So I drove the 50i, loved it, a real thrill to drive. Guys that have these, are they really bad on gas or does the 8-spd help some? Have a VW Touareg now diesel and going to order a new X5, should I be considering the X5 diesel as well?
Well concerned about the MPG to some extend but I can live with getting 22MPG highway if it really does do that. I know you must feed the horses, I had a 505HP ZO6 corvette that would just loaf along down the highway and get 30MPG, of course it is lighter and more areodynamic than a X5.
I have had every v8 version of the X5 and it is not going to be easy to get 22mpg. I have only seen 22mpg when highway only driving is involved. I would say every X5 we have had is 70/30 city/highway and I never see over 15mpg.
Have a 50i e70 and avg 15.6mpg in roughly 70 city / 30 highway. Even when I try to get better mileage I can only get to like 16.
The 50i is phenomenal but my next X5 is going to be a diesel. The torque is very similar, diesel gas is actually $.10/gallon cheaper than premium (currently) and the X5d gets 55-64% better gas mileage than my 50i. That's a tough combination to beat.
Can't go wrong either way. But if mpg is a concern you must remember that the 50i is very thirsty.
Good luck.
I am signed up for the BMW test drive in a couple of weeks, get a $1000 if you participate and order new on, and I am going to drive the 50i and diesel back to back to get a real feel for what I really want.
I am signed up for the BMW test drive in a couple of weeks, get a $1000 if you participate and order new on, and I am going to drive the 50i and diesel back to back to get a real feel for what I really want.
I know you are looking for F15 owners but it is not like BMW did some super special modifications from the N63B44 in the E70 to the N63B44tu in the F15. They up the HP 50 and they kept the weight about the same. The 8 speed has not changed that much even through the new technical update is stating +1 mpg than F15 without the technical update but i am not seeing 5+ mpg difference.
I can tell you from experience with my history of V8's and BMW's that you can get better mileage but you have to be VERY VERY disciplined on how you drive. I can get better MPG in my M3 if I drive it in D1 like I was 80 years old but it is very hard to do that. The overwhelming history of the BMW V8 has shown that the EPA numbers are very hard to meet. You will find the people that say they get good MPG but it is not close to the norm. It is plain an simple, if you are worried about MPG and you think you can get 5 MPG more than what most people get go for it. If you have to worry about spending $400 per year or $7 per week more on gas if you miss your number then I would not buy a 50 and look at a Diesel or a 35.
Just giving you my opinion based on experience over the last 10 years driving BMW v8's
Do yourself a favor and get the diesel. I just got the 50i a few weeks ago and didn't realize how big of a gas guzzler it was, should have done more research. I get about 12-14 in the city, haven't really taken it out on the highway yet. Tomorrow will be my first trip. I've never owned a diesel and never really cared about it, but would trade someone in here for mine
Thanks for all the replies, this has got me thinking. If I were to go with a diesel I would have to consider the MB ML350 Bluetec as well. Hate to get this thread off in a different direction but its a pretty good choice as well, and the trailer hitch issue is a no brainer, factory installed for a fraction of the money BMW wants. I know its not a BMW but still great German engineering and US built.
X Drive. We are getting 14.9 in the city, Asheville, NC which is very hilly.
On a longer Trip to Miami, we got 28 for the mostly highway part. The engine was not broken in yet so we may get better next trip. We drove the diesel at the delivery center and it performed nicely but having just bought the 550i GT xD we stuck with the same engine. Love the sound, love the performance.
MPG is a poor metric. GPM, or gallons/100 miles is more relevant. MPG makes Prius-es and M5's both look better than they really are. Increasing a high MPG number doesn't really save you much fuel. Slight reductions in a low MPG results in a lot more fuel being used. GPM can be crunched into gallons/year or dollars/car life cycle. Good decisions come from good data.
Your driving habits can swing the numbers wildly. I had a diesel E70 an I only got 19mpg. I drive probably 20/80 hwy/city most of the time. On the open road it did better. Messing with diesel for only 19 wasn't worth it for me so I got an e71 3.5. I would have loved a 5.0, but with my driving profile, I probably would only get 9-10mpg. At only 9000mi/yr, the gas cost difference isn't going to come anywhere near breaking me, but I think it's wasteful. If I could get near the numbers that many of the people here do on their 5.0s, I'd be all over it.
Stop killing yourself with this MPG that the car manufacturer put on window sticker. Those are figured out and tested in a controlled environment. Which irl that will never happen.
Climate condition, traffic condition, road condition, and others will affect the MPG in real world.
So, now, again I said, if you are really worries so much about MPG, diesel is the way to go.
When I did an X5 meet, the one who drives 5.0 only got about 8-10mpg, the 3.5 only got about 18-20 mpg.
I personally only got 16-18 mpg on my 3.5 since I am 90% local street and I lead foot.
As far as ML350, you will regret buying a Benz. I know that it is German brand, but since it married then divorced with Chrysler, it still got the bad habit from Chrysler.
It only looks good, but not the quality.
Even the true Benz fan said that any chassis code starting with a 2xx are no longer have Benz DNA in it.
The older Benz with 1xx chassis code are the true breed of Daimler Benz.
Stop killing yourself with this MPG that the car manufacturer put on window sticker. Those are figured out and tested in a controlled environment. Which irl that will never happen.
Climate condition, traffic condition, road condition, and others will affect the MPG in real world.
So, now, again I said, if you are really worries so much about MPG, diesel is the way to go.
When I did an X5 meet, the one who drives 5.0 only got about 8-10mpg, the 3.5 only got about 18-20 mpg.
I personally only got 16-18 mpg on my 3.5 since I am 90% local street and I lead foot.
Best advice I've seen so far. The absolute best I've gotten on a tank in my 3.5 is 21 mpg and that's with a fair bit of driving in eco pro mode (and who wants to do that constantly?). If you're that concerned with gas mileage, diesel is the way to go for sure.
Long time lurker. First time poster.
You can't compare to ml350 blue tech as they are discontinued. They have changed to the ml250 four cylinder diesel. I am getting ready to order x5 or a Yukon xl Denali. I am leaning towards the x5 5.0. It is wife's car, but I want the fun when I drive. Build list is 96,000 though and hesitant to go there. I will do some math on fuel cost and weigh total cost against fun factor
You all have been very helpful and I check for posts every day as I contemplate
The reason I am looking at BMW is ml headrest hurts my neck. Wife's ml500 has old big v8 and we appreciate the oomph. Ml550 is discontinued too. Can't find one anywhere and dealers that have one left sell high. But I have to say we are only looking as she has driven it 196,000 miles for fourteen years and she has the itch. Still drives like the day we bought it. No rattles. No play in wheel. Corners. Etc. we also did not like new ml550 turbo lag and loss of steering feel. That's why looking around too. At 96k though I have to consider the gl550.
We've only had the X5 a few weeks having traded in a Cadillac SRX Performance in on it. Both were my wife's vehicles (Cadillac was a POS but that's a story for another thread) and she is a very fast driver. The vehicles are not even in the same solar system in regards to build quality, etc. The only thing they are remotely close to each other is the size of the fuel tank. The X5 has a one gallon bigger fuel tank. We haven't driven it on a trip as of yet and my wife has a nasty habit of not resetting anything when she gets gas so all I have to go by the receipts from the gas station that she gives me. The X5 uses less gas than the Cadillac and the Cadillac was a 3.6 V6. The Cadillac as a general rule was being refueled every 6 days but the X5 has gone at least 8 days between refueling stops and the amount of fuel she has put in is about the same. I can't give you an exact fuel mileage figure but I have been more than surprised by the fuel economy that she has gotten.
I currently get about 17-19 mpg in the city, according to how I drive. On the road I checked today and I got almost 24 mpg driving a 30 mile route, 70 mph, normally I get about 22-23 mpg highway. I love the diesel mileage(dealer loaner SUV) but enjoy the 50i acceleration as much. So to me, it was a flip, but the fun usually wins out.
On a second note, my mileage with the F15 50i is better than the older E70 50i. With that one, I couldn't crack better than 17 mpg in the city, no matter how I drove and on the highway it was always 20-21 tops!
I have F15 50i and previously had 2012 E70 50i. I typically can average 20-21 MPG hwy although city driving is more like 14 MPG. Overall economy averages around 17-18 Mpg in mixed (ie normal) driving conditions. I never use ECOPRO mode but will tell you that it is nearly impossible to get 21 mpg hwy in sport mode!
Just like R33 has stated, if MPG is remotely a concern for you, don't get the 50i. You might be able to get it close to 35i in mpg but you have to drive the car so careful like a prius, and what's the fun in that?
I think with casual driving you'd be hard pressed to get over 15 mpg, no one can resist hearing that awesome grunt of v8! =)
So we took our first road trip with the X5 this past weekend and all I can say is that I am very satisfied with the fuel economy. We drove just under 1000 miles for the trip and averaged 24.2 MPG for the trip. This included all of the running around the Twin Cities area we did for two days after we arrived there. This is better than the Cadillac we had previously that had a 3.6 V6 and the Lincoln before that with a 3.5 V6.
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