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Thread: Fuel economy for 850CSi

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jun 2013
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    Auckland, NZ
    Posts
    934
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    1994 E31 850CSi

    Fuel economy for 850CSi

    When you own and run an 850CSi, the question of fuel economy is a fairly moot point - in fact, it's never come close to being very relevant to me.
    However, last week I was in a situation where my reserve light was on and I was trying to make it (through a stop-start motorway traffic jam) to the nearest convenient vendor of BP Ultimate 98.

    The OBC gave up and switched to "no value" for remaining range but, after 30 or so slow (and nervous) kilometres, I made it to the selected station and filled her up.
    She took 85.6 litres, so there was barely 5 litres left in the tank.
    The odometer reading was 630 kms since the last refill, which meant an average consumption for that tankful of roughly 13 litres/100km (or 21 miles per Imperial gallon).
    Not bad I thought, for city/highway driving.

    From there, I did a big cross-country road trip south over the weekend.
    Arriving home again yesterday, the reserve light was on, with a distance of 655 km on the odo - so by the time I fill her up again, I reckon we'll be looking at a figure of around 12 litres /100km (or 23 miles per Imperial gallon).

    This trip included a few nice twisty sections of road - so at times I was able to throw the car around a bit and fully exercise the left, as well as the right foot. However it was mostly main highway cruising, with fairly frequent use of the cruise control - which works pretty well, I might add.

    So, whilst not overly scientific (or representing the driving habits of your typical CSi owner for that matter!), this exercise did prove that a half-decent fuel economy is actually possible for the CSi.
    And, if nothing else, it's good to know that - with a little restraint - I could make the entire trip from Auckland to Wellington (645 km) on a single tank of gas.
    [For our US members, that would be like driving from Austin, TX to Little Rock, AR].
    Last edited by kiwiCSi; 03-11-2018 at 05:27 PM.
    Current:
    1994 E31 850CSi Sterlingsilber/Anthracite Buffalo

    Previous:
    1987 E28 M5 Delphin
    1986 E23 M745iA Arctic Blue
    1986 E24 635CSi Polaris
    1976 E3 3.0 Si Arctic Blue

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Mar 2012
    Location
    Auckland, New Zealand
    Posts
    723
    My Cars
    1991 BMW 850i
    Quote Originally Posted by kiwiCSi View Post
    When you own and run an 850CSi, the question of fuel economy is a fairly moot point - in fact, it's never come close to being very relevant to me.
    However, last week I was in a situation where my reserve light was on and I was trying to make it (through a stop-start motorway traffic jam) to the nearest convenient vendor of BP Ultimate 98.

    The OBC gave up and switched to "no value" for remaining range but, after 30 or so slow (and nervous) kilometres, I made it to the selected station and filled her up.
    She took 85.6 litres, so there was barely 5 litres left in the tank.
    The odometer reading was 630 kms since the last refill, which meant an average consumption for that tankful of roughly 13 litres/100km (or 21 miles per Imperial gallon).
    Not bad I thought, for city/highway driving.

    From there, I did a big cross-country road trip south over the weekend.
    Arriving home again yesterday, the reserve light was on, with a distance of 655 km on the odo - so by the time I fill her up again, I reckon we'll be looking at a figure of around 12 litres /100km (or 23 miles per Imperial gallon).

    This trip included a few nice twisty sections of road - so at times I was able to throw the car around a bit and fully exercise the left, as well as the right foot. However it was mostly main highway cruising, with fairly frequent use of the cruise control - which works pretty well, I might add.

    So, whilst not overly scientific (or representing the driving habits of your typical CSi owner for that matter!), this exercise did prove that a half-decent fuel economy is actually possible for the CSi.
    And, if nothing else, it's good to know that - with a little restraint - I could make the entire trip from Auckland to Wellington (645 km) on a single tank of gas.
    [For our US members, that would be like driving from Austin, TX to Little Rock, AR].
    That's bloody good, Pete! I'm either much more heavy footed or I have an overfuelling problem (which is VERY possible) as my standard 850 (with Wokke V2 chips) will only scrape 13L/100 on steady motorway cruising. Get me in the twisties or city driving and I'll be lucky to get under 20L/100!!

    EDIT: I have also fitted a 3.64 LSD so it does run it higher revs than previous.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jun 2013
    Location
    Auckland, NZ
    Posts
    934
    My Cars
    1994 E31 850CSi
    Jooles, what RPM are you pulling at a steady 120kph?
    In the CSi it's 2300 rpm.
    Agree with you on driving the twisties - I swear you can watch the fuel guage needle moving downwards with each hard acceleration out of a corner!
    Current:
    1994 E31 850CSi Sterlingsilber/Anthracite Buffalo

    Previous:
    1987 E28 M5 Delphin
    1986 E23 M745iA Arctic Blue
    1986 E24 635CSi Polaris
    1976 E3 3.0 Si Arctic Blue

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2012
    Location
    Auckland, New Zealand
    Posts
    723
    My Cars
    1991 BMW 850i
    Not sure off the top of my head because obviously I never break the speed limit!

    I'd say it would be around 2500 at a guess but I'll check next time I'm out for a drive.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Mar 2013
    Location
    netherlands
    Posts
    302
    My Cars
    850 CSI
    guys..... csi a lot, how much ? Who cares ?
    BMW 850 CSI march 1994 (EU spec), SOLD. https://www.classiccars-forsale.com/...94-bmw-850csi/
    BMW 850 CSI november 1994 (EU spec)

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jun 2013
    Location
    Auckland, NZ
    Posts
    934
    My Cars
    1994 E31 850CSi
    Quote Originally Posted by clubE31 View Post
    guys..... csi a lot, how much ? Who cares ?
    You've completely missed the point of my post....did you actually read it?
    Current:
    1994 E31 850CSi Sterlingsilber/Anthracite Buffalo

    Previous:
    1987 E28 M5 Delphin
    1986 E23 M745iA Arctic Blue
    1986 E24 635CSi Polaris
    1976 E3 3.0 Si Arctic Blue

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    Japan
    Posts
    54,655
    My Cars
    11/88 E32 750iL+98 E36M3
    Here are some data from fuel economy data base for 850i http://fueleconomydb.com/specs/BMW/850I
    Interesting is to read the German website Spritmonitor, there people can register and report the data from their own car, even how many times they re-fuelled etc https://www.spritmonitor.de/de/ueber...50&powerunit=2
    so the distribution reported is in liters/100 km and the number of members reported
    Ltr
    13.2 1
    13.8 4
    14.4 2
    15.0 2
    16.2 4
    16.8 2
    17.4 3
    18.3 1

    Many of those are members of the German E31 forum. Just to take 2 as example, Georg M3 with an 850 CSi, re-fuelled 65 times, average 16.25 ltr/100 km; 4drian: 308 times re-fuelled, 850CiA, 14.93 ltr.
    So these are real values not from only one time driving but over a long time period.
    Shogun tricks and tips for the E32 series are HERE!

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