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BMW claim that a diesel 3 series will get 61mpg. Volkswagen reckon a Golf 2.0 TDI will do 68mpg. Electric is still significantly better, but you didn't need pic

BMW claim that a diesel 3 series will get 61mpg. Volkswagen reckon a Golf 2.0 TDI will do 68mpg. Electric is still significantly better, but you didn't need pick a terrible diesel car as an example.

znpy 4y ago
Volkswagen has already been caught cheating (on its emissions) —- not sure I would trust their claims without an independent third party checking on that.
- gambiting 4y ago
  You can just hop into any diesel Golf/Passat and you'll get 50+ mpg without even trying. No need for third parties.
  - thiagocsf 4y ago
    Mileage != emissions
    - gambiting 4y ago
      Sure but the original post was about mileage, no?
maccard 4y ago
Even more confusingly, what the US calls a gallon isn't the same as what other countries call the gallon. It's about a 20% difference.
- VulgarExigency 4y ago
  Not that confusing, only the US measures fuel in gallons, isn't it? Everyone else just uses liters.
  - grosun 4y ago
    The UK may be the most confusing; fuel is sold in litres, but fuel efficiency is expressed in MPG, and furthermore the gallons aren't the same as US gallons. I guess at least the miles are the same!
    - spacebanana7 4y ago
      I suspect the British fuel system is designed to hide the cost per mile of driving, at least tacitly. At present it's difficult to work out without some external tool.
      - masklinn 4y ago
        An other possibility is that the brits like having wonky things, just look at the pre-decimalisation monetary system, or the counties (https://youtu.be/hCc0OsyMbQk https://youtu.be/hCc0OsyMbQk).
      - xnorswap 4y ago
        We only switched to selling by the litre in the early 90s (presumably for the sake of EU alignment), it was sold in Gallons until then. Expressing efficiency in MPG is just something that had "stuck" by then.
        lil_cain 4y ago
        UK was legally obliged to by the EU. See the "metric martyrs" for how weirdly controversial this all was.
        onion2k 4y ago
        Not quite. The EU directive said that governments should if they wanted pass a law to say metric units should be displayed. The UK government chose to ratify that law, but with the caveat that imperial units could be displayed as well if shops wanted to display them (and most did). At no point was it ever illegal do display the old units. There were no martyrs; there were only idiots.
tecleandor 4y ago
The Cruze is way better than that anyway, you'd need to be in an excruciating traffic jam to get that low mileage. Well, my 12 years old (gas) Honda Fit does +40MPG being very "pedal happy" and near 50 driving normally, and my dad's 20 years old (diesel) Citroen Xsara Picasso does around 60MPG
- londons_explore 4y ago
  Due to dieselgate, there was a peak in diesel car efficiency around 2006. Post 2006 diesels get less fuel efficiency, because they had to tweak the engines to lower the combustion temperature to reduce NOX emissions. (which also reduces efficiency).
- fnordfnordfnord 4y ago
  20 years ago was kind of a sweet spot for diesel automobile fuel efficiency. Emissions were terrible though. Then they tried to clean up the tail pipe emissions and lost most of the efficiency gains.
  - lilililililili 4y ago
    [dead]
  - tecleandor 4y ago
    Yep, although they're becoming better again. Not that I'm a diesel apologist, I hate it, but I guess we're used to smaller and more efficient cars in Europe (even with the SUV craze)
- msravi 4y ago
  This has the 2011 Honda Fit pegged at between 29-31 mpg. https://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/PowerSearch.do?action=noform&path=1&year1=2011&year2=2011&make=Honda&model=Fit&srchtyp=ymm https://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/PowerSearch.do?action=noform...
  - tecleandor 4y ago
msravi 4y ago
This has the 2022 BMW 3-series pegged at between 22-28 mpg for city driving. US gallons, since the site is Houston site, I suppose. https://www.advantagebmwhouston.com/2022-bmw-3-series-fuel-economy/ https://www.advantagebmwhouston.com/2022-bmw-3-series-fuel-e...
- gambiting 4y ago
  All the models listed are petrol(gas) powered so of course they get much worse mpg.
teamonkey 4y ago
As a VAG diesel owner, they don’t get close to the marketing figures. Knock 15-20% off for all practical driving.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
tom_ 4y ago
Maybe this is for town driving? My diesel 3 series (2.9 litre, late 90s design) would get 8.83 L/100 km (32 mpg UK, 26 mpg US) driving round town, stopping at traffic lights and averaging <20 mph and never getting past 3rd gear. This didn't require much care, just a question of not trying to accelerate too hard at low RPMs or doing a 0-60 run from every stop. Engine technology will presumably have moved on in the past 25 years, and efficiency will have improved, but you'll still get crappy fuel economy for stopping and starting all the time.
jwr 4y ago
I had a BMW series 3. 61mpg is 3.8l/100km and that's… dreamland. You can probably achieve that in ideal conditions, driving 50km/h on a highway. Very few people check the facts, and the only reliable way to know yourself is to take notes at the pump: gas pumped vs km travelled. I did check for a while and the numbers were quite different :-) On a related note, for the VW ID.4, the manufacturer states 17kWh/100km which is actually achievable (much to my surprise) in city driving when it isn't cold. My real numbers are closer to 21kWh/100km. This goes up really quickly if you exceed 130km/h.

BMW claim that a diesel 3 series will get 61mpg. Volkswagen reckon a Golf 2.0 TDI will do 68mpg. Electric is still significantly better, but you didn't need pick a terrible diesel car as an example.

znpy 4y ago

Volkswagen has already been caught cheating (on its emissions) —- not sure I would trust their claims without an independent third party checking on that.

gambiting 4y ago
You can just hop into any diesel Golf/Passat and you'll get 50+ mpg without even trying. No need for third parties.
- thiagocsf 4y ago
  Mileage != emissions
  - gambiting 4y ago
    Sure but the original post was about mileage, no?

maccard 4y ago

Even more confusingly, what the US calls a gallon isn't the same as what other countries call the gallon. It's about a 20% difference.

VulgarExigency 4y ago
Not that confusing, only the US measures fuel in gallons, isn't it? Everyone else just uses liters.
- grosun 4y ago
  The UK may be the most confusing; fuel is sold in litres, but fuel efficiency is expressed in MPG, and furthermore the gallons aren't the same as US gallons. I guess at least the miles are the same!
  - spacebanana7 4y ago
    I suspect the British fuel system is designed to hide the cost per mile of driving, at least tacitly. At present it's difficult to work out without some external tool.
    - masklinn 4y ago
      An other possibility is that the brits like having wonky things, just look at the pre-decimalisation monetary system, or the counties (https://youtu.be/hCc0OsyMbQk https://youtu.be/hCc0OsyMbQk).
    - xnorswap 4y ago
      We only switched to selling by the litre in the early 90s (presumably for the sake of EU alignment), it was sold in Gallons until then. Expressing efficiency in MPG is just something that had "stuck" by then.
      - lil_cain 4y ago
        UK was legally obliged to by the EU. See the "metric martyrs" for how weirdly controversial this all was.
        onion2k 4y ago
        Not quite. The EU directive said that governments should if they wanted pass a law to say metric units should be displayed. The UK government chose to ratify that law, but with the caveat that imperial units could be displayed as well if shops wanted to display them (and most did). At no point was it ever illegal do display the old units. There were no martyrs; there were only idiots.

tecleandor 4y ago

The Cruze is way better than that anyway, you'd need to be in an excruciating traffic jam to get that low mileage. Well, my 12 years old (gas) Honda Fit does +40MPG being very "pedal happy" and near 50 driving normally, and my dad's 20 years old (diesel) Citroen Xsara Picasso does around 60MPG

londons_explore 4y ago
Due to dieselgate, there was a peak in diesel car efficiency around 2006. Post 2006 diesels get less fuel efficiency, because they had to tweak the engines to lower the combustion temperature to reduce NOX emissions. (which also reduces efficiency).
fnordfnordfnord 4y ago
20 years ago was kind of a sweet spot for diesel automobile fuel efficiency. Emissions were terrible though. Then they tried to clean up the tail pipe emissions and lost most of the efficiency gains.
- lilililililili 4y ago
  [dead]
- tecleandor 4y ago
  Yep, although they're becoming better again. Not that I'm a diesel apologist, I hate it, but I guess we're used to smaller and more efficient cars in Europe (even with the SUV craze)
msravi 4y ago
This has the 2011 Honda Fit pegged at between 29-31 mpg. https://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/PowerSearch.do?action=noform&path=1&year1=2011&year2=2011&make=Honda&model=Fit&srchtyp=ymm https://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/PowerSearch.do?action=noform...
- tecleandor 4y ago

msravi 4y ago

This has the 2022 BMW 3-series pegged at between 22-28 mpg for city driving. US gallons, since the site is Houston site, I suppose. https://www.advantagebmwhouston.com/2022-bmw-3-series-fuel-economy/ https://www.advantagebmwhouston.com/2022-bmw-3-series-fuel-e...

gambiting 4y ago
All the models listed are petrol(gas) powered so of course they get much worse mpg.

teamonkey 4y ago

As a VAG diesel owner, they don’t get close to the marketing figures. Knock 15-20% off for all practical driving.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

tom_ 4y ago

Maybe this is for town driving? My diesel 3 series (2.9 litre, late 90s design) would get 8.83 L/100 km (32 mpg UK, 26 mpg US) driving round town, stopping at traffic lights and averaging <20 mph and never getting past 3rd gear. This didn't require much care, just a question of not trying to accelerate too hard at low RPMs or doing a 0-60 run from every stop. Engine technology will presumably have moved on in the past 25 years, and efficiency will have improved, but you'll still get crappy fuel economy for stopping and starting all the time.

jwr 4y ago

I had a BMW series 3. 61mpg is 3.8l/100km and that's… dreamland. You can probably achieve that in ideal conditions, driving 50km/h on a highway. Very few people check the facts, and the only reliable way to know yourself is to take notes at the pump: gas pumped vs km travelled. I did check for a while and the numbers were quite different :-) On a related note, for the VW ID.4, the manufacturer states 17kWh/100km which is actually achievable (much to my surprise) in city driving when it isn't cold. My real numbers are closer to 21kWh/100km. This goes up really quickly if you exceed 130km/h.