BMW 330ci fuel economy - how is it possible?

[Olf]

carl_w said:

Welshbeef said:

Highly impressive 272bhp & 41mpg when categorically not hanging around!!! Dont they say these days with the Petrol to diesel price of fuel gap that you need 10mpg more to make the diesel worth while?

No, 10% more. It doesn't take a genius to work out that if diesel is 10% more expensive than petrol, then you need to be getting 10% more mpg to break even.

He might be factoring in the extra costs of buying the diesel car in which case he would be nearer genius than you suggest.

[carl_w]

Olf said:

He might be factoring in the extra costs of buying the diesel car in which case he would be nearer genius than you suggest.

Actually I already have a spreadsheet that calculates that. If you're buying a new car, it takes between 70,000 and 450,000 miles to break even depending on which MPG figures you believe (I did the calculations based on BMW's listed MPG figures).

However, if you're buying second-hand, a £5,000 diesel car will always cost less in fuel than a £5,000 petrol car. Same goes for any figure.