04-10-2019, 05:03 PM | #1 |
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Gas Mileage for Dense Traffic City Driving
Hi All,
Hoping someone can shed some light on an issue I'm having. I drive a 2018 M240i with 1300 miles. Purchased new. I live in West Los Angeles and drive during normal hours, not in peak traffic hours, but it's still LA. According to Edmonds and BMW, I should be getting 20-22 mpg in city. Driving the car like an old lady in comfort mode, I'm getting between 12 and 13.5 mpg. I've tried driving in econo mode and I get 14.5. I've taken it the dealership that I purchased the car from several times and they tell me they find nothing wrong with the car. When my drive time is spent more on the freeway, the mileage is 18.9. Most of my drives are 4 to 6 miles each time. Typical city driving. Does anyone have a similar car? What's been your experience driving in the city? (Not asking about freeway mpg) Thanks! |
04-10-2019, 06:50 PM | #2 |
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You're still super early in break in but for city mileage that is pretty accurate. I get around 15-16mpg when I'm heavy city, if it's free flowing city traffic I can get close to 21 and on the highway 25-30.
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04-10-2019, 06:55 PM | #3 |
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Seems about right for early engine life, driving environment, and crappy CA gas. For reference, I get about 21-23 in mixed driving with my M235i.
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04-11-2019, 03:41 PM | #4 |
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After break-in I average 17-18 city and 21 combined. I think 22 city is being VERY optimistic. Maybe on ECO 100% of the time and driving like a grandpa, but not in comfort driving normally.
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04-11-2019, 04:18 PM | #5 |
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My 2018 with 4K miles on gets about 20mpg in dense traffic. My Lexus CT that I traded got 4O MpG on regular in same traffic. Which car is more fun?
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05-05-2019, 02:18 AM | #6 |
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That's normal for city driving. Remember that the estimated mpg that manufacturers give is for the the engine on the engine stands pretty much not really real world figures.
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05-10-2019, 07:56 AM | #7 |
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at first I was averaging around 14 miles a gallon in city traffic (2018 M240i). After adding a bit more highway (which also gets congested, but free flowing very late at night and early mornings) my mileage went up to 20.8 miles a gallon.
I have just about 5K miles on the car. |
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05-31-2019, 12:59 PM | #8 |
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I'm somewhat familiar with the area, and 12-13MPG is rather low. I assume you have a manual since you are quoting the 22MPG city EPA number, and you keep the auto-stop on? Even with the M240i manual, the worst I did was 19MPG on a 90% city tank in that area - I guess a 100% city tank could have been 17-18MPG. That one I averaged 17.5 miles per hour. Knowing your average speed/MPH for the tank can also help, and shift earlier/when the light is on if you drive a manual will help too.
Unless the car is showing other symptoms though, it's basically impossible to say that something is wrong. |
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06-05-2019, 11:59 AM | #9 |
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That is pretty low - my 228 never got full tank #'s like that (would be that low for specific routes sometimes, though). Some potential things to check would be alignment and brakes (sticking/dragging pad). My mileage goes up after I correct the alignment after winter hammering season. Your brakes are probably too new to look at pad wear, but try a gentle stop after a fair bit of uninterrupted driving and get out and feel for an unusually hot rotor.
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06-05-2019, 01:37 PM | #10 |
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Drives: 2014 M235i
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A lot of factors go into mileage such as incline/decline of the road, start/stop, accel/decel patterns etc so it's hard to determine where you're seeing the ball drop.
My current fillup, I tried being conscious of my driving, both Freeway and backroad joyrides, and averaged 28mpg. Granted, the n55 is different from a b58, the mileage shouldn't be significantly different. On the freeway, the lightest of changes in the throttle pedal can reflect how the engine burns fuel. Backing off slightly for periods of freeway driving helps a lot overall. Make sure the "coasting" is enabled for eco-pro. When going 60-80, I let off the gas pretty frequently and just let the car coast if I'm not in any major hurry and it drops the RPMs below idle, decouples the Engine from the Transmission, which eliminates engine braking, therefore, reduces the need to accelerate to maintain speed. For me, this is only feasible during long freeway cruising where I don't need to accelerate all that often as the throttle response in eco-pro is abysmal. Try these few things out and see if it helps. It won't be a night and day different obviously but 15-20 miles more per tank is still a welcome change. |
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08-01-2019, 12:52 AM | #11 | |
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