Increase Fuel Efficiency on 4.4 - Funny I know!
 

I wanted to inquire if anyone has found some good tips to increase fuel mileage on their x5(4.4 preferrably)? Has anyone tried hydrogen kits?

For me using cruise and not touching it helps on the freeway - we got up to 23mpg on a road trip, as well around town not flooring it everywhere - takes all the fun out of it though!

Kevin

Start by making sure your engine is tuned up, synthetic oil helps efficiency, clean air filter, make sure spark plugs are fresh, fuel filter, and very important, make sure tire pressure is good! I usually run a few psi more than recommended to decrease rolling resistance.

Do you fill up with 87 or 93? In my M54 3.0 with a 5 speed manual I only use 93 and find that I probably squeeze another 1-2 mpg from that (I average around 19)

Also if your car could lose some weight that would help, if you carry a couple hundred pounds of stuff in the trunk you will lose fuel efficiency too.


All in all though, I realize i'm not driving a diesel, and I'm just happy with the way the car drives.

Same here, love that it drives low a low to the ground sports car.
I've done all that, I use 91, that's the highest our area has. I usually average about 16.

Damn you guys have nice numbers. I average 11.8. I do have to deal with a light, or stop sign, every 300 feet.

On the highway at um something 25 miles per hour I was getting 16mpg, for about 20 min of this. So if it wasn't for the city being the city, I think the mileage would be nice. The other 4 hours of the drive it was between 75 and something.

By the way guys. Everyone should get Waze Social Navigation for their smart phones. You will not believe how great it is.

Just get the thing trust me. It's free. It does all the regular stuff a normal nav does. But it's social so when people see a cop, they push 2 buttons and it will let everyone else on that path know. It does traffic re-routing. Saved me 20 min over the BMW nav. I am pretty sure it has speed and light cameras but I haven't used it inside city so not sure there. I have a bell 995Pro radar detector, but Waze literally made it useless. It told me about the cop miles before my radar saw it. Really awsome nav.

Do a tune-up first. I just did an inspection II after 98k miles and wish I did it at 60k. The air filter was black from all the road debris and I'm sure the spark plugs didn't burn that well. Now I'm averaging 18 MPG doing 70/30 city/hwy with rush hour included. I think I can easily get 25 MPG out of it if I do 70 MPH steady on a road trip.

Just cover it in Crisco and call it a day. It will be as fast as grease lightning. Duct tape the front into a cone to cute through the wind too. Tape first, then crisco!!!

There ya go!

Any other thoughts?

My theory... Buy a daily driver that gets serious MPG. When you need the X, mash the throttle...

If you want to get really picky, over inflate your tires. Tape up the cracks in your hood/front end. Draft a semi. Gut your interior. Add golf ball dimples to your truck.

:)

Driving practices make more difference than any minor changes you can make. Anticipate lights. Brake lightly, accelerate lightly. Moderate speed. Keep the windows and sunroof closed. Use the vacuum gauge that masquerades as a fuel consumption gauge to help keep a light foot on the throttle.

And if you want to really improve your mileage, drive a vehicle that weighs a couple of thousand pounds less.

X5 ///M CSL, hehe (SAVSL?)

Avoid traffic. Get navigation that goes around it.

i pretty much gave on the fuel efficiency when i got the 4.6 - it is like a drug, when you press the gas pedal, and the elephant sized beast sprints up like a cheetah... but the, again, watching the fuel gauge moving like it was a second hand on a watch - not much fun... I averaged 13 MPG in 4.6...

in 4.8 my average now (precisely calculated by excel spreadsheet, as i started to keep fuel receipts and write mileage) is 16.08113, which is $0.22 a mile at current prices...

Gallons Total $ Miles driven MPG $ per mile
261.3 $937.29 4202 miles 16.08113 $0.22

buy a motorcycle ...or buy some light weigh wheels ..people don't think about it much my stock rims that came with a BMW weigh only 10lbs lighter then my 22inch with low profile tires...usually low profile tires are heavier then regular that said ..dang BMW couldn't think of making wheels little bit lighter. Toyota suv makes light wheels i changed my friends brakes and wanted to see the difference it was huge...bottom line lighter wheels would help
And buy the way tornado fuel saver and other gizmos don't.

Eat more fruits and vegetables. Lose the rear seats,drive like a grammars ,etc...

Lol are you referring to the myth busters where they put golf ball dimples on a ford Taurus?

I've found that I can get better MPG at 75 mph behind a few semis then at 70 mph without drafting. I follow about 1 sec behind.

The biggest mileage killer is brake application.

-Get a haircut every week
-take a dump before each trip.
-Give the car a wash to remove all the heavy dirt
also don't forget to vacuum your carpets.
-Drive on E as much as possible.
-Use cruise control on stop and go traffic
-If you car pool then don't do it anymore. Make
them take public transportation.
-use 0w10 oil