What V8 has a respectable MPG?
Discussion
Zwolf said:
I ran an E38 735i for six months and 6k miles of mixed use. It came out at 27.4 mpg. Which I didn't think was bad for a two tonne, slushbox equipped barge that was 13 years old and had 100k miles up. Over one trip to the Lake District and back it averaged just over 34 cruising at normal motorway speeds.
A 4.4 in similar use came out just under 26, but that did get booted more often.
The current 550i with it's 402 bhp, 443 lb ft, 4.4 bi-turbo V8, standard autobox equipped has an official average figure of 27.2mpg.
The F10 M5 with its 552 bhp, 502 lb ft bi-turbo V8 and 7 speed dual clutch transmission manages an average 28.5.
The ALPINA B5 Bi-turbo with its 500bhp, 500 lb ft variation on the 550i engine and gearbox arrangement comes in at 26.2mpg average.
None of which I consider to be poor value relative to the performance levels involved and I've yet to drive a BMW that didn't meet or exceed its official figures in my hands.
I've found it very easy to do so in my petrol one but it was a lot harder to achieve in the diesel, don't know if it's like that across the board though.A 4.4 in similar use came out just under 26, but that did get booted more often.
The current 550i with it's 402 bhp, 443 lb ft, 4.4 bi-turbo V8, standard autobox equipped has an official average figure of 27.2mpg.
The F10 M5 with its 552 bhp, 502 lb ft bi-turbo V8 and 7 speed dual clutch transmission manages an average 28.5.
The ALPINA B5 Bi-turbo with its 500bhp, 500 lb ft variation on the 550i engine and gearbox arrangement comes in at 26.2mpg average.
None of which I consider to be poor value relative to the performance levels involved and I've yet to drive a BMW that didn't meet or exceed its official figures in my hands.
varsas said:
I was quite surprised when my Stag returned 25mpg on a long run, not really taking it that easy.
Is that they are V8's or is it that V8's tend to have a large capacity and are attached to heavy cars with auto transmissions? I'd love to try a 2 litre V8 in a nice light sports car.
I wonder what a manual E34 530 (if such a thing exists) would return? 30+ if driven with care?
No different to a 540iIs that they are V8's or is it that V8's tend to have a large capacity and are attached to heavy cars with auto transmissions? I'd love to try a 2 litre V8 in a nice light sports car.
I wonder what a manual E34 530 (if such a thing exists) would return? 30+ if driven with care?
Patrick Bateman said:
I've found it very easy to do so in my petrol one but it was a lot harder to achieve in the diesel, don't know if it's like that across the board though.
That might be a factor, I tend to only own and drive petrol ones. The only diesel I've any lengthy experience of was a 120k mile E39 530d manual. In fairness to it, that did average over 40mpg in my use and I think its official figure was 41.5.Back when they were new I did run an E46 330d auto Touring for a few thousand miles as a demo, but that will likely not have been a representative 29mpg as it was new and not run in at all (experience with other company (Volvo) diesels over five years showed that they do seem to only deliver decent returns past 12-14k miles, until that point they start low and gradually improve with use) - plus I was 21 and in a £35k BMW so naturally drove it like a complete idiot
I ended up swapping with a colleague into a 325Ci Sport manual and we were both much happier. I got the same economy out of that as I did the diesel auto estate, so who knows? The petrols never seemed to improve with use the way diesels did.
redgriff500 said:
No production V8 driven in real world conditions gets anything like 30mpg.
A couple of V8s with respectable MPG:2011 Range Rover 4.4 TDV8
309 bhp & 516 lb ft.
Urban: 24.6
Extra Urban: 34.5
Combined: 30.1
2011 Audi A8 4.2 TDi Quattro
345 bhp & 590 lb ft.
Urban: 27.4
Extra Urban: 45.6
Combined: 36.2
007 VXR said:
jonnydm said:
007 VXR said:
Any V8 with over 20MPG Avg (real world) IS respectable IMHO
Just worked out some figures for my car. Just over 18mpg for the last 90 or so miles, pretty much all shortish urban journeys. 
BlitzE34 said:
varsas said:
I was quite surprised when my Stag returned 25mpg on a long run, not really taking it that easy.
Is that they are V8's or is it that V8's tend to have a large capacity and are attached to heavy cars with auto transmissions? I'd love to try a 2 litre V8 in a nice light sports car.
I wonder what a manual E34 530 (if such a thing exists) would return? 30+ if driven with care?
No different to a 540iIs that they are V8's or is it that V8's tend to have a large capacity and are attached to heavy cars with auto transmissions? I'd love to try a 2 litre V8 in a nice light sports car.
I wonder what a manual E34 530 (if such a thing exists) would return? 30+ if driven with care?
However if you reduce the capacity of the engine- for instance a 2 litre V8 this will also be inefficient: Although this will be less throttled to get the target torque to pootle around the highway, the cylinders are now small so they have a higher surface to volume ratio and more heat loss and the reciprocating friction and bearing friction of the engine is alot more compared to a contemporary 2 litre 4 cylinder.
Even a small capacity 6 cylinder like the 2.1 litre Jag V6 or the old BMW 320i inline six is horrendously inefficient in terms of thermodynamic efficiency, you'd be lucky to get better than a BSFC of 280 g/kwh at best point out of one of those.
I just did two brim to brim fill ups on the Mercedes 400 E (4.2 litre 32 valve 275 bhp V8 with variable cam phasing). One was in traffic during 1 weeks motoring, highway but congested- commute to work. That got 15.5 mpg (US) and this week it got 16.5 mpg (US).
I make that 18.5 mpg (UK) and 19.8 mpg (UK)respectively. The 19.8 was driven alot more sedately however it involved alot of idling during engine diagnostic work. This figures will almost certainly be improved upon.
We can summarise from this that Mr Gear is a complete bell-end and needs to STFU. His only interest is to derride anything with a decent engine and would love nothing better than if all of our choices were restricted to electrical appliances.
I make that 18.5 mpg (UK) and 19.8 mpg (UK)respectively. The 19.8 was driven alot more sedately however it involved alot of idling during engine diagnostic work. This figures will almost certainly be improved upon.
We can summarise from this that Mr Gear is a complete bell-end and needs to STFU. His only interest is to derride anything with a decent engine and would love nothing better than if all of our choices were restricted to electrical appliances.
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