# How many miles per month do you drive your BMW?



## tommydogsdad (Feb 15, 2007)

Hello fellow Bimmerfesters!

I wanted to get a feeler for how many miles per month you drive. Also, has the increasing cost of gas caused you to change your driving habits? Has it made you cut back in other areas of entertainment? Are you cutting costs elsewhere?

Personally, I drive about 1,000-1,300 miles per month. I spend $325 per month on gas. The increase in gas prices has made me not travel as far for entertainment as I use to. I can't avoid my commute, but I no longer go to San Jose (about 35 miles away) or San Francisco (about 80 miles away) as much as I use to for entertainment. In the past, I would go to SF about once a month. I've noticed I only go about once every other month now. I don't know if psychologically gasoline prices have as much to do with it as before, but I do notice that instead of eating out as much (about 7-10 times per week, including lunch), we stay in more. This past month, we've only ate out about 7 times. We use to eat out every night! (I hate to cook:rofl

What have you been doing differently?


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## eazyr (May 31, 2008)

5million miles.. approx.


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## kykizzle (Mar 1, 2008)

Was driving 400 month but now schools out so its down to about 150 miles per month. Premium Gas here is $4.07.


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## Rich_Jenkins (Jul 12, 2003)

Hmmm... 52K / 60 months = 866 miles per month.

Lately we've been combining lots of trips into one to save gas.

I also computed that it costs approximately $4 just to go to Costco to fill up / get groceries (it's 11.5 miles each way, so at about 23 mpg costs approx $4), so lately I've been filling up at the corner Shell station.

I've also noticed that people are literally slowing down and driving the speed limit. And there seem to be a LOT more small cars on the road these days, much fewer large trucks and SUVs...


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## mawana (Nov 15, 2006)

approx. 1500miles here! I know I should tone down but then my rental bill would shoot up drastically. I make periodic trips to PA and sometimes OH!


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## Spicey (Sep 9, 2007)

I drive about 1500 miles a month. 2/3's of that is due to my commute so I cant change that so easily. Right now premium gas is about $4.57 for me. I havent changed much in my life yet and don't plan too. Hopefully fewer people will be on the road.


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## tommydogsdad (Feb 15, 2007)

Spicey said:


> I drive about 1500 miles a month. 2/3's of that is due to my commute so I cant change that so easily. Right now premium gas is about $4.57 for me. I havent changed much in my life yet and don't plan too. Hopefully fewer people will be on the road.


I can't avoid my commute either, which sucks. So I've started driving the speed limit, and I've watched my mpg's shoot up dramatically. I went from 23.7 mpg to an average of 25.4 on my 335i w/ automatic.


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## tommydogsdad (Feb 15, 2007)

wingspan said:


> Hmmm... 52K / 60 months = 866 miles per month.
> 
> Lately we've been combining lots of trips into one to save gas.
> 
> ...


It's even more depressing when you compute the numbers! I've computed the numbers for my daily commute, and it costs me $13 just to go to work everyday.


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## Flex (Feb 23, 2004)

I drive between 600 to 800 miles per week. Most of that is for my work commute during the M-F work week. I have 2 cars...a Honda and BMW. I use the Honda as my work commuter car and the BMW as my weekend car. 

Since buying my BMW in 2003, I have been conscious on racking up mileage on it. Simply, I love it and plan on owning it for long, long time. 

Given the dramatic increase in gas prices over the past few years, I have limited my spending habits as much as I could (e.g. don't go to movies as often, eat out when necessary, limit traveling whenever possible, etc). Plus, I go "bargain shopping" for gas...fill up at Costco gas more often now than going to the major known gas stations around town. This is only for the Honda, though. The BMW is filled up with one of the major brands. 

So, in general, I've been watching what I spend more now than in the past and considering a closer place to work.


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## djfitter (Sep 12, 2007)

8 months, 3300 miles = about 400 miles a month. Needless to say, I don't drive much. YET. A couple of things keep my mileage down. No commute to work since I'm retired and I'm still trying to put the 34 G's back in the bank that I put down on this thing. Oh and the fact that I retired early and all my friends are still working means there is usually nobody to visit/mess around with during the week. 

dj


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## tommydogsdad (Feb 15, 2007)

djfitter said:


> 8 months, 3300 miles = about 400 miles a month. Needless to say, I don't drive much. YET. A couple of things keep my mileage down. No commute to work since I'm retired and I'm still trying to put the 34 G's back in the bank that I put down on this thing. *Oh and the fact that I retired early and all my friends are still working means there is usually nobody to visit/mess around with during the week.*
> 
> dj


Last year, I was "between jobs" for about 6 months. I was bored out of my mind because all of my friends were working!

Good for you for retiring early. What did you do?


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## djfitter (Sep 12, 2007)

tommydogsdad said:


> Last year, I was "between jobs" for about 6 months. I was bored out of my mind because all of my friends were working!
> 
> Good for you for retiring early. What did you do?


Construction, specifically fire sprinkler installation/repair. 33 yrs. 

dj


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## EdCT (Mar 14, 2002)

tommydogsdad said:


> Hello fellow Bimmerfesters!
> 
> I wanted to get a feeler for how many miles per month you drive. Also, has the increasing cost of gas caused you to change your driving habits? Has it made you cut back in other areas of entertainment? Are you cutting costs elsewhere?
> 
> ...


I've had my current BMW for 18 months and have only racked up about 10,500 miles.

Our other car gets driven a little more, but since we're both home full time, we drive primarily for pleasure - we just don't put on the miles.

Ed


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## tommydogsdad (Feb 15, 2007)

EdCT said:


> I've had my current BMW for 18 months and have only racked up about 10,500 miles.
> 
> Our other car gets driven a little more, but since we're both home full time, we drive primarily for pleasure - we just don't put on the miles.
> 
> Ed


Congrats on the new Infinity.


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## Bcube (Apr 12, 2007)

tommydogsdad said:


> I can't avoid my commute either, which sucks. So I've started driving the speed limit, and I've watched my mpg's shoot up dramatically. I went from 23.7 mpg to an average of 25.4 on my 335i w/ automatic.


Approx. 3000 miles a month commute. Since 1987. Do not drive speed limit (on freeways) as that would tack on other 30 minutes a day on the road. However, have recently been practicing other hyper-mileage techniques which have increase avg fuel mileage from 27.4 to 30.1 These fuel saving methods have only added 5 minutes each way, so are acceptable. (E93 335i w/ Sport ZF)


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## tommydogsdad (Feb 15, 2007)

Bcube said:


> Approx. 3000 miles a month commute. Since 1987. Do not drive speed limit (on freeways) as that would tack on other 30 minutes a day on the road. However, have recently been practicing other hyper-mileage techniques which have increase avg fuel mileage from 27.4 to 30.1 These fuel saving methods have only added 5 minutes each way, so are acceptable. (E93 335i w/ Sport ZF)


I would love to know what some of those fuel saving methods are!:thumbup:


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## TMARCUSK (Oct 21, 2007)

1,100/month, mostly freeway. Driving habits haven't changed a bit due to increased gas prices. Higer gas prices=cost of doing business.


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## BMWFM1 (Jan 22, 2008)

~2000+ / month


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## alee (Dec 19, 2001)

Let's see... my last 5 fill-ups have been on 6/2/2007, 8/11/2007, 10/7/2007, 12/26/2007 and 4/30/2008... :eeps:

1056 miles in 1 year, or an average of 88 miles a month. :eeps:


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## tommydogsdad (Feb 15, 2007)

alee said:


> Let's see... my last 5 fill-ups have been on 6/2/2007, 8/11/2007, 10/7/2007, 12/26/2007 and 4/30/2008... :eeps:
> 
> 1056 miles in 1 year, or an average of 88 miles a month. :eeps:


I'm Jealous!


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## mistercindy (Sep 18, 2005)

Probably 1,000 to 1,200 miles per month. My commute is ~60 miles round trip, but I use my motorcycle whenever the weather allows and I'm not wearing a suit. For two weeks ending last Saturday I never drove the car because the weather was dry and I didn't have to wear a damn suit.


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## jesimmons (Jan 11, 2008)

I'm putting between 700 and 800 miles a month... Slightly lower than my usual average of 1 K per month. 

I attribute this to trying to telecommute whenever I can. This eliminates a 30 mile round trip commute several times a week on average. With premium gas running about $4.35 its a reasonable saving.

I just got the 535i in early March - just before the meteoric rise in gas prices. My previous car, which got almost identical mileage ran fine on 87 octane, so the switch to the 535i has increased my gas expenditure both due to the overall price increases plus the need to run premium grade fuel.

I have to say, though in the "grand scheme", the difference in gas expenses is not really that much... not enough to cause me to change lifestyle in any significant way. I try to drive less when possible... But its really hard to do that with a brand new 535i sitting in the garage just begging to be enjoyed.


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## Steven335xi (Jan 14, 2008)

1000 per month.


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## B-Pecan (Sep 25, 2007)

I'm down to from 1,200 to about 100 since I get to use the company van daily...


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## ProRail (May 31, 2006)

tommydogsdad said:


> Hello fellow Bimmerfesters!
> 
> I wanted to get a feeler for how many miles per month you drive. Also, has the increasing cost of gas caused you to change your driving habits? Has it made you cut back in other areas of entertainment? Are you cutting costs elsewhere?
> 
> ...


Okay, time to chime in. I average about 1200 miles a month; 400 of that is driving to the MARC commuter rail station pretty much every day. Since I'm older than 30 I'm a fairly conservative driver, and rarely use my brakes if I don't have to. Have considered cutting back on wine to support my gas habit, but have not been successful. Have cut back on going to the theater, opera, and concerts, mostly because it's too much trouble, but it does free up some money for gas as well. When I bought my 528 I was pleased to find that it gets great mpg, especially on the Interstate. IMHO gas prices are about where they ought to be for the US to support a good transportation infrastructure in line with other advanced countries. So there.


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## catcher22 (Mar 23, 2008)

I drive ~850 per month. What did I do differently because of high gas prices? Got a higher paying well fitting job with a 10 minute-walk commute


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