Poor fuel economy on 520d

xabi · 17-10-2012 4:05pm #1

I looked at an automatic 2006 BMW 520d today with 65K on the clock and was shocked by the fuel consumption reading from the OBC - its was reading 11.2l/100KM, that's around 25mpg. The car drove very well but i would be expecting to see better mpg than that. Would that be normal for city driving in one of these? as id say it hasn't left Dublin in over a year.

dingus12 · 17-10-2012 4:08pm

well it's a relatively heavy pre lci(167bhp older gearbox) 2 liter automatic 5 series that's been driven in town all year and probably has never had the mpg calc reset.

challengemaster · 17-10-2012 4:10pm

The fuel consumption measured by the OBC in bmw's is cumulative since the last time it was reset. That could be over the full lifespan of the car of city driving, if nobody has ever reset it. Not sure about the E60's but I'd imagine you should be able to reset it via iDrive.

Also the OBC isn't the most accurate at the best of times.

Idbatterim · 17-10-2012 4:37pm

seems pretty poor, but might well have been only city driving, due a service and from someone who had heavy right foot or didnt read the road ahead...

veetwin · 17-10-2012 5:01pm

25 mpg sounds heavy but I'm sure it's possible with short city journeys and a heavy right foot. I have the 177bhp one that averages 39mpg in mostly city driving and north county dublin driving though with a gentle right foot (mostly;))

anthony4335 · 17-10-2012 9:08pm

I would not trust the figure given. I bought a car resently and on the Journey home I saw the figure 26.4L/100Km nearly soiled myself. 2 weeks later 9.4l/100km. Most likely been test driven hard as you do when looking at buying a car . Drive it like you are late for mass, making sure everything is good.

Gumbo · 17-10-2012 9:11pm

Sounds about right for 100% city driving. My mams reads the same and it hasnt been reset since new in 2009.

Reset it, go for a spin on the motorway, see what it jumps up to, then hit the city and watch it drop back down. Pretty normal imo.

ongarite · 17-10-2012 9:50pm

Problems with the 2 thermostats ( EGR and main thermostat) on these engines seem to be pretty common and will give you poor mpg.
You can only check the engine temps through a hidden menu, videos of how to access it can be found on Youtube.

bazz26 · 18-10-2012 11:15am

I can't imagine all that city driving doing that engine any good either.

Poor fuel economy on 520d

Comments