owners of MY05 3.0- gas mileage?

[martz]

My wife owns a sports package model with the 18in wheels and averages a horrible 15-16 MPG in city driving. Would downgrading to 17 inch tires increase in mileage consumption? And for others what sort of averages are you getting? TIA....

[AzNMpower32]

I don't believe downsizing would do much to reduce unsprung weight and reduce fuel consumption. Make sure your cold tire pressures are high enough (At least 230kPa or 33psi), get rid of excess weight in the trunk. Learn more efficient driving techniques like more gradual acceleration. 16 US mpg isn't too unusual for heavy urban driving (stop-and-go only) simply because the vehicle weighs so much.

In suburban driving, I average about 19 to 20 US mpg, and on freeways I can yield anywhere from 26 to 29,2 US mpg. I don't really subject my X3 to the tortures of urban traffic, there aren't any big cities around here

[JCL]

Ours is a 2007, with the 3.0si engine (updated one generation from yours).

We get 12 litres/100 km in the city, stop and go, which is 23.6 mpg (Imperial) or 19.7 mpg (US gallons)

We can get up to 8 litres/100 km on the highway, which is 35.5 mpg (Imperial) or 29.6 mpg (US gallons) but you have to be taking it very easy to achieve that.

32 psi, manual transmission, no extra weight in the car. Adding our roof rack reduces the mileage as well.

[mlx52]

Downtown Chicago, I get 14.9 on my 05 X3 3.0.

My E92 335xi get's 16 in the city. Both horrible, but I only drive in the city, and rarely on the highway.

[martz]

I guess I am not alone!

Originally Posted by mlx52

Downtown Chicago, I get 14.9 on my 05 X3 3.0.

My E92 335xi get's 16 in the city. Both horrible, but I only drive in the city, and rarely on the highway.

[martz]

I would love to have a manual transmission X3. I recall one of the members of this forum tracking the e83 and loved the handling of the SAV.

Originally Posted by JCL

Ours is a 2007, with the 3.0si engine (updated one generation from yours). manual transmission, .

[AzNMpower32]

Originally Posted by JCL

Ours is a 2007, with the 3.0si engine (updated one generation from yours).

We get 12 litres/100 km in the city, stop and go, which is 23.6 mpg (Imperial) or 19.7 mpg (US gallons)

We can get up to 8 litres/100 km on the highway, which is 35.5 mpg (Imperial) or 29.6 mpg (US gallons) but you have to be taking it very easy to achieve that.

Haha I actually had to do a reverse conversion to get the US mpg figures, ever since I had the Board Computer units changed. I got 8 l/100km on the mountain drive back on Sunday, and now I have to force myself to NOT look at the average consumption during the weekday (cold engine, short trips).

[Ishniknork]

I get about the same 15-16 mpg/city in my '05 Sport. The biggest thing that impacts my mileage is the poor traffic light timing here in Fort Worth. We've been ranked one of the WORST cities in the whole country for traffic light synchronization. Basically, you can expect to stop at EVERY light on a 'supposedly' MAIN THOROUGHFARE no matter what!

The X3 is able to achieve rather good mileage considering the size and weight of the vehicle. If the lights were better synced to match traffic on the main roads throughout our city I'd bet I could get 18 mpg/city easy. I try to drive conservatively most of the time but the light timing is actually preventing me from being efficient. I did get 17.2 mpg on one tank by learning the light timing on my everyday commute but I was pissing off a whole bunch of other drivers for doing 15 mph in a 35 or 25 mph in a 40 to give the light time to change red and back to green again. A few fellow commuters on the same daily route actually caught on and started doing the same thing, but then Ft. Worth Traffic Control somehow got wind of what was happening and changed the timing on us! Apparently we were not following the wasteful practices they had designed into the traffic system to increase tax revenue from gasoline sales.

[martz]

Originally Posted by Ishniknork[b

]Pardon my Rant.[/b]

The Rant was welcomed!!!

It is an X3 we drive, 3.0-in line 6, German engineered transplant with variable valve timing. In other words it translates to a Efficient, (Economical), Robust transplant..........Not a V8 chevy/gmc surburban, tahoe or a toyota sequoia gas sucking SUV.
A dismal 15-16MPG in the city for basically a 3 series chassis is simply awful. I know it is a 4k lb SAV but 15MPG whoa........
My DD is a e320 4matic and I average 19-20MPG in the suburbs of VA and thats driving the way the car wants to be driven.

Having to time your drives to get through traffics lights is not an alternative for me. Me and my wife drive the cars we own to enjoy them , but when you have to start synchronizing drives to adjust till the light turns green thats absurd for me.

I will most likely try dowsizing in tire size and hopefully achieve better results.

[Derek]

Originally Posted by martz

I will most likely try dowsizing in tire size and hopefully achieve better results.

I really don't think you're going to see any measurable mileage improvement and unless you have a smaller set of wheels sitting around the cost of new tires/wheels will be more than your potential savings.........