Fuel question

[JOHNBMWM5]

Originally Posted by Dionysus

Thanks John.

From what you say above, I mistimed the hard break-in rather than drove the car wrong. I'm going to try driving a bit harder to see what that does to fuel consumption. Planning on mid-cycle oil change perhaps at 5000 miles (car currently tracking 17000 miles to next scheduled oil change).

Personally I think your driving it to softly, 60 MPH is at the bottom of the rev range in 7th, try 80/85 MPH on the duel carriageways/motorway consumption will not be much different, I drive 80/90 MPH on those roads out of town driving mostly and see 25/26 MPG on Summer tyres, these winters are showing 23/24 MPG with this crap weather.

[Dionysus]

Originally Posted by johnbmw6

Personally I think your driving it to softly, 60 MPH is at the bottom of the rev range in 7th, try 80/85 MPH on the duel carriageways/motorway consumption will not be much different, I drive 80/90 MPH on those roads out of town driving mostly and see 25/26 MPG on Summer tyres, these winters are showing 23/24 MPG with this crap weather.

There no doubt about driving it too softly

When I had the M3 back in end of 2002/2003 there were a lot of big end failures (drove mine hard for 6 months and sold it before it failed). Rightly or wrongly that previous experience has made me more than a little cautious with M products.

[Palmnuts]

Originally Posted by Dionysus

I'm assuming now it's run in, you do the occasional WOT (not particularly easy in the UK)?

I have been known to but, as you say, it really isn't that easy on the public roads. In fact, the car is almost too good for what it can be used for in the UK.

My car was given a right thrashing straight after the run-in service - I literally left the dealer and drove it straight to Germany for a weekend at the 'ring. And it's when in Germany, doing 140mph+, that the car begins to make sense - it was hugely fast and suddenly there was some 'feel' to it at the upper echelons of speed. I have never had anything that's so accelerative above 100mph than this M6, not even my previous 997 Turbo or SLS. It literally slams into the limiter at an indicated 169mph and feels like it would power right through 200 with ease. And despite a hard weekend, the oil is still at it's maximum level some 4k miles later!

In all honesty, I wouldn't worry too much about how you run it in as long as your sensible (or you're going to keep it well past it's warranty period). Even if it had an extreme life right from the start, these cars as so well engineered to cater for such things that theres a 99%+ chance that nothing will go wrong with it as a direct result of it's run-in procedure. And if it did, I've never heard of a warranty claim being refused because a car wasn't run-in properly! Enjoy yourself, keep it sensible and it'll be fine

[Neil McRae]

Originally Posted by Dionysus

Neil - what is your oil consumption like? Did you run in your pre-LCI & LCI the same and has there been any noticeable difference in oil consumption (trying to assess if BMW have made any improvements for LCI)?

PS how do I quote multiple posts in one reply - is it a manual process?

too early to tell. another 1500 miles and I can tell you, for the first 4000 miles my non LCI used no oil.

[Palmnuts]

Originally Posted by Dionysus

PS how do I quote multiple posts in one reply - is it a manual process?

Select 'M' on all the posts you want to reply to and then hit Quote on any of them.

[savela]

Originally Posted by Neil McRae

The _best_ I achieved is 12MPG in the M5 and 9 in the M3 The worst was 23 in the M3 and 28 in the M5 (M5 was pre LCI).

Neil.

+1

Drove mine hard early on after engine at temp. No perceptible oil
consumption. Runs perfectly. Important to baby while it's warming up though. My 2 cents.

[greentrbo95gst]

Plenty of threads here on break in procedure. It comes down to your personal choice. Many of us (including me) did hard break ins and many people did recommended break ins> All cars are still running.
I am almost at 10k miles and car hasn't burned any oil, dynoed 552 whp stock, getting around 15mpg mixed driving.

[alexey21]

maybe im doing i wrong... avg 10mpg

[greentrbo95gst]

Originally Posted by alexey21

maybe im doing i wrong... avg 10mpg

That was the mpg on my e60 m5.

[alexey21]

Originally Posted by greentrbo95gst

That was the mpg on my e60 m5.

that was mine on the f10. Now I dont know what it is. Have not driven it.

[DIMBA]

Mine was delivered from Heathrow to Liverpool, 210 miles, average 60mph, I asked the driver to take it easy, and according to trip computer he took it very steady.
So it has had a very soft initial break in.
Since I've had it, +500 miles, it's had varied driving 'styles' mostly trying to go as fast as I can sensibly without being daft, and learning how to drive the car the right way.
I am averaging 19mpg, which was the best I got from my E92 M3, so I'm happy.
What I will say is this DCT box is the best gearbox I have ever used, it's a joy to use.
Can't wait til the break in service is done, road trip planned through the Lake District.

[Dionysus]

Originally Posted by greentrbo95gst

Plenty of threads here on break in procedure. It comes down to your personal choice. Many of us (including me) did hard break ins and many people did recommended break ins> All cars are still running.
I am almost at 10k miles and car hasn't burned any oil, dynoed 552 whp stock, getting around 15mpg mixed driving.

So far I'm gathering the hard break-in members are getting no oil consumption, but not really the answer to my question, i.e. whether or not the oil consumption is related to break-in process or how you drive the car. I'm clearly in the recommended break-in that category, albeit with a long period of sustained hard-ish driving late in the beak-in period. I have stopped sustained hard-ish driving and now do short bursts of WOT and oil consumption seems to have dropped, but may be too early to categorically conclude this. I agree with you that either way most cars are running well, although there have been some failures , even to LCIs (injectors, etc.).

I'm also still of the view that this engine is very sensitive to fuel quality (ethanol content over octane rating), but am yet to test that myself.

[Dionysus]

Originally Posted by Palmnuts

Select 'M' on all the posts you want to reply to and then hit Quote on any of them.

Doh! PEBCAC!

[N.S.A]

after my 1200 mile service in the U.S can I red line the car now and go over a 100 miles per hour? I have not rev the car past 4000rpm.

[JOHNBMWM5]

Originally Posted by Dionysus

I'm also still of the view that this engine is very sensitive to fuel quality (ethanol content over octane rating), but am yet to test that myself.

I keep an "Accurate Fuel record", just out of interest.
I have tested most except BP which I think is shite.
My car likes best Esso 97: Sainsburys 97 : Tesco99:
I got no advantage from SHELL V Power in fact the car returned slightly less MPG.
I had one bad batch of Tesco99 and the car ran like shite and returned 19MPG.
I have just filled up with SHELL 95 just to see what if any changes occur.

The 2013 M5 I borrowed from BMW UK for a week had been filled with ESSO 95 as BMW dealerships are told not to put "Premium" in cars , anyway the car drove well and returned 25/26 MPG over mixed driving covering 510 miles over the course of the week.

I have read somewhere that the LCI M5 will give a minimum of 560BHP on 95 ron fuel how true that is I don't know, I will not be Dynoing my car to find out.
I have been out of the country for some weeks and the car is tucked up in the garage, so no updates as yet.

[skrambles297]

Originally Posted by johnbmw6

I keep an "Accurate Fuel record", just out of interest.
I have tested most except BP which I think is shite.
My car likes best Esso 97: Sainsburys 97 : Tesco99:
I got no advantage from SHELL V Power in fact the car returned slightly less MPG.
I had one bad batch of Tesco99 and the car ran like shite and returned 19MPG.
I have just filled up with SHELL 95 just to see what if any changes occur.

The 2013 M5 I borrowed from BMW UK for a week had been filled with ESSO 95 as BMW dealerships are told not to put "Premium" in cars , anyway the car drove well and returned 25/26 MPG over mixed driving covering 510 miles over the course of the week.

I have read somewhere that the LCI M5 will give a minimum of 560BHP on 95 ron fuel how true that is I don't know, I will not be Dynoing my car to find out.
I have been out of the country for some weeks and the car is tucked up in the garage, so no updates as yet.

Interesting - I've only put Vpower in mine, partly because Shell is the nearest garage to where I live but also because I recall the testing done by EVO a few years back showing that the additives were very beneficial. What MPG are you getting from Esso or Tesco, compared to Vpower?

In other cars, I've occasionally used Total's Excellium and that has shown improved MPG over Shell.

[skrambles297]

Originally Posted by Dionysus

So far I'm gathering the hard break-in members are getting no oil consumption, but not really the answer to my question, i.e. whether or not the oil consumption is related to break-in process or how you drive the car. I'm clearly in the recommended break-in that category, albeit with a long period of sustained hard-ish driving late in the beak-in period. I have stopped sustained hard-ish driving and now do short bursts of WOT and oil consumption seems to have dropped, but may be too early to categorically conclude this.

My car is using a litre just over a 1000 miles or so. I didn't do any hard break-in within the 1st 150 miles. But, I use my car for very heavy traffic commuting without start-stop enabled, so expect that that may explain the high oil usage. By comparison, my 911 turbo uses no oil at all but is used for motorway and country driving.

[greentrbo95gst]

Originally Posted by Dionysus

So far I'm gathering the hard break-in members are getting no oil consumption, but not really the answer to my question, i.e. whether or not the oil consumption is related to break-in process or how you drive the car. I'm clearly in the recommended break-in that category, albeit with a long period of sustained hard-ish driving late in the beak-in period. I have stopped sustained hard-ish driving and now do short bursts of WOT and oil consumption seems to have dropped, but may be too early to categorically conclude this. I agree with you that either way most cars are running well, although there have been some failures , even to LCIs (injectors, etc.).

I'm also still of the view that this engine is very sensitive to fuel quality (ethanol content over octane rating), but am yet to test that myself.

Driving habits in theory do affect oil consumption. The more city (stop and go) driving you do the oil will either burn or lessen its quality by turning darker color. If you do a lot of highway driving your oil consumption in theory should be minimal and your oil will last longer as well.

Quality of fuel matters as well especially on cars with forced induction.
Back in my awd turbo import days I remember seeing higher amounts of engine knock, timing being pulled and much lower hp numbers on a dyno when using Shell or Arco. Chevron and 76 would achieve highest numbers and cars would perform best on a dyno.

[JOHNBMWM5]

Originally Posted by skrambles297

Interesting - What MPG are you getting from Esso or Tesco, compared to Vpower?

Best SHELL MPG 25, best TESCO 99 26.5 MPG.
Consistent 25.8/26.5 MPG with TESCO 99 , ESSO 97 and Sainsburys 97.

One bad batch of TESCO 99.

[jbomb]

I am pre LCI and have done 7000 miles, no oil needed!

[alexey21]

I needed oil once around my 5k mark

[skrambles297]

Originally Posted by johnbmw6

Best SHELL MPG 25, best TESCO 99 26.5 MPG.
Consistent 25.8/26.5 MPG with TESCO 99 , ESSO 97 and Sainsburys 97.

One bad batch of TESCO 99.

I've had excellent MPG from Shell Vpower on occasions when I've done sustained motorway or predominantly motorway or A-road driving: high 20s. I may give Tesco a go to see if I get getter MPG for the commute: how many tanks do you go through before noticing the difference?