[Tallest]

asking in UK forum as most relevant to Europe on here:

Guys, what average city MPG or l/100km do you get with the 2.5L (2007 year I think) BMW E90 325i? auto box. Of course if you got coupe or touring chime in too!

I'm just curious as I seen very high figures, like a friend's 325 2005 E90 takes 14l per 100km in city! That's massive. I think a 335 will take close to 15-16. Other friend who sold his 325 said it rarely went above 12l per 100 in city, and around 7.5 l on highway... .What gives? Is this a very thirsty engine or still manageable if driven sensibly? I don't want to consider higher engines due to taxes. 218hp is just about max. Thx!

[The_Bear_Yid]

My manual is averaging about 26mpg. I'm rarely in serious traffic though.

[moar]

I get 38 on a long run at 75mph.

I get 30mpg commuting to work, 50/50 motorway and a road. Also traffic in there.

I get something daft like 15mpg in town driving.

[Tallest]

15mpg?? ouch, but I see you got a 330.

the 10l sounds about right (26mpg). Probably 12l average for auto.

[Falmouthboy]

What fuel grade do you normally get in Estonia? Best economy is achieved on 98+ ron, but most people in the uk run 95. However, in some countries 91 is the norm and this will really hit economy.

[wallsmk2]

I have a 2006 325i e91 auto. In normal town driving I get around 26mpg but rush hour driving this can drop considerably - but then if you aren't going anywhere fuel economy is obviously going to be poor. Get about 37-38mpg at around 70mph motorway stuff.

[Tallest]

I plan to use 98 petrol, so figure 5% more efficient but also more expensive... i guess the only winner is the engine which gets better fuel.

I've been doing maths - my 320d (163 hp engine, everyone loves the 2l diesel, bla bla) is giving me 9.6l per 100km in town only or 29mpg UK. That's not that fantastic I have to say. Car is in good mechanical shape, just had checked.

[325jay]

ive got an e91 325i auto. im getting 26 avarage with 31 on a longer run. went to 16 on a trackday. im mot impressed. wish id bought a 3.0d. i think the auto is killing the mpg so would recomend getting the manual version if your dead set on getting a 325 for tax purposes

[moar]

In the 330i I havn't seen a difference between 99 ron and 95 ron. I can only imagine that it
s more for turbo cars that see such a difference.

That's just my take on it.

It still gets 99 ron though.

[Tallest]

Originally Posted by 325jay

ive got an e91 325i auto. im getting 26 avarage with 31 on a longer run. went to 16 on a trackday. im mot impressed. wish id bought a 3.0d. i think the auto is killing the mpg so would recomend getting the manual version if your dead set on getting a 325 for tax purposes

touring'a little heavier I think, but yeah youre right. there aren't many good cars where I live, best ones are with local history. lots of 'taxis' from germany with probably half a mill km on the clock, and very cheap as result. no thanks on those.

[I6Touring]

Originally Posted by 325jay

ive got an e91 325i auto. im getting 26 avarage with 31 on a longer run. went to 16 on a trackday. im mot impressed. wish id bought a 3.0d. i think the auto is killing the mpg so would recomend getting the manual version if your dead set on getting a 325 for tax purposes

I'd be surprised if you could have bought a 3.0d for a similar purchase price to a 2.5i. Perhaps lower depreciation of the 'd' would recover the additional upfront cost in the long run though.

FWIW my OBC (which I reset occasionally) usually shows 26-30 with no track days. Is a 325i auto tourer actually any good on the track?!

[MEGA]

Personally? Go for the 330 or 335i.

Both have similar economy but loads more power.

A good mate of mine (Moe.. he's got a few posts on here) had an E93 325i step and he got average mpg over life of the car as 18 or something. Town driving often dropped down to 12-14 mpg.

He does like to, as the saying goes: "Drive it like he stoke it".. but the economy is really quite poor: In which case I'd just get the bigger bhp variants so that you can at least enjoy the things that usually come with poor consumption

Of course, there may be a massive premium for the 330/335i in estonia which sways your opinion. Here; the fuel prices have meant there is very little if anything in it.

Furthermore, north london town driving is unlike most other places for traffic. I doubt you'd manage to ever get as low as we do.. But still..

[RAR]

Before I got my 330i I was comparing with the 325i...

The 325i is actually less economical than the 330i, I'm guessing because they are actually the same engine but the 330i is tuned more.

According to the parkers guide the 325i auto gives off 218g/KM od CO2 and the 330i gives 176g/KM.

If you have the choice, like Mega says, go for the 330 or the 335.

[wallsmk2]

is that not the difference between the newer direct injection version. If I recall correctly the slightly newer version of the 325i has CO2 figures around 170g/Km. I could be wrong though.

I think the moral of the story is, unless you're doing the vast majority of your miles away from the town/city you're not going to get many miles from a tank - these engines can quite happily tug along at motorway speeds with no effort delivering decent miles to a tank - I can squeeze about 500 miles at around 75mph. Sitting in traffic you'll use much more fuel just to get all those cyclinders to do a little work every now and again.

[RAR]

Originally Posted by wallsmk2

is that not the difference between the newer direct injection version. If I recall correctly the slightly newer version of the 325i has CO2 figures around 170g/Km. I could be wrong though.

Yeah, you're right, I was looking at the earlier version. From Sept 2007 its 170g/km for 325i.

I'd still go for the 330 though...

[325jay]

Originally Posted by balernoStu

I'd be surprised if you could have bought a 3.0d for a similar purchase price to a 2.5i. Perhaps lower depreciation of the 'd' would recover the additional upfront cost in the long run though.

FWIW my OBC (which I reset occasionally) usually shows 26-30 with no track days. Is a 325i auto tourer actually any good on the track?!

the price of my 325 was too cheap not to buy. as for track use. its actually really good. bit of understeer but i was pleased. if this works ill put a clip of a bloke i know in an e46 m3. i was half a lap infront, it took him two laps of the 4 mile track to catch me and another lap to pass me on the straight. he obviously backed off a bit but i stayed on his ass till the end.

[I6Touring]

Looks like you were having fun, and surprise to see you come back on screen at 8:22! Not giving up your space easily, or maybe the M3 let you back in?

As for prices, when I bought mine I could afford either the E91 with 2.5i or 2.0d. Any 3l would have been in an E46 or E39.

[325jay]

it was a quick bit of the track. i was on the racing line he was miles off. think he thought about it then backed off. it was my favorite bit too lol.

bought mine from a guy i know. didnt put much thought into it. it was cheap and i could afford it. to wait till i could afford the 3l d would mean not getting a nice car this year. i wanted a nice car for my 40th so just bought it. might be worth an lpg conversion.

[Tallest]

LPG conversion of 325`? Is that even possible`? Where would the gas tank go, into that tiny storage box?

[wallsmk2]

looked into this myself and if you have the earlier N52 engine it's pretty easy. I contacted prins in wolverhampton and they want £2k but is the best you can buy I think. Yet to ask them where the tank would go but I've seen some e91s with a tank under the floor but I have a feeling it was done using a jigsaw, beer and lots of sauerkraut http://www.abartautogas.de/Galerie/BMW

[Tallest]

seems they've cut out the floor bit, fitted the standard "donut" under and covered it with a metal plate. I can imagine how much weight this added though and slowed the car already, not to mention the 10% performance drop.

LPG makes sense for big engined petrol cars I guess.

[Tallest]

got 325i, let's see how bad the consumption will be or not. will report my findings here just in case.