Which mode do you use?

[AzNMpower32]

Hasn't this been discussed before?

http://www.x3world.com/x5-e70-forum/...nsmission.html

[rh71]

Originally Posted by AzNMpower32

Hasn't this been discussed before?

http://www.x3world.com/x5-e70-forum/...nsmission.html

I also had a new thread on it and practically nobody drove it in DS/manual. Quite a change from then.

[FSETH]

DS on normal roads 90% of the time
D on the highway

[Quicksilver]

Yes it was......

And the conclusion was the same as it is now.
The question and the answer is unimportant.....

Originally Posted by AzNMpower32

Hasn't this been discussed before?

http://www.x3world.com/x5-e70-forum/...nsmission.html

[drod]

most of the time i'm in D.

every chance I get on the open highways and twisty roads i immediately shift to DS/M.. even with the 3.0 i get great acceleration and response...

i actually had a lot of fun this past sunday on my favorite back roads (which offers nothing but scenic twisties for about 30 miles)

this road is my usual playing ground when riding my Suzuki GSXR1000.

thought i'd try it with the X.. and it was great..

even beat a Ford Explorer V8 Eddie Bauer edition in the process...

wouldn't have been able to do that in D only mode..

actually not bad for a six....

i can only imagine what the 4.8 would be like...

you guys are lucky!

i'm now considering the X6 twin turbo... now that must be fun!!

[emcman]

Most of the commute to work and back is D but I like DS if it is hilly as D seems to wait too long to downshift and then seems like it may drop 2 gears by the way the RPM jump.

M work fine also but I tend to pay attention when going to bag the idea when breaking.

At least I can tell the difference as some models I have driven it was not noticable.

[trueX5er]

Originally Posted by cmyX5go

Maybe that's why I'm getting 12.5 mpg

D 98% of the time

[AzNMpower32]

Originally Posted by cmyX5go

Maybe that's why I'm getting 12.5 mpg

I guess looking at the energy conservation (instant fuel consumption) gauge is out of the question for a lot of y'all?

[rh71]

Originally Posted by AzNMpower32

I guess looking at the energy conservation (instant fuel consumption) gauge is out of the question for a lot of y'all?

I have been looking at it more carefully lately. Anytime you're accelerating from stop, even lightly, while in 1st & 2nd gear, it WILL be low MPG (indicates 12/13 at most). Once you reach 3rd/4th gear, and despite being a bit heavy on the pedal to keep acceleration at this point, your MPG will improve a lot.

The weight of the vehicle has a lot to do with the figures and of course stop-and-go (city) which we already knew about. My point is, what's interesting to me is that MPG does not always correlate with how heavy you are on the pedal, according to this gauge. Also to my surprise, DS mode shows the same situational results on the gauge. Seem right to everyone else?

[AzNMpower32]

Originally Posted by rh71

I have been looking at it more carefully lately. Anytime you're accelerating from stop, even lightly, while in 1st & 2nd gear, it WILL be low MPG (indicates 12/13 at most). Once you reach 3rd/4th gear, and despite being a bit heavy on the pedal to keep acceleration at this point, your MPG will improve a lot.

The weight of the vehicle has a lot to do with the figures and of course stop-and-go (city) which we already knew about. My point is, what's interesting to me is that MPG does not always correlate with how heavy you are on the pedal, according to this gauge. Also to my surprise, DS mode shows the same situational results on the gauge. Seem right to everyone else?

It's a lot to do with physics (none of which I have learned thru school). The heaviest fuel consumption will be accelerating from a dead stop, which is magnified by the mass of the X5. It's normal to get consumption values like 50-75 l/100km for the first few seconds when accelerating. Once you're up to about 60km/h, you should be able to make use of the gauge, and it's very good for minimising consumption on the freeway.

With the new torque converter technology, it's not a surprise that the gauge behaves similarly. The newer transmissions lock up the torque converter after takeoff even in D, and only decouple it below 40km/h. Thus with the converter locked and no throttle, fuel consumption drops to 0. The higher overall consumption SD comes from the higher revs the transmission runs up to before upshifting, and the more frequent downshifts, which also increase fuel consumption since the lower gears are not as efficient as higher gears.

If you have an older X5 or X3 with the 5-speed auto, SD and D makes more of a difference, mainly because the torque converter does not lock up until ~80km/h in 5th gear. When the converter is not locked, there is a minimal amount of fuel consumed, usually 3-4 l/100km. But even those with the new X5 can see: as you coast towards a stop from say, 70 km/h, you'll see that the needle shows 0 consumption until ~40 km/h, at which point the needle rises a bit, reflecting the decoupling point.

I haven't taken a single physics or engineering class in my life ever, but this is all stuff I've learned thru careful observation. Sorry for the metric, but as you can see the fuel conservation gauge really makes more sense this way (because the car was designed in Germany, duh!) 20 l/100km = 12 mpg.