E46 330d auto, 40mpg?

[willmagrath]

Thinking of getting one to do a new 45 mile (each way) commute, 90% motorway. But will the autos do 40+mpg with ease?

[Higgs boson]

Locked out in top gear, sitting at a reasonable speed - no bother.

[Charlie Croker mk2]

Got a X3 30d same engine & 8 spd auto , capable of 46 on a long gentle run and it gets garaged down to 37 ish in town with circa 33 with lots of short trips in cold weather . Very efficient for its size and weight , I would have thought 3 series should be better still ?

[gizlaroc]

Charlie Croker mk2 said:

Got a X3 30d same engine & 8 spd auto , capable of 46 on a long gentle run and it gets garaged down to 37 ish in town with circa 33 with lots of short trips in cold weather . Very efficient for its size and weight , I would have thought 3 series should be better still ?

You can't compare the modern 30d with the 8 speed auto with the old E46 6 speed ZF auto.

I got 45mpg from the 5GT on a run, my old E46 was more like 36mpg on a run and averaged 29mpg over two years and 40,000 miles.
It used to drop to mid 20s round town.
Things have moved on a lot in 15 years.

[jayemm89]

If it helps my 330ci would be 33+ on a run, 40 doesn't seem unreasonable from a manual diesel... Auto not so sure

[gizlaroc]

jayemm89 said:

If it helps my 330ci would be 33+ on a run, 40 doesn't seem unreasonable from a manual diesel... Auto not so sure

Yeah, my auto 330i that the 330d replaced used to get 33/34 on a run, that's why 36mpg from the diesel was so disappointing, loads of threads back in the day with owners saying the same.

The most annoying thing was my commute in winter, 26mpg from the 330d and 27mpg from the 330i.

I went back to a petrol again with the 530i.

[helix402]

I'm sure the obc will tell you that the car is doing over 40mpg on your described journey. My 328iA lies to me that it can do 41 mpg on a long motorway run.

[philmots]

Remember the e46 330d was the 5 speed GM box... Not the best boxes.

My old one averaged about 32mpg, there was no real motorway work with that but not much town either.

[gizlaroc]

I thought they were 6 speed?

Or was it 5 speed in the early ones (184hp) and then 6 speed in the later ones (204hp)?

Mine averaged 31mpg and that was doing 20k miles a year up and down the M11.

[to3m]

Average for my 184hp 330d (5 speed manual) has been 32.5mpg, which is mostly driving in town - average speed over 5 years = 22mph (says the OBC... which going by its fuel economy indicator may not be trustworthy).

For town driving it usually gets 28-32mpg and on the motorway 45mpg. I did have 25.8mpg from one tank but that has proven rather unusual.

I avoided the automatics when I was looking as I'd heard (evidently with some justification) that the fuel economy could be disappointing.

[jayemm89]

I did not think the e46 ever got a 6 speed auto box?

[philmots]

gizlaroc said:

I thought they were 6 speed?

Or was it 5 speed in the early ones (184hp) and then 6 speed in the later ones (204hp)?

Mine averaged 31mpg and that was doing 20k miles a year up and down the M11.

Mine was the 204 and was a 5 speed.

[LordHaveMurci]

gizlaroc said:

I thought they were 6 speed?

Or was it 5 speed in the early ones (184hp) and then 6 speed in the later ones (204hp)?

Mine averaged 31mpg and that was doing 20k miles a year up and down the M11.

Mine was a 2001 184bhp (before DMS remapped it anyway!), it was a 5sp.

In reply to the OP's question, my manual Touring averaged 44mpg on a run, low 30's around town & about 36 overall. Owned it for 4yrs & remap improved MPG very slightly.

[gizlaroc]

philmots said:

Mine was the 204 and was a 5 speed.

It must have been then, I couldn't remember, mind you, it was nearly 15 years ago, which sounds mad typing it.

[JakeT]

Between Middle Berkshire and Southampton which is my commute my 325ti will do 34-36mpg driven sensible, so you should see 40 no problem. Auto could give some issues though, the 5spd manuals in the early ones are robust, mind you.

[gareth h]

I had an 04 330d auto, from memory the combined mpg was 38 for the auto and 42 for the manual, I got pretty much 38 mpg with lots of motorway work, so not too far from 40mpg.

[Billy_Whizzzz]

My old (manual) e46 330d averaged 42.8 over 70,000 miles - more than the (manual) e91 330d that replaced it which averaged 30.4 over 40,000 miles.