27 mpg in my E39

[Dr Chuff]

Is this a record?
A rather gentle amble from London to Cheltenham showed a 27mpg average.

Too many Sunday drivers probably.

Dr C

[belleair302]

We of the M5 community are in awe of your light right foot and gentle use of the manual gearbox. How slowly did you travel, below 55mph??

[stringbag]

My E39 M5 computer shows 26 on a run down the motorway at 75-80.
It might be lying of course!

[Mark V8]

I would'nt doubt it at all. My huge and heavy 740i will achieve 31mpg at the NSL if I want it to...
This one BTW...
http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/369920.htm

[rassi]

A couple of OPEC guys are on their way to put some heavier lead boots on you...

[jezrider]

did you manage the trip in less than a day ???

[derestrictor]

Can buy that for a $ or three: I've had 400 miles and only vapours in the tank after 80mph cruises, historically: what's that ito mpg?

[M5GT]

WOW MINES SHOWING 13.3MPG I was over the moon the best ive seen it in 8 months!!

[M5Dave]

M5GT said:

WOW MINES SHOWING 13.3MPG I was over the moon the best ive seen it in 8 months!!

13.3MPG, you must go everywhere in a cloud of tyre smoke.

[richard90]

If I drive on the motorway in light traffic with the cruise set to 70mph, my M5 does 27.5mpg. If I reduce speed to 60 or increase to 80, it hardly makes any difference
Of course I only got this once, after 4 months it has averaged 20.1 and thats spending most the time going pretty quick.
What an unbelieveably good car!

[eowen]

My E39 M5 averaged 22.something MPG in all the time I had it. Easily managed late 20's on a motorway cruise. Brilliant car, spoilt only by the achillies heal of Vanos, and the increased price/excess of the warranty.

[BOR]

Eowen,

did you experience VANOS failure on your own car ?

If so, was it an earlier version without the oil check valve mod ?

Can anyone describe the sound of an E39 M5 engine with VANOS issues ? ie What you listen out for.

How involved/expensive is the fix ?

From what I've read, the E39 M5 seems to be pretty reliable, and less prone to problems than the M3 for example.

Thanks very much.

[derestrictor]

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/220897.htm

Quick, before someone else on PH {who is being gently guided as we speak } does the decent thing...

Perfect road driving awaits.

[ronaldmacdonald]

Nice. Folding rear seats, oh how useful they would have been
Not worth £15.5k though sadly.

[stringbag]

Apparently, when Vanos is 'on its way out' it sounds like the tappets need replacing - ie very clattery. When I was doing my research before I bought my M5 I read in several places that they may sound bad, but there have been very few actual failures. BMW replaced quite a few on the early cars as they just sounded awful. Later cars don't have a problem - they introduced some kind of oil accumulator that keeps oil in the vanos system and stops the noise.

(at least that is what I've read - so it might all be wrong! )

[flattotheboards]

Mark V8 said:

I would'nt doubt it at all. My huge and heavy 740i will achieve 31mpg at the NSL if I want it to...
This one BTW...
http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/369920.htm

That was smooth the way you managed to get your ad in there

[Dunk76]

derestrictor said:

{who is being gently guided as we speak }

Tensing!

My Bags!