[mcom]

Curious, I commute aprox 2k miles a month. Had this awesome car (Love it) since mid-Feb. I am consistently getting aprox 24.1 mpg...
Use ECO most of the time (90% HWY miles, 75-80mph), 10% or less of the time City, I occasionally let the testosterone take over for short stretches...

Is my driving style that off? Am I that poor of a driver? Sticker stated 26-31 I believe and Dealer (no, I didn't believe them even at the time) said I could get 10% more than that in ECO. Curious as to what others get as far as MPG goes.

[RDKing2]

The gas mileage is my wife's biggest disappointment with the 235. The sales guy was saying persons were averaging 32-35. She averages 25 while the E46 M3 was 24 when it was her daily driver. Drives in comfort as she said there was no difference from eco. Average 65 miles per day 95% highway. Some traffic one way. She likes the car other than that.

[shark715]

Originally Posted by RDKing2

The sales guy was saying persons were averaging 32-35.

Lesson #1: Question everything sales guy tells you :-)

[zipphreak]

I drive 90-95% highway... I have 22 avg in comfort for all last year, but just recently have been driving only in Sport and I'm averaging 22.5-22.7 now!

Sticker is obviously a little off on the combined mileage. A disappointment but for the rated HP, it's not totally bad

[Mjosh]

I drive about 50/50 highway/city. Gas mileage is not that great. I only had the car for little less than a month and recently drive in comfort more than sport. I've never tried eco or sports plus yet..

On average I think I get about 230-250 miles per tank before I need to fill up. Does anyone know how much gas does comfort saves over sports? Don't seem like a big difference to me for some reason.

[SmoWilly]

I just got back from a 220 mile round trip (mostly highway) and the computer said 33.6 mpg---I went from full to about 2/3 tank of gas. Avg. speed was around 75mph. Top was up the whole way since it was cloudy/rainy.

I live in Denver so a lot of up and down at about 5,500 feet ASL. I was in Comfort and Eco (long stretch of toll road) at times.

My daily commute to and from Denver in stop and go averages around 23MPG driving a mix of comfort and sport.

[ellincali]

Even with my 228 I'm only getting 26 MPG on average, mostly highway driving but almost always in sport mode.

It's so fun, though...I just don't care.

[golf4501]

I have had mine for over a year and 14,000 miles. I average right around 22-23 95% comfort mode with a mix of highway and local driving (being in Chicago a lot of it is in grid lock). The best I've done is 26, and that was strictly weekend highway driving in light traffic. My only complaint is the tiny gas tank compared to my 335, so the range is generally 260-270 miles.

[MrBucket]

Originally Posted by SmoWilly

I just got back from a 220 mile round trip (mostly highway) and the computer said 33.6 mpg---I went from full to about 2/3 tank of gas. Avg. speed was around 75mph. Top was up the whole way since it was cloudy/rainy.

I live in Denver so a lot of up and down at about 5,500 feet ASL. I was in Comfort and Eco (long stretch of toll road) at times.

My daily commute to and from Denver in stop and go averages around 23MPG driving a mix of comfort and sport.

There is no way you did 220 miles on 1/3 of a tank, our tanks are tiny. The mileage is believeable but the tank isn't.

I did about a 340 mile drive from NYC up to Burlington VT about a week after I got the car with only about 270 miles on it and I averaged 31.9 at an average speed of 74mph. I think I only made it about 280 miles before the thing was telling me I had a low tank.

[brhon]

I average 21-22, and drive in Sport mode nearly all the time. Didn't buy it to save gas.

[3.0L]

Originally Posted by RDKing2

The gas mileage is my wife's biggest disappointment with the 235. The sales guy was saying persons were averaging 32-35. She averages 25 while the E46 M3 was 24 when it was her daily driver. Drives in comfort as she said there was no difference from eco. Average 65 miles per day 95% highway. Some traffic one way. She likes the car other than that.

Seems a bit off. My M235i has a combined average of 24 MPG since new (one year). My driving is about 50/50 city highway, and I do not really try to ring out every last MPG. Strictly on the highway trips, I consistantly see 32 to 34 MPG with cruising speeds of 65 to 80 and passing bursts approaching, well, never mind.

[wjones14]

Originally Posted by mcom

Curious, I commute aprox 2k miles a month. Had this awesome car (Love it) since mid-Feb. I am consistently getting aprox 24.1 mpg...
Use ECO most of the time (90% HWY miles, 75-80mph), 10% or less of the time City, I occasionally let the testosterone take over for short stretches...

Is my driving style that off? Am I that poor of a driver? Sticker stated 26-31 I believe and Dealer (no, I didn't believe them even at the time) said I could get 10% more than that in ECO. Curious as to what others get as far as MPG goes.

It's not necessarily that you're a poor driver, but your expectations are too high. 75 to 80 mph is your biggest problem if your goal is to maximize your fuel economy. Slower will get you more, guaranteed. Not sure why your sticker is different than mine, but mine says 19/28 with 22 average.

On my 900 mile return trip from picking up the car in SC, I averaged 26.8 on a car that was not yet broken in. Since then it has been around 22-24 in mostly non-highway driving.

[German1967]

My current E90 335xi gets about 22mpg on average with the N54 engine. I would expect the M235xi to deliver about the same if not constantly driven in Sport mode. That relatively poor gas mileage should be no surprise given the drive train and is the price to play. I will receive mine in a few days and the we'll see, if I am wrong.

[Pyewacket69]

I've owned my 235 (manual) for eleven months. I get in the 26mpg vicinity, mostly local driving. I get 29 mpg in my 2010 E93 (328i) in the same driving environment.

The EPA mileage estimates do not take into account driving at 75> miles an hour, and one can be guaranteed lower mpg at speeds above 60 mph.

Now, why would anyone buy a performance oriented vehicle and complain about mileage? It seems counter-intuitive to me...

Whatever floats your boat, I guess...

[rocketretro]

The fuel savings that you are getting from using ECO Pro are not worth the pain and tedium that you are putting yourselves through. The ECO system really only benefits in laboratory controlled conditions and we didn't buy M135/235i's to be part of a fuel economy experiment. If you want to improve your mpg it's all about a smooth driving style, braking and anticipation, but then we don't have mountains and high altitude here, so who am I to say .....

[Col-Bimmer]

What speed are you going? I get about 26 - 27mpg going 75mph (going speed limit) in my neck of the woods.

[3.0L]

Another thing: I traded in my 2004 Mazda RX-8 when I bought my M235i. As some of you might already know, the RX-8 and previous generation Wankle powered Mazdas got horrible MPG. In fact, that may have been what killed the Wankle.

In any case, after driving the RX-8 for 10 years, I feel like I've died and gone to heaven with my M235i. Insanely better performance and much better MPG to boot! The RX-8 got 14 to 16 MPG in town and no better than 23 on the highway... If I kept it under 70.

[rocketretro]

Originally Posted by Col-Bimmer

What speed are you going? I get about 26 - 27mpg going 75mph (going speed limit) in my neck of the woods.

Doing the math UK gal = US gal lqd * 0.83267 my mpg converted is therefor 29.5, so still good expressed as a U.S gallon. I think the UK configurator indicates an average mpg for 35 (28 US) and 37 (29 US) for the sports auto.

[RDKing2]

Originally Posted by 3.0L

Seems a bit off. My M235i has a combined average of 24 MPG since new (one year). My driving is about 50/50 city highway, and I do not really try to ring out every last MPG. Strictly on the highway trips, I consistantly see 32 to 34 MPG with cruising speeds of 65 to 80 and passing bursts approaching, well, never mind.

She drives at 65-70 max. Not aggressive at all. Gets on my case when I drive it that is maybe a couple of times a month though. I prefer to take the M3 when I go out. Mileage is not a big deal but even I was expecting more with the "technology" ie: power management, coasting, turning charging system on and off, regenerative braking, driving modes etc.

[Whiskeymike]

Reality check and some reference points:
The EPA sticker on my F23 8AT says 21 City, 32 Hwy; 25 average.
Until the recent change in methodology, the EPA numbers only bore a glancing semblance to reality. Now, they are much better, although I have concluded they are still a bit high on gas cars in the real world and low on diesels.

There's precious little to complain about with those numbers, given this is a HEAVY car (3750+) and has a ton of performance.
Compare this to the specs of my first BMW; 1985 E28 535i 5MT:
Weight 3230
0-60 :7.3
1/4 mile: 15.7
EPA mileage ( old method): 16/22; average 18.

For the first 1000 miles I was driving in suburban conditions; little freeway and very little stop-and-go, with maximums of 50mph. Averages were holding around 22 for most trips with up to 27 for late night trips with no traffic.Pretty much in line with the specs, especially for a new car.

I just concluded a road trip of 1100 miles in mixed conditions: Interstate for about 60 miles; some twisties in the hills of Tenn and Ky and lots of US hwy 2 and 4 lane cruising at +/- 60, with the usual small town slowdowns and traffic lights.
Unfortunately, I erased some of the data, but memory serves:
Day 1: 29.1 mpg including the Interstate, twisties and the obligatory full-out to celebrate turning 1200 miles;
Day 2: 30+ (memory) hwy and small towns;
Day 3: 31.6; hwy and small towns;
Day 4: 30.5; hwy,twisties and small towns including a few local traffic jams.

All in all, over 30 mpg and I saw long periods of 34 cruising until the towns slowed us down.
I was with 2 others: Z4 3.0 MT and 128 cabrio AT.Our fuel consumptions were almost identical,with only slight differences in fill-ups; yet I had the heaviest and most powerful car by a wide margin.

My take is that this is an exceptionally efficient car and that it would likely give low 30's on the Interstate up to about 70 and very high 20's above that.
Given the EPA numbers, I think to expect any more in real world driving is not reasonable and a salesman who says you can get mid-30's for an average is not to be trusted unless he means the European diesel versions.

[ORIGIN M.]

Originally Posted by shark715

Lesson #1: Question everything sales guy tells you :-)

Sales people no longer need to know what they are talking about. That's why there are now at least one BMW Genius in each store. Bad move by BMW. So now I no longer need a salesperson. I now only deal with a manager directly, because the SA is pointless IMO.

[Cyberdemon]

The car does not get great gas mileage. Coming from an F30 335i I was expecting similar results but I am typically in the low 20mpg range. My F30 for the same commuting was typically in the mid-high 20's.

My current conclusions:
-The F23 has smaller tires than the F30 but the rest of the gearing is carried over, meaning the larger tires will cover more distance each rotation (~6% different)
-The F23 has a slightly more aggressive tune and I sense that the throttle mapping for comfort is slightly more aggressive on initial tip in than my F30 was.
-F23 is generally more fun to drive and it's harder to not get on it more often.

I found in Eco pro I was able to make more of a difference and still get 30mpg on the highway with the top up. But that gain diminishes quickly once I hit the surface streets.