30.7 MPG in my E39 540iA yesterday...true story

[The Stiglet]

YES!!!!

58 miles, mostly M25 motorway on a Sunday afternoon lunchtime cruise to the golf course. Cruise Control locked down at a GPS verified 73 mph. Not to mention about 8 miles on A-roads and a couple of U-turns before I found the course! It was running at 31.4 MPG before that...

Never broken 28 MPG as I live in Central London and the traffic just kills any of the motorway averages but I started from very close to the motorway yesterday. Also very interested to see that my long term ownership (which I haven't reset in over 7,000 miles) is 22.7 MPG - almost bang on what BMW have in the book.

Very chuffed about breaking the 30 MPG - possibly need to get out more?!

Exhibit A:

[sparks_E39]

39.7 mpg in my 528 over 90 miles from Richmond to Poole the other day. It was 11pm and I was doing 60 with the cruise control on with the obligatory Fleet Services stop, but still impressive. It has done over 40 on the same trip before.

[Six Fiend]

Rarely below 30mpg on a run in my E34 540. Usually around 33-34 for trips of 100 miles plus. It was so unstressed.

Town work I'd be happy to be averaging 20

[The Stiglet]

Six Fiend said:

Rarely below 30mpg on a run in my E34 540. Usually around 33-34 for trips of 100 miles plus. It was so unstressed.

Town work I'd be happy to be averaging 20

That's seriously impressive! Is it a manual? And at what average speed?

I know 4.4 V8's aren't exactly designed to get great MPG but I'm quite enjoying trying to achieve my personal best

[NickXX]

Meh. I got 34mpg on my recent run from Macclesfield to Watford, I have a LT average of 24mpg too in an e46 M3 .

[The Stiglet]

Yeah, but yours is only a 3.2 litre straight six in a lighter car...

[Six Fiend]

The Stiglet said:

Six Fiend said:

Rarely below 30mpg on a run in my E34 540. Usually around 33-34 for trips of 100 miles plus. It was so unstressed.

Town work I'd be happy to be averaging 20

That's seriously impressive! Is it a manual? And at what average speed?

I know 4.4 V8's aren't exactly designed to get great MPG but I'm quite enjoying trying to achieve my personal best

It was an auto - used to sit around 75 on the motorway just burbling away. I'm quite light of foot and use a lot of forward observation to keep rolling without braking or accelerating harshly

It's fun trying to hit personal bests while not doing 56mph!

[williamp]

my e39 540 is currently averaging 16mpg, but its only being used to take mark2 to the Nursery and back in rush hour. A trip to sheffield this thursday should help that

Oh, to the OP. You know the heating controls. Its interesting to see you have face/front/legs buttons pressed, rather then "auto" which I always use. Any reason for this??

[matt21]

I hate to be a killjoy but these tend to all over read. In my Passat my 49mpg average = 45.6mpg, E39 530iA 28mpg = 26mpg and Cooper S 41.8mpg = 39mpg.

Work it out properly and I am confident it will be lower. Interested to do anyway to work out how far your computer is out. If you are a proper geek like me you can recalibrate your trip computer on the 540i by altering a factor.

That said, it is still mighty impressive for a 4.4 V8!

[The Stiglet]

williamp said:

Oh, to the OP. You know the heating controls. Its interesting to see you have face/front/legs buttons pressed, rather then "auto" which I always use. Any reason for this??

I don't do it often and normally use the Auto like you but sometimes I prefer it more Face/Legs rather than on the screen etc - especially when it is hot.