E92 M3, commuting etc

[number 46]

I have a 2012 limited edition M3, DCT. It's my main car, I use it to commute on a round trip of 25 miles at least 4 days a week. Commute is in west London. No problems what so ever. You just put in D until its warmed up, for me usually about halfway in and then I drive it in DCT unless there is loads of traffic. The biggest PITA are the road humps and appalling state of our roads. As even in non Comp pack its quite low at the front. I have already changed one front tyre because it had an egg in the sidewall after I went over a appalling hole in the tarmac on the M25. Its seems to do 20 mpg whether I am doing 20 mph in London traffic or driving it at full chat out in the country. Its actually a really good car, very flexible, can carry 4 people and luggage no problem. Has much more performance than you would need on the road. I'm really pleased that I bought it, I initially wanted a manual but after driving the DCT I was very impressed and don't really miss the manual. I have a second classic car and racecar that are manuals so its not that much of a problem.

Edited by number 46 on Thursday 20th September 19:30

[mikeyscott]

number 46 said:

I have a 2012 limited edition M3, DCT. It's my main car, I use it to commute on a round trip of 25 miles at least 4 days a week. Commute is in west London. No problems what so ever. You just put in D until its warmed up, for me usually about halfway in and then I drive it in DCT unless there is loads of traffic. The biggest PITA are the road humps and appalling state of our roads. As even in non Comp pack its quite low at the front. I have already changed one front tyre because it had an egg in the sidewall after I went over a appalling hole in the tarmac on the M25. Its seems to do 20 mpg whether I am doing 20 mph in London traffic or driving it at full chat out in the country. Its actually a really good car, very flexible, can carry 4 people and luggage no problem. Has much more performance than you would need on the road. I'm really pleased that I bought it, I initially wanted a manual but after driving the DCT I was very impressed and don't really miss the manual. I have a second classic car and racecar that are manuals so its not that much of a problem.

Edited by number 46 on Thursday 20th September 19:30

Useful info re mpg. I do circa 57 miles a day and earlier this year 88. Running a Volvo C30 D4 and 135i at mo. Looking at consolidating to E92 M3 or F82 M4 maybe later this year

[Theone8181]

mikeyscott said:

Useful info re mpg. I do circa 57 miles a day and earlier this year 88. Running a Volvo C30 D4 and 135i at mo. Looking at consolidating to E92 M3 or F82 M4 maybe later this year

I do a circa 30 mile round trip mon-fri and get anything between 19 and 20 mpg. The couple of times I've been on motorways, I've managed 26, or as I prefer to think of it 30% more lol.

[Arranguez]

Driven carefully I’ve seen just over 30mpg in mine. Not really in the spirit of the car though!

[bennyboysvuk]

Arranguez said:

Driven carefully I’ve seen just over 30mpg in mine. Not really in the spirit of the car though!

I managed this for the first time in mine, when stuck behind many cars following a Jazz on the A281 recently. This didn't involve a cold start though, so the mpg was slightly skewed.

My car usually averages 19 mpg. It's in for service at the moment and I have a 120i M-Sport Shadowline edition. It's a 4-pot which sounds pretty bad, it's got a dim-witted auto that drops a gear every time I go near the throttle, clearly has no LSD, the brake pedal is set way too high and the ride is really jiggly, but the car still rolls a lot in corners. And with all that to put up with, it manages 30mpg, just 11 more than my V8 M3 with twice the capacity, twice the cylinders and immeasurably more fun. When I bear things like the 120i in mind, the M3 is just a brilliant, brilliant car.