New 3.5i, 12mpg?!

Diesels rule. Last week took our '11 X5d on a trip from Carpinteria, CA to San Jose and back. Averaged 27 mpg at a consistent 80 mph. Today did a trip to Los Angeles and back averaging 29 mpg due to traffic causing speeds not exceeding 65 mph. After ditching the Michelin Latitude rft tires at 35,000 miles in favor of non rft Yohihama YK580 tires, the ride and mileage have improved. I have been so pleased with this vehicle. Other than various recalls, have never had to bring this vehicle in for any issues.

27 mpg in a 650i? What's your average speed? I used to get around 27mpg in my F10 535i averaging 80mph. I don't know how you're pulling 2mpg with the V8 and that heavy body. Low speeds is my only guess.

@zuma - I too love the diesel, I just can't stand the drone from the engine at around 75/80mph. And the intoxicating sound of the 35i exhaust puts a smile on my face every time. Having said that, as a cruiser, the diesel is phenomenal. I had the 335d as a loaner for a week. I averaged 34mpg driving like a maniac. Great engines and I can't wait until they bring the much better 40d to our shores.

Originally Posted by grilodan

27 mpg in a 650i? What's your average speed? I used to get around 27mpg in my F10 535i averaging 80mph. I don't know how you're pulling 2mpg with the V8 and that heavy body. Low speeds is my only guess.

I dunno. Had it in Eco mode and cruise set on 74 for almost the entire way (straight shot down the interstate). Maybe I had a tailwind, but it hovered at 26.5 most of the way.

Originally Posted by Zuma man

Diesels rule.

Yup, no way I can put up with the **** MPG on the 35i.

I have a 2012 35i and haven't had any issues with black soot on the tailpipes or unusually low mileage. I get around 18-19mpg indicated as the overall average for a mixture of your typical suburban driving.

An update on my 35i X5 - after about 1500 miles, really since the second tank full of gas, I'm getting 18.5 mpg in spirited suburban driving. I'm not at all unhappy with that and looking forward to seeing what kind of mileage I get on the highway when we travel next month.

My problem apparently turned out to be a problem just for the first tank of gas. Your explanation is as good as mine as to why that would have been the case.

Originally Posted by PittsDriver

We buy a lot of gas at Costco also. When I mentioned this to my dealer salesperson, he said I should go talk to the dealer's service people about Costco and Sam's Club gas. I haven't verified this but he said that every time they've seen a clogged injector on a car it's been an engine that's been fed a steady diet of Costco/Sam's fuel. It was his strong recommendation to not put their gas in these newer BMW engines - something about not adding Techron or some other additive that just about everyone else adds. That was right before I drove off with what was apparently a bad load of gas that the dealer put in the car.

grilodan, my apologies for offending your sensibilities. I'm new back to BMW after a 10 year hiatus from their cars and not that familiar with why they call the new models what they do. I'll be sure to name it correctly when I post.

Gas brands such as Chevron, Shell, and BP have higher amounts of detergents than Costco.

I sometimes use junk gas, but I also use a PEA fuel additive 1000 miles before an oil change.

Such as Techron, Redline SL1 or Regane.

Originally Posted by RockChips

Gas brands such as Chevron, Shell, and BP have higher amounts of detergents than Costco.

I sometimes use junk gas, but I also use a PEA fuel additive 1000 miles before an oil change.

Such as Techron, Redline SL1 or Regane.

We haven't put any Sams or Costco gas in the X5. It's been fed a stead diet of Shell or Exxon premium fuel.

I'm a bit worried about this E15 mandate nonsense given that BMW has stated that it's not approved for use this engine. What's the world comin' to?

We took a short ski trip last weekend in our '12 35i. With a Thule 1600 ski box on top and a healthy tailwind, mpg was 22.8 running 75-80 true by GPS (speedo is 3 mph slow). Coming back into the wind at the same speed it was 18.2. This vehicle at 22k and with 18 inch RFTs gets good mileage.

Originally Posted by PittsDriver

We haven't put any Sams or Costco gas in the X5. It's been fed a stead diet of Shell or Exxon premium fuel.

I use mostly Shell, but I also use Redline SL1 or Regane 1000 miles before an oil change (every 7k).

Costco is advertising 5x EPA Detergent at select stations:

http://www.costco.com/clean-power-locations.html

Averaging 11mpg and I'm getting places quick
So u can draw any inferences from that statement!

A few weeks ago I was going from Philly to DC (in a rental Mazda 3, i am from WA). Saw a white X5 in left lane passing me. As it passed, I noticed the exhaust pipes and bumper were pretty black from soot. Falling for stereotype, I thought to myself "must be a diesel". Sped up to check the labels - 50i !.
P.S. Haven't seen a 35d with black pipes or soot in the back.

Originally Posted by 5seriesHB

Well this explains it
Barely touching the throttle on this beast and the MPG gauge goes to 12 ....lol

It is what it is....cant wait till i romp on it after 1500 miles and see what the mpg is then.

im on this planet once, mind as well spend a ton of money on gas!

Rob

Wow. That is bad. My x5 M is getting 12.3 mpg city with 1k miles on it. First tank was 10.5. Slowly improving.

I think the new X5 will show big mpg improvements since the N55 is capable of much better mileage in the still heavy F10. As a comparison our new Cayenne with the 3.6 liter NA V6 got 27 mpg at a 172 miles door to door ski trip last weekend. This included passing through two smaller cities and two drive through espresso stand visits. Terrain makes a huge difference it took 22.7 mpg to the destination and 34 mpg coming home each 86 miles and 49 mph avg. speed. 27 mpg was the calculated mpg for the full trip mpg after re-fueling. I would assume the new X5 35i to get closer to these numbers.

Originally Posted by Alpine300ZHP

Wow. That is bad. My x5 M is getting 12.3 mpg city with 1k miles on it. First tank was 10.5. Slowly improving.

I don't know if its bad
Just cause u have 12.5
U probably drive like a gramps...that's all

Originally Posted by 5seriesHB

I don't know if its bad
Just cause u have 12.5
U probably drive like a gramps...that's all

LOL. Still waiting to get past 1200 before I start nailing it.

Originally Posted by Alpine300ZHP

LOL. Still waiting to get past 1200 before I start nailing it.

Why is that?

Every car manual I have ever read says to vary RPM and speed during break-in, including BMW's.

I remember my Infiniti said not to use cruise control during break-in because of the constant RPM and speed.