunday AM drive into Pittsburgh to meet a college chum for breakfast and the aforementioned country drive, it was time to fill up. 411 miles traveled and it took 14.5 gallons to fill up. I checked the dashboard computer and it said that the avg MPG was 28.4. Being a non-believer in what it was telling me, I pulled out my Blackberry and crunched the numbers on the provided calculator and the result: 28.34!

I experienced slightly better mileage on the trip home today (came in at 30.9 as I pulled into the drive this afternoon, however, I have yet to fill up).

Is the mileage I experienced an aberration? Kindly share your experiences.

turboawd

it must have to do with the moon's position.

Erikuva

i have been traveling from Lancaster Pa to upstate NY for work for a few round trips in the past 6-8 weeks. It's about 330 miles, and have been getting a tick over 30 mpg in my '05 530i. Very pleased with the mpg on the long runs

BMRMEUP

My avg is sitting on 27 mpg for this tank, mixed driving (estimate 60% interstate, 30% twisty 2-lane, and the remainder about town). I have averaged over 30 mpg for strictly interstate driving...so I believe your numbers!

06530-6M

I'm not sure why you find these figures hard to believe. It's a 6 combined with a medium weight car ...

I normally average around 22.5 around town and easily 30 on the highway. The latter is here in flat Florida going around 80 (or more) with the a/c always on.

CWS530

No, that sounds about right. I got over 30 mpg on a 200+ (400+ r/t) mile trip when I first bought my car and was running 225/17s. When I bought my staggered 18s (245/275), it dropped to the 27-28 range. Still great IMHO.

one4thethumb

Perhaps it's just been a while is all, and not expecting that for a luxo sport sedan. My 03 S-60 2.5T AWD had comparable mileage, but it's a smaller vehicle and was a 5 cyl. My Chrysler 300 never got better than 25 mpg and that was at speeds of under 70.

Add one more to the plus column as to why I am happy to have purchased an E60.

06530-6M

Any idea why the larger wheels would cause that much more friction or whatever it is that lowers the MPG? Oddly, I didn't experience any difference at all when I went from the standard 17's to my 19's.

Here's another odd note though: My 530i is in the shop and I have had a 09 328i for about a week now. According to its calculations it's only returning 16.8 MPG in the same driving and locations that I average my 22.5 MPG figures. I reset the computer when I drove out of the dealer lot just because I was curious. It's not like I'm driving it any different either. I 'have fun' but don't kill the thing. It's an automatic vs. my manual, but that still doesn't account for that big of a difference.

sdg1871

You certainly won't get that kind of MPG is you join us for our meet that will go through the Poconos.

CWS530

Could just be situational. Maybe a headwind, different temperature, speed, road surface? All I'm sure of is that I saw 30 or 31 a couple of times in the four months or so I had the 138s, and haven't seen it since I put on the 124s. I guess I attributed it to the 275mm and 245mm contact patches causing more rolling resistance than the 225mm. Not really sure, though.