BMW 123d

[Welshbeef]

Well I had a 1.5hr test drive yesterday in a mixture of road types and driving both hard and normal - the car had covered just shy of 4000miles and over the 90miles travelled I averaged 56.5mpg! Ive seen some posters here questioning the efficiency of the 118d & 120d before and they claim low 40's or even mid 30's is the norm. Well they are either driving the car incorrectly or must be on a serious mission day in day out.

Anyway my review of the car (SE Spec with leather).
Firstly the stop start the first time it happened it was a bizarre sensation and there was concern that the engine wouldnt start in time with the traffic flow however I was totally incorrect it is a sinch to get used to in fact the second time I stopped it was basically a style that I was used to. BMW claim that provided the engine is off for >2 seconds then its more efficient to cut off the engine.

Next Im used to VAG units so sluggish up to 1900rpm then a spike then its all over this however had guts from 1000rpm and its a nice long first gear so roundabouts and junctions are not a scenario of rushed changes into second.

It has real strength from 1000-4000 I pushed it up to the 5250rpm cut out a couple of times but you may as well change up at 4500rpm.

Cornering was fantastic truely great.
There was no opportunity for any A/B road overtaking but the 30-70mph in say 4th or 5th was mightly impressive.

I tried 2 launches off the line and good changes it really is satisfying not to have any torque steer which Im so used to simply real shove in the back.

Seats were supportive and comfy. Trip computer had all the info I needed + there were a number of useful cubby holes. The centre arm rest is a really worth while option.

I have my seat at the lowest position and even then visability was sound.

Comparing this to my 220bhp Fiat Coupe well if Im honest it has 95%+ of the performance and its only when you really stretch the engine to the max its where my car is better only then do you have those last few hundred rpm exelerating fun, however I guess that happens maybe once or twice a month so hardly a big issue.

Of all the cars I have tested so far Golf GT TDI 170, Astra 1.9 TDI 150, Megane Dci175 this is leagues ahead and so much so that Ive made my mind up that this is the model I want to own.

Id say its only drawback is its price with the options Im after new this lists at £27k (M sport cruise, comfort pack).
The other thing is this has the same power output as the old shape 330d yet gives not far off 15mpg to the better.

Boot space is fine - its only 20ltrs smaller than a Golf seats are excellent rear space with my seat in its position is well tight but Id never be in the rear myself.

Options on this car Id have to say dont spec Business Nav or Pro Nav instead buy a Tom Tom one its better and you can save yourself up to £1.7k in the process.

Anyone looking for a sub 7 second car to sixty with a genuine real world ave mpg of 56.5mpg (and it will loosen up more) or longer M way trips I imagine mid 60's is a real possibility as relative to this my old Golf Gt TDI 115 (same milage) didnt break into the 50's however come 60k it always was 55-58mpg and M way was 65mpg and a one off 74mpg record.

I expected this to be good but it has FAR exceeded my expectations you seriously do not need any more speed in a road car.

ANy questions please post and Ill try to respond

[Methane Bloke]

I presume it was a hatchback you tested? My son and I took a 123d coupe out for a test drive. The car only had 80 miles on the clock so I'm sure the performance wasn't there yet. It didn't really feel any faster than the 120d I drive, but it certainley was lagless and had a good useable rev range. Very quiet and civilised as well, it will be my first choice when the 120d goes.

Regards

Chris

[Deva Link]

There's no doubt that BMW know how to do a good engine. It's the unbearable ride that blights many of their cars, especially if you get the suspension/wheel/tyre combination wrong.

[Volte]

I had a 120d Sport a couple of years ago as a courtesy car for a few days and it was averaging 34-6mpg! The handling was fantastic!

More recently I had a 118d with the start stop feature and the economy was much better. >40mpg

My experience is that the BMW published economy figures are pure fantasy - look at their website - there is no way you could get some of results they claim, especially the petrol - and from experience I wouldn't trust the On Board Computer economy figure either....

Also, I believe the new 1 series (apart from the 130i) have electric rather than hydraulic power steering and therefore the feeling isn't as good as the older shape, but the 118d was still nice to drive.

[dxb335d]

Methane Bloke said:

I presume it was a hatchback you tested? My son and I took a 123d coupe out for a test drive. The car only had 80 miles on the clock so I'm sure the performance wasn't there yet. It didn't really feel any faster than the 120d I drive, but it certainley was lagless and had a good useable rev range. Very quiet and civilised as well, it will be my first choice when the 120d goes.

Regards

Chris

Chris are you Chris MW?

[Welshbeef]

Volte said:

I had a 120d Sport a couple of years ago as a courtesy car for a few days and it was averaging 34-6mpg! The handling was fantastic!

More recently I had a 118d with the start stop feature and the economy was much better. >40mpg

My experience is that the BMW published economy figures are pure fantasy - look at their website - there is no way you could get some of results they claim, especially the petrol - and from experience I wouldn't trust the On Board Computer economy figure either....

Also, I believe the new 1 series (apart from the 130i) have electric rather than hydraulic power steering and therefore the feeling isn't as good as the older shape, but the 118d was still nice to drive.

It was the 5 Door Hatch.

True the MPG I achieved was pruely based upon the OBC readout but even assuming its 10% overreading thats still over 50mpg on a tight engine.

Lagless is certainly the description I would give it, really gutsy from effectively idle.

Also I drove the SE so didnt experiance the M Sport suspension however I did experiance the SE suspension with Run flats and thats miles superior to my 10 year old Fiat Coupe Turbo & much better than the Golf & Astra Ive tested recently.

I have no idea what the MPG of their petrols is in real life but I can get 36mpg out of my 5 speed fiat coupe turbo 20v so technology thats 10 years more advanced with stop start it clearly has to be superior to what I achieve in mine.

Oh I put it to instant MPG readout also and found that with 55-60mph in 6th that was showing around 80-85mpg this dropped as the speed rose - I cannot recall what it was at 70.

I want one!

[xxplod]

We've just got back in to a 320d. We've just had our money refunded on a Mini Cooper D (car rejected - engine mgnt problem). The Cooper D returns only about 10% more than a 320d, despite it's laughable claims of over 70mpg on the combined cycle.

[Welshbeef]

xxplod said:

We've just got back in to a 320d. We've just had our money refunded on a Mini Cooper D (car rejected - engine mgnt problem). The Cooper D returns only about 10% more than a 320d, despite it's laughable claims of over 70mpg on the combined cycle.

How many miles did it have on it?
I ask as in tis months Diesel car they have a Mini cooper D and £100 the idea being they could drive from London to the Ring (and paying for the two laps and ferry) they did it and found the car achieved 60mpg even with racing round the ring nearly tempering the brakes and also not hanging about at all on the Motorways in Europe. He did say that when he backed off the MPG seen at motorway crusing was remarkable (didnt state a value though) oh and he did do it but over spent by 9p he was gutted and wished maybe he shouldnt have done so many full throttle launches.

Diesels do take a good 10-40k to fully run in.

[niva441]

Welshbeef said:

Well I had a 1.5hr test drive yesterday in a mixture of road types and driving both hard and normal - the car had covered just shy of 4000miles and over the 90miles travelled I averaged 56.5mpg! Ive seen some posters here questioning the efficiency of the 118d & 120d before and they claim low 40's or even mid 30's is the norm. Well they are either driving the car incorrectly or must be on a serious mission day in day out.

Or could it be that BMW have responded to the differences between the claimed mpg and realistic mpg, quietly improving the engine spec in the later cars. Believe me despite serious effort to get some semblance of the claimed efficiency, the 120d I owned never showed any sign of achieving its official figures. My current car can exceed its official stats.

[baz1985]

Lol. I managed <25mpg in a 118d a few years back.

[xxplod]

Car had 3000 miles when fault developed. I appreciate that the mpg may have improved a little as the car put on the miles, but not by 20 mpg!!!

[Methane Bloke]

My last 4 tanks have taken me around 2000 miles at between 47 and 48MPG in the 120d. Official combined figure is 49MPG so what's the problem. MPG is calculated from what's gone in the tank although I find the OBC to be pretty accurate on this BMW.

Regards

Chris

[timwatsham]

My E39 530d is suppossed to get 39mpg according to official figures, but I've now averaged 41.5mpg according to the OBC over 35000 miles. Using manual calculations (bit sad, but I do it each fill) I've never seen lower than 38.7mpg, and have seen as high as 44.6mpg, with the average being 40-42mpg which shows the OBC to be pretty accruate...

[Welshbeef]

xxplod said:

Car had 3000 miles when fault developed. I appreciate that the mpg may have improved a little as the car put on the miles, but not by 20 mpg!!!

I think the difference between petrol & diesel is that the difference between Urban and extra urban has a lesser spread on petrols than diesels and as such I tend to always get bang on Combined for petrols, however maybe its the way I drive the traffic conditions (S.E. M4 traffic though so not that good on a commute) and the fact I strictly use the cheapest fuel I can find and in the main thats Supermarket.

I always check tyre pressure when I fill up with fuel (unless in a Hurry), always change tyres just before they reach 3mm depth and only carry what I strictly need to carry in the car thus reducing weight.

I tend to have the air con on a fair bit and the fan is always on + I drive all the time with sidelights during the day.

Ive found the OBC to be pretty accurate in the VAG's I have driven cannot comment on this 123d though - however I guess a glance at the drop in fuel guage over the test drive could have given an indication as to its very rough accuracy.

[Welshbeef]

Methane Bloke said:

My last 4 tanks have taken me around 2000 miles at between 47 and 48MPG in the 120d. Official combined figure is 49MPG so what's the problem. MPG is calculated from what's gone in the tank although I find the OBC to be pretty accurate on this BMW.

Regards

Chris

]


Well you need to calculate what % of your driving is urban what is extra urban & what is A/B roads if it is more squewed towards the Urban than the official Govt route then of course your never going to achieve the official combined as remember it is an average.

One thing though if you reset the trip and you have the engine up to temps and your on the M way at 70mph in 6th you should easily see 60+mpg if not then tyres are too low, tread too low, blocked injector (evident with a lot of black smoke). If you dont take it to the garage as there is something wrong with it. If it does however then its purely your dirving style &/or the % of your time you spend driving in Urban vs extra urban

[Andrew D]

timwatsham said:

Using manual calculations (bit sad, but I do it each fill)

I'm even sadder than that i'm afraid. I keep a running record of the volume put in, mileage and OBC-indicated MPG from each visit to the filling station in order to determine the accuracy of the OBC MPG. The current mean is an OBC indication of 108% of the hand calculated value.

Driving style makes a profound difference on economy. Driving at the speed limit and avoiding brake use in anticipated situations (i.e. in favour of engine braking for non-emergency stopping) I return 40mpg in my Z4 3.0i on a 70-mile trunk road journey. However if I'm in a rush it's more like 32mpg. It's all about self-control!

[Welshbeef]

Driving style does make a big difference although no matter how hard I drove it it wouldnt go below high 30's and my old GT TDI115 wouldnt go lower than 45 red lining it so others hwere must have engine issues

[Marki]

Was out for a run this weekend im my 320d coupe , up towards Rotterdam which is speed camera land so not in any rush , averaged around 100kmph and returned 55 mpg or 5:1Lt per 100 kms

[Welshbeef]

I really think these combined MPG's are really achieveable - Ive cretyainly beaten the combined cycle for all the cars I have owned (brim to brim method).


Anyone else tested the 123d yet? Really great car

[beakr]

I've just ordered a 125i Coupe myself.


Screw fuel consumption (although it's claimed at 35mpg which is mighty impressive)