Greetings from SoCal - my new daily, and not the mileage I was promised, but hey, whatever!

[FiestaAlex]

Hi Guys,

Alex here. I've lurked for a while to get an idea of where to go with these things, what works and what doesn't. Finally joined.

Got my ST to be a daily, and relegated my E36 BMW M3 to "project car" status, as it's getting a bit long in the tooth. Now I don't have to rush various projects on it so I can drive it to work by Monday morning. Sadly, I cannot help myself and have started taking the new car apart the same week that I got it.

So far I converted the headlights, fogs and all interior lights to LED. It looks SOOOO much better and more modern now. It bothered me that my older car has HIDs and LEDs, and my brand new car looks like it's straight from the 90s at night, inside and out. Ford should have really included all that from factory.

Tip: if you stay around 2000 lumens for the headlights, you won't be a jerk. The cut off is surprisingly good. I think stock bulbs were about 1600 lumens from what I read, so it's a bit more light with a much better looking part of the spectrum. Should last longer, unless they die from heat - remains to be seen. Interior is just plain worth it and super simple, highly recommended. Instant modern car and really complements all the metallic bits and the interior in general versus the dim, yellow incandescent that for some reason were still used in 2017 That's Ford for ya

Found an accessport used from a guy who moved up to a 'stang from a Focus for $300, and flashed it with 91 oct OTS Stage 1. Made taking off much easier, which was a bit of a gripe for me previously, good little bump in power all over the curve. Going to try a tune from Stratified and slap on a bigger FMIC at some point, everyone loves his tunes right? Probably a catback too, I need some sound. No, the symposer just doesn't cut it. Although being low on the cop magnet scale is a good thing. Choices, choices....

What I am trying to avoid is going hybrid and DP and all that, which i kind of want to do now. Only 5k miles, and what's the point of having a warranty if I'm going to void it? Ugh! I need to get over my new love, and start taking her for granted - all that money is better spent on the other car which has no warranty, is RWD, has LSD and is much faster as is.... or selling both for an e90 M3, or a 996 which is what I really want but know I shouldn't get at this exact moment.

Basically I love the ST, it's a great little commuter that has a soul unlike 90% of cars out there, especially in the price range! My challenge will be keeping it as the proper speed-bump slaying daily that I wanted it to be, and not doing all the stuff I always do to every car I get a hold of.

One last thing: the mileage. WTF! It gets the same mileage as my M3... I was promised 30+ mpg "regardless of how hard you drive it" by the salesman. Lies, all lies. I get about 22-24 average. I would shoot myself before I started driving the way I would have to in order to hit 30 on this thing. So that was a letdown, but not a major one. I never cared about mileage before, was just hoping it would be a bonus.

-Alex

 

[triplegriff]

Welcome!!! [emoji322][emoji322][emoji322]

On my commute, I average about 33.7, and that's just normal driving. If I ever get spirited, I'm still getting at least 30ish. 🤷🏼*♂️
Low 20s? If you're driving with your foot slammed to the floor, maybe? But still, you gotta drive how you like [emoji1303]


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[D1JL]

Dave

 

[Dpro]

Welcome and if the car is new old stock with no mileage than your mileage will not read right till you get around 750 miles on it.

The computer has to learn. My 2018 did not start getting better mileage till around 750. Thats also when the mpg gauge settled into more steady readings.

Oh and fellow E36 M3 owner here.

 

[Flaco]

Welcome ! I get adv. 31-32 mpg's at 75/80 mph.

 

[Quickone]

Wow, something is wrong unless you are driving it floored all the time. I bought my 2017 ST as a commuter also and get 39+ MPG average. But my commute is all back roads- 45-55 MPH with only a few stops and I drive it light footed and use 89 octane. I also have a MBRP CAT back as my only mod so far- and wow I have to tell you, what a great mod- it finally has sound now! The stock system has 2 mufflers to muffle just about everything out. It has more upper end now as well and seems to breathe easier. A great choice for the commuter but don't know what to say about the MPG. Perhaps it's the tune. I want the Cobb Accessport as well for better take off but worried about the impact on MPG.

 

[slowcord]

Welcome!
Im not sure how people get over 30mpg to be honest. LA traffic and all, i dont see over 27mpg. Only have seen 31.5mpg last road trip i took.

 

[jmrtsus]

Welcome!
Im not sure how people get over 30mpg to be honest. LA traffic and all, i dont see over 27mpg. Only have seen 31.5mpg last road trip i took.

I do lots of traveling.......36-37 or more @75 mph on the hwy. 32-34 in town. Short shift 1-2-4-6 in town and keep your foot out of it! I use 93 non-ethanol in town.

 

[John9851]

Welcome !!!!!!

 

[FiestaAlex]

Thanks guys! Glad to be here. Lots of really good advice and reviews, and I'll try to pitch in when I can.

 

[FiestaAlex]

Welcome and if the car is new old stock with no mileage than your mileage will not read right till you get around 750 miles on it.

The computer has to learn. My 2018 did not start getting better mileage till around 750. Thats also when the mpg gauge settled into more steady readings.

Oh and fellow E36 M3 owner here.

I'm around 4500 miles now, can't recall, maybe even 5k at this point. You know how it gives two averages?

Checked today, one says 23.5, the next one says 25. Is this a city/highway or what exactly is the difference? I assume one is above a certain speed and the other is overall. My other car does the same thing, there's two averages. Now that i think about it, I should have looked this up at some point... Seems important to know

Ps. what year/color is your e36? Any goals for it?

 

[FiestaAlex]

Wow, something is wrong unless you are driving it floored all the time. I bought my 2017 ST as a commuter also and get 39+ MPG average. But my commute is all back roads- 45-55 MPH with only a few stops and I drive it light footed and use 89 octane. I also have a MBRP CAT back as my only mod so far- and wow I have to tell you, what a great mod- it finally has sound now! The stock system has 2 mufflers to muffle just about everything out. It has more upper end now as well and seems to breathe easier. A great choice for the commuter but don't know what to say about the MPG. Perhaps it's the tune. I want the Cobb Accessport as well for better take off but worried about the impact on MPG.

I think that's just how it is. Runs great, so it isn't a leaking injector and I'm pretty sure I take the E-brake off

On an empty freeway in 6th I have no problem keeping the instant around 30ish. But the same goes for my M3. It's just this So Cal traffic and using the AC all summer. Now that it's cooler my theory is the MPG will jump up a bit just because of that. My average speed is low too, I think it has to be weighed against that parameter. It's pretty bad actually I think it's ~24 MPH, but I'll check tomorrow when i go to work. Currently I don't drive long enough at freeway speeds to overpower the massive amounts of time I spend crawling around in traffic or between stoplights in town.

Oh and of course I floor it everywhere. Don't you? This isn't a viper, or a V10 M5 where you melt tires and polar ice caps at the same time whenever you go past quarter throttle. I mean, not exactly to the floor in every gear, but yeah I don't spare the rod when I let the horses out. Just surprised that despite the low weight and tiny engine this thing can still eat like a big girl...

When I start my new job (hopefully, soon) it'll be ~30 miles of freeway each way, should see it go up significantly (along with average speed).

 

[Dpro]

I'm around 4500 miles now, can't recall, maybe even 5k at this point. You know how it gives two averages?

Checked today, one says 23.5, the next one says 25. Is this a city/highway or what exactly is the difference? I assume one is above a certain speed and the other is overall. My other car does the same thing, there's two averages. Now that i think about it, I should have looked this up at some point... Seems important to know

Ps. what year/color is your e36? Any goals for it?

What you are seeing is an average of all your driving city and hwy. if your not doing much hwy then your turning in decent city mileage.
Its also how heavy a foot you have. If you rrev around town in second gear a lot your gonna drink gas.

My E36 M3 is a Boston Green Modena interior 4/5 slicktop the only slicktop 4/5 in the country in that color combo. Also 1 of 52 Boston Green Modena interior 4/5’s all the rest have sunroofs.lol

 

[John9851]

Welcome !!!!!!

 

[Gearbox88m]

Welcome. The Cobb tunes suck for mpgs, it at least they did for me. I am tuned by Jason at Dizzy and at a steady 65-70mph with cruise I get 40-42mpg.

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[kona2000]

Hello there,

I get about 30-34mpg driving about 75-80mph on the Interstate primarily.

Are you using premium?

 

[FiestaAlex]

Hello there,

I get about 30-34mpg driving about 75-80mph on the Interstate primarily.

Are you using premium?

Yep, never put anything but 91 in it since the first fill up, and now it's tuned for 91 so I don't have a choice.

Been thinking about trying an E30 tune, but I really hate the idea of mixing fuel for a car that I bought to be a low maintenance commuter with a soul.

Either way that's some really good mileage on your end. As good or better than hybrids in reality. I've driven a Prius C (company car) extensively, and it typically averages out 30-34 MPG per trip in mixed conditions given my driving style. I guess capturing the energy lost while braking is barely enough to offset the weight of all the extra junk (motor, battery, etc) - I always thought they were supposed to get more. A friend had the regular Prius, and he managed around 31-33 mpg average. Honestly NOT worth it given how boring they are. He moved on to a base Tesla 3. Those things are MONSTERS off the line. It's pretty crazy. Then, unless you have the performance version, it runs a so-so 1/4 mile - around 13.4 - but in a stoplight romp they will wreck a lot of cars, including ours, up to the speed limit.

Makes me want to try the AWD performance one... but I digress.

 

[Natedogg]

Welcome.

Daily stop and go traffic with 80+ runs on the highway sections, the tune, and I don't baby it, I still get 30-32 MPG calculated. The lowest calculated I have on record over 3.5 years of ownership is 26 and that was during the winter when I let it idle in the driveway while clearing snow. My average for the whole time I've owned the car is 30 flat.

 

[P-38light]

Welcome!!