average miles/kms you get on a full tank

I think somethings wrong since I'm only getting 350kms from a tank?

A friend who's a mechanic said its average to poor in terms of it/

It's excellent mileage if you only got a 20L tank
Bit of a bummer though if you got a 80L tank...

i think i averaged about 320 miles per tank. i did hit over 400 a couple times, but i filled up at idaho springs colorado and drove to colorado springs. so mainly downhill on slight to no breeze days

My E28 does nearly 1000km (625miles) to the tank....................shame about the 100ltr tank. Shall we start quoting actual mpg or l/100km figures?

If the car has a 80ltr tank then its 22ltrs/100km. If it has a 60ltr tank its 17ltrs/100km. The first figures would indicate fuel useage like a 747 on take off, the second may be reasonable for a laden automatic in heavy traffic. Back to you worldstar..

An E30 will typically get around 400km city driving on a full tank, around 550km on the open road. yours souds about normal.

Another way to look at it, my 316i gets about 9-10L/100km according to my tracking on fuelly, but sits on 6ish when open road driving.

if your car is an automatic it ail be worse

Originally Posted by _Ethrty-Andy_

An E30 will typically get around 400km city driving on a full tank, around 550km on the open road. yours souds about normal.

Another way to look at it, my 316i gets about 9-10L/100km according to my tracking on fuelly, but sits on 6ish when open road driving.

if your car is an automatic it ail be worse

I'd say that's the minimum you should see on a 325i M20 slushy. That's avg 18 MPG also, I realized a lot better MPG's some times.

A 318i ( M42) will see near 25-30 MPG's if you can keep it under 4K.

Originally Posted by SWISS

I'd say that's the minimum you should see on a 325i M20 slushy. That's avg 18 MPG also, I realized a lot better MPG's some times.

A 318i ( M42) will see near 25-30 MPG's if you can keep it under 4K.

he has an M40 though, which aren't as efficient as the M42. according to the genuine BMW E30 sales brochure (i own one!), an M40 318i will get 6.3 at 90km/h, 7.9 at 120km/h, and 10.2 in the city. this was 24 years ago remember, the engine isn't that effiecent these days.

just took this photo of the specs page for interstes sake.

hey my car is an auto and it's done 158000 kms so far

thanks for the replies.
No way to improve it?

manual conversion. will be fun too yes, but the M40 automatics are crap. if you want to keep your auto, you could upgrade/replace the torque convertor, that will help too.

removing error codes in the ECU driving around and then rechecking the ECU will help. replace fuel filter, clean out the AFM, pump up tyres, get a wheel alignment, and make the sure the cars engine is getting warm and not running cold, and drive the car every day.

My 316i was about 8.1L/100km on the open road over 700km (about a tank and a half), and will now to around 5.5-6L/100km after i did everything in the second paragraph. goes to show a well maintained engine can still get the factory quoted outputs! she broke 240,000km a few weeks back.

Im going to try a bigger coil and change the spark plugs as well play with the distributor at some stage and see if i can get some more milage.

I just laigh when people whip their brand new car, BMW or other wise, that gets an "amazing" 4-6L/100km, when my 22 year old SOHC and dizzy car gets the same

i've been thinking about dropping a better engine in it.
My friend keeps telling me to drop an e36 m50 engine or an sr20det (gas guzzler i know lol)

arent transmission swaps alot of money?
i kinda regretted not getting a manual

Transmission swap is big dollars unless you are really good and well informed. If you want to 'tweek' the distributor just take the free play out of the bob weight springs first. Also test the vacuum unit for leaks.

Originally Posted by worldstar

i've been thinking about dropping a better engine in it.
My friend keeps telling me to drop an e36 m50 engine or an sr20det (gas guzzler i know lol)

arent transmission swaps alot of money?
i kinda regretted not getting a manual

i dont know what the aussy market is like, but here in new zealand, a full second hand manual conversion including second hand clutch etc is around 6-800, and installed at a shop with a new clutch kit is more like $2k-ish.

but you need to do it at a BMW specialist shop, the wiring to make the car start when its manual is easy, but the location of the required wires to short is such that an non-specialist shop will never find it or know what to ground to where.

contrary to what some people will tell you, all BMW ecus of this era are the same, it doesnt matter if the car is manual or automatic, so dont let someone sell you an ecu if you dont need it.