M235i economy on a run
Discussion
Hi all, after a bit of knowledge from owners.
I took an M235i out at the weekend for a test drive and reset the mpg on 5 mile ish section of dual carriageway just to see.
I was pretty shocked for it to read 24.5mpg at a steady indicated 75-80mph in 8th gear.
Although the car was a cab not a coupe, I was expecting a chunk more than this. Was it because the engine only had 2000 miles? Or is this normal owner experience? All the reviews I've seen show an average around 30mpg so I'd expect it to be higher still on a cruise.
For reference I did s similar thing in the wife's 120d and it read over 50mpg. I then did similar in the M3 and it read 27mpg!
If the mpg isn't over 30 on a normal dual carriageway run it blows my man maths out of the water!
I took an M235i out at the weekend for a test drive and reset the mpg on 5 mile ish section of dual carriageway just to see.
I was pretty shocked for it to read 24.5mpg at a steady indicated 75-80mph in 8th gear.
Although the car was a cab not a coupe, I was expecting a chunk more than this. Was it because the engine only had 2000 miles? Or is this normal owner experience? All the reviews I've seen show an average around 30mpg so I'd expect it to be higher still on a cruise.
For reference I did s similar thing in the wife's 120d and it read over 50mpg. I then did similar in the M3 and it read 27mpg!
If the mpg isn't over 30 on a normal dual carriageway run it blows my man maths out of the water!
I did some careful man math when I got my car at the start of the year. I reset the mpg on the test drive of an M135i and only got 24 out of the engine. That was on the same run and at the same sort of speeds as the E39 M5 I drove to the dealers in!
Something didn't add up. The M135i had a much smaller engine and obviously a generation beyond but seemed higher gear there was no way you'd get anywhere near the figures BMW were claiming for it. I assume the same is true of any of the 35i range. My wife looked at me and all the stuff we'd discussed about getting a more modern and more efficient car went out of the window.
Its a funny engine with some wild claims for efficiency which are nothing to do with the real world. The 335d I eventually bought was much closer to its predicted. I averaged 40 on the test drive and the average hasn't really gone below 40 since.
Something didn't add up. The M135i had a much smaller engine and obviously a generation beyond but seemed higher gear there was no way you'd get anywhere near the figures BMW were claiming for it. I assume the same is true of any of the 35i range. My wife looked at me and all the stuff we'd discussed about getting a more modern and more efficient car went out of the window.
Its a funny engine with some wild claims for efficiency which are nothing to do with the real world. The 335d I eventually bought was much closer to its predicted. I averaged 40 on the test drive and the average hasn't really gone below 40 since.
I have an auto M135. On a long motorway trip keeping up with traffic the computer says I get about 37/38 to the gallon. Last year on a trip to Le Mans from Cumbria it was upto 40. Overall average is showing 32.3. It is easy to get the trip computer into the low 20s or high teens if driven hard or if its all short trips in traffic. Overall i'm happy with the economy for the performance on offer
Slightly bigger sample, and presumably at higher average speed, here is the German figure: http://www.spritmonitor.de/en/overview/6-BMW/1323-...
10.56 l/100 km = 26.75 mpg
10.56 l/100 km = 26.75 mpg
That sounds low, though I find you have to do a fair few miles to get a good average reading.
Mine did about 34 mpg on a long motorway journey. I get about 30 mpg for my normal commute (about 75% motorway), which dips down to 28 if I throw in a few shorter or urban journeys at the weekend.
Mine did about 34 mpg on a long motorway journey. I get about 30 mpg for my normal commute (about 75% motorway), which dips down to 28 if I throw in a few shorter or urban journeys at the weekend.
Really surprised at the mpg being quoted for the M235i on this thread. My E92 335i had the same N55 engine with a manual gearbox and averaged just over 30mpg in the 30k miles I had it; that was a mix of driving (albeit with not much round town work) and on a long run it would easily achieve mid-30's. Don't understand why the smaller, lighter, M235i would be worse unless it's pulling shorter gearing (which I would have thought is unlikely with the 8 speed auto?).
Was the engine warm when you started your test? If you reset the mpg from cold then the first 5 minutes return some pretty horrendous mpg figures that take a while to average out.
If my manual car is warm and cruising on an A-road at 80 then it'll return more than 29 mpg. If I use it with more vigour on my dual carriageway/B-road commute then it averages out at 23 mpg ish.
If my manual car is warm and cruising on an A-road at 80 then it'll return more than 29 mpg. If I use it with more vigour on my dual carriageway/B-road commute then it averages out at 23 mpg ish.
JNW1 said:
Really surprised at the mpg being quoted for the M235i on this thread. My E92 335i had the same N55 engine with a manual gearbox and averaged just over 30mpg in the 30k miles I had it; that was a mix of driving (albeit with not much round town work) and on a long run it would easily achieve mid-30's. Don't understand why the smaller, lighter, M235i would be worse unless it's pulling shorter gearing (which I would have thought is unlikely with the 8 speed auto?).
Doesn't the 335i have less power though?My M6 will easily return 30 mpg cruising at 70 (ish).
This was when the engine was still relatively new and from a cold start, from door to door (last 1/4 mile is down hill, so can pretty much coast, hence the 60 mpg at the end).
I've seen better since.
If you're only getting 24.5 over a 5 mile section there is something wrong. Is that section up hill? Was there a significant head wind?
This was when the engine was still relatively new and from a cold start, from door to door (last 1/4 mile is down hill, so can pretty much coast, hence the 60 mpg at the end).
I've seen better since.
If you're only getting 24.5 over a 5 mile section there is something wrong. Is that section up hill? Was there a significant head wind?
bennyboysvuk said:
Was the engine warm when you started your test? If you reset the mpg from cold then the first 5 minutes return some pretty horrendous mpg figures that take a while to average out.
If my manual car is warm and cruising on an A-road at 80 then it'll return more than 29 mpg. If I use it with more vigour on my dual carriageway/B-road commute then it averages out at 23 mpg ish.
The car was warmed up when i reset the mpg calculator and I did it on a stretch of dual carridgeway. It was the auto box, so was cruising in 8th gear. But was totally surprised to see 24.5mpg over a stretch of a few miles. I suppose my main point is:If my manual car is warm and cruising on an A-road at 80 then it'll return more than 29 mpg. If I use it with more vigour on my dual carriageway/B-road commute then it averages out at 23 mpg ish.
- is that economy representative of the auto 235i on a motorway / dual carridgeway run? do the engines improve with econoomy with a few thousand miles under their belt?
or is the 235i genuinely not that economacal on a run even compared to an e92 M3?
My man maths hangs on being able to get 30+ mpg on the dual carridge way stretch of my 60 mile commute daily. otherwise i think the 225d may be beconing...
RichardM5 said:
My M6 will easily return 30 mpg cruising at 70 (ish).
This was when the engine was still relatively new and from a cold start, from door to door (last 1/4 mile is down hill, so can pretty much coast, hence the 60 mpg at the end).
I've seen better since.
If you're only getting 24.5 over a 5 mile section there is something wrong. Is that section up hill? Was there a significant head wind?
It was a stretch of road i'd not driven before so could have been uphill slightly, i can't remember for sure.This was when the engine was still relatively new and from a cold start, from door to door (last 1/4 mile is down hill, so can pretty much coast, hence the 60 mpg at the end).
I've seen better since.
If you're only getting 24.5 over a 5 mile section there is something wrong. Is that section up hill? Was there a significant head wind?
As you can get 30mpg from the M6 i was expecting the 235 to read 35+ for that stint.
ratty6464 said:
Hi all, after a bit of knowledge from owners.
I took an M235i out at the weekend for a test drive and reset the mpg on 5 mile ish section of dual carriageway just to see.
I was pretty shocked for it to read 24.5mpg at a steady indicated 75-80mph in 8th gear.
I would expect you need to be in eco pro mode to get the best out of it and it will likely need at least 10 miles to fully warm up which may have been your issue. You would probably get an extra 10mpg if you were doing 65 instead of 80 too though.I took an M235i out at the weekend for a test drive and reset the mpg on 5 mile ish section of dual carriageway just to see.
I was pretty shocked for it to read 24.5mpg at a steady indicated 75-80mph in 8th gear.
ratty6464 said:
The car was warmed up when i reset the mpg calculator and I did it on a stretch of dual carridgeway. It was the auto box, so was cruising in 8th gear. But was totally surprised to see 24.5mpg over a stretch of a few miles. I suppose my main point is:
- is that economy representative of the auto 235i on a motorway / dual carridgeway run? do the engines improve with econoomy with a few thousand miles under their belt?
or is the 235i genuinely not that economacal on a run even compared to an e92 M3?
My man maths hangs on being able to get 30+ mpg on the dual carridge way stretch of my 60 mile commute daily. otherwise i think the 225d may be beconing...
Plenty of examples on M135i related threads of owners getting mid-30's without any problem on a motorway run and really don't see that an M235i should be significantly different. Personally I think you'd get 30 quite easily on the type of run you've described so kick that idea of a 225d firmly into touch!- is that economy representative of the auto 235i on a motorway / dual carridgeway run? do the engines improve with econoomy with a few thousand miles under their belt?
or is the 235i genuinely not that economacal on a run even compared to an e92 M3?
My man maths hangs on being able to get 30+ mpg on the dual carridge way stretch of my 60 mile commute daily. otherwise i think the 225d may be beconing...
JNW1 said:
Plenty of examples on M135i related threads of owners getting mid-30's without any problem on a motorway run and really don't see that an M235i should be significantly different. Personally I think you'd get 30 quite easily on the type of run you've described so kick that idea of a 225d firmly into touch!
I had a remapped 123D which never went below 37mpg, no matter what I did, and which averaged 43mpg over 40k miles. Very quick, very reliable, very efficient and I never want to be that bored again by an internal combustion engine. That said, the figures I'm seeing here for the 235i in the real world are a bit scary, when my 2009 911S averages 25mpg, never goes below 21mpg on the road and can easily hit 30mpg on a decently long run. I do lean towards the argument that the trend to turbo-everything is less about actual thermodynamic efficiency than about giving manufacturers more parameters to tweak to exploit statutory test cycles - it certainly doesn't seem to carry over to real-world driving. JNW1 said:
Plenty of examples on M135i related threads of owners getting mid-30's without any problem on a motorway run and really don't see that an M235i should be significantly different. Personally I think you'd get 30 quite easily on the type of run you've described so kick that idea of a 225d firmly into touch!
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