Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Fuel consumption: BMW 530d xDrive & Mercedes Benz C220 CDI

As the fuel prices continue to rise, the fuel consumption of a car is becoming a more important part of the operating cost of a car. On an early morning drive to work, during a general rush hour, I tried to see what fuel consumption could be achieved by driving as economically as possible.

This includes accelerating modestly, not driving at speeds above 120km/h (75mp/h), trying to anticipate stops by letting the car roll instead of braking and using cruise control as much as possible. The onboard computer was set to 0 before departing, although the largest part of the trip was made on the highway (including several kilometers of traffic jam), the value in the pictures also displays the parts driving in the city center at the beginning and end of the trip.

Possible some drivers are able to still lower this consumption, when the traffic congestion (lots of stopping and accelerating again) is taken out of the equation, it is probable that it will further reduce consumption. On the other hand, the onboard computer usually displays a lower consumption then really took place, but still I hope that these pictures will give you an impression of the fuel consumption of these cars.


Mercedes Benz C220 CDI (170hp / MY2012 / 6-speed manual gearbox / diesel)


BMW 530d xDrive (258hp / MY2011 / 8-speed automatic gearbox/ diesel)


BMW 530d xDrive: the screen shows the fuel consumption during the last hour. On the left a small increase due to city driving can be seen. The extreme increase on the right was due to a traffic jam causing stop and go traffic.

Over a longer period (last time since resetting the onboard computer), the fuel consumption was 8,4l / 100km. Important, this was calculated over a longer trip as the one presented above, hence the difference.


Representing the "Eco-pro" mode, this screen shows the increase in range after having engaged the "Eco-pro" mode.

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