The ol' m30 - an economical motor!

[e34.535i.sport]

So as you probably know I've been 'restoring' the 535i for 18 months or so and now I'd like to say it's pretty much tip-top mechanically (just need these damn thrust arm bushes to get here)... Everything else seems spot on.

I took the car on a 550mile round trip and thought I'd check the 'reliability' of the OBC consumption readout and I was amazed with the results! I filled her right up before leaving...

I got down to bournemouth after 248 gruelling miles of motorway and a few twisty A-roads... (and an essential trip into town to the pizza hut). The OBC indicated 27.4mpg! I thought it was too good to be true so I went, filled up, and got the calculator out...

It took 41.12 litres to fill right back up which by my calculations is 9.04 gallons (2dp)... So 248 miles / 9.04 gallons = 27.43 MILES PER GALLON! Effectively this is spot on with the OBC only dealing in 1dp...

I reset consum1 on the way back taking a diferent route and got 28.8MPG ... The overall average for the trip being 28MPG... BARE IN MIND this is fully loaded with 4 passengers, luggage x4 and a full tank of petrol. Who says the m30 isn't economical?! (Pics to follow)

[E34-520iSE]

Yep, the OBC is amazingly accurate in it's calcs for fuel consumption & speed etc. When I set mine to show instant speed it gives the same figure as my sat-nav, which isn't bad considering
a) it's an OBC from a 535
b) I have a 535 dash cluster & coding plug
c) OBC's weren't standard kit in 2 litre cars.


Cheers,

Shaun M

[Ross]

I recently took a 350 mile trip(maiden voyage)in an M30 powered '89 E34 manual. I have no idea when he last time this car had been serviced and it had been idle for nearly a year according to the seller. Mostly interstate cruising at 85-90 mph, encountering fairly heavy traffic the last 70 miles. The OBC indicated 21.2 mpg.
I think they are capable mid twenties highway with more moderate speeds. Around town mid to high teens.

[Ferret]

I recently took a 350 mile trip(maiden voyage)in an M30 powered '89 E34 manual. I have no idea when he last time this car had been serviced and it had been idle for nearly a year according to the seller. Mostly interstate cruising at 85-90 mph, encountering fairly heavy traffic the last 70 miles. The OBC indicated 21.2 mpg.
I think they are capable mid twenties highway with more moderate speeds. Around town mid to high teens.

27(UK) is quite similar to what I get on a long trip. If I'm careful I can push it upto 30 if staying at 70 or under, and on one occasion I've got 35 out of it keeping it to 60 because I had time to spare.

For the main part, doing B road bashing and a 10 mile motorway thrash each day I tend to average about 18-22(UK)

[Derek A.]

Do you have a 2x4 zip tied to the back of your gas pedal?

So as you probably know I've been 'restoring' the 535i for 18 months or so and now I'd like to say it's pretty much tip-top mechanically (just need these damn thrust arm bushes to get here)... Everything else seems spot on.

I took the car on a 550mile round trip and thought I'd check the 'reliability' of the OBC consumption readout and I was amazed with the results! I filled her right up before leaving...

I got down to bournemouth after 248 gruelling miles of motorway and a few twisty A-roads... (and an essential trip into town to the pizza hut). The OBC indicated 27.4mpg! I thought it was too good to be true so I went, filled up, and got the calculator out...

It took 41.12 litres to fill right back up which by my calculations is 9.04 gallons (2dp)... So 248 miles / 9.04 gallons = 27.43 MILES PER GALLON! Effectively this is spot on with the OBC only dealing in 1dp...

I reset consum1 on the way back taking a diferent route and got 28.8MPG ... The overall average for the trip being 28MPG... BARE IN MIND this is fully loaded with 4 passengers, luggage x4 and a full tank of petrol. Who says the m30 isn't economical?! (Pics to follow)

[Jeff N.]

ha...wait till you swap in that lower rear end.

I'm lucky if I can coax 22 or 23 MPG out of my car if I cruise 65 to 70.

Of course...hehe...I am running a bit more displacement than you.

[e34.535i.sport]

Well I was amazed at the accuracy - especially after 18 yrs on the road and the correction factor being the factory 1000! I thought it was telling porkies when I saw 28.8mpg - The car must have weighed 2tonne with all the padssengers and luggage! Admittedly I was driving 'conservatively' pretty much the whole journey.

I'm worried about doing the rear end if it'll drop it to 23mpg highway!! Hopefully a 3.64 would leave me with 26mpg under the same conditions... Around town it's so ridiculous it wouldn't matter too much! Since taking out the EAT chip that wasn't suitable I've been getting around 17mpg... Saying that if I'm SUPER careful I can hit 22mpg in town if traffic is light!

Ferret - That's quite impressive! I've hit 30mpg once on a journey to wales but I was following a minibus limited to 63mph... It so wasn't worth the economy!

[anonymous1]

27(UK) is quite similar to what I get on a long trip. If I'm careful I can push it upto 30 if staying at 70 or under, and on one occasion I've got 35 out of it keeping it to 60 because I had time to spare.

For the main part, doing B road bashing and a 10 mile motorway thrash each day I tend to average about 18-22(UK)

I'm impressed, I only got 36.7 out of mine on the same trip as E34.Sport. Highest I've had is about 42mpg, but that was downhill at 40mph.

[winfred]

my all time high m30 mileage was in my old and sold 90 535ia 27.4 actual, the obc was never spot on and i never bothered trying to calibrate it, i can't remember if that trip was with the 3.91 or 4.27 diff, out of 5 or 6 trips in that car that one was the stand out mpg trip (trip = 2300 mile round trip from la to va over the same roads/gas stations) the normal high was around 24-25 which is what my shark got on it's only run to va so far, it's running the engine/injection and 5 speed right out of a 90 535 with 3.73 diff

[Ferret]

Around town it's so ridiculous it wouldn't matter too much! Since taking out the EAT chip that wasn't suitable I've been getting around 17mpg... Saying that if I'm SUPER careful I can hit 22mpg in town if traffic is light!

o.O Wow, even with me being lead-foot-larry in the 540i, I can still get an average of 19ish around town bombing it everywhere, 22 if I'm conservative with the throttle... interesting comparison between the 535i and 540i...!