# POLL: Did Your Car Experience an MPG Decrease Since Performing Emissions/EGR Recall



## cssnms (Jan 24, 2011)

Did you experience a drop in mpg's since taking your car in to the dealer for the BMW mandated emissions/EGR recall campaign? If so, please indicate as such and it would be helpful to know by what percentage your mpg's dropped.


I would like to start building some statistics on this problem, which may or may not prove to be of some benefit when dealing with BMW.


My car's city mpg's dropped 26%! I went from an avg of 23 mpg's to 17 mpg's and I am mad as hell about it


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## KeithS (Dec 30, 2001)

about 10%. Was able to get 42 highway with no AC, 41 with AC, breaking 40 was easy. Best I can do now is 37. Average is more subjective due to driving conditions and more use of AC. Before average was always over 30, now is always under 30. Except for a burst here and there I drive conservately.


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## DC-IT (Sep 27, 2009)

I only monitor my fuel consumption based on the mileage driven per tank.
So far it hasn't changed.
I continue to drive it hard often at speeds of 120-140 km/hr when I'm on the highway and the D still gets decent FE of 30+ mpg.
I'm happy with that.


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## Axel61 (Mar 10, 2011)

mines stayed the same even with the updated RENNtech flash!!


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## KeithS (Dec 30, 2001)

I will take a guess that having a loss of MPG, or not, may be related to the mapping the car had before the upgrade. May need to be more number specific, and stick to something that is more comparable such as only highway MPG. Average means nothing as everyone has different driving patterns. 

Thinking out loud something like:
Was able to break 40 MPG highway before and after
Was able to break 40 MPG highway before but not after
Was never able to break 40 MPG before or after

May also want to ask when was the car built (when the DME was originally programmed).


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## vadim_s (Apr 12, 2010)

Yup. Went from 35mpg to 32mpg and that is mostly all highway driving.


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## Pierre Louis (Oct 23, 2011)

I have a late build 2011 version and am not aware of this recall for my car. My fuel economy is not so good, however. Its around 23 mpg around town, 32 on the highway. I'm used to getting around 30 mpg around town and up to 40 on the highway with my old E320 CDI.

PL


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## KeithS (Dec 30, 2001)

Based on this incidental type of feedback it seems as the later 2011 build cars have the "updated" mapping from the factory that yields lower mpg, and may not be subject to the recall.


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## cliffj (Mar 11, 2007)

Before the recall, I routinely achieved 32+ mpg on my daily commute of about 60% hwy. Pure highway trips yielded at least 36-38 mpg. After recall, I am averaging 28-29 mpg on the daily commute, and at best 33 on a pure highway trip. Still love the d's performance, but disappointed in the loss of mpg.


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## clippernation (Mar 1, 2010)

Like DC-IT, I only base it on the mileage I get for a whole tank, and haven't separated it into trips and such. My MPG has actually gone up slightly according to fuelly. Commune consists of 70& highway, though all of that is in terrible LA traffic.


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## Pierre Louis (Oct 23, 2011)

The car is such a hot rod, it may be the way I drive it....

PL


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## DC-IT (Sep 27, 2009)

Pierre Louis said:


> The car is such a hot rod, it may be the way I drive it....
> 
> PL


Absolutely!
If you're going to drive it like a granny for FE might as well buy a Prius.
It's a BMW and meant to be driven hard for your enjoyment. But it still gives excellent FE so I have no complaints.


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## BR328 (Apr 9, 2007)

I did not notice any increase in fuel consumption in my X5 post fix. I did have to reset the throttle response though after the fix. The initial response was very sluggish. Post reset, it was back to normal. Not sure if it is correlated


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## pogopop77 (Jun 19, 2009)

For the first couple of tanks after the recall service I noticed a 2 MPG drop during my usual commute (75-80% highway). Then the car went through a few burn off cycles (where, after you park, the engine appears to be burning off excess soot/particulate matter). Since then, it has improved a little -- I'm within 1 MPG of my average from before the service.


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## riskybz (Sep 23, 2010)

pogopop77 said:


> For the first couple of tanks after the recall service I noticed a 2 MPG drop during my usual commute (75-80% highway). Then the car went through a few burn off cycles (where, after you park, the engine appears to be burning off excess soot/particulate matter). Since then, it has improved a little -- I'm within 1 MPG of my average from before the service.


Same here..Just drove from Prescott, AZ to Durango, CO and had a 1 or 2 MPG drop from previous experience.
Drove from Durango to Colorado Springs...now very close to pre-update numbers.
Averaged 35.6 first day, 37.1 second day. Hard mountain driving, pretty happy with the performance


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## richk300 (Mar 11, 2011)

For the 21K before recall I averaged 30.7, the 3K after 29.7. To close to call right now.


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## nortynorty (Apr 15, 2011)

Can't say specifically, but I feel it did. My average MPG per tank using Fuelly has certainly dropped, however my driving has been more local than it was before the recall service. I seem to be still doing fairly well with highway driving. For example, on my current tank which has a fair amount of highway driving I have about 260 miles and I am just under half on the gauge.


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## Flyingman (Sep 13, 2009)

I feel like it has dropped a bit, but it has been an abnormally hot summer. My MPG always seem to drop in the summer months even though traffic is less with kids out of school.


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## c230mike (Oct 28, 2005)

Experienced a mpg decrease but now mpgs are coming back to pre recall levels. Had my recall done a bit more than 2 months ago


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## cssnms (Jan 24, 2011)

On my second tank but my mpg's are still low although they've improved. I m not getting anywhere the same amount of miles out of a tank during my mostly city driving. I think my last tank was a little over 300!


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## Stevie 335D (Aug 21, 2012)

New on the forum today 

2011 335D Sport package 25,336 miles 

Big drop for me... I used to get 440-460 miles per tank combined city/hwy Filled up yesterday with 349 miles on my last tank. Same for the last 4 or 5 fills since recall. I am scheduled for my 3rd service apppointment in a 6 weeks. This is starting to get old........told my SA that i am starting to hate my once loved "best car i have ever owned" car !!


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## János (Jun 19, 2010)

Welcome Stevie. Your situation sounds like mine. I used to average 27-29mpg in mixed driving, mostly city (very hilly) and some bumper-to-bumper freeway driving. I used to see 425 miles per tank. Now I'm seeing 23-25mpg and need to fill up around 360 miles. That is a pretty big difference, especially since I don't really have a lead foot!

I'll be interested to hear more about this post-recall 'recall' (or whatever it is).

Oh, on an extended trip to Tahoe I got 30.9 mpg. Looking forward to seeing the downhill trip numbers.


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## Snipe656 (Oct 22, 2009)

János said:


> Welcome Stevie. Your situation sounds like mine. I used to average 27-29mpg in mixed driving, mostly city (very hilly) and some bumper-to-bumper freeway driving. I used to see 425 miles per tank. Now I'm seeing 23-25mpg and need to fill up around 360 miles. That is a pretty big difference, especially since I don't really have a lead foot!
> 
> I'll be interested to hear more about this post-recall 'recall' (or whatever it is).
> 
> Oh, on an extended trip to Tahoe I got 30.9 mpg. Looking forward to seeing the downhill trip numbers.


I seem to be in the same boat as you for fuel economy. But I really have not driven a whole lot since the recall so been trying to just wait and see. I have filled up 2 times since the recall and one of those was an early fill up. I am down to a 1/4 tank right now though, not sure how many miles and I normally do not put much faith in the computer mpg but it too is much lower than normal reading out at 24mpg. My typical average for a tank was around yours.


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## 5SeriesNatsFan (Mar 8, 2010)

The way to answer the question is to have two 335ds one, without the recall fix and one with the recall fix, on a dynamometer for a controlled test run.


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## Snipe656 (Oct 22, 2009)

That of course assumes both cars would get the same exact mileage which I have a feeling they are not that consistent across the model. Attached is my mileage for the past three tanks since the recall with the first being one that was in the car before and after the recall. To me it is too close to say one way or the other when one posted 27.7 and typically my averages are in the 29.x range. Those 30s are out of the norm for me and were pre-recall.


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## cssnms (Jan 24, 2011)

It appears to be trending at 50/50 ratio. It is curious why some are experiencing a dramatic decline and others are not. :dunno:


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## gsglag (Oct 20, 2011)

I took my D in for service (failed adaptive light control board) and it came back re-flashed and 4 mpg lower (36 down down to 32 or less on hwy).


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## floydarogers (Oct 11, 2010)

My wife just drove down to Eugene, OR and back (to Seattle) about 300 miles each way, pretty flat, and got 35.6 mpg. That's what we have gotten on I5 down to Portland and back, so there has been no loss of mileage on ours. For a portion of that drive, the car used only 7 gallons for around 275 miles, which is almost 40 mpg.

I'm not a real urban driver, so I might believe city mileage has gone down. I think there's too much noise in everyone's driving habits and types of trips before/after recall to make firm conclusions. Too bad we don't know what BMW has really done. Those guys are so secretive.:thumbdwn:


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## Snipe656 (Oct 22, 2009)

My drive is rather consistent and been so for upwards of 8 years. On my logs for any of my vehicles it is really easy to tell when something out of the normal happened or if the vehicle was messing up. I just don't drive it enough to really have enough data post recall to say one way or the other with much confidence.


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## F32Fleet (Jul 14, 2010)

No drop. Just finished running first tank of fuel post recall.


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## Stevie 335D (Aug 21, 2012)

Had the car serviced for the 4th time and its been 6 weeks since my last post and 3 tankfuls later (the car sat while i was on vacation for 10 days) and my mpg's are still under. Now I am at23-24 combined city/hwy. my comute 75% hwy. By comparrison to other vehicles, its still acceptable. Comparing to the orriginal MPGs i was getting, it stinks. Comparing to some of you on this tread, mine's a pig.


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## ChasR (Aug 29, 2012)

I voted yes, but time and several subsequent tanks of fuel have proven me wrong. I experienced a dip in mileage, but it appears to be related to the fuel used (Shell). Swithced to Chevron and it came back up. Averaging 32.72 mpg on the last 17 tanks of fuel.


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## DC-IT (Sep 27, 2009)

Updated observation on my D which is now out of warranty and will be due for the first out-of-warranty service in 2,000 miles (3,000+ KM).

Whilst my FE is not affected by the emission recall, my DEF consumption has increased as today I got the low DEF warning even though the oil change is not due for another 2,000 miles.

I went to a Canadian Tire store and picked up a 5 US Gal bottle of DEF for CAD$19.99 and will be feeding my D tomorrow morning.

I will call my Dealer for an oil change appointment. I shall ask how much it'll cost without filling the DEF since I can do that myself.


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## cssnms (Jan 24, 2011)

Update: it appears my car's mileage has returned to near previous levels - perhaps 1mpg lower. Needless to say this is a bit of a relief.


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## mt3ch (May 4, 2003)

Its been a good 2-3mpg lower since the 2nd recall in my case. I also have an '12 X5d and it gets its advertised mpg and probably had the updated changes including no dipstick since I have in the 335d.


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## Axel61 (Mar 10, 2011)

I dont know mines acting funny first I saw no decrease now Ive since 1 mpg loss, WTF!! I really cant get true estimates I do over 90% of city driving and DAMN IT I race the damn car, love the TORQUE!!


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