Gas mileage

[plexus]

I have been wondering about my gas mileage. care is a 00 540i sport. I am in Toronto Canada.

Highway i get 9L/100km = 26MPG and this seems ok compared to other posts I have seen.

However in town I get around 22-24L/100km which is around 10MPG. I drive through the core of Toronto so its a lot of stop and go traffic. speed is no greater than 50kph. I hit about 6-8 lights in my driving. There is no highway driving in this context.

This seems really low to me? What do you think? Do I have a problem?plexus
http://www.oldbmw.com
00 540i M sport/6sp (Dieter)
71 3.0CS euro (Anelise)
84 528e (Florian - decommissioned)

[JimLev]

"Drive It Like You Stole It, A Sickness for Quickness"
The Bottle Rocket "King of Spray" 2 Stage Nitrous Oxide
Dare to be different and stand out among the crowd of me-to-cars!
No guts, no glory! Tire smoke, not traction control!
Zionsville all aluminum radiator to replace the 3 leak prone Nissens Radiators!

NOS Progressive 2 Stage Controller with port injection
Snow's Performance Methanol/Water Injection
Dinan downloads, VAC Under Drive Pulleys
Dinan Carbon Fiber CAI
Dinan Front Strut Bar
Electric Cooling Fan w/PWM controller
NGK Iridium Plugs
DDE Enhanced Angel Eyes, Smoked Lenses
Koni FSD's/H&R Springs, BAV Brass Caliper Bushings
Eisenmann Race Exhaust (from H8-Rain's car)
///M5 3.15 LSD
///M5 Sway Bars, Front & Rear
Energy Suspension Polyurethane Sway Bar Bushings
///M5 Gauge Cluster Rings ///M5 Lip Spoiler
///M5 Mirrors and Switches
Leather Z weighted shift knob (thanks H8-Rain)
Rogue “Octane” Short Shift kit w/WSR
Rogue Tranny Mounts
StopTech Brake Lines Front & Rear
Axxis Deluxe Plus pads Front & Rear
Staggered M Parallel 66, Xenons
Modified CDV, UGDO
Euro Storage Tray (thanks Zombywolf)
Redline in Diff and Tranny
Passport 8500 X50, Escort ZR3 Laser Jammer
G-Tech/Competition Pro Data Logger
Auto Enginuity OBD-II Scan Tool
25% Tint, X-Pel, LoJack
PIAA Driving Lights
BMW CCA Member Boston Chapter

[Craig in Canada]

My dad's 540iA is nowhere near that bad. The worst I ever see from my 528i 5spd sport with winter gas, stop/go, cold weather (rich mode) is 11.x I don't granny it, either.

[fritracer]

My 2000 540ia averages 17.8 MPG (50-50 mix city/hwy)as of this morning. I am not easy on the loud pedal. On long trips with cruise set at 85 mph, I average 23.5-24 mpg, slow to 65 mph and it goes up to 26-27 mpg. Around town I am averaging 14 mpg. No where near the 23 city and 36 hwy of my previous 98 528i 5 spd but the power more than makes up the difference. Fritracer
Cincinnati, OH
2000 540ia Sport Package 9/99 Silver/Black
1970 Dodge Challenger T/A 420 stroker w/6 Pak 430 HP,
510 lbft torque

[Bimmer5Michael]

My 00 540 sport 6 speed manages an average of 24 MPG when I drive it sanely, I only have 6 traffic lights 15 miles of freeway driving and 15 miles of secondary roads to travel one way to work so about 60 miles round trip daily. Occassionally a traffic jam. On a good long trip on mostly flat roads I can get around 28 MPG at ~80 MPH.

If I drive like it's a getaway car it returns 14 to 16 MPG and that is winding it through the gears, quick starts and stops.

When my MAF went bad I dropped to a horrible fuel mileage with a slight miss off idle and it would not wind past 4ooo rpms. Sounds like you can never get to that point unless you hold it in gear.

The 540 can deliver fenominal fuel mileage when tuned and driven properly.

Don't forget the air pressure in the tires. Also some tires themselves do poorly in delivering gas mileage, Also lubricant weight in the engine, transmission, and diff can drag mileage down.

If it recently started getting worse mileage, have you changed something in the car? Also while I cannot verify that the station is actually selling non ethanol fuel I have kept strick records in my van, car, truck, and motorcycle and have given each car 2 tanks of gas and driven them almost dry with each fuel type and then compared the results between what I am told is non ethanol and what I know has at least 10% ethanol. Depending on Vehicle I pick up between 3 and 6 mpg with non ethanol fuel.

There are so many factors that can affect fuel mileage that you just need to start with a good tuneup, good tires properly inflated, the correct weight of lubricants and the proper fuels. I have also noticed that I dropped around 6 mpg when I had to put reg (87) in the tank back during the premium fuel shortage.. So start with a good base to work from beginning with no codes.

Michael
00 540 sport 6 speed (finally escaped the car cover and driven the way it should be at least until the drive cycle is complete and the emissions passed!)

[ExAlfa]

I've been getting ~13.5 mpg this winter in town driving. It's been snowy and the roads are not too often down to bare pavement, so the tires work for purchase. Kills the mileage. Gummy winter tires do not help. I thought I was having issues until I did 400 highway miles this past weekend and saw ~25 mpg. I'm in the Finger Lakes area south of Rochester, NY.

[BCS]

Sounds low to me. I have an '01 540 and I get around 14mpg in the winter (PA) for city driving.

[plexus]

Grandpa Jim? ;)

I have been using 87 octane gas. should I try 91 or 93? think that will make a difference?

Otherwise nothing has changed really and the car is driving well and throwing no codes.plexus
http://www.oldbmw.com
00 540i M sport/6sp (Dieter)
71 3.0CS euro (Anelise)
84 528e (Florian - decommissioned)

[wog]

My 2000 540iA sport has an average 21 mpg (imperial) over the past 30k. City driving (stop/go every few blocks) averages ~ 16 mpg (imperial). This is equivalent to 17.4 mpg (US) overall, and 13.3 mpg US) city driving. Fyi, my e46 Cic slushbox gets only slightly better mileage. Best highway mileage for a trip is ~ 31 mpg (imperial).

[JimLev]

and a 3.15 diff I get 25MPG on the highway and average 22 combined.
I do use 93 octane and have found that I do get better mileage with it. I can get it down to 16MPG if I turn on the nitrous.