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      04-13-2014, 09:58 AM   #1
brommy
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50+mpg 'on a run' in a 335d?

Despite generally not being too fussed about my mpg, after recent talk of whether a 335d was capable of achieving 50mpg 'on a run', I thought I'd investigate. I've previously had more than 50mpg twice but didn't think I'd need evidence of such to 'prove it' and I've since adjusted my OBC accuracy (reduced by 4%) to match 'brim to brim' calculations.

I've tried to note as many potentially influential factors as possible (and a few trivial facts!), but please feel free to ask if there is anything I've missed.

Date: Saturday 12th April 2014.
Car: 335d saloon.
Mileage: 1322, barely run-in but glad it has!
Wheels: 19" (403 style).
Tyres: Goodyear Eagle 1 Run-Flats.
Tyre pressures: not checked but they were as recommend by the sticker when measured two weeks earlier.
Weather: 12c, light winds, dry, mostly overcast.
Cargo: 5 people (wife, our 2 teenage children, son's girlfriend, myself) plus approximately 10kg of luggage in the boot.
Estimated cargo weight: 320kg.
Fuel type: bog-standard diesel (approximately 75% Esso at a very reasonable 131.9p/l) and 25% Asda at 132.7p/l).
Fuel carried at start of journey: 3/4 of a tank (approximately 43 litres).
Engine temperature at start of journey: cold.
Auto-start/stop: on (not active for immediate local roads (cold engine), activated a couple of times during roadworks).
Driving mode: 'Comfort' for the entire journey.
Driving style: around 1/3 throttle to get up to speed which is reasonably cautious but still felt spritely in a 335d and in any case, I wasn't going to drive like a stereotypical BMW driver with my wife and kids on board.
Potentially fuel sapping functions: automatic air-con - on, front/rear heated seats - off, cruise control used.
Purpose of journey: meeting Mom and step-Dad for a pub lunch (a genuine 'real world' medium length journey for me).

Journey details:
Local 30mph roads from my home near Lickey Hills, Worcestershire (couple of short stops at junctions, approximately 25mph average);
M42 J1 to J3A (virtually no HGVs but still fairly busy with weekend drivers so averaged around 65mph);
M40 to J16 (used cruise control set to 78mph);
A46 to A45 (used cruise control set to 75mph);
A45 (heavy traffic due to roadworks so 25mph for the first mile but then average was around 55mph);
B4455 and then A428 in to Church Lawford (single carriageway at national speed limit - some straights at 65mph and a few bends at 45mph, stuck at 25mph behind a tractor and a few cars for a minute);
No delays in parking - reversed straight in to a spot.

Lamb chops and a pint for lunch.

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The return journey was similar but the A45 traffic was a little heavier and I hit 80 on the M40 a couple of times, so the consumption was 2.6mpg less. An average of 51.5mpg over the 77 miles.

I suppose I could have waited until my engine had worn in a few thousand miles and selected Eco Pro and started with a warm engine and turned the air con off and had less or no passengers and sat behind lorries doing 55mph and avoided cruise control and carried less fuel and used premium diesel as that would have increased the fuel efficiency (I suspect to above 55mpg), but it would have detracted from my own 'real world' 'on a run' journey.

I wouldn't dare to argue that 50+mpg is a regular occurrence in a 335d. Even with fairly common 40+mpg (plus a couple of 50+mpg) journeys, my wife's 11 mile cold start commutes at 34mpg (improving at little with the warmer weather) and some of my post run-in performance experiments, have tempered our average to 37mpg. Still happy with that for a 300+hp machine. The fact remains that a 335d is easily capable of 50+mpg 'on a run' and not necessarily in ideal conditions.

Guys, I know some of you have been sceptical and yes, if the car is driven spiritedly, of course there is no chance of getting 40 to 50mpg; it's not rocket science! However, in the real world I have a good mix of driving which doesn't always include 'flooring it'. I know there will be some drivers who state their 335d never does 50mpg but there is little I can do about that and provided we all enjoy driving our 335d's it shouldn't matter. I also suspect there will some non-335d owners who remain sceptical (semantics over what 'on a run' means?), but I'm not sure why I should care anyway! After all it's my fuel money I'm spending.

I hope this has been of some interest to you. I was asked and now I've delivered.
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      04-13-2014, 10:10 AM   #2
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I did a run the other day

And it was still climbing.

75mph on cruise in Eco plus.

4 passengers plus a boot full.
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      04-13-2014, 10:48 AM   #3
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Did I understand it right that you are saying you would have had better mpg by not using cruise control? I always thought it was more economical to use it as you won't be going on and off the gas. Or is that just my dodgy driving?
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      04-13-2014, 11:01 AM   #4
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No just pointing out I had it on cruise.

Although I am not sure if it helps the MPG.
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      04-13-2014, 11:18 AM   #5
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That's pretty impressive I would say. No way I was close so far, the best I achieved from one full tank to another was 42mpg (44.4 mpg on on-board computer) however I have never had a stable run on ~400 miles.
But I managed to do 461 miles on full tank (50 liters refueled).
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      04-13-2014, 11:19 AM   #6
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Very good. Very impressive actually.

10 years ago even 40mpg at 300bhp would have been thought impossible for a production car.
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      04-13-2014, 11:23 AM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by billy.213 View Post
Did I understand it right that you are saying you would have had better mpg by not using cruise control? I always thought it was more economical to use it as you won't be going on and off the gas. Or is that just my dodgy driving?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Afy360 View Post
No just pointing out I had it on cruise.

Although I am not sure if it helps the MPG.
It is traditionally believed that careful driving, not in cruise control, is slightly better for econony. During the uphill motorway stretches, I knew that switching the cruise control off and easing back from 78/75 mph would help my economy but I wanted to keep my findings relevent to the 'real world' and readily able to fend off possible accusations. I therefore kept my cruise control on during open stretches of motorway and dual carriageway.
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      04-13-2014, 11:30 AM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by billy.213 View Post
.... I always thought it was more economical to use it as you won't be going on and off the gas. Or is that just my dodgy driving?
If you are an economy minded driver, you can get better mpg without cruise control and still keep the same average speed.

You use the road, a couple of mph increase down hill and a couple mph drop off up hill, a simple easing off a few seconds earlier than with cruise switched on, all help to eek out more mpg without any effort.

But for many drivers cruise control will give them best mpg, their normal driving is too erratic, and they don't read the road enough in normal driving.

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      04-13-2014, 11:35 AM   #9
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Re. cruise control - exactly what Pete wrote.
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      04-13-2014, 11:41 AM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by brommy View Post
...I hope this has been of some interest to you. I was asked and now I've delivered.
Good result, sounds as if by simply controlling speed and more gentle use of the throttle, you have shown what can be achieved.

I'd wager that even at your vehicle loadings and average speed, over the same trip, there will still be quite a mpg difference across drivers. Tests have shown driver variation has a big impact on mpg.

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      04-13-2014, 11:58 AM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Pablo68 View Post
Very good. Very impressive actually.

10 years ago even 40mpg at 300bhp would have been thought impossible for a production car.
Fair play Pablo68. I was hoping not to have to defend my finding against a 'not a chance' retort. Thanks for taking it as it was.

Just a quick note to those reading this thread who are thinking about buying their first 335d, please do not think you'll be averaging 40+mpg - just because a 335d is capable of 50+mpg 'on a run'. Unless you are lucky enough to be able to regularly drive 30+ mile journeys, I'd expect an annual average of 34mpg (winter) perhaps rising to 38mpg (summer). All subject to potentially large variations in driving styles, traffic conditions and typical journey lengths. Still impressive for a 4 wheel-drive 300+hp family saloon.
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      04-13-2014, 12:32 PM   #12
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Last week in my 335d Touring I managed 49.5MPG (from OBC) from a cold start to Bristol, 45 miles at 70 MPH on the motorway.
And also got a 52MPG from 130 mile trip to the office in Bicester via one stop in Cheltenham, again sticking to legal limits. Always keener to get home so came back via M4 at 80-90 MPH which dropped the overall trip average down to 46.5 MPG, using just under 1/3 tank.
In comparison my previous A4 3.0TDI would just about get 45MPG on a long flat motorway run if nursed at 60-65 MPH, and I'd usually use 1/2 tank on the 260 round trip to the office.
The (possible) economy vs power just amazes me.
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      04-13-2014, 12:41 PM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by brommy View Post
Fair play Pablo68. I was hoping not to have to defend my finding against a 'not a chance' retort. Thanks for taking it as it was.

Just a quick note to those reading this thread who are thinking about buying their first 335d, please do not think you'll be averaging 40+mpg - just because a 335d is capable of 50+mpg 'on a run'. Unless you are lucky enough to be able to regularly drive 30+ mile journeys, I'd expect an annual average of 34mpg (winter) perhaps rising to 38mpg (summer). All subject to potentially large variations in driving styles, traffic conditions and typical journey lengths. Still impressive for a 4 wheel-drive 300+hp family saloon.
Nope, hats off... you came up with the goods, and it is actually impressive that it is possible. (It's still a tractor though, even if it can do 50+mpg )
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      04-13-2014, 02:51 PM   #14
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Great post and in line with what I've seen "on a run". My last 50 mile trip averaged at 49mpg. However, outside temp at 2c, and the old 5 mile commute has seen as low at 22mpg. Last week with the weather at 15c the same short journey was 35ish.
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      04-13-2014, 03:05 PM   #15
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To add to this, in a one week old 335d, my 30 mile school run that I do twice per day saw a high average of 45mpg (driving really carefully) and a low of 33mpg (when I was testing out Sport and Sport+) - I reckon if I can average 40mpg long term I would be doing well.

You definitely need a long run to get the best fuel economy out of the 3 litre lump as it took about 10 miles one morning last week to get the oil temp gauge up to normal operating level.
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      04-13-2014, 03:59 PM   #16
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Hats off to you guys. We had a steady trip down to Portsmouth today, mostly steady cruising over 200 miles and we got 39.8mpg. The problem I have is that every round about, turn, speed limit increase, slip road I floor it!
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      04-13-2014, 04:38 PM   #17
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tengocity
Hats off to you guys. We had a steady trip down to Portsmouth today, mostly steady cruising over 200 miles and we got 39.8mpg. The problem I have is that every round about, turn, speed limit increase, slip road I floor it!
Too right! You only live once
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      04-13-2014, 05:37 PM   #18
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Great write up brommy, an interesting read.
Although I cant see me ever achieving that mpg! Not got the will power.

We had a week in Cornwall last week and drove in Sport mode all the time. Total trip average was just over 38mpg, cant complain at that as I drove how I wanted (within reason as the missus/kids were in the car!)
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      04-14-2014, 02:18 AM   #19
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Pablo68 View Post
Nope, hats off... you came up with the goods, and it is actually impressive that it is possible. (It's still a tractor though, even if it can do 50+mpg )
I'd be curious what your average mpg is. My real life is 24mpg e92 335i vs 38mpg current 335d on the same commute. However it is interesting to see www.automobile-catalog.com where the average mpg 335i is similar or lower than 335d, strange.
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      04-14-2014, 02:30 AM   #20
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My QQ in mixed driving conditions is roughly 48 mpg probably due to the weight of the car and 1.5 engine being over reeved to keep 75mph.

So mega excited to switch it for 300+ bhp car with a 0-60 of under 5 sec and still maintain something in the 40's! Holy hell!
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      04-14-2014, 02:42 AM   #21
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After a spirited 600 km drive mostly on motorways (average speed 73 mph) this sunday I can tell that my 335d consumes 34 mpg (8,2 l/100 km) . I will NEVER see 50 mpg...
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      04-14-2014, 02:47 AM   #22
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Quote:
Originally Posted by erbo73 View Post
After a spirited 600 km drive mostly on motorways (average speed 73 mph) this sunday I can tell that my 335d consumes 34 mpg (8,2 l/100 km) . I will NEVER see 50 mpg...
Spirited I could live with that all day long, if i drive the QQ spirited i can get it down to 35mpg!
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