delirious on gas fumes....

[Pex5]

Our E70 4.8 sport has been a good car. Basically reliable. Pretty comfortable (took off the run flats) and a good drive considering its weight and size. BUT...I simply cannot stomach the gas bills. Was never an issue before, but a) we never had a car this thirsty b) gas was cheaper 3 yrs. ago and c) I now have the most fuel efficient car I've ever owned (the X5 is the wife's) which makes her car seem even worse.

90% of the milage is in town. Both of us drive hard. We're averaging 13 mpg mixed. 240 miles later I'm at station again getting another $100 in gas.

So. Here's the dilemma: She likes the X6 (which I wanted instead of the X5 in the 1st place). Right now a $68k 3.5 is more to lease than a $83k 5.0. You read that correctly and I'm not mistaken. The residual stinks on the 6 cyl. and is very high on the V8. I'm sure that won't be the case come Jan. and were not off lease until March. But man is that tempting. I would love to get a 5.0. I've driven them and X5 5.0s plenty and the power (unlike our 4.8 which is peppy but not fast) makes the pathetic mileage easier to digest. But. I don't want to be a hypocrite and the 6 cylinder is still really nice.

Any thoughts on this 6 vs. 8. Maybe there are some angles or considerations I'm missing? The gas mileage is the issue. She does 16k mi a year. By my math it's approx. a $2,000 a year difference at the pumps and at least another 2-3 days between fill ups??

It's important to debate this issue heavily since a lot can happen in 3 years...gas could be $6 a gallon in 2014??

DRP

[FSETH]

I think you may be overestimating your fuel savings on the 3.5. The 5.0 should be very similar to your current 4.8. If you are frustrated with the gas mileage, get a diesel or step away from the X5/6 range all together, imo.

Check out this website and compare the 3 of them.

Fuel Economy

[Pex5]

Originally Posted by FSETH

I think you may be overestimating your fuel savings on the 3.5. The 5.0 should be very similar to your current 4.8. If you are frustrated with the gas mileage, get a diesel or step away from the X5/6 range all together, imo.

Check out this website and compare the 3 of them.

Fuel Economy

I agree its not a monumental difference between 3.5 and 5.0. Thing is, my wife does 75-80% of driving stop & go urban/suburban. Neither of us have to get on the highway to go to work. So really what I think will happen with an X6 35 vs. our X5 is... we'll go from 10-11 mpg to 13-14 mpg in town. The highway mileage improvement with the 35 is more significant 22-23 vs. 18, but less relevant to our needs. Should be a $1,000.00 difference over 1 year. Also, I'd expect the 35 to go a day maybe even 2 more between fillups. That will help psychologically

As for the 35d X5, my wife doesn't like the diesel and I have to agree. Its a great alternative for some. I like downshifts at 90 mph and that's not the diesel's cup of tea.

We drove a 535 and even with the Msport the car is not edgy enough to be fun (IMHO - I had a E60 550i sport and loved it - the new car is more 7 series).

The X3 although beautiful inside, fast and affordable is just not an option.

X6 is perfect. I'd do the V8 but I really want to cut back some.

[motordavid]

When I first read your orig post, I thought, "Wow, how does an X6 'fix' the gas cost issue", esp the title of "delirious on gas fumes"...still don't get the rationale.

Not a micro car/mpg chaser here, but it reads like someone 'downsizing' from "6 bedrooms, 6 1/2 baths, guest house and 7,000+ sq ft, to 6 bedrooms, 6 baths, 6,800 sq ft, etc."

But, everyone has their own bag and rationale...drive whatcha like.
GL, mD

[Pex5]

you're not helping me here At this rate I'll have a 5.0 on order.

My wife had a 3.0 E53 X5, then a 335xi, and now a 4.8 E70 X5. I had a 740i, then an E60 550i. We've never had economical cars when it comes to gas mileage. But the current X5 is different. The gas gauge moves at the drop of a hat. Go easy on the throttle in D, no revving and you're still not going to get 60 miles out of the first 1/4 tank. The gauge actually moves off full by the time I get home from the station a few miles away - seriously! Now if this was an M capable of belching out massive low end torque then it makes sense, but the 4.8 isn't even that fast (especially since I had the same engine in my 550 which was a rocket). In fact the 35i is just as quick. So the poor mileage of the 4.8 just isn't justified in my opinion. Now the X6 5.0 is a much faster beast. A genuinely fast car. But I just don't know if its prudent to get one since our current mileage with the 4.8 annoys me?

Last thing complicating this decision is that the leasing is better on the X6 V8 than the 6, so you get more car for the buck....?

DRP

Thanks for the continued feedback

[FSETH]

I stick by my original post. It seems like gas costs are very important to you, so considering switching to an X6 Xdrive 50 is not going to be an upgrade at all in gas mileage, but it would be a performance upgrade. The X6 Xdrive 35 would be a slight increase in MPG (maybe $600 per year or so depending on how much you drive), but probably a wash performance-wise with your 4.8i. If fuel costs are such a big factor, I really don't see why these are the two models you are considering. Also, if you do 80% of your driving in city/stop and go traffic, how many 90 mph downshifts are you getting?