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Real World X5d Mileage

10K views 46 replies 35 participants last post by  PeeterT 
#1 ·
We've owned our 2011 X5d for nearly a year and have 12,000 miles on the vehicle. I've tracked every tank of diesel purchased and am curious to hear other owners mileage experiences. I have read on this forum and others claims of upper 20s to even lower 30s on the highway and after a year of ownership, I have to question a lot of those claims!

I've taken two very long road trips with several hundred uninterupted interstate miles and the best I have seen is 26 MPG from a tank that was 100% uninterupted interstate. I drive the vehicle fairly conservatively (i.e. gradual acceleration) and set the cruise at around 5-7 over on the highway (roughly 75-80 MPH). Obviously, mileage would be improved if I stuck with the speed limit but I am willing to give up a bit of efficiency to shave 45-60 minutes off a day of driving. Overall, I average around 25 highway, 20 city and probably 22 MPG combined.

So under "normal" driving - not hypermiling - what do you get?
 
#7 ·
We've owned our 2011 X5d for nearly a year and have 12,000 miles on the vehicle. I've tracked every tank of diesel purchased and am curious to hear other owners mileage experiences. I have read on this forum and others claims of upper 20s to even lower 30s on the highway and after a year of ownership, I have to question a lot of those claims!

I've taken two very long road trips with several hundred uninterupted interstate miles and the best I have seen is 26 MPG from a tank that was 100% uninterupted interstate. I drive the vehicle fairly conservatively (i.e. gradual acceleration) and set the cruise at around 5-7 over on the highway (roughly 75-80 MPH). Obviously, mileage would be improved if I stuck with the speed limit but I am willing to give up a bit of efficiency to shave 45-60 minutes off a day of driving. Overall, I average around 25 highway, 20 city and probably 22 MPG combined.

So under "normal" driving - not hypermiling - what do you get?
Normal driving, 26.1 MPG combined (75% highway). All highway, we see 28-29 MPG. Never done a tank of all city.
 
#8 · (Edited)
2011 model X5 diesel (July 2010 build), ~23,000 miles, 50/50 hwy/city - approx. 23 mpg.

Hwy alone, about 26+ mpg. I have not done City alone.

All figures indicated are based on iDrive trip computer. I have not done the tank-to-tank calculations.

Considering how well it drives, very happy with it.
 
#9 ·
I'm approaching one year and 12K or so miles, with pretty similar results to other posters. I've tracked every tank and typically get 22 to 23 MPG. I base my results on miles traveled divided by gallons used, and it's almost always better than what the trip computer and/or vehicle info indicate. I don't really do any hypermiling, but I do watch the indicated MPG to see if I can keep it above 22 MPG.
 
#11 ·
I've got around 20K but most of that was from a number of 1000 mile trips. Here's my experience of the big factors affecting fuel consumption for long distances.


- Driving 70 MPH or less = great MPG (~27/28). Driving 80 MPH or greater = ave to below ave MPG (~24).
- Hilly terrain...I'd ballpark this at an overall ~2 mpg less.
- Wind... plus or minus 1-2 MPG depending on a head or tail wind and strength
- Bike rack... - 1 MPG
- Weight... I loose ~1-2 MPG when loaded.

My best trip was driving around 70, flat road, strong tail wind, lightly loaded...I was getting around ~30 MPG.
 
#16 ·
2011 loaded (main item is the 20" wheels)
First time I did this trip (Md. to NC) I got 26.4mpg... me, wife, kid, light luggage. this was during the summer. Did the same trip today... SERIOUS rain!!!! me, wife, kid, sis-in-law, heavier luggage... i got 24.0 mpg

First trip i didnt go any higher than 70mph. Second trip, wife took over after 3 hours of me doing 70mph and when I woke up, she was at 85mph!!! I was like, "you're f ing up the mpg woman!":thumbdwn:

I honestly don't think these trucks can do 30 mpg or higher. If we calculate at the pump, we should all be with 2mpg of each other if all things are the same in my humble opinion....
 
#17 ·
Ours does 22 in a 50/50 mix. 26-27 on the highway. Does 17mpg towing the 22 foot boat. lol Thats what the silverado we replaced got on the highway going downhill with a tail wind.

This is actually the most efficient vehicle we own. Better than the G37 and the 550.
 
#18 ·
As I have reported on other threads

!0,000 miles. Mixed NYC and environment driving. Averaging 25.8 mpg since new. I do have a light foot. My best tank was 30 mpg in a round trip from Long Island to Rhodel Island. Worst tank was about 22 mpg of traffic, traffic, traffic.

The secret is a light foot and dont go over 75 mph.
 
#20 ·
Have only owned our 2011 35D for 2 weeks and mainly street driving. Averaging about 23mpg...driven mostly by my significant other.
On my MDX (just tuned it last month), I average around 17mpg (we both in the same hospital so routes are pretty identical).

But so far, very happy with the diesel mileage. Taking a late Thanksgiving trip this weekend (Sacramento to San Francisco, then East Bay and then back home) so looking forward to see if I can get better numbers. The kicker is we've only filled up once since we purchased the vehicle. Insane.
 
#22 ·
My average number is in my fuelly. I can get 30 mpg on freeway if I drive slower and the road is flat. On my way to LA and back, I averaged about 24 mpg. Not bad for freeway 5 speed.
 
#23 · (Edited)
Your number matches what BMW claims and should be quite normal. Most claims here made about the great MPGs are anecdotal experience of long highway trips. Some people reset it on every trip and report the highest they get. You should take that with a grain of salt and shouldn't think on average you will get that.

We've owned our 2011 X5d for nearly a year and have 12,000 miles on the vehicle. I've tracked every tank of diesel purchased and am curious to hear other owners mileage experiences. I have read on this forum and others claims of upper 20s to even lower 30s on the highway and after a year of ownership, I have to question a lot of those claims!

I've taken two very long road trips with several hundred uninterupted interstate miles and the best I have seen is 26 MPG from a tank that was 100% uninterupted interstate. I drive the vehicle fairly conservatively (i.e. gradual acceleration) and set the cruise at around 5-7 over on the highway (roughly 75-80 MPH). Obviously, mileage would be improved if I stuck with the speed limit but I am willing to give up a bit of efficiency to shave 45-60 minutes off a day of driving. Overall, I average around 25 highway, 20 city and probably 22 MPG combined.

So under "normal" driving - not hypermiling - what do you get?
 
#24 ·
Just drove 250 miles from Minneapolis to Fargo ND with the cruise set in between 77 and 78mph. The first 140 miles I was averaging 29mpg but as the hills got more frequent it dropped. Final MPG total for the trip was 27.3mpg. Not bad considering I was doing almost 80 in a big heavy SUV...
 
#26 ·
62k miles on the vehicle now and my lifetime average is 24.3mpg, using manual (not computer) drain and fill calculation. Lot of factors involved, including quality of fuel, location/terrain, style of driving, but averaged out over many fill-ups should be fairly accurate. Note I am always carrying stuff in and on my car (like people, luggage, bikes), so will see a slight reduction in fuel economy. But I carry a kayak on top and four bikes on back occasionally and can still get 24mpg hwy. This to me is where a diesel has a big advantage, because if I do the same thing on my wife's non-diesel van, it kills the gas mileage.
 
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