Gas mileage compared to a 2009 Mustang GT/CS?

[Trenzik]

I have seen numerous articles posted on here about the M3's gas mileage. I'm not worried about it, but am curious if I will notice any difference coming from an 09 GT. I have been used to poor gas mileage so anyone have comments on whether or not I will see a noticeable difference?

[FVM3]

With some WOT, most of the time around time i get 10-12 mpg.50/50 hwy city driving i get around 16-18 mpg

[happos2]

No idea what a mustang GT gets....

M3 Daily Driving : Teens mpg

M3 Track : Single Digit mpg

This is about as accurate as you can get because depending on your mixture of city / highway driving and how much of a lead foot you are, your result will vary.

[Trenzik]

Originally Posted by happos2

No idea what a mustang GT gets....

M3 Daily Driving : Teens mpg

M3 Track : Single Digit mpg

This is about as accurate as you can get because depending on your mixture of city / highway driving and how much of a lead foot you are, your result will vary.

I'm 20-22 Highway and 17/18 city. So it won't be to much of an adjustment.

[happos2]

Originally Posted by Trenzik

I'm 20-22 Highway and 17/18 city. So it won't be to much of an adjustment.

Maybe worst city, highway is similar. Just depends if love the high reving sound and plant your foot more often...

[chili555]

I live in the far suburbs, also known as the country. I do like to mash the throttle a few times, but I also spend time going down long country roads on cruise control. My last tank of fuel calculated out to 19.1 mpg.

[Trenzik]

Originally Posted by happos2

Maybe worst city, highway is similar. Just depends if love the high reving sound and plant your foot more often...

Lol not going to lie, I plant my foot now in my Mustang. An M3 is a whole different ball game, so I will have bad MPG for a while

[Z K]

Depends what you call "city" driving. In stop and go traffic in San Francisco and without ever going WOT and driving very normally, I get 12-14 mpg on average including some highway.

[Nordstat]

With my mods, I see between 23-26mpg on long highway drives (staying within 10mph of posted limits). I'm happy with that! City (los angeles) is a whole different ball game aka BAD! On the track I think I averaged about 5-7...

[rjd598]

my friend had a roush 427 and he said he got around the same as me but like others have said it depends on your driving. all else equal they should be generally the same

[dereksM3]

Well thought I would give my 2 cents. Just did a 1600 miles journey in my bone stock M3 DCT and averaged around 22-23mpg. Drove fairly spirited but 50% of the time was on cruise around 80mph.

In 50/50 driving I'm getting around 18-19mpg and in all city get around 16-17mpg.

My driving style if fairly tame and I go through the gears here and there. I think if you don't drive this car like a maniac it will return decent MPG for what it is. Soon as the heavy foot hits this car sucks gas like a dehydrated camel.

[Candide13]

There is one thing that our cars don't like and that is stop-and-go traffic. Mpg easily drops to barely 13 if that's the case. If you can dawdle along at 15 mph in 2nd gear without stopping you will avoid that and get 14-15.

Conversely, on 200 mile trip with very spirited country road driving I got 16.

Milling along the highway you get low 20s, depends on whether you use top gear or not.

[M3amigos]

If you are worried about gas mileage, V8s in general are not a good choice, but the M3 is one of the more efficient ones. I get about 17mpg on average with 80% highway miles, and I'm pretty heavy on the throttle most of the time. If you want a high performance track car, get the M3, otherwise a good compromise may be a modded F30 or 335...

[gatorfast]

Originally Posted by M3amigos

If you are worried about gas mileage, V8s in general are not a good choice, but the M3 is one of the more efficient ones.

Uh Im pretty sure the M3 is one of the LEAST efficient ones no? Every new v8 (granted most are turbo) seems to get much better mpg than the m3.

[happos2]

Originally Posted by gatorfast

Uh Im pretty sure the M3 is one of the LEAST efficient ones no? Every new v8 (granted most are turbo) seems to get much better mpg than the m3.

I wouldn't say the M3 is very efficient either. The C6 is capable of getting something like 28 mpg on the highway no? That would be more efficient. I guess we are comparing it to a v8 boat that is rated in gpm...

BUT...who cares at mpg.

[M3amigos]

I may be wrong, IMO its pretty good. This may be a repost, but here is an interesting article I came across recently...

BMW M3 Beats Prius in Fuel Economy Test
Sedan with 414 horsepower V-8 beats hybrid in BBC fuel economy test.

Until losing his election last month, former London Mayor Ken Livingstone had hoped to encourage residents to sell their high-performance sports cars and SUVs by charging a £25 (US $50) environmental tax each time they entered the city's downtown area. Drivers of politically favored hybrids like the Toyota Prius, on the other hand, would either have enjoyed either a steep discount or a free ride.

A test aired Sunday on BBC's Top Gear television program, however, casts doubt upon the notion that a hybrid would be the most fuel efficient in every circumstance.

"This is a BMW M3," the show's host Jeremy Clarkson said in introducing the car that would compete with a Prius. "It is not designed to be as economical as possible; it is designed to be fast."

Clarkson chose the most extreme examples to make the point -- a sedan equipped with a V-8 engine producing 414 horsepower against the Toyota Prius with its 76 horsepower hybrid motor. The EPA rates the BMW at 14 miles per gallon in the city, and 20 on the highway which compares unfavorably to the 48 and 45 figures for the Prius. In this test, the M3 matched the speed of the Prius as the hybrid ran flat-out over ten laps of the 1.8 mile Top Gear Test Track in Surrey, England. Measurements taken after the run show that the Prius returned just 14.3 miles to the US gallon, while the BMW had 12 percent better fuel economy at 16.1 miles per gallon.

"It was one of the dullest drives of my life, but in the interest of science I stuck with it," Clarkson said. "Seriously, what I'm saying is, it isn't what you drive that matters, it's how you drive it. That is everything."

[Candide13]

Originally Posted by gatorfast

Uh Im pretty sure the M3 is one of the LEAST efficient ones no? Every new v8 (granted most are turbo) seems to get much better mpg than the m3.

Indeed, my previous car was an Audi S4 with a 4.2l V8, naturally aspirated, and the mpg was a few notches better than that of the M3.

[dereksM3]

Originally Posted by happos2

I wouldn't say the M3 is very efficient either. The C6 is capable of getting something like 28 mpg on the highway no? That would be more efficient. I guess we are comparing it to a v8 boat that is rated in gpm...

BUT...who cares at mpg.

The C6 has superior aerodynamics, weighs ~500lbs less, and has super tall gear ratios that allow it to cruise in top gear at 1400rpm. Being a 6.2L allows for those almost improbable gear ratios. That doesn't make the engine more efficient...everything else about the vehicle supports it better.

Compare that same LS2/LS3 engine in a GTO or Camaro with similar aero and weight to an M3 and watch those magical MPG numbers all but disappear

BMW could have put taller gear ratios in the car or changed the engine dynamics to get 20% better MPG (in theory) but then people would complain about performance numbers lacking. It's a 3700lb vehicle with one of the highest revving V8's made in a mainstream production vehicle. It puts out over 100hp per liter so yes it's quite efficient for "only" 4.0 liters.

[davesaddiction]

*subtract 1-2 mpg from any of these numbers calculated by the on-board trip computer...

15-16 mixed commute, 21-22 all freeway, track tbd (soon!)

[Peahi]

My "real world" putting around the SF bay area DD mileage is 12-14mpg. If I let the car stretch its legs on a long cruise it goes up to 21mpg. Problem is damn california traffic!
I use the gas cubby app on my iphone to record fuel/mileage/cost.