Can I save on gas mileage? Computer chip?? 2003 530i

Wrong forum, man. Might try posting this in the 5 series forum.

To answer your question, why don't you drive slower? Drive less?

Looks like you really planned this one out. Seriously, you bought a BMW and you're just now thinking about the fuel economy? Seems to me you can't afford the car you bought. Shoulda gone with a Civic or Corolla.

leafs11cups said:

Getting about 12.8 l/100k

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You can call yourself lucky with that kind of fuel-consumption...:rofl:
What should I say?:dunno:

But seriously - You're driving a 5-series BMW, not quite the cheapest car I can think of, and you're really asking about saving a few bucks on gas?

I recommend you sit down and take a pen and paper (maybe a calculator as well) and figure out how much you would save in case you could reduce your fuel-consumption. You will be surprised how SMALL your actual $$-savings will be. It's the same scenario in Germany where many drivers switched to diesel-cars because diesel is cheaper than regular fuel. They just made a big mistake. They have to drive a lot to actually save money because: A. Diesel cars/engines are more expensive than normal ones and B. Germany puts a high tax on diesel cars because they pollute the air.

It's funny, if people see that a car has a higher mpg-rating - let's say 19 city instead of 17 - they really believe they could save a fortune. Yes, they can, but not by driving 12 or 15K/year. Example: You drive 12K miles a year and the gallon costs $3. To keep it simple, I keep the calculation based on the city-numbers from above. The price-difference would be a whopping $223 A YEAR! THAT'S IT! So if you would be able to increase your mpg-number by 2 miles, you would only save about $250/year or 69 cents/day. So you just bought a BMW 5-series and are concerned about a few cents of gas a day?:dunno:

My advice: Think about the poor drivers in Germany - they have to pay more than $5/gallon....:thumbdwn:

I can't imagine anyone manufacturing a chip that would reduce horsepower

I don't think it would improve your gas mileage even if you could reduce HP. You would just end up stomping on it more to try to get the same performance, and probably end up worse. :dunno:

I wouldn't let anyone muck with it anyhow.

One small, easy tip that I always recommend is to be anal about checking the air in your tires. I find that keeping mine on the high side helps improve my gas mileage.

Your driving style has a lot to do with the mileage.

Try to get off slowly from full stops and not let engine RPMs go beyond 3K.

You can manually try to up-shift the car at lower speed points. This typically reduces acceleration but you get better mileage. This is especially true when you are cruising city streets and not going above 30-40mph. Though you are not going to go above that speed due to speed limits, the automatic tranny is unlikely to go into the highest gear. The program which controls the steptronic tranny knows when it is not safe to up-shift so you are not going to hurt the drive-train by up-shifting too soon.

When you are doing highway driving, ease of the gas once you reach cruising speed. Many times we keep up the pressure on the gas pedal, and gradually the speed creeps up. Avoid the up-creep by easing off the pedal, especially when you are going downhill.

So you do not have to reduce the horse power of the car to get better mileage; just modify your daily driving style. That way you can let it rip when you are in the mood, instead of having a permanently crippled car.

BayAreaBMWFan said:

Your driving style has a lot to do with the mileage.

Try to get off slowly from full stops and not let engine RPMs go beyond 3K.

You can manually try to up-shift the car at lower speed points. This typically reduces acceleration but you get better mileage. This is especially true when you are cruising city streets and not going above 30-40mph. Though you are not going to go above that speed due to speed limits, the automatic tranny is unlikely to go into the highest gear. The program which controls the steptronic tranny knows when it is not safe to up-shift so you are not going to hurt the drive-train by up-shifting too soon.

When you are doing highway driving, ease of the gas once you reach cruising speed. Many times we keep up the pressure on the gas pedal, and gradually the speed creeps up. Avoid the up-creep by easing off the pedal, especially when you are going downhill.

So you do not have to reduce the horse power of the car to get better mileage; just modify your daily driving style. That way you can let it rip when you are in the mood, instead of having a permanently crippled car.

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THANKS FOR THE POSITIVE WORDS!!!!!!!

leafs11cups said:

THANKS FOR THE POSITIVE WORDS!!!!!!!

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You are welcome. Another thing to try is to try to coast to a stop instead of braking at the end. If you see red, ease of the pedal and your car will gradually lose speed.

Whenever you try these things, make sure you are not being tailgated by an aggressive driver to prevent rear-ends. If you are, step down and leave him in the dust :bigpimp:. You can always coast on the next red light!

And don't forget to pop the trunk lid when driving around town. The sail effect is easily good for a 2 hp savings if you have a tail wind. Haven't figured out a way to get it to work on upwind tacks, though....

Also, skinny tires offer less rolling resistance - why not put donut spares on all 4 wheels? You couldn't drive over 50 mph, but then think of all the wind resistance you wouldn't have to overcome? (Especially with said tail wind...)

On a serious note, just realized your car is an E39. Don't know how many miles you have on it, but if the injectors are clogged it will hurt your fuel economy. You may want to try running a bottle of Techron through the system. (BMW may even have their own brand of injector cleaner they recommend). There is always a tendency to save a few dollars a fill up by going with a budget gasoline brand like Hess. The budget brands don't add as much detergent additives as Mobil, Exxon, Sunoco, etc., so your injectors will clog quicker.

Also may want to change the filters in your air cleaner while you are at it, unless you know the previous owner did that recently. And I second the tire inflation pressure comment.

Have I redeemed myself for my previous pie-in-the-face comment?

BayAreaBMWFan said:

You are welcome. Another thing to try is to try to coast to a stop instead of braking at the end. If you see red, ease of the pedal and your car will gradually lose speed.

Whenever you try these things, make sure you are not being tailgated by an aggressive driver to prevent rear-ends. If you are, step down and leave him in the dust :bigpimp:. You can always coast on the next red light!

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I'll second that. Any driving activity that reduces brake dust will also improve mileage