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2013 X3 28i MPG - Yet to break 20

5K views 20 replies 16 participants last post by  Tangsta 
#1 · (Edited)
Below is a listing from a spreadsheet I keep on all my vehicles. This one is for our X3, which we picked up in January. As you will notice, we have yet to break the 20 MPG barrier. Last fill up was the worst where we got an unbelievable 17 MPG.

Now I checked under the hood, it is a 4 cylinder turbo. There isn't a hidden six or eight under the hood, it's a four.

For comparison my 2011 Nissan 4x4 with a V6 is pulling down 19.1 MPG average for the year and the best weekly MPG was 20.9.

I was willing to give some time for gas stations to use up all the crapoline we get stuck using from October to March, but by these numbers, nothing is improving the overall MPG and we should be well past crapoline gas.

My wife is the primary driver and she runs the tranny in D and comfort mode on. Her usual trips consist of anywhere between 16 miles back and forth (total) to work to some long trips across the county. She also uses the start/stop feature and she's not the first and fastest to pull away from the light.

I've compared what the X3 says on the on-board consumption to my numbers and they are pretty close.

At this point I'm ready to drag the thing into the dealer for a checkup. My impressions of this before purchasing was we would at least be getting in the mid 20's around town. That is obviously not happening. We were getting better mileage in the totaled 09 listed below and that car was a hell of a lot nicer, and faster, ride.

Any comments?

Thanks...
 

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#4 ·
3258 as of yesterday. MPG calculated for that tank was 19.3.
 
#8 · (Edited)
That would do it, stop and go is a killer for gas mileage, rather you have auto start stop or not. It takes a lot of energy to accelerate a SUV. My wife has a lot of stop and go traffic as well on her commute and she is only getting 18 MPG or so, but she has the 35i and has 7000 miles on her car. We also use the on board computer to calculate mileage and seems like you are using the actual figures at each fill up. Your numbers do seem low none the less, does your X3 coast well, and drag at all? Some cars do not get fully break in until 7000 to 8000 miles or so.
 
#11 ·
i am getting 21 mpg on 1100 miles on odometer (28i), i have start/stop on all the time, first week we have mainly highway milage it was in mid 20's, stop and go driving is killer for MPG and brakes also, on my E90 i had to replace brakes twice under 95 K because my work compute has lot lof lights, my buddy's E90 has original brakes still with 65 K miles on car and has plenty of life left on brakes reason is all highway miles and of course he loves his gas milage, my E90 was 32+ on highway on long trips.
 
#12 · (Edited)
My wife drives her 2013 X3 28i daily in start/stop traffic in econ mode with Auto Start/Stop off and gets around 17.5 MPG (4000 miles on car). We are taking it on a long trip next month and expect the gas mileage to be better than I get in my 2006 530i which is around 27 HWY.
 
#14 ·
Finally broke thru 20 MPG

So the wife was out of town this week and I had a chance to drive the X3 three times this week. My trip to work is 30 miles one way and only about 4 of it is in lighted traffic. Once on the highway I set the cruise to 65-70 and used the Eco Pro mode (what a pooch). In town I use Sport mode and manual shift.

So I fill up today and find the average mileage is 22.0 MPG. Finally!!!. The car however reported 19.6 MPG on the iDrive. One thing I did notice is that when I would check the trip meter mileage for a certain trip I could get iDrive to report almost 25 MPG for the highway driving.

So apparently this turbo 4 is no more efficient in the city than our former twin turbo six in our 535i. That was not expected. On the highway I'd say MPG between the turbo 4 and the turbo six is equal as well. We could easily pull down mid 20s MPG in our 535i all the while running upwards of 80 to 90 miles an hour. I'm not sure of the weight differential right now between the X3 and the 535 and the drag is something else to be considered.
 
#21 ·
So I fill up today and find the average mileage is 22.0 MPG. Finally!!!. The car however reported 19.6 MPG on the iDrive. One thing I did notice is that when I would check the trip meter mileage for a certain trip I could get iDrive to report almost 25 MPG for the highway driving.

So apparently this turbo 4 is no more efficient in the city than our former twin turbo six in our 535i. That was not expected. On the highway I'd say MPG between the turbo 4 and the turbo six is equal as well. We could easily pull down mid 20s MPG in our 535i all the while running upwards of 80 to 90 miles an hour. I'm not sure of the weight differential right now between the X3 and the 535 and the drag is something else to be considered.
Stop and go is a real killer of mpg, it uses a lot of energy to get 4,000 lbs rolling.

On my weekday commute in my 35i, it's not unusual for me to get down to around 14mpg going 5km to work and back, but on the weekends when I actually get to drive a bit longer distances away from downtown traffic, I get about 24mpg which balances it out to an overall average of about 17mpg.

The X3 is about 10% (400lbs) heavier than a 535, and has xDrive and worse aerodynamics working against it... so it's not surprising that the turbo 4 nets you approximately the same mileage.
 
#16 ·
Looking at your chart you're the mileage isn't going up too quickly. Less than 30 miles a day. I'm guessing its a lot of short trips and the car is barely warmed up before you get to your destination. I've been averaging 24mpg with a 35 mile commute which is a good mix of city stop and go and a about 15 miles highway. My average drops quite a bit on the weekend if I just take short drives


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#18 ·
FWIW - We filled up my wifes CR-V this past weekend. Do it every other month whether she needs it or not. :D 17.8 MPG! Now that is city driving. I know our new 35i will most likely get 15-16 (Fingers crossed and would be pleased if we do). My point is city driving or few miles at a whack like we do will give you crap mileage on almost any vehicle.

The picture of my bike that is in my signature (Italian BMW, Moto Guzzi).............everyone that owns them swear they never got less than 35MPG. I have never done better than 32MPG and my last tank got me 27MPG. I know things would fall into line but like others have said, not sure you are going far enough.
 
#19 ·
The X3 delivers an extremely wide range of mileage. I have the 28i and get anywhere from 17, in local stop-and-go traffic, to 29 highway. I can get it down to 15 with aggressive Sport mode driving in stop and go, and 30+ in eco with a light foot.

The tricky part with X3 mileage is the enormous hit the mileage takes in any kind of non-continuous driving. Even a handful of stoplights will send the mileage cratering on a "mixed city/highway" drive. As an interesting experiment, reset your trip settings, drive normally in Comfort mode for a while, and then watch what happens when you come to a light. Just accelerating out of the light once will send your average mpg tanking, and it will take miles and miles to average it out. If you have been cruising for a while at 50 mph you should find the trip computer saying about 24 mph. One stop light later, you're down in the 22's and it takes a long time to climb back up. Either the trip computer is worthless or the X3 gulps down the fuel when coming back up to speed. Eco mode does a good job of minimizing this by upshifting aggressively to keep your RPM well south of 2,000 coming out of a light. Combined with a light foot, in Eco mode I can achieve 24 in stop-and-go traffic, but it's really frustrating to drive that way. In Comfort Mode, upshifts hit 2,500 rpm and the mileage plummets instantly.

Despite the sticker saying something about 21/28, I'm finding a typical 18.3 in driving around the 'burbs. At first I was really annoyed about this, but it is what it is. It gets pretty good mileage on an open road with no stopping, but it's a guzzler in stop-and-go.
 
#20 ·
OP, what happens if you reset the onboard MPG calculation in the middle of smooth, not uphill, highway driving. That is excluding the highway entrance accelerating part and after the engine is warm.

When I do it, the refreshed MPG of my 28i X3 is usually above 28. I look at it and smile. And when I exit the highway and start driving local, I switch off the mpg calculator and pretend the number will stay.........
 
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