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BMW 5-Series (G30) Forum 2017+ BMW 5 Series (G30) General Discussions Tips for maximizing mpg for the 530e

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      08-28-2018, 07:24 PM   #67
enigma01
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TopgearLA View Post
You paid 45-80k cash on a new BMW? It doesn’t make me feel superior, I’m
Empathetic as hell, I’d wonder why the heck someone would do this without some business write off or otherwise. I only laugh at those boasting buying is superior. I hate to see anyone waste or lose money. I grew up poor... it hurts to see someone taken by anyone for their money. Luxury cars amongst any kind are the worst to purchase. It’s completely different for an exotic or a much cheaper car based on the negligible depreciation / average time of ownership. Giving a dealer $45-80k in one lump sum seems not so great.
Because you have to look at each person's finances and any given deal individually. That's why I don't believe in one-size-fits-all.

I, like many, have investments tiered from risky to safe and from illiquid to liquid. At the bottom (i.e. highly safe and liquid), I have FDIC-insured CDs across multiple issuers, currently at around 3.35% APY for 5 year-term. You can get slightly better yields in the secondary market, but we are talking about a few bps. Without going into specifics of asset allocation/amount, let's say that my purchase price is a very small fraction of money parked there. After deducting Fed/CA taxes, you'd be lucky to be have 2% net. So, the question for some folks is why pay 4.9% to BMWFS. Yes, you could do better (or worse) with riskier investment instruments, but again, we are talking about a relatively small portion of your net investment $ in the bottom tier for safety.

As for purchase vs lease, it also depends on individual deals at any given point. I don't have any issue or preference for either. I follow wherever almighty $ takes me. E.g. I lease an e93 M3 for around $500+tax for 3 years. I bought an e92 M3 with cash and traded in after 5 years with a net loss of $28k ($470'ish/mo inclusive of sales tax).

I really don't care which means I use to acquire a car as long as it's the best deal I can have at any given point. I do have issues when one camp claims that the other camp is stupid without specific numbers to back up the claim.
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      09-01-2018, 02:15 PM   #68
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Quote:
Originally Posted by enigma01 View Post
Because you have to look at each person's finances and any given deal individually. That's why I don't believe in one-size-fits-all.

I, like many, have investments tiered from risky to safe and from illiquid to liquid. At the bottom (i.e. highly safe and liquid), I have FDIC-insured CDs across multiple issuers, currently at around 3.35% APY for 5 year-term. You can get slightly better yields in the secondary market, but we are talking about a few bps. Without going into specifics of asset allocation/amount, let's say that my purchase price is a very small fraction of money parked there. After deducting Fed/CA taxes, you'd be lucky to be have 2% net. So, the question for some folks is why pay 4.9% to BMWFS. Yes, you could do better (or worse) with riskier investment instruments, but again, we are talking about a relatively small portion of your net investment $ in the bottom tier for safety.

As for purchase vs lease, it also depends on individual deals at any given point. I don't have any issue or preference for either. I follow wherever almighty $ takes me. E.g. I lease an e93 M3 for around $500+tax for 3 years. I bought an e92 M3 with cash and traded in after 5 years with a net loss of $28k ($470'ish/mo inclusive of sales tax).

I really don't care which means I use to acquire a car as long as it's the best deal I can have at any given point. I do have issues when one camp claims that the other camp is stupid without specific numbers to back up the claim.
Well said.

I usually get a car that fits my needs, some with high price tags, and finance them as best I can whether lease or purchase/loan. I have not "handed in" a car yet out of 5 leases and admit purchase/finance makes it a little easier over the long run (some cars do have equity that can be used at times), so it all depends on financial and personal circumstances which determines the "best" deal.

I tell my friends leasing allows you to sometimes get a "better" more expensive car without too much pain. The best deals seem to be from manufacturer sponsored lending companies for terms and service. Some of my lease buyouts were way below the current market value of the car.

PL
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      09-06-2018, 12:47 PM   #69
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What are you guys doing for long trips? Like 100+ miles? Do you guys put the car in Battery Control mode while on the highway then switching it to Auto/Max e-Drive upon exiting?
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      12-18-2019, 09:10 AM   #70
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Originally Posted by lnaukkar View Post
No. When your car is at 100% there's absolutely no difference in how it got there.

However, you should always precondition the car, because then you waste less energy on heating/cooling after you plug it off. And doing so, if your charger can't push in as much energy as the car uses on heating/cooling, the battery won't be at 100% by the time you are driving off. So more charging power you got the better.

Ideally, you want the car cabin preconditioned and battery at 100% when you leave.
This is absolutely key. I am noticing in the winter temps here in the NE (in the 30s average right now) and parked on the street. If I don't precondition the car I lose about 30% of battery capacity compared to preconditioning first the driving off.

I haven't tested, but Tesla forums note you start to suffer once outside temps drop below the mid-50s.

If you have Level 2 I would make preconditioning a habit as much as possible.

Quote:
Originally Posted by HighlandPete View Post
Good information, the sort of preparation/use which really gets the best from electric charging. Important for those considering a hybrid, or using one to take on board.

BTW, what sort of time/consumption does the preconditioning phase take in winter time?
I try to give it 20 minutes. Not sure if it needs that much time, but that's worked for me so far.
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      12-18-2019, 09:15 AM   #71
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Originally Posted by dchuck84 View Post
What are you guys doing for long trips? Like 100+ miles? Do you guys put the car in Battery Control mode while on the highway then switching it to Auto/Max e-Drive upon exiting?
I recently did a 300 mile each way trip with about 300 local miles in between. The only charging I did was before I left my house. I used battery control on the highway set at 50%; the rest of the time I used auto. Most of the highway driving was at 75 mph (not the most efficient speed). I averaged 32 mpg on the trip.
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      12-18-2019, 09:19 AM   #72
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Originally Posted by HighlandPete View Post
Good to see you using the car in the best environment, maximum use of the EV potential. Ideal use and what they are really for.

What concerns me is the part highlighted, not just for you but any of us considering a PHEV. How do you use the ICE, before giving it a hard acceleration? Is it from cold? Do you just floor it when necessary?

For me, considering my potential use, it goes completely against the engineer in me to work a cold engine. We have enough trouble with waiting for an engine to warm anyway, before we drive hard. To think of driving on battery only and wanting that full on acceleration, to do so, I'd be cringing if the ICE hadn't been running and some heat in it ahead of a hard acceleration.

The other issue, if you run out of battery just before you get home... Running the engine for lots of short (cold start) periods, just doesn't sit well with me. Seems the worst case use of an ICE.

What's the consensus guys? Forget all the perceived wisdom of the past and just go for it? Longevity? Mechanical sympathy?
I am not an engineer and I have wondered about the same question. One counter balance is that we (phev owners) don't have stop/start on the engine.

Presumably, BMW figured this into their design and, maybe, that may be why they detune the engine for the phevs. I have essentially OEM warranty coverage for seven years (4 years BMW, 3 additional years through GEICO with a $250/incident copay). My current plan is to keep the car for those seven years.
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      12-18-2019, 10:30 AM   #73
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Quote:
Originally Posted by HighlandPete View Post
Good to see you using the car in the best environment, maximum use of the EV potential. Ideal use and what they are really for.

What concerns me is the part highlighted, not just for you but any of us considering a PHEV. How do you use the ICE, before giving it a hard acceleration? Is it from cold? Do you just floor it when necessary?

For me, considering my potential use, it goes completely against the engineer in me to work a cold engine. We have enough trouble with waiting for an engine to warm anyway, before we drive hard. To think of driving on battery only and wanting that full on acceleration, to do so, I'd be cringing if the ICE hadn't been running and some heat in it ahead of a hard acceleration.

The other issue, if you run out of battery just before you get home... Running the engine for lots of short (cold start) periods, just doesn't sit well with me. Seems the worst case use of an ICE.

What's the consensus guys? Forget all the perceived wisdom of the past and just go for it? Longevity? Mechanical sympathy?
Quote:
Originally Posted by SteveinArizona View Post
I am not an engineer and I have wondered about the same question. One counter balance is that we (phev owners) don't have stop/start on the engine.

Presumably, BMW figured this into their design and, maybe, that may be why they detune the engine for the phevs. I have essentially OEM warranty coverage for seven years (4 years BMW, 3 additional years through GEICO with a $250/incident copay). My current plan is to keep the car for those seven years.
I agree that BMW has engineered for this. These cars are extremely complex and not as simple as cars of yesteryear so we can't blanket apply rules from that era to cars in this one.

A prime example to me was the discussion around Start - Stop and its negative impacts on starter motors and the engine. Yet my '14 MB that I owned for 5 years and put 90K miles on without ever turning this off had zero issues. And I do a lot of city driving where engine shutoffs at every stop sign or red light were common.

We presume the engine on the BMW 530e is "cold", but I am not so sure it is as black and white. The Electric Motor on the 530e replaces the torque converter and is deeply integrated into the drive train such that you still get transmission shifts using pure electric. Perhaps it is still warming the oils that are the core reason you want to be nice to a "cold" engine.

Either way, BMW designed the PHEV in such a manner that the engine can be started smoothly at 70MPH from a "cold" perspective without suffering any damage. I don't think we have anything to worry about here.
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      12-19-2019, 05:52 AM   #74
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Quote:
Originally Posted by LogicalApex View Post
Either way, BMW designed the PHEV in such a manner that the engine can be started smoothly at 70MPH from a "cold" perspective without suffering any damage. I don't think we have anything to worry about here.
This is where my concerns are. I appreciate we would expect BMW to have make modifications to cope with these scenarios, but would be great if we could see some technical data and explanations of what has been done, to accommodate the extremes.

There are clues to internal changes, odd comments in articles, such as different coatings for crank bearings, etc. Perhaps the cooling system does use waste heat to pre-warm the engine oil. I'd love to see some technical documents listing and/or discussing the actual modified components and features.

BMW don't have the finest record for coping with the more extreme use of engines. Take the swirl flap debacle in M47/57 diesel's, spindle failures and flap ingestion, wrecking engines. Cause of failures pretty much established due to use/conditions which BMW didn't appear to allow for.
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      09-21-2021, 05:47 AM   #75
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47 mile commute. I average over 50 mpg.
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      09-23-2021, 03:36 PM   #76
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I just drove a 120 mile journey starting with a full charge. It went 36 miles in electric before switching over to hybrid mode. It did another 12 miles over the remainder of the journey giving a total of 48 miles on electric and an mpg of 56. I’m pretty pleased.
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      09-23-2021, 10:43 PM   #77
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Drive it like you stole it. When you are on your death bed, are you going to be sweating your MPG's? In all seriousness, I try my best for optimal gas mileage, and bought a 530e because I get HOV privileges, but at the end of the day you have a car that you should enjoy, the "ultimate driving machine," so exploring sport mode and throwing the shifter to the left shouldn't feel like a guilt trip, rather this is what the cars were engineered to do. As my dad told me- don't sweat the small stuff!
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      09-29-2021, 05:53 AM   #78
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I'm considering a 330e / 530e for my wife. She does on an average week about 25-30 miles of town only driving , sub 40mph. Then we typically use her car for a family trip at the weekends or for driving holidays + see folks. Do you chaps manage a full 30 miles between charges in electric only mode before the motor fires up? If so I could charge it Sunday night from a regular socket and unless we use it on the weekend go on a longer trip it might feasibly use no gas whatsoever!
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      09-30-2021, 11:43 PM   #79
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Quote:
Originally Posted by johnnyp420 View Post
Drive it like you stole it. When you are on your death bed, are you going to be sweating your MPG's? In all seriousness, I try my best for optimal gas mileage, and bought a 530e because I get HOV privileges, but at the end of the day you have a car that you should enjoy, the "ultimate driving machine," so exploring sport mode and throwing the shifter to the left shouldn't feel like a guilt trip, rather this is what the cars were engineered to do. As my dad told me- don't sweat the small stuff!
This.

A couple MPGs here and there really don't matter in the grand scheme of your life.

My philosophy is to enjoy the hell out your car on a daily basis, especially if it's a lease. Personally unless I'm highway cruising or in heavy traffic, I always drive in sport mode. I want the car to feel alive.
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      10-01-2021, 02:50 AM   #80
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Boosted_8 View Post
I'm considering a 330e / 530e for my wife. She does on an average week about 25-30 miles of town only driving , sub 40mph. Then we typically use her car for a family trip at the weekends or for driving holidays + see folks. Do you chaps manage a full 30 miles between charges in electric only mode before the motor fires up? If so I could charge it Sunday night from a regular socket and unless we use it on the weekend go on a longer trip it might feasibly use no gas whatsoever!
When the weather is decent you will get near enough 30 miles from a charge if you’re not stopping and starting frequently. In cold weather and with stops it is more like 18 miles.
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      10-09-2021, 06:16 PM   #81
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I drove 180 kms today starting with zero charge. I did 71 kms on electric giving a total of 46mpg. A few days ago I did the same trip but I started with a full charge. I got 62 mpg.
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