320 Fuel Ecomony

[martyyn 2]

Seeing as Im coming from a 5l v12 and 4.4 v8 background you can guess that fuel economy means sod all to me.

However with the e30 320 is it really as bad as its made out ?

What exactly is the difference between a 318, a 320 and a 325 in terms of economy.

Are we talking a 5% difference between 318 and 320 or a 25% difference.

Answers on a postcard please.....

[E30stz 0]

they're pretty bad, not good in busy traffic. I think my worst tank full was around 350km.

Edited January 22, 2006 by E30stz

[Deftones 0]

Mine chews through a bit of gas around town.. especially when I go home from work as I do a bit of a hill climb..

[WarNox 1]

my e36 2L does an average of about 11.6km/100km's, i've kept track for the last 2mnths! When on open road, eg. during new years, did almost 700km on a full tank of 98oct, 8.8L/100km! The manual says it should do around 12.8 around town so im pretty happy with mine!

[Nic325i 0]

My 325 (E30) does about 11.5l/100km around town, about 9l/100km on the open road. Never tried to drive it particularly for economy on the open road though. Not really the point.

[*RJ* 0]

My E36 320i Auto does a full tank of 96 for 340/360km - this is either stop start traffic on the motorway (30mins to do 15kms) or putting my foot down on the motorway if there isn't traffic.

Fuel economy wasn't high on my list of priorities when I bought it.

[martyyn 2]

Come on guys I want figures, not just 'oh its pretty bad'.

As some of you know Im looking to buy an e30 and was settling on a 318 based on comments about fuel economy, but if its a small difference then there are plenty of 320's to look atswell.

So what exactly is bad for you guys ? Like I said before is the 320 (or 325 for that matter) 5% worse than a 318 or 25% worse ?

How much do you get in a tank on these things? Are they 50l ?

Ive always thought that 10l/100km was the holy grail, so to get 11's doesnt seem that bad.

[*RJ* 0]

My E36 320i Auto does a full tank of 96 for 340/360km - this is either stop start traffic on the motorway (30mins to do 15kms) or putting my foot down on the motorway if there isn't traffic.

Fuel economy wasn't high on my list of priorities when I bought it.

That's a 65L tank and it generally costs around $80 to fill.

[petone 0]

I normally get 10L/100km driving round town without even trying to save gas. It got better milage before I f**ked round with exhaust and intake and also if I try to drive economically, so I have gotten low as 9L/100km round town. get between 7-8L/100km on the open road. Used less than a tank driving up to manfield, few laps, then home again.

Manual 318i BTW

Edited January 22, 2006 by petone

[Guest Andrew]

Come on guys I want figures, not just 'oh its pretty bad'.

As some of you know Im looking to buy an e30 and was settling on a 318 based on comments about fuel economy, but if its a small difference then there are plenty of 320's to look atswell.

So what exactly is bad for you guys ? Like I said before is the 320 (or 325 for that matter) 5% worse than a 318 or 25% worse ?

How much do you get in a tank on these things? Are they 50l ?

Ive always thought that 10l/100km was the holy grail, so to get 11's doesnt seem that bad.

tank size varies from 50 ltr to 110 ltr in some SA models.

Fuel economy is same as 325i.

[my_e36 43]

e36 323i Auto 8.3l/100km or 19.6MPG

Mostly around town (AKL) with up to 15% motorway.

[my_e36 43]

You need to go back to school that converts to 33.9 miles per gallon not 19, there are 4.55 litres in a gallon and 1.61 km in a mile

Are you sure?

Google Calculator

Edited January 23, 2006 by my_e36

[WarNox 1]

e36 323i Auto 8.3l/100km or 19.6MPG

Mostly around town (AKL) with up to 15% motorway.

no way!

a 2.3L car to do that good in town driving, are u sure u didnt mean open rd!?

yeah a 325 will do better on open road than a 320 and around town they're about the same! if i went to buy agian i'd get a 325 but getting a manual bmw here is just about impossible, especially an e36!

[kiwi535 538]

You need to go back to school that converts to 33.9 miles per gallon not 19, there are 4.55 litres in a gallon and 1.61 km in a mile

Are you sure?

i beleive he is

check this page

Edited January 23, 2006 by kiwi535

[petone 0]

e36 323i Auto 8.3l/100km or 19.6MPG

Mostly around town (AKL) with up to 15% motorway.

no way!

a 2.3L car to do that good in town driving, are u sure u didnt mean open rd!?

yeah a 325 will do better on open road than a 320 and around town they're about the same! if i went to buy agian i'd get a 325 but getting a manual bmw here is just about impossible, especially an e36!

agreed, I seriously doubt an auto 2.5 would get that good milage round town. Thats the stuff of civics. Maybe you mean 8.3km/L? -

8.3km/L = 12L/100km

which would be more believable.

[isis 16]

i used to get real sh*t mileage on my e36 325i and i was using 98 PULP..at around 14l/100kms with mostly city/highway driving...my dad's e39 530i gets 11l/100ks!!!

lets not stray away from the main topic though...but yeah i would think a 6 cyclinder e30 is gng to consume more fuel than a 4 potter..

i can vouch for that, having an e30 318iS thats super good on fuel and another e30 with an M50 2.5 engine in it..prolly because we drive the sh*t out of it all the time..hahha..

[Carl 3]

I think the diff ratio and gearbox have the biggest part to play

1990 320i, I measured the distance travelled from leaving on a full tank and measured how much it took to top it back up again, the fuel useage meter is fairly damn accurate.

auto with 4.45 diff = open road 10k / 1L

manual with 4.45 diff = open road 8k / 1L

manual with 3.25 diff = open road 13k / 1L

manual with 3.45 diff = open road 12k /1L

manual with 3.64 = open road 11k / 1L

[nz320i 0]

mines crap economy i have to be careful with my feet on the gas even cm's movements amkes a difference on the open road!! but mines manual with 4.27 diff + not economy.

anyone got a 3.63

[Viking 0]

My E36 325 auto gets constantly 10km/L half city half highway driving, thats without making an effort to save fuel, so 300km/30L. Best I've got on the same roads while actually trying to be nice was 360km/30L.

[Palazzo 477]

Both of our 325s do about 12.5l/100km around town and both do about 8.5l/100km on the open road, worse around town and better on the open road than my old Legacy Turbo. I would hope a 318 would be better on both, given the inconvenience caused by a lack of power.

[my_e36 43]

e36 323i Auto 8.3l/100km or 19.6MPG

Mostly around town (AKL) with up to 15% motorway.

no way!

a 2.3L car to do that good in town driving, are u sure u didnt mean open rd!?

yeah a 325 will do better on open road than a 320 and around town they're about the same! if i went to buy agian i'd get a 325 but getting a manual bmw here is just about impossible, especially an e36!

agreed, I seriously doubt an auto 2.5 would get that good milage round town. Thats the stuff of civics. Maybe you mean 8.3km/L? -

8.3km/L = 12L/100km

which would be more believable.

Sorry, my bad.... Grab the numbers from the wrong column of my Excel sheet

it was 8.3km/litre or 12 litre/100km.

Sorry guys~ Wish that 8.3 litre thing was true though...

[Jazzbass 1]

I had two E36: 318 and 325.

What surprised me was that, overall, the fuel consumption was very similar - I had each car for about 3 years and they averaged around 30mpg over that time - I'm old: l/100kms means bugger all to me

I decided that the 318 had to be driven much harder and the 325 less hard, thereby accounting for the expected differences. For instance, I had to floor the 318 to get off from a stop, but just had to squeeze the 325 to get similar acceleration.

Yesterday I drove to Wellington and back (at one point doing 180kph in overtaking a couple of trucks and getting an earful from my wife and daughter in the process) and my car reported 9.1 l/100km (E39, 528). I think that translates to about 31 mpg. I commonly get 700km from a tankful on a trip and around 600km around town.

So, I deduce that fuel consumption figures for the 4 pot and 6 pot engines, under 'normal' (if there is such a thing) NZ driving conditions are not that far apart.

Edited January 27, 2006 by Jazzbass

[my_e36 43]

The worst I can get out of my 328 without going to jail is 11.6 l / 100k.

Have you got clogged cats or something

I got just over 90000km on the clock, so maybe due for an O2 sensor. But seems to be in line with few other guys here. Maybe your 328i is in really good shape!

Speaking of clogged CAT, can I de-CAT the exhaust on an OBD-II e36?

(admins: please let me know if I should open new thread on this one)

[Guest Spargo]

My 2.7 does 12.5L/100km combined, and I rape it whenever I can.