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2010 2011 BMW 5 Series Forum F10 BMW 5-Series (F10) Forums Regional Forums UK 2011 F10 fuel economy
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      03-11-2019, 04:34 PM   #1
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2011 F10 fuel economy

hi all, just got my first BMW about 2 months ago. Its a 2011 520D SE automatic, just a little disappointed in the fuel economy of the car. only getting about 35 mph to the gallon. tried driving fast to get up the gears and taper off and tried driving very easy but there is no real difference. I'm sure this isn't the first time this was asked but any ideas what may be wrong apart from me not being able to drive as good as i should :-) :-) thanks in advance
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      03-12-2019, 09:30 AM   #2
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What sort of driving is that? All inner city or motorway? And are you in the us or UK?

In my 520d I usually get around 40mpg inner city and easily 50+ on motorway runs, if I'm behaving I can get 60mpg repeatedly on my 47mile commute. If I'm being a hooligan on the motorway the lowest I've had it is 40mpg and that was a long hard drive from Oxford to Birmingham
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      03-12-2019, 01:19 PM   #3
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I’m getting 33 around town and 45 on motorway. 520d SE auto, 79000 miles in UK. And I don’t drive like a nutter!
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      03-12-2019, 05:13 PM   #4
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Plenty of forum posts on this. Search for thermostats, coolant temperatures and reading the temps off the hidden menu in the instrument cluster. If the temps are too low, replace the thermostats with genuine BMW ones.

Last edited by Johnny Grabble; 03-13-2019 at 07:39 AM..
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      03-14-2019, 09:59 AM   #5
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2011 F10 fuel economy

Hi guys thanks for the reply's. living in Ireland. Short trips mostly, was getting 33mpg on these trips but went on a longer trip today and got up to 41mpg. the accelerator seems very sensitive, i mean like the slightest movement changes the fuel consumption gauge drastically. will try and have a look for the hidden menus, cheers
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      03-17-2019, 07:17 PM   #6
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My long term average about 44mpg.
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      03-23-2019, 07:44 AM   #7
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I've had 39mpg from my n53 f10 :P

Low 20's around town.

Imo very good for a 3.0 petrol and they go well too!
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      03-23-2019, 08:31 AM   #8
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I get about 45 to 47 on long motiway trips if I take it easy and about 42 to 44 if I push it a bit harder. Any car will show drastic changes in instantaneous consumption when accelerating under even light load. On my previous 330d I had a spell of higher consumption caused by a coolant thermostat failure (common problem on the E90).
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      03-29-2019, 06:38 PM   #9
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thanks guys for the reply's
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      05-01-2019, 04:01 AM   #10
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I'm having similar issues with my recently bought F10 520D SE (2010). It's onluy got 44,000 miles on the clock but I'm getting around 29-30MPG on my commute, where I was getting around 37MPG on my 2010 Mazda2 1.3 Petrol. One of the reasons for buying this car was that I was looking for better fuel consumption, so have been really disappointed so far.

My commute is around 13 miles of very heavy South London traffic (lots of stop and go) of which around 4 miles on the A4 (M4) at ~40mph).

I did take it for a motorway drive and it was really impressive at around 55MPG at speeds of around 80mph. So I don't know why it is so bad in the city.
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      05-01-2019, 07:07 AM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by muffingg View Post
I'm having similar issues with my recently bought F10 520D SE (2010). It's onluy got 44,000 miles on the clock but I'm getting around 29-30MPG on my commute, where I was getting around 37MPG on my 2010 Mazda2 1.3 Petrol. One of the reasons for buying this car was that I was looking for better fuel consumption, so have been really disappointed so far.

My commute is around 13 miles of very heavy South London traffic (lots of stop and go) of which around 4 miles on the A4 (M4) at ~40mph).

I did take it for a motorway drive and it was really impressive at around 55MPG at speeds of around 80mph. So I don't know why it is so bad in the city.
Fuel consumption of diesels is no good on a cold engine and these ones can take 6 - 8 miles to warm up properly. It's a heavy car, so continual stop and go traffic will hurt consumption as well. Other than that it will be down to driving style, how heavy you are with your right foot and whether you anticipate stops by coming off the gas or whether you don't.
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      06-14-2019, 04:00 PM   #12
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Few things on these that really effect MPG.

Winter diesel, usually goes to summer at the end of March.
Can be as much as 10% difference.

Thermostats. If it is not getting to 90ºc quickly and staying there rock solid change them.
Can stop DPF regens too, not good.

O2 sensors, pre and post cat.
These fail a lot and when they go the car uses a default map, can use as much as 25% more fuel.
You will need a scanner and look at the live data for these.

I have got a B47, I bought it after gobbing off about how little difference there is in overall running costs compared to a petrol.
I was gutted when I first got it that I was so right.
I was getting 33/34 round town, 44 at best on a run and averaging about 36mpg.

The switch to summer diesel saw that go up 3-4mpg.
Still not good.
I knew the thermostats were good so started delving deeper.

Found the O2 sensors were knackered. Swapped these and saw and instant increase.

I am now seeing 55mpg on a run and averaging 45mpg.
Even round town from cold is is high 30s no problem.

The B47 is meant to be worse for MPG than the N47, so you should be able to see this.
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      06-14-2019, 04:01 PM   #13
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BTW, still think overall running costs don't justify a diesel, and that is with me doing 20k miles a year.
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      10-24-2019, 06:38 PM   #14
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Last tank has dropped a few MPG.
I did Norwich to Burford, steady driving, then to Forest of Dean, all steady, and I am at 44mpg where as with that sort of driving I had been 50mpg nearly.

I'm wondering if they have switched to winter diesel? Anyone know?
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      10-24-2019, 06:47 PM   #15
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Doing a bit of reading up, some refineries swap around mid October and some don't swap till they get to November 16th.
Might just be it has been a fair bit colder. So maybe another 10% drop in MPG from November 16th as well.
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      12-14-2019, 12:45 PM   #16
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Interesting, summer and winter diesel seems to make no difference to my b47 520d, but premium diesel to normal, runs like a bag of spanners on normal diesel.

On a long run I get 40 to 45 mpg but I drive fast and often have it in kickdown on the motorway to the redline. My older 525d 3 litre did mid to late 30's to the gallon, my 640d mid 30's, and my f10 523i low 30's, all on a run.

All better than my old e92 325i which was "crap", did well to break 30 in that. Did sound good at the redline though!
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      12-30-2019, 06:32 PM   #17
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I am now averaging around 39mpg in the 520d on winter diesel, that is calculated, OBC says 44mpg.

I bought another 330i E91 this week as well, needed my petrol fix.
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      08-24-2020, 08:55 AM   #18
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I sold my b47 lci 520d touring at the start of lockdown.
Wasn't sure which the market was going and decided I wanted the money in my pocket rather than sat on the drive.
So sold the 520d and my 330i touring.

Bought a 320i touring, n43 E91 lci, for £2500 and really liked it. Then a 320d ed F31 turned up so bought that, and have to say been really pleased with that, so sold the 320i and bought a Z4 Coupe.

Then on Friday an LCI 530d F11 turned up, with prof nav, pano roof, comfort access and with the beige interior, which is my preference.
Called the dealer, who said it was being valeted and there was an issue with the locks, kept opening when you go near it, and that was being sorted next week and it was going to be serviced.
I made a cheeky offer saying I would take it as it is, no warranty and pick it up same day.
He came back with a price just £100 more and so bought it.

Will move the 320d F31 on.


First impression of the 530d LCI M-Sport vs the LCI SE is the seats. Surprisingly I don't find the sport seats go low enough. The SE seats actually dropped lower, had just as much tilt and I think I prefer them.

The suspension doesn't seem to be more firmer either, my pre lci one was really firm, so much so it had to come off the run flats, this car feels pretty similar to the SE I had, a bit firmer, but not massively so. Very comfy.

The engine is pretty good, had a couple of N57s, but in all honesty, the B47 was the one that impressed me, nearly as refined from behind the wheel and just made the car feel more nimble and lighter.
I had a DTUK tri channel tuning box on my B47, rolling road it was just over 230hp and it felt nippy.
The 530d feels about the same speed wise really, just doesn't run out of puff as it gets towards the red line.

Then you have MPG, it seems to be doing 36/37 nipping around, which is what? 15% down on the 520d, but in a run it does 45mpg no problem, which is probably the same 15% down.

If anything it has made me realise just how good the lci 520d was/is.

I guess the 530d comes into its own once mapped. We shall see.
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