High Mileage

freddie1970

Hi just looking for a bit of advice .I am doing huge mileage on my car at traveling in and out to work 140km round trip. At the moment im driving a 2006 BMW 320D and im putting nearly a hundred euros a week into the car.
I was told before the 320D was a fairly economical and it has 6 gears.
Would i save on the fuel expense by getting a smaller 1.6 diesel or one of these newer cars .
Would it make much of a difference ???. I havent worked out yet what MPG im getting but will work that out soon to try and compare it to other models..

Truckermal

It would make little difference only destroy your soul driving a low HP car plus you will be spending thousands to save pennies on fuel.

bazz26

Don't forget to take account of the cost of buying the new car including loan interest and depreciation when you're doing your calculations also. Smaller engine doesn't necessarily mean better fuel economy, there are other factors to take into account also.

Damien360

freddie1970 wrote: »

Hi just looking for a bit of advice .I am doing huge mileage on my car at traveling in and out to work 140km round trip. At the moment im driving a 2006 BMW 320D and im putting nearly a hundred euros a week into the car.
I was told before the 320D was a fairly economical and it has 6 gears.
Would i save on the fuel expense by getting a smaller 1.6 diesel or one of these newer cars .
Would it make much of a difference ???. I havent worked out yet what MPG im getting but will work that out soon to try and compare it to other models..

That seems high. My 142 2.0 skoda superb gets 950km for 50 litres consistently driving on mixed roads and I don't drive lightly. If I use it on N roads only and drive easily I get 1050km. 50 litres is about €60 at current rates (give or take a few quid).

I had the same car as a 1.6 on rental for a few months just before it and I was getting close to 1100km driving mixed roads.

The 1.6 will make a little difference but I do think an engine size that matches the cars weight is better economically.

For example, I once had a 1.4 petrol scenic and the 1.6 was better on fuel as you didn't have to drive the stones out of the 1.6 to get it going.

freddie1970

yeah thats true .. the thing is i love my car at the minute great comfort ..just filling up every week is tough

bazz26

If you're only changing to save fuel costs then you won't when you take into account other running costs. If your changing anyway then that's a different thing but a smaller engine doesn't automatically mean it's more efficient.

freddie1970

I will have to work out the mpg ..it could be low because its a old car with a lot of miles on it .

BrianD3

From a quick calculation, 100 quid for 140 km x 5 days a week works out at around 25 mpg. Way too low for a diesel 3 series unless you are driving the crap out of it. Are you driving the crap out of it?

Truckermal

BrianD3 wrote: »

From a quick calculation, 100 quid for 140 km x 5 days a week works out at around 25 mpg. Way too low for a diesel 3 series unless you are driving the crap out of it. Are you driving the crap out of it?

Jesus that can't be right even driving in 2nd gear all day.

Alanstrainor

BrianD3 wrote: »

From a quick calculation, 100 quid for 140 km x 5 days a week works out at around 25 mpg. Way too low for a diesel 3 series unless you are driving the crap out of it. Are you driving the crap out of it?

My 325i 6 cylinder petrol would beat that...

I wonder though, the OP is pretty vague on the numbers and has no exact liters used. If they knew exact figures I bet it would not be that bad. If it is, there is something very wrong.

whizbang

If the Op is driving from Wicklow/Kildare/Meath into the city centre every day, then there's not much out there that will do better.

With a Leap card your max spend on public transport is €40, add a few more quid to drive to the bus stop.

freddie1970

Im not driving crap out of it ..doing about 120 mph on motorway ...i havent calculated the mpg yet so will do it after fill today ...will also calculate how much i spend exactly ..

BrianD3

freddie1970 wrote: »

Im not driving crap out of it ..doing about 120 mph on motorway

D0NNELLY

BrianD3 wrote: »

From a quick calculation, 100 quid for 140 km x 5 days a week works out at around 25 mpg. Way too low for a diesel 3 series unless you are driving the crap out of it. Are you driving the crap out of it?

That's just the work mileage..

freddie1970

BrianD3 wrote: »

That should be kilometers 😮😮

Walter2016

I get 50mpg + on a 2012 520d and do over 80k km a year.

If I'm in a rush and drive consistently at 120kmh - 140kmh on motorway it will drop to about 45mpg.

If I'm not in a rush and take it easy and cruise at 100kmh, I'll get 55mpg.

There was a big change in efficiency about 2010, on many cars esp bmw. The 3 series now claims almost 70mpg - real world probably 60mpg, so upgrading to 2010/2011 may be one option.

BorneTobyWilde

Buy a vintage mercedes e250 1987 minter
56 TAX
Run on vegetable oil 55p a litre
BOOM !

_Kaiser_

freddie1970 wrote: »

yeah thats true .. the thing is i love my car at the minute great comfort ..just filling up every week is tough

I drive about 1200km a week and just put €83 into mine and that'll see me through till Friday-ish.

Lesson: could be worse OP

pa990

freddie1970 wrote: »

Im not driving crap out of it ..doing about 120 mph on motorway ...i havent calculated the mpg yet so will do it after fill today ...will also calculate how much i spend exactly ..

I presume you mean 120km/h

freddie1970

yeah 120km/h tops

Biglad

I'd get that car checked. 320D should do much better than that. Mate of mine put 300K kilometers on his doing business miles and he still got nearly 50mpg when he sold it.

I do 50K kilometers a year in my Superb, a 2ltr 170bhp with DSG and she averages between 44-48 mpg. Your Beemer should be able to beat that.

Wonder what the A6 will be like when I get her on the 2nd of Jan :-)

Lada will yous get with the times and use liters per 100km?

Leonard Hofstadter

BrownFinger wrote: »

Lada will yous get with the times and use liters per 100km?

Well I might, if such a thing existed. There is no such thing as 'liters'.

Special Circumstances

captainspeed wrote: »

Well I might, if such a thing existed. There is no such thing as 'liters'.

And it's a skoda the big lad has not a lada.

bmwguy

That's about 11 litres for every 100km or 25mpg as one poster already said.

Something wrong with your car, unless the figures you gave us are way off. Those 320d were well known for their great economy. I would expect high 40s possibly even 50mpg on a mainly motorway journey in a well functioning car. I drove one only once as a loan car and was hugely impressed with the economy.
Should average 40 at least in mixed driving.

At 120 on a motorway my 525i will do 35/36mpg. Even my average including towns is 27.

An equivalent 530d from same era will do over 40mpg once you stick to motorway speeds.

pa990

When was it last serviced ?

Perhaps the injectors are getting to near end of life, and aren't spraying the fuel in a must, but rather pouring the diesel in.

What's the odometer reading ?

I could be wrong, but is it a consideration ?

Leonard Hofstadter

On the topic of fuel consumption and 25 mpg, I get more than that from my 325 petrol (28.5 at the moment according to the trip computer), and that's got a silky smooth 2.5 litre six cylinder petrol engine under the bonnet - not an engine type noted for good fuel consumption! I'd expect a 320d to do at least 40 mpg (and 50 on a long run) unless the living bejesus is being driven out of it.

steveshort

As said before, you need too get the car looked at you should get way better economy.
Im currently doing 160km per day in a 1.4 petrol megane and Im spending €80 per week on fuel, average mpg is 37 mpg.

enumbers

Doesnt matter how its been driven either calculations are way off or the car has a major issue which I doubt because at that level of consumption it would smoke like an old locomotive.

Cee-Jay-Cee

Before you do anything else find out what MPG the car is doing. Fill it to the neck, reset the trip meter, drive till the light comes on and fill again to the neck. Once you have those figures it'll be easier to say if the car/engine is running right.

gavman1

Truckermal wrote: »

Jesus that can't be right even driving in 2nd gear all day.

That's just what I was thinking,that motor even poorly maintained should be getting a minimum of 40 odd mpg. The only comparison I can make is as follows.
1.6 diesel focus....(yawn)
Traveling ballybrittas to navan Road,Dublin 5days a week.
Very roughly 550 miles per wk with wend use.
Fuel spend approx €60-€70 per wk.

freddie1970

I have probably over estimated how much i spend on diesel just seems to be a lot ...on the dash its given me 45mpg ..just wondering would i be better off with something more economical ...but then again i love my beemer ( sad i know )

pm.

Lexus ct 200h will fit the bill nicely

pa990

freddie1970 wrote: »

I have probably over estimated how much i spend on diesel just seems to be a lot ...on the dash its given me 45mpg ..just wondering would i be better off with something more economical ...but then again i love my beemer ( sad i know )

45mpg is grand.

Don't believe the 60 to 80mpg figures quoted by manufacturers.

They are not achievable in the real world.

punisher5112

freddie1970 wrote: »

I have probably over estimated how much i spend on diesel just seems to be a lot ...on the dash its given me 45mpg ..just wondering would i be better off with something more economical ...but then again i love my beemer ( sad i know )

Change your driving style and remove unnecessary weight.

Start driving a little lower then 120 and when coming to a stop leave in gear for as long as possible before depressing the clutch.

Try keep car back from others especially in traffic so you can keep moving and not trying to take off from a complete stop this all adds to extra fuel been used.

What year is the BMW and what mileage has it covered.

You would be mad to change when the car you have is such a better place to be then a 1.4 or 1.6 which can be more thirsty as need more pedal to get em going.

9935452

freddie1970 wrote: »

I have probably over estimated how much i spend on diesel just seems to be a lot ...on the dash its given me 45mpg ..just wondering would i be better off with something more economical ...but then again i love my beemer ( sad i know )

Verify you are getting 45mpg . but i think you wont do much better with a smaller more modern car.
You talked of 1.6 s earlier.
Ive driven a 12 volvo s80 and 141 focus . Both hire cars
Both i found dead and because of this i found myself pushing them the whole time. the volvo ended up doing 25/30mpg , the focus was 35/40 mpg .
On the books the the focus was meant to be able to do 65/70mpg but you would have to drive like a grandmother to do it.
I would say if you drove the BMW very handy you would get a good bit more out of it but no fun to drive.
I have an A4 that is averaging 49/50mpg . On a long trip driving handy it will get 60mpg

Biglad

It would be interesting to know how many stating their mpg are 'believing' the figures shown on the dash...I don't think any of these figures are 'real world' figures, bit like the emissions...I do 50K kmtrs a year and never got beyond 50mpg in my A4, A6 when checking mileage against actual fuel burned...

I'd be happy driving that Beemer and getting 45mpg.

kirving

I've found the readout on my desk to be accurate to pretty much 0.1l/100km based on brimming the tank which I find myself doing all too often lately.

Dord

Drop your speed down to 100Km/h. You'll notice your mpg go up.

biko

Look into hypermiling but really it comes down to driving like a granny