Poor mpg - 330i sport touring auto

[Ciaran]

I've been getting poor mph in my touring. About 13 mpg to be precise. Over the last year I've covered 6000 miles and averaged about 21 mpg. My driving is in and out of work Monday to Friday, about 9 miles round trip in traffic so lots of stop starts.

Is this normal? I'm due a service in 5k miles.

Edit

The car is running great with no other problems what so ever! Passed the MOT last week with no issues.

Edited by Ciaran on Thursday 4th February 13:17

[dibbly_dobbler]

Ciaran said:

I've been getting poor mph in my touring. About 13 mpg to be precise. Over the last year I've covered 6000 miles and averaged about 21 mpg. My driving is in and out of work Monday to Friday, about 9 miles round trip in traffic so lots of stop starts.

Is this normal? I'm due a service in 5k miles.

Edit

The car is running great with no other problems what so ever! Passed the MOT last week with no issues.

You've kind of answered your own question - if your long term average is 21mpg (which sounds about right to me) and this has suddenly dropped to 13mpg then you've a problem. Unless you've been stuck in traffic a lot more than normal ?

I have an E90 330i manual which always gives at least mid 20s - not a direct comparison, but 13mpg sounds way too low to me ...

[Ciaran]

I've been doing less longer journeys to be honest so I guess that explains it although I may take a look at the MAF sensor and give it a clean to see if that helps.

[B3pete]

I am stuffed really .I would love a better looking more powerful car than my 177bhp 120d auto.However for example just done a round trip of 530 miles keeping up with most things when I wanted to motor on.The OBC showed 48 mpg at the end and now I am used to those sort of figures it would be gutting to see a lot less. Especially with the miles I do.

[parksie]

Ciaran said:

I've been getting poor mph in my touring. About 13 mpg to be precise. Over the last year I've covered 6000 miles and averaged about 21 mpg. My driving is in and out of work Monday to Friday, about 9 miles round trip in traffic so lots of stop starts.

Is this normal? I'm due a service in 5k miles.

Edit

The car is running great with no other problems what so ever! Passed the MOT last week with no issues.

Edited by Ciaran on Thursday 4th February 13:17

If it's gone through the MOT there can't be too much wrong under the bonnet, Fuel leak or a trip computer problem??Hell it makes my v12 850 seem frugal

[sparks_E39]

My E39 528 is averaging 19 MPG over 1000 miles, short journeys in cold weather. Cars don't like it, ised to get about 25 MPG out of my Fiesta 1.1, but then I drove like an 18 year old...

[Shropshiremike]

dibbly_dobbler said:

Ciaran said:

I've been getting poor mph in my touring. About 13 mpg to be precise. Over the last year I've covered 6000 miles and averaged about 21 mpg. My driving is in and out of work Monday to Friday, about 9 miles round trip in traffic so lots of stop starts.

Is this normal? I'm due a service in 5k miles.

Edit

The car is running great with no other problems what so ever! Passed the MOT last week with no issues.

You've kind of answered your own question - if your long term average is 21mpg (which sounds about right to me) and this has suddenly dropped to 13mpg then you've a problem. Unless you've been stuck in traffic a lot more than normal ?

I have an E90 330i manual which always gives at least mid 20s - not a direct comparison, but 13mpg sounds way too low to me ...

Yep, if it's stop start in town traffic then I'd expect low 20s at best

[Ciaran]

parksie said:

Ciaran said:

I've been getting poor mph in my touring. About 13 mpg to be precise. Over the last year I've covered 6000 miles and averaged about 21 mpg. My driving is in and out of work Monday to Friday, about 9 miles round trip in traffic so lots of stop starts.

Is this normal? I'm due a service in 5k miles.

Edit

The car is running great with no other problems what so ever! Passed the MOT last week with no issues.

Edited by Ciaran on Thursday 4th February 13:17

If it's gone through the MOT there can't be too much wrong under the bonnet, Fuel leak or a trip computer problem??Hell it makes my v12 850 seem frugal

No leak, it's parked in the same spot every and there is nothing left behind! I worked out the mpg manually rather than using the trip computer.

[Ecurie Ecosse]

B3pete said:

I am stuffed really .I would love a better looking more powerful car than my 177bhp 120d auto.However for example just done a round trip of 530 miles keeping up with most things when I wanted to motor on.The OBC showed 48 mpg at the end and now I am used to
those sort of figures it would be gutting to see a lot less. Especially with the miles I do.

123d or Alpina D3 (dare I say it) mapped.

[Ecurie Ecosse]

B3pete said:

I am stuffed really .I would love a better looking more powerful car than my 177bhp 120d auto.However for example just done a round trip of 530 miles keeping up with most things when I wanted to motor on.The OBC showed 48 mpg at the end and now I am used to
those sort of figures it would be gutting to see a lot less. Especially with the miles I do.

123d or Alpina D3 (dare I say it) mapped.

[B3pete]

Ecurie ,hello buddy ,you are reading my mind Alpina D3 is on my radar followed up with simon of emaps who after chatting to him says he keeps the alpinas torque curve magic just makes everything more powerful.(keep that quiet) I will live with the manual air con and am waiting for a switchtronic coupe to become available.
LLUUUVVVEERRLEEE

Edited by B3pete on Thursday 4th February 23:43

[TomM]

My 530 wont go over 20 at the minute on a 15 mile commute

[Mr_Sukebe]

At present our car is being used mainly in stop start traffic and still gets high teens low 20's. 11mpg sounds like it has an issue. If it continues, get it looked at.

[Matt UK]

MPG is all to do with driving conditions though.

My 530i auto on a steady motorway run can get up to about 35mpg if you cruise gently at 60mph. But I filled up the other day, reset the computer and drove for 1.5 hours across London is properly crap rush hour traffic. I got less than 8mpg.

So there you have it - from 8mpg to 35mpg or any combination inbetween.

Also worth noting that any car crawling along in rush hour traffic for 90 mins with aircon / stereo / heated seats is not going to get good mpg.

[turbo-ww]

I get about 30 out of the 330, but you do not want to know what the tt does.

Will re-phrase - I don't want to know what the tt does!!

[fwaggie]

Matt UK said:

MPG is all to do with driving conditions though.

My 530i auto on a steady motorway run can get up to about 35mpg if you cruise gently at 60mph. But I filled up the other day, reset the computer and drove for 1.5 hours across London is properly crap rush hour traffic. I got less than 8mpg.

So there you have it - from 8mpg to 35mpg or any combination inbetween.

Erk!

I get about 25mpg on my commute to work and back (about 3 miles of town driving and 7 miles of dual carriageway) and on a motorway run at 70mph around 37mpg.

And when I floor it about 4mpg

E36 M3.

[noumenon]

Check the tyre pressures (seriously).

[Tango13]

^^^^^^ What he said, an under inflated tyre will really hurt your MPG. Even correctly inflated tyres that are worn to the legal minimum will cost about 2-3mpg compared to a new set!

[anonymous-user]

mid to late 20s with same car as you and some very short stop start mileage